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Possible Duplicate:
Are “explain the technology to me” questions on-topic?

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.

^{The Super User FAQ}

Just how strictly is that enforced? Does that exclude questions asked due to curiosity, for example where the asker wishes to know how or why something works? Do we want those types of questions? If yes, should we amend the FAQ?

At the moment, there's quite a few questions asked due to curiosity. One way to put it:

the 'problem' the original poster faced was a 'lack of understanding'

Some of our highest voted questions were born of curiosity:

• What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?

• Transatlantic ping faster than sending a pixel to the screen?
• How does a computer restart itself?
• Who provides the Internet service to Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
• Why are we still using CPUs instead of GPUs?
• How far will you get with a 'rm -rf /'
  
  ^{Selected from the first page of the questions tab, sorted by votes}

I personally think that discriminating by actual problems that you face is rather broad and could exclude a sizable chunk of our questions.

And our users have conflicting opinions too, as evidenced by the answers to this question.

So, how should we deal with these?

Possible Duplicate:
Are “explain the technology to me” questions on-topic?

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.

^{The Super User FAQ}

Just how strictly is that enforced? Does that exclude questions asked due to curiosity, for example where the asker wishes to know how or why something works? Do we want those types of questions? If yes, should we amend the FAQ?

At the moment, there's quite a few questions asked due to curiosity. One way to put it:

the 'problem' the original poster faced was a 'lack of understanding'

Some of our highest voted questions were born of curiosity:

• What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?

• Transatlantic ping faster than sending a pixel to the screen?
• How does a computer restart itself?
• Who provides the Internet service to Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
• Why are we still using CPUs instead of GPUs?
• How far will you get with a 'rm -rf /'
  
  ^{Selected from the first page of the questions tab, sorted by votes}

I personally think that discriminating by actual problems that you face is rather broad and could exclude a sizable chunk of our questions.

And our users have conflicting opinions too, as evidenced by the answers to this question.

So, how should we deal with these?

Possible Duplicate:
Are “explain the technology to me” questions on-topic?

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.

^{The Super User FAQ}

Just how strictly is that enforced? Does that exclude questions asked due to curiosity, for example where the asker wishes to know how or why something works? Do we want those types of questions? If yes, should we amend the FAQ?

At the moment, there's quite a few questions asked due to curiosity. One way to put it:

the 'problem' the original poster faced was a 'lack of understanding'

Some of our highest voted questions were born of curiosity:

• What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?

• Transatlantic ping faster than sending a pixel to the screen?
• How does a computer restart itself?
• Who provides the Internet service to Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
• Why are we still using CPUs instead of GPUs?
• How far will you get with a 'rm -rf /'
  
  ^{Selected from the first page of the questions tab, sorted by votes}

I personally think that discriminating by actual problems that you face is rather broad and could exclude a sizable chunk of our questions.

And our users have conflicting opinions too, as evidenced by the answers to this question.

So, how should we deal with these?

Possible Duplicate:
Are “explain the technology to me” questions on-topic?

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.

^{The Super User FAQ}

Just how strictly is that enforced? Does that exclude questions asked due to curiosity, for example where the asker wishes to know how or why something works? Do we want those types of questions? If yes, should we amend the FAQ?

At the moment, there's quite a few questions asked due to curiosity. One way to put it:

the 'problem' the original poster faced was a 'lack of understanding'

Some of our highest voted questions were born of curiosity:

• What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?

• Transatlantic ping faster than sending a pixel to the screen?
• How does a computer restart itself?
• Who provides the Internet service to Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
• Why are we still using CPUs instead of GPUs?
• How far will you get with a 'rm -rf /'
  
  ^{Selected from the first page of the questions tab, sorted by votes}

I personally think that discriminating by actual problems that you face is rather broad and could exclude a sizable chunk of our questions.

And our users have conflicting opinions too, as evidenced by the answers to this question.

So, how should we deal with these?

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.

^{The Super User FAQ}

Just how strictly is that enforced? Does that exclude questions asked due to curiosity, for example where the asker wishes to know how or why something works? Do we want those types of questions? If yes, should we amend the FAQ?

At the moment, there's quite a few questions asked due to curiosity. One way to put it:

the 'problem' the original poster faced was a 'lack of understanding'

Some of our highest voted questions were born of curiosity:

• What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?

• Transatlantic ping faster than sending a pixel to the screen?
• How does a computer restart itself?
• Who provides the Internet service to Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
• Why are we still using CPUs instead of GPUs?
• How far will you get with a 'rm -rf /'
  
  ^{Selected from the first page of the questions tab, sorted by votes}

I personally think that discriminating by actual problems that you face is rather broad and could exclude a sizable chunk of our questions.

And our users have conflicting opinions too, as evidenced by the answers to this question.

So, how should we deal with these?

Possible Duplicate:
Are “explain the technology to me” questions on-topic?

You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.

^{The Super User FAQ}

Just how strictly is that enforced? Does that exclude questions asked due to curiosity, for example where the asker wishes to know how or why something works? Do we want those types of questions? If yes, should we amend the FAQ?

At the moment, there's quite a few questions asked due to curiosity. One way to put it:

the 'problem' the original poster faced was a 'lack of understanding'

Some of our highest voted questions were born of curiosity:

• What are the Windows A: and B: drives used for?

• Transatlantic ping faster than sending a pixel to the screen?
• How does a computer restart itself?
• Who provides the Internet service to Internet Service Providers (ISPs)?
• Why are we still using CPUs instead of GPUs?
• How far will you get with a 'rm -rf /'
  
  ^{Selected from the first page of the questions tab, sorted by votes}

I personally think that discriminating by actual problems that you face is rather broad and could exclude a sizable chunk of our questions.

And our users have conflicting opinions too, as evidenced by the answers to this question.

So, how should we deal with these?