All questions are off topic on SO. At least, that's been my experience.

Since I answer 10-20 questions a week I happen to know that all questions are not off topic. It's more likely you asked an of topic question. The 3 most common off topic questions

1. Asking for a library recommendation

I want to do X? What library should I use?

2. Asking for debugging help without putting the code in the question

My code doesn't work. Here's a link to my github repo

3. Asking an overly general question

How do I 3d in Python?

When I used to use the site several years ago, I would spend easily a hour or two crafting a question to avoid the train of mods and trolls questioning why I wasn’t doing it using their preferred framework or tool.

I would write a clear question with context, and include the things I tried but didn’t work.

It got to a point where writing a question that would pass the gauntlet of mods and people looking for easy rep would result in no answers.

My takeaway was that SO only works for superficial questions where folks could maximize their rep/hour.

These days I go directly to the maintainers on GitHub or through commercial support. If those channels aren’t available, I avoid the dependency. Crowdsourced answers to technical issues worked for the first few years on SO, but game theory has ruined it.

Again the they're-so-mean-to-me moan. Post a link to your questions so we can judge.

I agree it’s hard to judge a particular case without seeing the specific example. But you might want to consider the following:

“ No subtle put-downs or unfriendly language. Even if you don’t intend it, this can have a negative impact on others.”

https://meta.stackexchange.com/conduct

“Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.“

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I’d be curious if you feel that your comment meets these guidelines? If not, do you think the relevant sites would be better served by changing the guidelines?

You're right, the first sentence was wrong. I should not have. Thank you for pointing it out, and upvoted.

I hold the second part is reasonable though.

No thanks. I’m not interested in helping you get rep on a site that’s irrelevant.

I can't say that's been my experience. But some very precise questions are sometimes mistaken for general questions when they can be mistaken for general questions when only skimmed over.