Questions tagged [on-topic-definition]
The on-topic-definition tag has no usage guidance.
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Are JIRA usage questions on topic here?
I recently asked Adding todos for myself to JIRA issues assigned to others, and it was quickly closed (and poorly received by multiple users) with a reason stating that it belonged on SO.
This is fine;...
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Is this SE site the appropriate one for “Figma architecture questions”?
I asked the following question on ux.stackexchange.com, but it got closed as off-topic. Also, I suppose it does not belong on neither Stack Overflow, graphicdesign.stackexchange.com nor superuser.com. ...
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Can I ask for feedback on a list of ideas and thoughts, and the pros and cons I could think of, about designing a chess game?
I'd like to try coding a program to play chess. Therefore, to help myself, I'm writing down some possible choices that I will have to make to design the program (e.g. what data type for the chessboard,...
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Interview questions are off-topic. What about questions that I, as the interviewer, have?
If I'm interviewing someone for a programming job and I have questions about how I'd best assess whether the candidate actually has a particular skill, would that be an on-topic questions?
An example ...
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Is this question on-topic here?
Not sure if SE is the right place to ask, so checking first...
I am writing a web-based app for use in a private office (local network, no outside access). We have an agreement that they are not to ...
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Does this site support questions asking to evaluate alternative solutions to a problem and if yes, how can I ask them?
This is how I tend to use this site (and other SE sites):
I work.
I run into a problem I cannot solve myself (at least not easily, without devoting very substantial time or effort I cannot now devote)...
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What's wrong with this question about React event handling conventions?
Is there a standard convention for onChange handlers for react components?
This question attracted -3 votes within the first hour of posting.
It relates to function signatures for onChange on React ...
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Is discussion of models for hiring, promoting, and reviewing developers on-topic discussion?
Background
tl;dr question is at the bottom
I am currently working as a middle manager for a mid-market manufacturing company that has an IT department consisting of:
6 developers (one lead, two ...
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How to ask about "How to write specification for a web application?"
I'm a software developer, and I have a friend who isn't (maybe call him an aspiring product manager)
He has an idea for a web application, and wants to write a design or specification for it:
So ...
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Arguing with answers VS expressing ideas
I'm talking about this edit of Why not use SQL instead of GraphQL?, a quite controversial question by me.
Basically, I got a lot of enlightening comments and answers from this community, but I'm ...
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Popular, detailed, controversial answer on a legal topic deleted. Appropriate?
I was surprised to find that my answer
"Reports of GPLv3 and AGPLv3 "virality" are greatly exaggerated"
for the question "AGPL - what you can do and what you can't"
was deleted -- the first time a ...
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Where to ask questions about how to write a job application?
I have some special questions about 'job applications' for a software engineering job.
Is this the right place to ask something about writing a job application?
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Why was my question moved to StackOverflow?
My recent attempt to participate in this website has left me very confused about what is considered "on topic" here. I asked this question, which seemed like a good fit for this site because it is ...
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Is this a place to ask blockchain questions?
I don't have a specific question, but I can see the possibility of future questions about blockchain development. I believe there are enough questions that could and will be asked about blockchain ...
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First-time user suggestion for improved on-topic clarity
I have this question that I thought was well-suited to a site that describes itself as:
...a question and answer site for professionals, academics, and students working within the systems ...
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What is wrong with "does this (anti-)pattern have a name" questions?
I asked this question: Is this a known pattern: A utility class that attracts new methods, even when these are not re-used? - and the only "reply" that I got from the community is
If we had a name ...
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Is this place right to ask about specific clean code practices? [duplicate]
I've been focusing on clean code lately and I'd like to know if this is the right place to upload code that I believe can improve in this matter. Obviously well written and documented code.
If this ...
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reference-request tag is missing [duplicate]
Why there is no reference-request tag?
I want to ask where can I read about a certain topic.
Are questions like this offtopic?
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Do we need to provide guidance for questions related to ethics?
I would like to edit this question/answer to provide specific guidance for asking and answering questions related to ethics on Software Engineering:
Ethics questions are on-topic, given that direct
...
Thomas OwensMod
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Are Turing Machine diagrams on-topic?
I was hoping to get some feedback on a Turing Machine I designed, but I'm not sure where to ask it appropriately. Code Review's don't ask page says "We review code, not concepts, diagrams, or outlines....
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We have a scope problem with Software Engineering's tagline
Visitors to our site are taking the words "who care about delivering software responsibly" in our tagline as evidence of question topicality. Witness:
https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/...
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Are questions regarding to Software performance testing off-topic?
I have been asked to prepare the whole performance test plan for the current project I'm working on. This is the first time I have to take forward such task by my own and ,honestly, I don't even know ...
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Is this question about code reviews on topic? If not, why?
The question What is best practice when running code reviews (formerly How can I tactfully suggest improvements to review others' badly designed code during review?) seems to have been closed about a ...
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Should we continue to accept software licensing questions?
Our current guidance regarding software licensing can be found here. The current guidance says that a general rule of thumb is that questions answerable by experts in software development are on-topic,...
