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We get lots of questions about Windows Server. By their very nature, most of these questions specifically involve a business environment and therefore do not belong on Super User, since both the help center and tour state that "issues specific to corporate IT support and networks" are off topic here.

I've already rewritten the tag wiki excerpts for the various Windows Server versions:

All of these tag wiki excerpts now contain the following text (changed to conform to "Questions about Small Business environments on topic?" and per Hennes's answer):

Questions about administering Windows Server systems that are specific to a business environment are off topic for Super User; please consider asking on Server Fault instead if your question is on topic there.

However, how do we deal with all those questions that are already on our site? Should we vote to close or migrate them en masse? What else should we do?


Of course, I recognize that people may run a Windows Server machine in a home or testing environment for any of a variety of reasons and questions of this sort should not be migrated. How do we distinguish between business and non-business Windows Server questions?

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    We (as in auditors) need to verify, before we migrate a question from here to Serverfault, that it will actually be on topic at Serverfault. I always use the general rule, if the question would have problems being answered here at Superuser, then perhaps being migrated to Serverfault (or any other SE Website) isn't the best course of action.
    – Ramhound
    Jul 18, 2016 at 16:59

3 Answers 3

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SF mod chiming in...

tl;dr: Don't migrate crap.

If the OP is clearly clueless, I don't care if it's a business environment - we don't want their question because the professional way to handle that situation is "Well, hire someone to help you out.".

If, however, the OP has:

  1. Given evidence that they've worked on the problem on their own,
  2. Provided ample details on the environment to help others understand the situation, and
  3. Have administrative privileges on the system(s) in question,

...then yes migrate away.

Now, we don't expect SU users or mods to be experts in what is on-topic at Serverfault, and I recognize that some bad questions may get migrated. If in doubt, and if you're a mod, ping the SF mods in the Teachers' Lounge chat room for us to weigh in on whether or not we want the question.

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  • The "don't migrate crap" rule applies everywhere. I am not a mod; however, I do work closely with mods to address issues like this.
    – bwDraco
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:56
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    Hi EEAA, we don't have access to TL unless we're mods too ;-) For regular users, ServerFault is still a migration target. Jul 18, 2016 at 18:01
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    @CanadianLuke In that case, just go by the three bullets above to decide whether to vote to migrate or vote to close.
    – EEAA
    Jul 18, 2016 at 18:16
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Surely the usual rules apply;

  • If you have a high quality off topic question that is topical elsewhere then migrate it to $elsewhere.
  • If it is a low quality off topic question then close it.

Don't forget

Don't Migrate Crap

Regarding SF in particular ... SF expects questions to be in the business environment ( sadly, somewhat watered down from the original position). It also expects that the people asking the question have more than a basic understanding of systems. They should also have authority and suitable access to the systems to carry out the operations and should not need their hand holding - we don't do step by step tutorials!


Regarding the old stuff. Again the usual rules apply and remember no one can migrate stuff which is older than 60 days.

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  • Worth pointing out. Many of the questions that I (personally) see asked at Superuser that are with regards to Windows Server, is often asked by people, who do not appear to have even a begineers knowlege on the subject.
    – Ramhound
    Jul 18, 2016 at 18:10
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    @Ramhound In that case, just close the question in stead of migrating it. If you're feeling charitable, recommend that they hire someone to help them out. :)
    – EEAA
    Jul 18, 2016 at 18:20
  • @EEAA I normally do exactly that
    – Ramhound
    Jul 19, 2016 at 21:47
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Questions about administering a Windows Server system in a business environment are off topic for Super User and should be asked on Server Fault instead.

As a high snobbed [SF] user: Fuck no!*

Serverfault is not the place to ask about any business environment setup. It assumes you know what you are doing. SF will not issue warnings that you need to make a backup before reinstalling a system. It assumes you have at least two, as any sane admin would.

It is not the place for all of these questions, though some might indeed fit. Please elaborate and at least add a 'read the SF FAQ to see if it is on-topic there'.




* (excuse the profanity)

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  • Every user is responsible for making sure that questions are on topic for the site on which they are being asked, and I don't want to make the tag wiki excerpts too long. Is this qualification necessary?
    – bwDraco
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:07
  • Should be: No. In practice; I fear yes.
    – Hennes
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:08
  • I'm not a regular on SF so I don't quite hold the same strong opinion. I'm very disdainful of the attitude IT folks have, no matter how stressful the job may be.
    – bwDraco
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:10
  • A tad more polite: a smimilar answer in the past: meta.superuser.com/questions/7377/…
    – Hennes
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:12
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    Oh, it is not an attitude. Instead there are assumptions on SF. Migrating all workfloor related questions make that a bad idea. Migrating some after considering if they are on topic there is fine. I just read the (admitted short) blurb as a 'they all belong there'. No. Some do. Some do not.
    – Hennes
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:14
  • "It assumes you know what you are doing. … It assumes you have at least two [backups], as any sane admin would." The most upvoted question in the backup tag asks: Why is RAID not a backup? -- It seems there are many users on SF who think this is not obvious.
    – Daniel Beck Mod
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:26
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    Not just "Why is RAID not backup?", but also "Why is RAID not offsite backup?".
    – Hennes
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:30
  • @DanielBeck that's correct, they are users not admins. The vast majority of the people who frequent SF are in fact from SO... ergo users.
    – user35787
    Jul 18, 2016 at 17:45

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