Questions tagged [faq]
These questions are the most frequently asked and answered questions on Meta.
17 questions
3 votes
1 answer
406 views
Why can't I ask customer service-related questions here?
I have questions about how I go about using various tools or products. Can I ask these questions here? If not, why? Where can I ask them?
23 votes
1 answer
1k views
I have a question, but it may not fit best on Software Engineering. Where else can I ask it?
What other Stack Exchange sites are there that may be able to answer my questions about software engineering or software development?
18 votes
1 answer
3k views
Why are implementation and debugging questions off-topic on Software Engineering?
Questions that are asking for debugging ("help me find this error") or implementation ("how do I write...") have tended to be closed and down voted. Why is this? And where should I ask these ...
24 votes
1 answer
1k views
When is a software licensing question on topic?
I would like to ask a question about software licensing. The help center says: If you have a question about... ... software licensing and it is not about... ... legal advice or aid It seems like ...
20 votes
1 answer
2k views
Where does my tool question go?
I have a question about tools. According to the on-topic page, tool questions are off-topic on Software Engineering Stack Exchange. Is there a site for me to go to ask specific tool questions?
125 votes
3 answers
12k views
What goes on Software Engineering (previously known as Programmers)? A guide for Stack Overflow
Moderator Note: Programmers changed its name recently to Software Engineering. This post has been updated to reflect the new scope, but it still refers to Programmers for historical reasons. Wherever ...
user40980
37 votes
1 answer
7k views
Green fields, blue skies, and the white board - what is too broad?
I've been accused of having questions that are too blue sky-y or green fieldy and not white boardy enough. What does this mean and why do those questions get closed?
42 votes
3 answers
1k views
Where can I have subjective discussions about programming?
I entered Softwareengineering Stack Exchange and unfortunately, it wasn't what I was looking for. I expected you would be able to talk about all kinds of programming, but the rules are much stricter ...
user143253
49 votes
4 answers
6k views
On the troubles of naming and terminology
Difficulty with naming has a bit of a history with programming. There are two hard problems in computer science: caching, naming, and off by one errors. It has been repeatedly revisited on meta and ...
user40980
45 votes
11 answers
23k views
Why was my question closed or down voted?
Help! My question was closed (or down voted). Why? And what can I do about it? Downvoted Duplicate Off topic What technology to take up next Recommend a software library, tool, book, research ...
1109 votes
13 answers
57k views
Open letter to students with homework problems
It is September once again (today is the 8755th day of September), and once again students are asking their homework problems on Stack Overflow and SoftwareEngineering.SE. We start seeing questions ...
user40980
12 votes
2 answers
303 views
A guide to moderating programmers.stackexchange yourself - close voting
One thing that keeps coming up is the number of questions that are closed solely by moderator action on this site. We've already been over some of the issues, but I'm going to take this opportunity to ...
14 votes
2 answers
466 views
Are software law questions off-topic here?
Most of the answers to legal questions here are prefixed with "I'm not a lawyer, but..." I'm beginning to think that including "software law" as on-topic is way too broad, and opens the door to ...
Thomas OwensMod
- 85.9k
16 votes
2 answers
2k views
Are book recommendations on-topic?
We get a lot of book recommendation questions, so much so that it's hard to keep up with them. We've been closing them as off-topic, not a real question, and not constructive based on a few different ...
user8
4 votes
2 answers
777 views
Are "I'm looking for X" questions on topic?
The question Is there something else like SquareSpace out there? (10k link) reminded me that there is nothing explicit in our FAQ about shopping recommendation questions. The question starts out with: ...
- 32.1k