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Sometimes I really wonder why people bring questions here that are very specific to a certain application.

E.g. AutoHotKey not working with Outlook 2010

I know that SU is for software and hardware, so the questions do not violate any rules here. But quite often it does not make much sense to ask the question here. People here most certainly aren't dumb, but SU has its strength in the domain where a question does not really fit anywhere, i.e. is sufficiently general.

I am tempted to point the person to a different site that deals exclusively with this application, even if it's outside of the StackOverflow galaxy. I hesitate because I do not want to presume that nobody here knows the answer. And I don't want to make the impression that I am too lazy to answer, though sometimes I am.

My question is: is it okay to refer someone elsewhere? If it is acceptable, should I respect a "grace" period of - say, a month or two weeks?

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Sometimes I really wonder why people bring questions here that are very specific to a certain application.

That's basically the entire point of Super User - we solve problems for all computer Software and Hardware.

Redirecting them to another forum is what we do NOT want you to do - we are here to give you answers.

But quite often it does not make much sense to ask the question here.

Why doesn't it? The question is about two pieces of software that are apparently supposed to work together. Nothing wrong with that.

People here most certainly aren't dumb, but SU has its strength in the domain where a question does not really fit anywhere, i.e. is sufficiently general.

No.

Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users. If you have a question about …

  • computer hardware
  • computer software

Also, a little extra from Tom Wijsman:

I would like to add that the only reason to send someone somewhere else is for Customer Support or Bug Reporting, sometimes problems are unique and can't be solved by any forum or Q&A site (excluding reverse engineers that spent some nifty work on it)..

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    +1 I agree; I would like to add that the only reason to send someone somewhere else is for Customer Support or Bug Reporting, sometimes problems are unique and can't be solved by any forum or Q&A site (excluding reverse engineers that spent some nifty work on it)...
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Dec 6, 2011 at 0:28
  • ok, I won't send anyone elsewhere anymore.
    – user 99572 is fine
    Commented Dec 6, 2011 at 8:43
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    I'd like to add that I prefer answers that include source material. That is to say, if 'somewhere else' gave me the answer, I prefer to share that source in my own answer. Its not a redirect, but the additional "and here's where to look for such specific information about this software" is also helpful on its own.
    – mikebabcock
    Commented Feb 5, 2013 at 5:27

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