I'm confused about the inconsistent application of questions about tools and whether they're on topic or not.

For example:

http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10597/how-can-i-use-the-ms-onenote-application-for-my-lierature-search was closed and received downvotes.

How to read and take notes on research papers is open and has a number of upvotes.

The close votes for one is that it is off-topic (rather than, for example, being "not constructive"; arguably the second question shows that the some solutions have been attempted, whereas the first one does not illustrate this preparation) but at the core these questions have similar styles.

I'm confused about the inconsistent application of questions about tools and whether they're on topic or not.

For example:

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/10597/how-can-i-use-the-ms-onenote-application-for-my-lierature-search was closed and received downvotes.

How to read and take notes on research papers is open and has a number of upvotes.

The close votes for one is that it is off-topic (rather than, for example, being "not constructive"; arguably the second question shows that the some solutions have been attempted, whereas the first one does not illustrate this preparation) but at the core these questions have similar styles.