Questions tagged [discussion]
The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions, influence site policy, or debate a particular topic, with the goal of reaching a community consensus.
3,141 questions
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How should my flagging change when I gain the ability to vote to close?
My rep is going to reach 3,000 soon (2,987 at the time of this post), so I should be able to vote to close soon. How should my flagging habits change when I gain this ability? What should I do when ...
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Goodbye Mod team, I'm a mere mortal again
First, the tl;dr: Starting today, I am no longer a community moderator on Super User.
Over the past weeks, I've made the decision to step down as a moderator. I was elected on July 24, 2012, and it's ...
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Is discussion of techniques for removing DRM permitted?
I just asked a question about how to remove DRM from Kindle books that I had purchased and it was promptly closed by the moderator studiohack with the following comment:
We don't encourage this ...
- 1,661
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Ending my tenure as a superuser moderator
To the superuser community,
I have officially submitted my resignation as a superuser moderator to the community team. I would like to thank everyone who I have collaborated with over the years &...
- 37.5k
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Manufacturer & Company tags are back. Again
We don't like company-only tags, and there's been various crusades in the past to purge them:
Can we get rid of the company tags?
Company tag necromancy: The zombie apocalypse!
What should the [...
93
votes
11
answers
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High reputation users having trouble understanding Super User?
With about 1 million views a month at the moment, Super User is turning out to be successful, however due to the general audience the concept of a Q&A vs. a forum is still something we need to ...
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How do I ask a question that may require recommending software?
I have a problem that I need solved, and it may require the recommendation of software. How do I ask these type of questions so that they aren't closed?
Note: This is for reference to point users ...
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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 ...
- 26.5k
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Revisit the Hackintosh policy
This answer from 2010 is oft-cited as reason for questions about "Hackintoshes" (fancy word for "Running macOS on non-Apple hardware") not being allowed. The reasoning is that we ...
user194458
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Can we be nicer to folks whose English isn't that great?
I've noticed over the past few days a handful of comments that have been a little too aggressive about poor English. I mod messaged someone who pretty much asked how someone was going to write his ...
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Where can I ask questions that aren't Super User questions?
Thank you for your confidence in our abilities!
But have you read our FAQ?
We get a lot of non computer related questions on here.
Yes, someone here might be able to help you, but you'll find that ...
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What is the difference between Super User and Stack Overflow?
I'm trying to understand the difference between Super User and Stack Overflow. What kind of questions should I ask here and not on Stack Overflow?
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New functionality: convert close votes
Close votes can be retracted from a question, but after that, no more close votes can be cast on that particular question.
I understand that voting and revoking several times would negatively impact ...
- 21.9k
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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 ...
- 27.8k
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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 ...
- 57.7k
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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 ...
DavidPostillMod
- 160k
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Please vote on proposed changes to our policy on tablet computers
We recently asked how you feel about questions regarding Windows 8 on ARM. After looking through the answers and comments there, and some lengthy discussion amongst the moderators, we've come up with ...
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This is not a farewell…
This is not a farewell, but rather an explanation.
What happened?
As some of you might have noticed, I have not been hanging out on SuperUser — or any Stack Exchange site — nowadays as much as I had ...
- 56.8k
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Is superuser unfriendly to beginners? & How to help beginners understand
Background: I am a beginner with absolutely no Computer Science background. I am completely self-taught, which means that I only learn things as needed. As such, I know less basics than I should. ...
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Please do not remove general OS tags
Are we removing general OS tags? Did I miss a meeting?
I've seen some edits in the review queue where users are removing general OS tags along with the burmination candidates. Is this community ...
- 53.9k
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2017 Community Moderator Election Results
Super User's fourth moderator election has come to a close, the votes have been tallied, and the new moderator is:
He'll be joining the existing crew shortly — please thank him for volunteering, and ...
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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 ...
- 8,767
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Are "Hackintosh" questions allowed?
I've seen questions about pirating software down voted and closed. I'm wondering if Hackintosh questions are also disallowed? If so, why?
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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 ...
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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 ...
- 26.5k
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General moderators' strike
Open letter here: https://openletter.mousetail.nl
I haven't decided what I think about this yet.
It seemed fairly apparent months ago that technical support was a prime target for ChatGPT et al., and ...
- 27.3k
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How are we going to deal with Windows 8 on ARM?
Just to get this discussion going, before the product actually launches and we have to make hasty decisions. As a reference, here's the previous discussion:
Should Tablet Computer questions be allowed ...
