Linked Questions

82 votes
4 answers
24k views

How do I recommend software in my answers?

I have a piece of software that I would like to recommend as a solution to problems. I'm trying to avoid answering with "link only" answers, and so I need help on how I can answer valid ...
James Mertz's user avatar
  • 26.3k
46 votes
10 answers
1k views

I think SU has a newbie-biting problem

I was initially going to post this as an answer to Why do certain commenters take a rude tone with new users?, but I think there's a bigger problem here that requires more discussion. Let's ignore the ...
Karu's user avatar
  • 4,734
33 votes
4 answers
488 views

We have bad question closing habits

Not all of us and not all the time, of course, and I'm sometimes guilty of this too. I don't want to point the finger at anyone - just discuss what I think is a problem and how we can improve. The ...
gronostaj's user avatar
  • 57k
23 votes
2 answers
508 views

A useful question was put on hold after six years due to software recommentation, how to respond?

I've been pondering this for the last couple of days. I was researching ways to verifiy ripped audio files and found this question which I found very useful. I thought it was a good sensible question....
starfry's user avatar
  • 1,647
17 votes
2 answers
743 views

Can we PLEASE get a definitive answer on what to do with low-quality software recommendation answers?

There are numerous Meta posts on software recommendation answers, and the advice on posting them seems to be universal. How to handle low quality ones that have been posted gets murkier by the day. ...
fixer1234's user avatar
  • 27.5k
13 votes
0 answers
214 views

I have a suggestion on what to do with the Software Rec Tag

With the upcoming release of Windows 8 we expect an influx of users and questions. I feel that we need to prep for their coming. With that in mind, the software-rec is a nuisance in mine and others ...
James Mertz's user avatar
  • 26.3k
12 votes
1 answer
241 views

Change the close question text

Would it be possible to get the text in yellow box on questions closed for requesting hardware and software recommendations to contain a link to those respective sites? Below is a recent example. ...
Burgi's user avatar
  • 6,551
11 votes
3 answers
276 views

Should we split up the off-topic "shopping" closing reason?

One of our current off-topic reasons reads like this: Questions seeking product, service, or learning material recommendations are off-topic because they tend to become obsolete quickly. Instead, ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 228k
11 votes
0 answers
113 views

Can we add a little more to the close option Off-Topic --> Recommendation?

I created a meta post that shows how to ask questions that may involve recommendations. I think that it would be good to add this to the closing option of Off-Topic --> recommendations. This is ...
James Mertz's user avatar
  • 26.3k
8 votes
1 answer
318 views

Can you please review my ban?

I have been banned from asking questions. I went through the post at What can I do when getting "We are no longer accepting questions/answers from this account"? My account does not come ...
user1744649's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
215 views

Are questions regarding "how to research things on the internet" on-topic

I came across this question: https://superuser.com/questions/659831/how-to-search-for-a-specific-program-with-a-specific-set-of-features The title seemed innocent enough, but the bulk of the ...
user avatar
7 votes
3 answers
200 views

Can any software recommendation question be made on-topic by simply asking "how"?

Can any software recommendation question be made on-topic by simply asking "how"? E.g., if the question asks "I am looking for a program that can do X", does rephrasing it as "how can I do X" makes ...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
257 views

Software recommendations - what software can do this

Is all types of software recommendation questions off topic; I appreciate it's probably not a 100% fixed rule and that some questions need to be taken as is, but, if the questions was: "What software ...
Dave's user avatar
  • 25.4k
6 votes
3 answers
122 views

Which pro-forma comments already exist for SuperUser?

I'm using AutoReviewComments script and want to customize it like I did for Ask Ubuntu. I'm using https://raw.github.com/askubuntu/ProFormaComments/master/comments.jsonp as remote source.
Danatela's user avatar
  • 514
5 votes
0 answers
53 views

Are the policies on product recommendations from 2011 and 2012 still good for 2015?

