5

Tl;Dr What is the current SU stand about troubleshooting questions?

I'm a long time computer user used to do my best to solve "simple" problems, long time lurker on multiple forums including SU and contributor on a bunch (lately less than few years ago). I used to think that troubleshooting questions were on topic here and pointed some people to come making emphasis on checking SU's how to ask / on topic docs. I have the intention to be more specific on issues where the symtoms includes web applications and browsers like

Regarding the above specific case, if the OP doesn't improve their question I'm considering the possibility of posting a self answered question, but I'm still not have a very clear idea of the SU stand about troubleshooting in cases were the symptoms involves Gmail + Safari + MacOs + Utilities, or more general the symptoms involves a web app + web browser + operative system + utilities.

Some example of SU tags of "cloud services" having a web app

Cloud Services having a web app might also be referred as Software as a Service (SaaS)

  • Ask on WebApps.StackExchange.com unless your problem is specifically about your browser or computer

  • Mostly off-topic at Super User, questions are better suited to WebApps.stackexchange.com. Questions about the interaction between a browser and the website may be on topic.

  • Webmail service provided by Google. See WebApps.StackExchange.com first as that's where they most likely will be on topic unless using with a desktop client

  • WhatsApp is a messaging app for mobile phones, and it also features web and desktop version for Windows and Mac OS. Use this tag only for WhatsApp Desktop apps. For WhatsApp mobile apps, please post on Apple.SE or Android.SE. For WhatsApp Web, please post on WebApps.SE.

Related

From SU (main site)

From Meta

Scope

Clean-ups

From Meta SE

1
  • 1
    Thanks for asking the question - always good to get clarification and an update! :)
    – Monomeeth
    Commented Feb 1, 2023 at 2:10

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

I don't think its really changed very much

Firstly - the troubleshooting tag isn't wanted because its a meta tag, not because it is out of scope. Presuming that OP's put/putting in the work/given us the details troubleshooting questions are the bread and butter, or at least the breakfast idly of this site.

If the problem is 'clearly' on the browser end, it is on scope for us. Stuff like cert failures, the site failing to load on one PC and not another and so on. Its a computer problem.

If its a problem with a webapp specifically - and there's no real troubleshooting to be done locally that'll do any good, we've a perfectly good site for that.

1
  • 1
    Thank you very much. I feel that the troubleshooting stand is abit scatteered across several posts. I tried to make a summary and to include something to about web apps but it resulted in something too long. I will try to reduce it later (wondering if ChatGPT could help with that, hehe).
    – user152004
    Commented Feb 1, 2023 at 1:48
2

Here is my attempt to summarize the links in the question about the stand of SU about troubleshooting computers questions with something extra.

  1. Before asking a question, ideally the OP should search throughly for whatever it be required to understand the problem and to learn what are the relevant details that a computers expert might require to be able to provide an appropriate answer. Tips: Review the tag wikis. Search for canonical Q/A. Users having the a network wide earned reputation of 20 might join Root Access, SU's main chat room, to ask if there is someone willing/avaible to provide guidance.
    If you learned that you need a customer service agent then you should use the corresponding company contact options.
  2. Collect the required details. When answers / solutions about the same problem were found try the suggested solutions.
    Users having the required reputation, please vote!
  3. Write a brief but complete question including links to the most relevant posts explaining why they didn't help. It's not necessary to include a detailed log of all what have been read, tried, but keep all the details at hand in case that the experts ask for them.

Computers and other elements are required to use web apps but some of the them are unreacheble to users. In such cases users should contact a customer service agent from the respective company. Questions about web apps elements that can be handled by users might be on topic in Web Applications. The exception are highly specialized topics; Stack Exchange have other sites where they might be on topic, i.e. Google Workspace administrators might ask questions related to setting up a corporate email service in Server Fault, the site for professional system administrators, webmasters might ask questions , measuring conversions using Google Analytics in Webmasters the site for professional webmasters, enthusiasts of the latest consumer techology hype (Nov 2022 to date) might ask how ChatGPT works in Artificial Intelligence, the site about Artificial Intelligence science, etc.

You must log in to answer this question.