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49 votes
28 answers
4k views

Community Promotion Ads - 1H 2011 [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Community Promotion Ads - 2012 What in the Wide, Wide World of Sports is Going On Here? TL;DR -- put images and links in the answers. If they get voted up enough, they will ...
40 votes
4 answers
606 views

PSA: Just because *you* don't understand a question doesn't automatically make it unclear

All too often, I'm seeing close votes (or even closed questions) as "Unclear" on questions that are perfectly understandable to me. It seems to happen roughly once a week, and that's just ...
NotTheDr01ds's user avatar
  • 25.6k
35 votes
4 answers
468 views

Concept of "conditional" downvotes?

Down-voted questions seem to fall into two categories: fixable and unfixable. Some questions are just inappropriate, easily answerable with minimal search effort, or have other problems for which ...
fixer1234's user avatar
  • 27.8k
35 votes
1 answer
478 views

A new way to clean up tags

This is the proposal. Please see Help us clean up tags! for the result. Let's face it, we have tons of horrible tags. In the past, we used Old monthly tag cleanups to keep track of what needs to be ...
Oliver Salzburg's user avatar
31 votes
3 answers
859 views

What is the correct way to deal with obsolete answers?

Sometimes old answers were correct at the time they were written, but the march of technology has made them obsolete. For example, the command-line video encoding tool ffmpeg used to have a 'vhooks'...
evilsoup's user avatar
  • 13.9k
27 votes
11 answers
874 views

Are video game questions appropriate for superuser?

Or is it time to create another site? questions could be general discussion or tips/tricks
user avatar
24 votes
1 answer
707 views

What steps can I take to check and improve lower quality questions?

It is sometimes unclear in which way a question should be handled. What can I do to check why excactly it doesn't meet our standards? What could I do to inform the user and improve it to be of higher ...
Tamara Wijsman's user avatar
16 votes
20 answers
834 views

Community Promotion Ads - 2014 [duplicate]

It's the time of the year again, namely it is December 2013, and so we shall now refresh our Community Promotion Ads for the new year. What are Community Promotion Ads? Community Promotion Ads are ...
16 votes
2 answers
229 views

How can we take care of our old duplicates?

What's going on … There is a trend that is very easy to explain. A question is asked. It gets a few answers, and because it's the first of its kind (i.e. topic-wise), it receives a lot of popularity ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 233k
15 votes
1 answer
190 views

Mechanism for scrapping bad audit questions?

I occasionally see recommendations here to scrap specific review audit questions. It isn't clear whether there is actually a mechanism to do that. I assume the system uses the audit examples over ...
fixer1234's user avatar
  • 27.8k
14 votes
2 answers
158 views

What could we do with the [error] tag?

Well, we have a tag called error. Its description says: Please use a more specific tag instead. Awesome. So what do all these 547 questions have in common? A non-descriptive tag. On Oct. 10, @...
slhck's user avatar
  • 233k
13 votes
3 answers
351 views

Are diagnostics/troubleshooting issues on-topic and not too localized?

Following on from this question. I made a comment there: By the same token, we shouldn't automatically close any question that says "virus" anywhere in the subject or body, because it may be that ...
allquixotic's user avatar
  • 34.7k
12 votes
1 answer
272 views

Should I delete my own question if no new answer can be validated?

A while ago, I asked this question for which no solution was found. I have since re-installed the host in question and gave it to a family member. So now I will be unable to validate any answers given ...
Oliver Salzburg's user avatar
12 votes
1 answer
235 views

Should potentially "Dangerous" answers be flagged/deleted?

Referring to this question: Restore MacBook Pro to factory settings without disc, I find it rather reckless to post an answer to an OP that obviously does not know what the effects will be. Should ...
Pylsa's user avatar
  • 31.3k
11 votes
1 answer
118 views

Are "error" and "problem" meta-tags?

From http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/08/the-death-of-meta-tags/: If the tag can’t work as the only tag on a question, it’s probably a meta-tag. Clearly, error and problem fit this criterion. If ...
Hello71's user avatar
  • 8,587
9 votes
5 answers
1k views

Why was the question "Why are there 8 bits per byte?" closed?

TL;DR: I'm looking for opinions on why this question should be open or closed. Answer: I now understand why it has been closed: It is not a real problem because it has no practical use. https://...
Tamara Wijsman's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
365 views

Is it kosher to accept your answer on your own question?

