I actually didn't vote to close your question. I added that comment because the question had "best practices" in it and based on the previous discussion on meta I thought it would get closed, but thought that it had value.
I'm generally OK with those types of design questions and learn from them. I think that whether or not they are interpreted as questions that are soliciting discussions with no real answer has to do with how the questions are asked and/or certain words in them. I have no problem whatsoever with long questions and long answers, advantages/disadvantages to X vs. Y, etc.
Some are more clear cut then others as being acceptable (e.g., which of these 2 options is more efficient), but I am in favor of erring on the side of being inclusive.