- 24.8k
46
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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 ...
- 4,862
46
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Let's retire the [sysadmin]
The sysadmin tag has a different meaning almost every question, and it never seems to refer to the actual role of a system administrator. It seems to be used for questions that have to do with the ...
- 41.7k
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Congratulations on 1 million users! 🎉🎉🎉
I just saw this a few minutes ago, saying you guys had 1,000,720 total users! I'm assuming this happened recently, so I though I'd bring it to attention!
This is a really good site that helps so many ...
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Nicer <kbd> style
Apple.SE has a much nicer design for kbd tags:
It works much better for embedding it in other text (e.g. an explanation) as it contains a sans-serif font and a more subtle border. The style currently ...
Daniel BeckMod
- 111k
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Continuous overuse of moderation rights
Occassionally I come upon a question which seems rather obvious to me, but was nevertheless closed as either "not focused enough" (example 1) or "unclear what's being asked" (example 2).
Well that's ...
- 481k
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modprobe -r [modules]
60 questions tagged modules. Most of them are dealing with kernel-modules. Others talk about Apache2/Perl/Python/Puppet/Drupal/Slax modules. There's even one about memory modules.
The [modules] tag ...
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Super User attracting too many open-ended/subjective questions?
The top listed questions on the front page of superuser.com at the moment:
Side Effects of Reformatting Hard Drive
Must have iPhone applications
“Must-Have” Firefox Addons?
What is Wolfram Alpha good ...
- 2,901
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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 ...
- 8,767
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Troggy's beefy arm of moderation needs a break
The smell of smoldering thatched roof cottages lingers in the distance. A ♦ seems to be newly absent from those old dragon scales.
As part of the 2014 SuperUser moderator election coming to a close, ...
- 10.2k
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Please don't vote to close Excel questions as off-topic
During routine review queue patrols, I noticed that several microsoft-excel questions were being voted to close as off-topic:
https://superuser.com/review/close/335558
https://superuser.com/review/...
- 46.4k
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What do a writer, taxi, and horse have in common?
Answer: we don't yet have questions with the hack tag covering these, perhaps the only common uses of the term not included.
hack and its synonym hacking are undefined and have 44 questions. The ...
- 27.8k
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Do we care about edit flooding? Should we be doing anything?
Edit flooding is the term I'm using for when a single user (or small group of users) perform a lot of edits in a small space of time and effectively take over the front page - pushing a lot of new ...
- 18.7k
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Should we ban ChatGPT on Super User?
Edit: This question is old. Please see the newer post:
Use of ChatGPT is now banned on Super User
There is a new AI chatbot called ChatGPT by OpenAI. It appears to be able to answer questions and ...
- 10.5k
40
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3
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What will we do to promote Super User when Windows 8 is released?
Historically, new Windows OS releases result in a huge traffic increase for sites that have lots of Windows content. We saw it for Super User when Windows 7 was released, and Lowell at How-to-Geek ...
- 24.3k
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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 ...
- 25.6k
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Are you interested in writing blog posts?
After the blog became officially blessed by Jeff Atwood we've got some weekly posts and daily traffic on it, with an occasional spike on some of the most interesting blog posts. However, anyone with a ...
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Remove the [Glitch] tag
The glitch tag has no use. The top five questions don't relate at all. In order:
Glitch detection in MP3 files
Glitchy GPU output
Office 2013 drawing oddly
Mouse moving on its own
Sound card ...
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Winterbash 2014 - Do we participate?
Winterbash 2014 will run from 15 December 2014 to 4 January 2015, and the Community Team needs to know if we wish to participate or not. It is completely optional, but a fun little competition between ...
- 24.5k
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Should Random be elected a moderator on Super User?
Random is very, very helpful on Super User (and of course Meta Stack Overflow).
Not that other users aren't, but Random goes the extra mile, and then some. He is often so far in the distance that I ...
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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 ...
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Do not take away earned privileges
So I guess this has probably been discussed before on other meta SE sites, sorry if I re-ignite an old and long-decided discussion here.
The thing is, I'm not a very active user on SU, more on SO. I ...
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In defense of obscure, niche hardware recommendation questions
I see that
https://superuser.com/questions/27891/keyboard-mouse-to-use-for-a-htpc-dedicated-to-the-tv
was closed.
While I don't totally disagree -- it is superficially similar to a shopping ...
- 24.3k
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4
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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 ...
- 27.8k