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Possible Duplicate:
What's the difference between Programmers and Stack Overflow?

Programmers.SE is often seen as a dumping ground for anything not suitable for StackOverflow. How would you more clearly define the type of questions that this site is intended for?

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    I don't see how those are duplicates... It might be time for a topic like this that "clearly defines the type of questions that this site is intended for". This question could have use to be linked to in the future, instead of too lengthy discussions that don't give a clear view for new users on the type of questions that the site is intended for. The FAQ question might be a duplicate, but I guess we could have a more in-depth look here than the short description that will be listed in the FAQ... We're always talking on how we are different, I think it is time now to talk about ourselves.
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Sep 19, 2010 at 20:55
  • @TomWij: it's covering the same exact ground as all the other questions about this, most notably How can we avoid Programmers.SE from becoming the SE black sheep? from which it derives the same exact premise. There's only so many times we can rephrase the same essential question and expect wildly different answers.
    – user8
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 0:59
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    @Mark: I thought your goal in asking that question wasn't to define the site; you explicitly stated that you were looking for a way to "spin" the definition, or to describe the content in a way that would seem palatable to the admins.
    – Shog9
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 1:06
  • @Mr. C: "describe the content" and "define the content" are the same exact thing. Notwithstanding that question, the other three questions and the proposed FAQ succinctly describe the content of the site. The first part of your answer to this question states exactly what the FAQ states, and the second part is the same ground that What questions are on-topic, and what are off-topic? covers.
    – user8
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 1:45
  • The question is: what answers are going to be provided here that are different in content or character than every other question about this topic? If the answer is "none", then this question is a duplicate.
    – user8
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 1:47
  • @Mark: that first link (what should our faq contain) is a much better fit for a duplicate - I've now voted to close this in favor of that. The second makes no attempt whatsoever to be concise, and should be rightly considered a poll in the tradition of similar polls for SO and others - it may follow from the FAQ, but exists more to resolve edge cases than to provide a clear, unified definition - I see no reason to close this as a duplicate of either that or your PR question.
    – Shog9
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 1:51
  • @Mr. C: my point is that your concern about "the ever-growing number of questions that either fail these tests outright or produce ambiguous results" is something that's being actively discussed in the second question, and isn't something that succinctly defines the purpose of Programmers.SE.
    – user8
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 1:54
  • @Mr. C: and regarding the fit of How can we avoid Programmers.SE from becoming the SE black sheep?, one can derive the consensus for the purpose of the site, but that consensus is being rejected by SOIS. At some point, the results of it and What questions are on-topic, and what are off-topic? will produce a succinct definition that can be added to the FAQ.
    – user8
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 1:59
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    @Mark: Claiming that you're gonna pull a gem out of the heaps doesn't make this a duplicate. If it did, then "What should our FAQ contain?" would also be a duplicate. But it's not. They're different questions, with different purposes, and while I agree this is a duplicate of the latter, it bears little resemblance to the former.
    – Shog9
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 2:06
  • Okay, voted for What should our FAQ contain? as that will contain the final answer to this question, with the distilled results from What questions are on-topic, and what are off-topic? and other content-defining questions.
    – Tamara Wijsman
    Commented Sep 20, 2010 at 2:09
  • Sounds to me like he's asking for a mission statement, which seems distinct enough from the other questions.
    – Fishtoaster
    Commented Sep 21, 2010 at 17:43
  • I was asking for the best way to simply define it. While that's should be in the FAQ, I don't think the comments section of that post is enough to discuss what it should be.
    – Gelatin
    Commented Sep 21, 2010 at 18:00

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Were trying to define it here: What should our FAQ contain?

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