Q:

How can an answer be too localized?

I can understand that a question can be too localized, but a question with one sole answer should allow some space to multiple solutions (even if one has a lesser coverage or is more localized then the one provided):
ERROR: Could not contact the SSO server
I ran into this problem myself and tried the answer provided. After many minutes of playing around I found out the obvious solution, but even if the solution is obvious sometimes you don't see it immediately. I decided to add the obvious solution, so other users running into the same, had another option of solving the issue.
Then my answer got removed as "too localized". It was very frustrating, because it was my first contribution to the site and I was looking forward too slowly start giving back to the community (You should really encourage people trying to do a contribution and give some space for it).

A:

Someone decided that your answer was not an answer to the question. (I think it was your flag that got dismissed as too localized, not your answer.) Your answer was a valid answer to the question's title, but the body of the question clearly states

The Enterprise Single Sign-On Service, RPC service, and COM+ System Application service were all started when I checked, but I gave them a restart anyway and it didn't fix the problem.

As a result an answer of "I had this problem when the service wasn't started" is not an answer to that question.

