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I think, while some of the concerns are valid, that port identification questions are fundamentally different from the other sort of guessing game questions.

Firstly, it's a practical, answerable problem in many cases, especially when it's an exotic port. I've gotten baffled by things such as a 13W3 video output, or even from some older SCSI ports in the past.

I also think that it's a slight case of overspecialisation.

However, I also do think there's a certain degree of unsearchability, as @darthandroid said.

I think the answer might be to have a single, canonical post for port identification, have some basic information there, and link-back, and close other posts as duplicates of that. It may make sense to have the information about specific ports, and where they are found as part of the answer, or simply to link back to them. This has two advantages, firstly, that we retain this information and secondly, it gives us a chance to organise and make searchable these things.

I don't like losing these questions. To an extent, I don't think it's a huge problem, and it can be helpful. The big issue I see is that the current way of doing things is messy and single serving.

I've created a community FAQ question, referencing back to some of the answers referenced here. I've also added basic steps in identification, including RTFM, RTFW, and using your noggin ;p

I think, while some of the concerns are valid, that port identification questions are fundamentally different from the other sort of guessing game questions.

Firstly, it's a practical, answerable problem in many cases, especially when it's an exotic port. I've gotten baffled by things such as a 13W3 video output, or even from some older SCSI ports in the past.

I also think that it's a slight case of overspecialisation.

However, I also do think there's a certain degree of unsearchability, as @darthandroid said.

I think the answer might be to have a single, canonical post for port identification, have some basic information there, and link-back, and close other posts as duplicates of that. It may make sense to have the information about specific ports, and where they are found as part of the answer, or simply to link back to them. This has two advantages, firstly, that we retain this information and secondly, it gives us a chance to organise and make searchable these things.

I don't like losing these questions. To an extent, I don't think it's a huge problem, and it can be helpful. The big issue I see is that the current way of doing things is messy and single serving.

I've created a community FAQ question, referencing back to some of the answers referenced here. I've also added basic steps in identification, including RTFM, RTFW, and using your noggin ;p

I think, while some of the concerns are valid, that port identification questions are fundamentally different from the other sort of guessing game question.

Firstly, its a practical, answerable problem in many cases, especially when its an exotic port. I've gotten baffled by things such as a 13W3 video output, or even from some older scsi ports in the past.

I also think that its a slight case of overspecialisation.

However, I also do think there's a certain degree of unsearchability, as @darthandroid said.

I think the answer might be to have a single, canonical post for port identification, have some basic information there, and link-back, and close other posts as duplicates of that. It may make sense to have the information about specific ports, and where they are found as part of the answer, or simply to link back to them. This has two advantages, firstly, that we retain this information and secondly, it gives us a chance to organise and make searchable these things.

I don't like losing these questions. To an extent, I don't think its a huge problem, and it can be helpful. The big issue I see is that the current way of doing things is messy and single serving.

EDIT: I've created a community FAQ question, referencing back to some of the answers referenced here. I've also added basic steps in identification, including RTFM, RTFW, and using your noggin ;p

I think, while some of the concerns are valid, that port identification questions are fundamentally different from the other sort of guessing game questions.

Firstly, it's a practical, answerable problem in many cases, especially when it's an exotic port. I've gotten baffled by things such as a 13W3 video output, or even from some older SCSI ports in the past.

I also think that it's a slight case of overspecialisation.

However, I also do think there's a certain degree of unsearchability, as @darthandroid said.

I think the answer might be to have a single, canonical post for port identification, have some basic information there, and link-back, and close other posts as duplicates of that. It may make sense to have the information about specific ports, and where they are found as part of the answer, or simply to link back to them. This has two advantages, firstly, that we retain this information and secondly, it gives us a chance to organise and make searchable these things.

I don't like losing these questions. To an extent, I don't think it's a huge problem, and it can be helpful. The big issue I see is that the current way of doing things is messy and single serving.

I've created a community FAQ question, referencing back to some of the answers referenced here. I've also added basic steps in identification, including RTFM, RTFW, and using your noggin ;p

I think, while some of the concerns are valid, that port identification questions are fundamentally different from the other sort of guessing game question.

Firstly, its a practical, answerable problem in many cases, especially when its an exotic port. I've gotten baffled by things such as a 13W3 video output, or even from some older scsi ports in the past.

I also think that its a slight case of overspecialisation.

However, I also do think there's a certain degree of unsearchability, as @darthandroid said.

I think the answer might be to have a single, canonical post for port identification, have some basic information there, and link-back, and close other posts as duplicates of that. It may make sense to have the information about specific ports, and where they are found as part of the answer, or simply to link back to them. This has two advantages, firstly, that we retain this information and secondly, it gives us a chance to organise and make searchable these things.

I don't like losing these questions. To an extent, I don't think its a huge problem, and it can be helpful. The big issue I see is that the current way of doing things is messy and single serving.

I think, while some of the concerns are valid, that port identification questions are fundamentally different from the other sort of guessing game question.

Firstly, its a practical, answerable problem in many cases, especially when its an exotic port. I've gotten baffled by things such as a 13W3 video output, or even from some older scsi ports in the past.

I also think that its a slight case of overspecialisation.

However, I also do think there's a certain degree of unsearchability, as @darthandroid said.

I think the answer might be to have a single, canonical post for port identification, have some basic information there, and link-back, and close other posts as duplicates of that. It may make sense to have the information about specific ports, and where they are found as part of the answer, or simply to link back to them. This has two advantages, firstly, that we retain this information and secondly, it gives us a chance to organise and make searchable these things.

I don't like losing these questions. To an extent, I don't think its a huge problem, and it can be helpful. The big issue I see is that the current way of doing things is messy and single serving.

EDIT: I've created a community FAQ question, referencing back to some of the answers referenced here. I've also added basic steps in identification, including RTFM, RTFW, and using your noggin ;p