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I posted a question about a problem with AWS logs.

The close reason was:

This question does not appear to be about computer software or computer hardware within the scope defined in the help center.

Why would a question about a problem with AWS RDS logs not be on topic?

The RDS tag says this: enter image description here

So I had a question related to the Relational Database Services product of AWS. You'd think this is a hit.

If AWS logging isn't on topic for Superuser, where ARE they? It's not stack overflow, as this is not a programming question, it's infrastructure. I thought SU was for infrastructure type things. Edit: Per the well reasoned answer from Journeyman Geek, probably Devops or Server Fault, although note it's not about servers.

Then, someone moved it to SO, and then it got closed AGAIN because it's clearly off-topic for SO, as it's not a programming question. Nor would it be on topic for the DBA area; has nothing to do with SQL statements.

My question is about AWS RDS logs, and the settings for them. It met an SU tag.

Here's an SU question about AWS RDS logs. Apparently that is on topic.

how to change amazon rds mysql.slow_log table's engine to myisam

Why would there be a tag for RDS if you can't ask questions about RDS?

Yes, I know I didn't post a link to my closed question, as that's not the meta question. The meta question is, where do questions about tags go if questions clearly about those tags are promptly closed according to some arcane rule the community has that's undocumented to outsiders?

It shouldn't take hours (no joke) trying to figure out where to ask a question.

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  • The amazon-web-services tag description is pretty succinct: "Amazon web service questions are on topic here only if the question is about the operating system or using a PC application hosted there." We only support using applications in the cloud in the same way as you would a normal home PC. Questions about the service itself or web applications around it would be off topic.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 7:37
  • That may be, but there's a dozen questions directly hitting RDS logs. To downvote my question because the spaces description isn't clear is egregious. If I'm asking the question - it's evidence there's a problem. If it was obvious, I wouldn't have to ask. A downvote to the question is a downvote for SU's metadata.
    – J. Gwinner
    Commented Dec 23, 2022 at 0:07
  • @Mokubai that's not the tag that was used though - it was RDS. THAT tag doesn't have the qualifiers you're using.
    – J. Gwinner
    Commented Dec 23, 2022 at 0:08
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    I didn't downvote and I never said your question was bad, I was simply providing additional related information. You mention AWS several times in this meta question and I was giving information from a closely related tag.
    – Mokubai Mod
    Commented Dec 23, 2022 at 1:55
  • Mokubai, I do appreciate the info, thank you. Think through it - if the help center only mentions 'home' in one place, and the RDS tag fits ... yes, I put things in the wrong place, but you can see that someone would. I still recommend someone change the about page on SU to say "Home computer hardware" and "home computer software" as it's honestly not clear. I'd also add under the "Not about" to say "Not about Cloud Providers such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud". It really isn't clear. The only time 'home' is used is for "Home computer networking". I did check that page before posting.
    – J. Gwinner
    Commented Dec 23, 2022 at 21:39

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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SU isn't for infrastructure type things.

As per our help center Super User is for home computing questions.

There's a couple of possible sites for this - but naturally check topicality

Serverfault - deployment to and management of third-party provided information technology platforms

Devops might work, but I don't see anything specific there that confirms it

Since its essentially SQL on AWS, as per the answer that was given to the linked answer, our DBA site would also likely work. I suspect its the best option here since Database Administration including configuration and backup / restore is mentioned on their help pages.

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  • Ah, got it. Who in the world runs RDS on their home machines? Or is this a duplicate acronym? I only posted the question here as there were other RDS questions here.
    – J. Gwinner
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 0:57
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    People sometimes ask the questions on the 'wrong' sites, and sometimes we miss em. It isn't really worth the effort to hunt them down individually and older questions can't be migrated.
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 0:58
  • I thought about DBA, but it's not SQL on AWS. The DBA site is about SQL questions or SQL setup. This is about log aggregation and storage. And yea, I looked at DevOps. Thank you for a clear response, btw.
    – J. Gwinner
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 0:59
  • Sure, but it would clearly be worth the effort to remove the tag, as it leads to misunderstandings. Or is it impossible to remove a tag that's already assigned to a question?
    – J. Gwinner
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 0:59
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    Come to think of it, some questions might also be 'end user' which is vaguely on topic for us. The suggested sites are better fits IMO
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 0:59
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    Tag removal involves a lot of bumped questions and pain. We do do it sometimes, but once again, the benefit here's marginal, and its a ton of manual work and disruptive bumped questions. So.... its possible but ugh, not something that I'd look forward to.
    – Journeyman Geek Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 1:01
  • I hear you. I thought maybe it was Remote Desktop Services - which probably is an SU thing - but no, it says Amazon RDS. I did recreate the itinerant question over on Serverfault. It also has an RDS tag. I will say, this has been very frustrating. I really did spend over an hour figuring the right place, and did it based on that tag and the older question. The three people that closed my question never left a single comment.
    – J. Gwinner
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 1:08
  • I HIGHLY recommend someone change the about page on SU to say "Home computer hardware" and "home computer software" as it's honestly not clear. I'd also add under the "Not about" to say "Not about Cloud Providers such as AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud". It really isn't clear. The only time 'home' is used is for "Home computer networking"
    – J. Gwinner
    Commented Dec 22, 2022 at 1:09

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