I've on occasion come across the answer to my question, and feel that it's the best answer, but do not want to "rob" anyone of rightfully earned rep... What do I do? Also I'm assuming that I do NOT ...
James Mertz's user avatar
  • 26.5k
5 votes
2 answers
241 views

Should questions related to problems with beta software/prototype hardware be closed?

I saw that Windows 8.1 Preview No sound on Macbook Pro Retina was closed since it's Preview/Beta code and the issue may very well be fixed by MS or the PC manufacturer in the months to come before ...
Karan's user avatar
  • 56.9k
3 votes
2 answers
198 views

Software recommendation and software-rec tag [duplicate]

I think most people feel software recommendations are off topic here at SU - please correct me if I'm wrong. Yet, we have a software-rec tag. Is this not confusing?
Dave's user avatar
  • 25.4k
-1 votes
1 answer
100 views

How Do I Log Out? [duplicate]

Just as title says: how do I log out of this site? - I am certain that it is not good practice just closing my browser down, but I cannot find a sign-out link anywhere. - Has anyone else found one?
9A4Sc6GW4LkvRD's user avatar
63 votes
3 answers
1k views

The monster that can't be killed

The microsoft tag is like something from a sci-fi horror movie. This manufacturer meta tag was cleaned out in March of this year, but people keep using it. I just fixed the third question in the ...
fixer1234's user avatar
  • 27.8k
59 votes
2 answers
1k views

Over 54,000 questions with no answers!

We have over 54,000 questions with no answers, this feels somewhat like a concern to me. Some other ideas than just answering include: Give bounties to the highest voted questions, helping them get ...
Tamara Wijsman's user avatar
58 votes
1 answer
8k views

Use of ChatGPT is now banned on Super User

Following the discussion (Should we ban ChatGPT on Super User? - Meta Super User) regarding the usage of ChatGPT to generate questions or answers on Super User the community have voted in favour of a ...
DavidPostill's user avatar
  • 160k
49 votes
0 answers
435 views

Calling all bloggers.... Again

It's that time of the year again... Where I've completed my finals, my work tasks have slimmed a little and I think to myself I can get the blog back up and going again. So here we are! I'm calling ...
James Mertz's user avatar
  • 26.5k
43 votes
14 answers
295 views

Super User website applications policy

I recently asked this question on Super User, and a big discussion arose on appropriate questions. The issue came down to the new verbiage in the FAQ: I had figured that the websites line was just ...
Lance Roberts's user avatar
37 votes
2 answers
1k views

What the heck happened that made the question I answered so popular (and my answer along with it)?

I answered the question If 32-bit machines can only handle numbers up to 2^32, why can I write 1000000000000 (trillion) without my machine crashing? with a quick off the top of my head answer because ...
Scott Chamberlain's user avatar
32 votes
1 answer
21k views

The Master Spam List: Known spammers, spam domains, and associated IP addresses

This is a list of known spammers, spam domains, and IP addresses to which these domains point. This list is derived from spam patterns observed on Super User as well as information from DNS and ...
bwDraco's user avatar
  • 46.4k
29 votes
4 answers
345 views

Correct way to handle users requesting scripts/formulae?

I'm still trying to work out the best way to handle questions where a user is requesting an Excel formula, VBA, a batch file etc. It seems the general consensus is to request the user to include what ...
Jonno's user avatar
  • 21.5k
26 votes
2 answers
592 views

Why don't people upvote when browsing the site?

I've been on the StackExchange boards for quite some time now and it seems that people don't upvote other's answers anymore when browsing the site. At least from my experience. Let's take this ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 233k
24 votes
4 answers
716 views

Are hardware (port, cable, etc.) visual identification questions allowed or not?

Are hardware (port, cable, etc.) visual identification questions allowed or not? Specifically when it's basically just "What's this port?" and a picture. Examples: What is a name of this port? And ...
Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007's user avatar
22 votes
3 answers
503 views

Unanswered questions that are answered without upvotes or accepted answers

The Unanswered tab at the top shows that there are more than 8,000 unanswered questions, it also seems to increase every day. I think it's a bad behavior that this keeps increasing... Don't ...
Tamara Wijsman's user avatar
22 votes
0 answers
160 views

Reduce Tag Ambiguity by Requiring Objects for Transitive Verbs

It's all in the title I'd say... In short, I'm suggesting that we add 'object' validation for single-transitive verb tags without object qualifiers... For instance ... 'split' would require the ...
Edward J Beckett's user avatar
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
20 votes
3 answers
814 views

What time of the day is Super User getting the least traffic?