I noticed both the software rec and hardware rec tags exist and that they reference these two meta posts: How do I ask a question that may require recommending software? (2012) What is the difference ...
Raystafarian's user avatar
  • 21.7k
5 votes
0 answers
73 views

Request to reopen question 600238

This question about creating CD+Gs from MP4s was closed this morning, 27 May 2013, at 04:05 UTC for being off-topic: in its original form, the question was obviously a software-rec. Twelve minutes ...
nc4pk's user avatar
  • 9,107
4 votes
2 answers
95 views

Why is question 112455 not off-topic?

This question, which seeks "a program where I can type one, two or more components of chemical reaction and find out the result of it," is a blatant software rec question. I flagged it as off-topic (...
nc4pk's user avatar
  • 9,107
3 votes
1 answer
98 views

Request to reopen question 600447 (How can I edit multiple text files as one virtual document?)

To try and explain what I'd like to find (which I had thought not readily doable in a sound-bite), I posted a rather lengthy question earlier today that was closed for being off-topic. One person ...
TeXnewbie's user avatar
  • 221
3 votes
1 answer
73 views

Software recs - better user guidance

There are many software rec questions on meta, involving correct tags, how to ask etc, but I can't find one that covers this aspect. No matter how well a user follows the guidelines in How do I ask a ...
Tetsujin's user avatar
  • 49.5k
3 votes
1 answer
77 views

Why do you regard a factual question about software as "outdated quickly and attract opinion-based answers"?

Why is a question about a capability of a software or for as "software that does x-action" put on hold or closed with the justification that it is "outdated quickly and attract opinion-based answers"? ...
user291737's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
106 views

Difficulty formulating question such that it does not elicit theoretical vs practical debate

In this question, I am trying to ask for something that from user experience sounds very simple "I would like want an software that blocks something for me as administrator on a computer" (...
a.t.'s user avatar
  • 393
3 votes
1 answer
49 views

Are questions about recommending plug ins or add on off topic?

I know software recommendations are off topic and to me, an add on / plug in is software but, not sure if that is true for all? For example, "please recommend a plug in / add on for Chrome so I can ...
Dave's user avatar
  • 25.4k
3 votes
1 answer
83 views

Why was my question on RTF editing problems on linux closed?

I asked a question about a specific problem with RTF editing on linux with details about what I tried and observed, but my question was closed as off-topic. How can I edit huge RTF files produced by ...
Bogatyr's user avatar
  • 169
2 votes
1 answer
79 views

Why is question 480733 off topic?

https://superuser.com/questions/480733/communication-software-wanted-email-sms-im-phone-calls Would you please explain, why this question is off topic? I think I am a power user making high ...
user63835's user avatar
  • 354
2 votes
1 answer
67 views

Why offtopic and if truly offtopic then where to ask it? http://superuser.com/questions/610759

I asked this question How to determine whether audio is music or not I have read https://superuser.com/help/on-topic and I am baffled as to why was it put on hold and later closed as OFFTOPIC by ...
Costin Gușă's user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
24 views

Reviewing questions including "is there a script" about userscripts

Tl;Dr: I'm reviewing open questions about userscripts. During this review I might suggest edits and flag posts. The intention of this post is to share my current ideas about the edits that I think ...
user avatar
2 votes
0 answers
36 views

Request to reopen question 1736397

My question has been closed immediately after I asked it. The closed message dialog links to another question: How do I ask a question that may require recommending software?. The accepted answer with ...
user1785730's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
112 views

Why is it not allowed to recomend a specific product? [duplicate]

For example what is wrong with the question "which is the best Anti-Virus"? If the problem is there is no best then how can the question be rephrased so that the asker can make an informed decision as ...
Celeritas's user avatar
  • 8,229
1 vote
2 answers
63 views

Question was closed?

Why was this closed? This seems like it matches the Q&A format. What can I use to track application internet usage?
Caleb Jares's user avatar
  • 2,649
1 vote
1 answer
72 views

Is this site not partly about uncommon specific software solutions?

My question was in regards to asking for a solution that takes up a cumulative hour or so of my time every-single-day . I am now able to do this in a fraction of the time, thanks to my question. (yeah,...
mawburn's user avatar
  • 214
1 vote
2 answers
476 views

Are tool requests on topic?