Thomas OwensMod
- 79.3k
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I have made an observation, can i ask about the cause?
I am currently trying to figure out how it is possible that nearly all of our 2D software vector graphics engines exhibit a flaw. This flaw is known and we know how to circumvent it, there is even a ...
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How do I ask a "Best Practices" question?
Questions containing the words:
What is the "best practice," or
What is the "right way," or
Which technique is "most popular," "most sensible," "most reasonable," "okay," "wise," "acceptable," "most ...
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What topics are not "part of the SDLC" but are nevertheless still on topic?
It would be beneficial to aggregate in one location everything that is actually on topic here, particularly when topics are exceptions to "is it part of the SDLC?" as a rule of thumb.
I had thought ...
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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?
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Are questions related to programming-related qualifications on-topic here?
As a teen I had no interest in going to university and getting a degree as I did not know what I wanted in life.
I am now a few years in to what I could happily see grow into a life-long career as a ...
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Looking for algorithms
I have a problem I'm trying to solve and I'm looking for an algorithm to solve it. I'm sure a solution exists I just don't know what it's called to search for it.
If I describe the nature of the ...
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Call for volunteers: close voters
Programmers could benefit from a few more regular visitors who close questions on the front page and the Unanswered page that are clearly off-topic.
"Clearly off-topic" means:
We don't do ...
- 198k
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Is question about negotiating method on buying data on-topic?
I think it's on-topic, since the negotiation tag exists, and one of its question (How do I negotiate with a company to develop software?) is similar to the question of mine. However, that question was ...
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How do I improve this productivity question to become less subjective?
I have a question regarding productivity, and it goes like this:
Time difference between developing with unit tests vs no tests
I'm a solo developer with a pretty time-constrained work environment ...
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New Site Name and Scope Proposals
From Ana, a Stack Exchange Community Manager in the previous question about changing the site name:
It took us a good while, but the Community Team has circled up and
here's where we stand on your ...
Thomas OwensMod
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First Windows Store Application
I have am writing my first Windows Store Application. I have some questions / advice not about the software itself but the process of submitting an application to the Windows Store. Would that be an ...
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Does "software escrow" count as on-topic because it is a "non-functional software requirement?"
In this question, the author wrote (in the original revision):
Please note: This site specifically calls out questions about software requirements as being on-topic. Escrow is specifically listed ...
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What are the guidelines for "How would you... ?" questions here?
I did read the Six Subjective Questions post and its Enforcement Notice, as well as some of the following discussions.
My question is about questions that asks users to share their experience and/...
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What kinds of questions should I avoid asking here?
This post is a supplement to the Help Center Article of the same name. That article, in a nutshell, describes questions that are either too broad, too opinionated, or too discussion-oriented to make ...
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Why's this question on-topic?
I know about all of the discussion about what's on-topic, but I wanted to ask this question about a specific question, to satisfy my wonder.
The question in question: Handling exceptions I don't know ...
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Why did we start closing and migrating algorithm questions?
This site used to be a good, safe place to get help on algorithms. Indeed, I would consider it one of the primary purposes of the site. It is prominently listed in our help center and tour. It's ...
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Could a question about the appropriatenss of a tool for a particular use-case fit in here?
This question, about whether Erlang is viable on embedded systems, seems like a valuable type of question for professional programmers to ask. Knowing the pitfalls of particular technologies for ...
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Are readability/coding conventions questions on topic?
I would like to know if questions regarding readability/coding conventions are on-topic here.
I'm learning a new language, and in the official documentation they routinely add whitespace in a way ...
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Should questions on Big-Oh be on-topic here?
Currently, questions on Big-Oh are on-topic on the Programmers main site because they fall under "algorithm and data structure concepts." Does the community feel that these questions should continue ...
user22815
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Would questions concerning how a segment of code would likely be written in another language in topic?
Let's say I know Haskell and I'm learning Scala? Could I ask "I'm trying to accomplish X in Scala, I couldn't get it working. Here is the Scala I wrote that either I don't think is idiomatic, or isn'...
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Are questions asking about what a particular segment of code does on topic here? [duplicate]
Suppose I'm reading through some open source project and I encounter a block of code that I just don't understand, despite going to documentation websites and utilizing Google search to piece it ...
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Revisiting what is on topic, with respect to new sites: Open Source, Law, and Software Recommendations
In the past 2 months, two new sites in the Stack Exchange network opened up and are now in Public Beta: Open Source and Law. A third, Software Recommendations, has been around for about 1.5 years. ...
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**Ok, so where do we ask subjective questions now? [duplicate]
I just came here to Programmers Stack Exchange to ask a question for recommendations for resources to learn a particular topic (in this case, natural language processing), and I just noticed that a ...
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Can I ask "X vs Y" questions here? [duplicate]
Consider the following question on SO. It has lots of votes, lots of views and lots of useful thorough answers. However, it is closed as not constructive. But it is clearly a good source of ...
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Questions about tools (in)compatibility
I would like to know if a question with a following structure would be on-topic on this site.
I want to use IDE A with support for server B on a platform C. (A, B, and C are well-known and widely ...
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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 ...
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