Due to the recent discussion about edit flooding, and one possible counter measure mentioned by @Grace Note ... You may consider that it is often wiser to perform massive edit jobs during low ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 233k
20 votes
2 answers
3k views

The infamous "My PC is freezing" question...

We all know what they are: My PC is freezing and I don't know what to do? Please help me! Here's my specs: I think it's a windows 7 It has a power supply There's some RAM ...
James Mertz's user avatar
  • 26.5k
20 votes
1 answer
527 views

Vote to Close the Vote to Close chat room

With the new Review System, questions are getting closed/reopened/improved more rapidly then before. Looking at the room activity, it's been 43 days since something was asked in there, other then one ...
Canadian Luke's user avatar
20 votes
2 answers
369 views

Where do EC2 and AWS questions truly belong?

I am a moderator on Web Applications, and I would like to address the points of this Web Apps Meta question to a wider audience, because we get more than a handful of questions on these topics that ...
jonsca's user avatar
  • 4,064
20 votes
1 answer
4k views

What is the definition of "corporate IT support"?

I've run into a few questions like this one: Restricting certain printers to certain programs. The question was written by someone working in a company. I get the impression that it is a small ...
fixer1234's user avatar
  • 27.8k
20 votes
6 answers
877 views

Official stance on Facebook questions on SU?

https://superuser.com/questions/73214/facebook-profiles-for-non-people-okay Ok, there are many questions that reference Facebook, but this one seems to be directly about facebook. I need an official ...
Troggy's user avatar
  • 10.2k
20 votes
0 answers
109 views

Tag Synonym request: [task-scheduler] vs. [windows-task-scheduler]

A pair of tags I came across on Super User - both task-scheduler and windows-task-scheduler exist, but as far I can see they're both the same thing: task-scheduler: a component in Windows that, like ...
Hannele's user avatar
  • 123
19 votes
3 answers
506 views

Add a 'No Caps Lock' message/hint/check on the website

I've seen a lot of questions that are originally in CAPS LOCK and with no formatting at all. Most recently, was this and this question with caps lock body, this question with caps lock title, and this ...
ᔕᖺᘎᕊ's user avatar
  • 6,343
18 votes
4 answers
473 views

Is it rude to answer a question that has been solved in comments?

In this question Make system sounds louder than device A couple different people helped the OP discover the solution to his problem in comments. In cases like this, is it best to just suggest to ...
user avatar
17 votes
4 answers
2k views

Submit your Blog post for the Super User Contest here:

This is an area were users can submit their entries for 'best blog post' part of the Super User 2nd Anniversary Competition. Feel free to post your submission here in its entirety. Other user can ...
James Mertz's user avatar
  • 26.5k
17 votes
3 answers
384 views

Should non-substantial edits be approved or rejected?

Should we accept/improve edit suggestions where the editors could obviously have done more? Example 1: Fixing only one letter Take this edit suggestion as an example. The only difference between the ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 233k
16 votes
4 answers
592 views

Is there a policy for or against providing executables and other self hosted downloads?

My specific case is on my answer here. Is there any policy (on SuperUser or StackExchange) in either direction concerning providing an executable I uploaded myself for others to download? Of course, ...
Bob's user avatar
  • 62.3k
16 votes
4 answers
343 views

Proposal: Sponsoring some Community FAQs and Canonical Answers

The other day in chat, Daniel Beck and Surfasb helped come up with the idea of sponsoring questions with bounties to create or improve some Community FAQs and canonical answer posts. If you're not ...
nhinkle's user avatar
  • 37.5k
16 votes
9 answers
780 views

Is downvoting link only answers acceptable?

Related: Ban lmgtfy (le me google that for you) links Based on the Why is linking bad? question as well as Are answers that contain only links really good answers? question, is it acceptable ...
BinaryMisfit's user avatar
  • 20.8k
16 votes
1 answer
144 views

Should we look up existing answers when reviewing?

Today I got an audit (which I passed because I tried to edit it - it throws a "has been deleted" error) of a seemingly good answer (I lost the link). The answer is good, however it has been removed ...
Vylix's user avatar
  • 1,776
16 votes
2 answers
343 views

Flagging posts that answer the question with something the OP has already dismissed

Note: This is a follow-up on Is “Y” really a valid answer to “I want X, and tried to do Y, but it doesn't work”? — because I don't think this is sufficiently answered, or at least doesn't seem too ...
slhck's user avatar
  • 233k
15 votes
10 answers
351 views

How do I create the Super User Logo in text?

The superuser logo has a square bracket and a curly bracket. is there a keyboard or ascii character for the "eye" dot?
user52032's user avatar
  • 121

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