Are questions asking for a particular tool providing certain functionality on topic or not? I don't use SuperSure.SE often so I'm not entirely sure what is in scope and what isn't. The faq made me ...
Steven Jeuris's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
68 views

I believe my question was unfairly closed as off-topic

I cannot understand my mistake, and now feel discouraged to try solving my issue with the help of community. The question is this: How can I constantly monitor if my server has network traffic? I'm ...
Justinas Dūdėnas's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
73 views

How can I ask for a program? [duplicate]

Occasionally I like to ask questions about programs that has the features I´am asking for. Sometime ago I did a questions like that: Looking for a program that stores images from the clipboard But ...
Peterstone's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
80 views

Question about converting a multi-page PDF file to PNG files - can it be reopened?

This is about my question: How to convert a multi-page PDF file to PNG files, with one PNG file per page of the PDF document? - which has been recently closed as off-topic for "seeking product, ...
galacticninja's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
41 views

Question closed for offtopic, does not make sense

Closed (-2 votes): https://superuser.com/questions/461215/ultra-deep-fractal-viewer Not closed (+7 votes): Good fractal visualizer May I hear the logic in that? The both questions are basically the ...
Rookie's user avatar
  • 1,233
0 votes
0 answers
63 views

Where it the line drawn between asking for product recomendations and trying to find a tool for a task [duplicate]

I was happy to find a question about on-screen rulers with many recommendations for programs. I was surprised it didn't have any close votes. Under what circumstances is it ok to ask for a name of a ...
Celeritas's user avatar
  • 8,229
-1 votes
1 answer
68 views

is this question off topic

I recently asked https://superuser.com/questions/650929/tool-software-to-surprise-during-birthday on Super User. Will the question would be off topic? I have mentioned my problem clear. Normal search ...
BlueBerry - Vignesh4303's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
56 views

Can I ask for software recommendations? [duplicate]

I understand the need for questions to be concise, and with limited scope; however I'm looking for an answer the following type of question: Can someone recommend a piece of software that does (a) ...
hazymat's user avatar
  • 345
-2 votes
1 answer
80 views

Why this question is closed as off-topic?

I know the what questions are on topic, but I fail to understand, why asking about pdf-viewing has fallen out? I did not ask about shopping recommendation. I express disappointment that 5 people did ...
Adam Ryczkowski's user avatar
-3 votes
2 answers
63 views

Question 540289 re-open request

The question https://superuser.com/questions/540289/online-backup-services-that-cannot-access-your-data is not my question and was closed by a moderator but I feel that the question is useful enough ...
Scott Chamberlain's user avatar
-4 votes
1 answer
78 views

Including a reference to the proposed "Software Recommendations" site

There is a plethora of questions here (in meta) that involve what to do about questions involving "Software recommendations". None of them seem to mention the proposal for the Software Recommendations ...
dtmland's user avatar
  • 2,783
-4 votes
1 answer
737 views

Since when were command-line tools off-topic?

I previously asked this question on Meta to query the overzealous closing of this SU question as a duplicate. The moderator who initially closed it, without justification or explanation of the ...
Hashim Aziz's user avatar
  • 12.7k
-5 votes
1 answer
88 views

Re-opening my question on ebook managment tools

My question: Ebook management: how to catalog/access files in their original location I believe my question can be reopened with probably some minor modifications.
prusswan's user avatar
  • 338
-7 votes
3 answers
200 views

Why was this question closed as "Questions seeking product, service, or learning material recommendations"?

I asked the following question: Is there a list of Electronic Medical Record (EMR) systems that Dragon Professional Individual intentionally do not support? http://shop.nuance.com/store/nuanceus/...
Franck Dernoncourt's user avatar
-8 votes
3 answers
139 views

Closure of question and rude approach

My question here has been closed. Rename files 000…001…002… to 001…002…003 as too broad. From my point of view, it is clear what I am asking. I'm asking of a simple way for these files to be renamed, ...
mt025's user avatar
  • 3,361
-9 votes
1 answer
80 views

Seriously consider removing the "no software recommendations" rule, or stop moderators from abusing it

You encounter a specific computing problem. You search for a solution everywhere and don't find one. You spend a considerable length of time writing a well-thought-out, researched, eloquent and ...
WackGet's user avatar
  • 771