Linked Questions

21 votes
5 answers
1k views

Are purely non-technical answers to technical problems on-topic?

I edited this question yesterday as part of a cleanup spree. It had already gotten a fair bit of activity, but someone tweeted a link to it after I edited it, and things really took off. The topic of ...
Pops's user avatar
  • 8,553
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

Why is looking for alternative programs "not constructive"?

Background I had asked this question a while back, and received some great responses, and a great final answer that helped me out quite a ton. Everything was fine until ~yesterday. Yesterday, however, ...
user541686's user avatar
  • 23.4k
19 votes
3 answers
571 views

Can we get rid of the company tags?

I don't think any of the following tags have questions that benefit them: microsoft, apple, acer, samsung, sony, asus, ... And thinking in the meta tag way, a question that's only about those tags ...
Tamara Wijsman's user avatar
19 votes
2 answers
365 views

Should questions about using a gaming console as a PC be allowed?

As you all probably know, gaming questions have long been off-topic on SuperUser. This has included questions limited to consoles, even though they are technically "computers". I generally ...
user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
407 views

Recommendations for the BEST?

Going through @Gareth's list of candidates for closing, I find several topics that are asking about the best X, with X being software. We're usually pretty liberal with product recommendations if it'...
Daniel Beck's user avatar
  • 111k
24 votes
2 answers
450 views

Since when are software recommendations off-topic?

I want to take discussion away from Daniel's previous post. Here's my point: I've always been under the impression that software-recommendations were absolutely fine on Super User.* Now, obviously, ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 232k
18 votes
4 answers
654 views

Company tag necromancy: The zombie apocalypse!

Just when we thought we finally got rid of them all they appear to have been resurrected. adobe x 200 — about 100 software and service products, PDF, Flash, Flex, graphics and video editing, web ...
Daniel Beck's user avatar
  • 111k
12 votes
2 answers
252 views

What should we do with those ever-recurring "image entire hard drive" questions?

I think every week or so, we get the occasional "How do I copy my entire hard drive?" question. The answers are always the same, in the sense of suggesting software like Acronis TrueImage or ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 232k
22 votes
2 answers
554 views

Update the FAQ to disallow any product recommendation questions

Foreword added at +2/-1: To make this clear: As far as I can tell (and I quote a diamond moderator below), this is already official moderation policy on this site. I just want to have this added ...
Daniel Beck's user avatar
  • 111k
12 votes
3 answers
243 views

The [failure] tag, a story of fail?

Please look at the 226 questions under failure. We are a site for computer problems. Tags such as "error" often don't add any additional value. The same goes for "failure", and it's probably a bit ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 232k
7 votes
4 answers
134 views

Tag merge/synonym request: [touchpad] and [trackpad]

These two tags mean the same thing: The pointing device usually built into laptop computers. The tags for these should be merged. touchpad x 177 trackpad x 52 Vote on the answers below for your ...
Daniel Beck's user avatar
  • 111k
3 votes
2 answers
117 views

Are questions about online backup services on-topic?

Are questions about online backup services like: Dropbox Mozy CrashPlan on-topic for Super User?
slhck's user avatar
  • 232k
5 votes
2 answers
98 views

Proposed change to the Services tag wiki

The services tag wiki excerpt states: Services are processes running regardless of users logging in. They provide access and features to different programs or processes The terminology is clearly ...
Daniel Beck's user avatar
  • 111k
6 votes
3 answers
95 views

Bounties for Meta topics

On MSO, bounties are used extensively to raise awareness about specific issues. Child Meta sites don't have bounty support. The reason is stated in this related MSO topic: Child Metas don't have ...
Daniel Beck's user avatar
  • 111k
-1 votes
1 answer
76 views

Change FAQ for explanation questions

Since the consensus on this question seems to be that at least under some circumstances "how does this work" questions are allowed, I propose that instead of burying this fact under what types of ...
soandos's user avatar
  • 24.5k