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replaced http://meta.superuser.com/ with https://meta.superuser.com/

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edited Mar 17, 2017 at 8:59

There is not a lot wrong, structurally, with the FAQ — all suggestions so far change a lot and there's no real explanation why.
We don't actually need an FAQ change for the tablet issue tablet issue, we just no longer consider them to be electronic devices, but computers.
We really need to fix that product recommendation issue that product recommendation issue :-)
Neither the community nor the moderators on a trilogy site can update the FAQ without developer support (and how often did that happen in the last few years?), so we shouldn't put a list of sites right there into the FAQ where it goes stale in a few months, and is restricted in size anyway by what we can reasonably put there.

For suggestions where to post your question instead, please see here please see here. If your question is about Super User, you can ask on Meta Super User.

First, make sure you’ve asked a good question. To get better answers, you may need to put additional effort into your question. Edit your question to provide status and progress updates. Document your own continued efforts to answer your question. This will naturally bump your question and get more people interested in it. If you still don't get any answers, you can try to ask your question on a different site. Meta Super User has suggestions where you can ask your question instead Meta Super User has suggestions where you can ask your question instead.

There is not a lot wrong, structurally, with the FAQ — all suggestions so far change a lot and there's no real explanation why.
We don't actually need an FAQ change for the tablet issue, we just no longer consider them to be electronic devices, but computers.
We really need to fix that product recommendation issue :-)
Neither the community nor the moderators on a trilogy site can update the FAQ without developer support (and how often did that happen in the last few years?), so we shouldn't put a list of sites right there into the FAQ where it goes stale in a few months, and is restricted in size anyway by what we can reasonably put there.

For suggestions where to post your question instead, please see here. If your question is about Super User, you can ask on Meta Super User.

First, make sure you’ve asked a good question. To get better answers, you may need to put additional effort into your question. Edit your question to provide status and progress updates. Document your own continued efforts to answer your question. This will naturally bump your question and get more people interested in it. If you still don't get any answers, you can try to ask your question on a different site. Meta Super User has suggestions where you can ask your question instead.

There is not a lot wrong, structurally, with the FAQ — all suggestions so far change a lot and there's no real explanation why.
We don't actually need an FAQ change for the tablet issue, we just no longer consider them to be electronic devices, but computers.
We really need to fix that product recommendation issue :-)
Neither the community nor the moderators on a trilogy site can update the FAQ without developer support (and how often did that happen in the last few years?), so we shouldn't put a list of sites right there into the FAQ where it goes stale in a few months, and is restricted in size anyway by what we can reasonably put there.

For suggestions where to post your question instead, please see here. If your question is about Super User, you can ask on Meta Super User.

First, make sure you’ve asked a good question. To get better answers, you may need to put additional effort into your question. Edit your question to provide status and progress updates. Document your own continued efforts to answer your question. This will naturally bump your question and get more people interested in it. If you still don't get any answers, you can try to ask your question on a different site. Meta Super User has suggestions where you can ask your question instead.

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created Jun 23, 2012 at 16:56

Daniel Beck Mod

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The current FAQ accomplishes something that neither the original post nor the suggestions for improvement delivered so far: Delivering the entire on topic/off topic information in a single sentence.

I have, more than once, quoted a single sentence from the FAQ, that looked like this:

Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users*. If you have a question about …

computer hardware

and it is not about …

a shopping or buying recommendation

… then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

I think the fact that the entire section is made up of a single sentence is important and this structure is worth keeping.

The few users who already care about reading the FAQ will stop reading after the first period tells them what they need to know: Everything about computer hardware and software goes! Especially with the "you could also ask here" information, nobody will read that much further, as the rest is clearly just additional bonus information for people with too much time on their hands. That we consider e.g. shopping recommendations off topic is just too far down the page!

Given the following assumptions and observations:

There is not a lot wrong, structurally, with the FAQ — all suggestions so far change a lot and there's no real explanation why.
We don't actually need an FAQ change for the tablet issue, we just no longer consider them to be electronic devices, but computers.
We really need to fix that product recommendation issue :-)
Neither the community nor the moderators on a trilogy site can update the FAQ without developer support (and how often did that happen in the last few years?), so we shouldn't put a list of sites right there into the FAQ where it goes stale in a few months, and is restricted in size anyway by what we can reasonably put there.

... my suggestion is the following, changes in italic:

Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users. If you have a question about …

computer hardware,

computer software, or

personal and home computer networking

and it is not about …

programming and software development,

video games or consoles,

websites or web services like Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress,

electronic devices, media players, cell phones or smart phones, except insofar as they interface with your computer,

issues specific to corporate IT support and networks,

or asking for a shopping or product recommendation,

… then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

For suggestions where to post your question instead, please see here. If your question is about Super User, you can ask on Meta Super User.

(I changed the "format" of the lists to be able to include the new product recommendation list item that doesn't start with about without starting all other items with about.)

We'd need to change the topic to include alternative sites for both off topic and on topic questions.

A bit further down the FAQ, there's also this gem (again, changes in italic):

What if I don’t get a good answer?

First, make sure you’ve asked a good question. To get better answers, you may need to put additional effort into your question. Edit your question to provide status and progress updates. Document your own continued efforts to answer your question. This will naturally bump your question and get more people interested in it. If you still don't get any answers, you can try to ask your question on a different site. Meta Super User has suggestions where you can ask your question instead.