22
I think we should not change the scope at all.
There is no reason the sites (Law and Open Source) can't have overlapping scope with Progs. For example questions about algorithms are on topic both here and Stack Overflow.
I really don't see any reason for us to change our scope based on what other Stacks are or are not doing. We should want the questions ...
18
The Summer of Nonsense
Personally I consider the Summer of Love a mostly failed campaign, especially when it comes to the smaller sites of the network (I don't know if it benefited Stack Overflow, and I don't really care). Most people fixate on the whole "niceness" theme and forget that actively trying to help an asker, even just a tiny bit and even if only ...
16
Question is About Finding a Development Tool For A Specific Purpose
Asking for software recommendations is on topic at Software Recommendations. However, if you decide to post the question on that site, the required information for posting a question has a much higher threshold. From the ground rules and What is required for a question to contain “enough ...
13
Your arguments 2. and 3. hardly make sense.
Can we put ".net/Java questions off topic" in the FAQ?
(deliberately left blank)
They are proxy support questions for Microsoft/Oracle who should be spending their own hard-earned dollars fielding questions about their tools.
We are taking money out of the pockets of starving .net/Java trainers, book authors, ...
12
Your question was closed by five regular users, so I fail to see how the moderators have anything to do with that. ChrisF commented:
Is this a problem that's unique to software developers? Doesn't the situation also apply to other professions? Check the FAQ for more information on our target audience and where your question should be aimed.
To which you ...
9
A socket is inherently an interface that an OS provides to applications to communicate via an address, so I feel this question is relevant to a programmer. I don't see sockets as being a major concern for system administrators or network engineers but they certainly matter to software developers writing a network interface.
9
When every answer to a question is potentially equally correct - and there could conceivably be quite a few answers, there's a pretty good chance that you've started a discussion instead of asking a question (or a question that kicks off a discussion or debate). That's not always true, but it's a good way to tell when you're venturing into the land of off-...
9
Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Zizouz212, and I'm a moderator over at Open Source.
I might as well recap what we cover as site scope:
Anything libre/open-source/creative-commons licensing
Anything to do with open-source project management
Any questions that ask the community to recommend a license for a project - We allow anything that is in the esteem ...
9
No, Programmers should not make questions about open source licensing off-topic. There is a subset (that we must define in a clear way) of questions that are on-topic on both Programmers and Open Source. However, we should update our Help Center to link to Open Source, Law, and Software Recommendation (specifically their /help/on-topic pages) to help ...
9
First and foremost, I think the arguments presented in this former answer to a question asked by Thomas Owens if we should continue to accept licensing questions last year are still valid. So I don't think we should make all licensing questions off-topic, even in the presence of "Open Source.SE" and "Law.SE".
If questions have the low quality you described, ...
8
My problem with the question (I haven't down-voted but did vote to close - obviously) is that it's not a real question.
You ramble on for most of the question and only in the last sentence actually come up with a question that seems more suited for Meta Super User than Programmers.
What exactly are you trying to ask?
8
See the first bullet point in the What kind of questions should I not ask here? section:
every answer is equally valid
There's no one "correct" answer to your question - you are asking for a list of equally valid answers, and as such your question is not constructive.
It's a perfectly valid question to ask, but there are some kinds of questions ...
8
Personally I don't think it would work.
There is simply too much discussion around these topics and ultimately you'll just end up with a big list of answers each extolling the virtues of a language or a book but not really addressing the question.
We have found that these questions don't work with the Stack Exchange question and answer format.
However, if ...
8
I would be very much in favour of completely dropping licensing from our scope.
While legal aspects certainly are a part of software engineering, we could only answer the most simple questions here. And anecdotally, most questions are not so simple. Even “simple” questions about open source licenses sometimes have thorny edge cases, making answers here ...
7
Askers yield
As a prolific answerer, you better keep in mind that your satisfaction with questions quality is considered more important than that of the asker.
For the official statement on above, refer to Stack Exchange blog, Optimizing For Pearls, Not Sand:
...we’re determined to keep question quality high, even at the cost of refusing a little sand. ...
7
Stack Overflow questions are typically expected to be more specific, involving particular languages, libraries, and development tools. Programmers questions tend to be more abstract - things that you would talk about around a whiteboard or when brainstorming or at a level beyond sitting at your computer writing code.
Right from the Programmers FAQ, ...
6
The only point that seems to be one to consider is the first one, since the other points can be applied to nearly any question asked on any Stack Exchange site.
Even though none of us are lawyers, we still deal with software licenses on a regular basis. As an engineer, I'm expected to know if I am able to use an open source tool or project based on its ...
6
The questions are on-topic, and appropriate for understanding by any practicing professional programmer.
Thanks to Richard Stallman and the GNU Manifesto, all programmers have to have a the same level of understanding legal issues of code use that any businessperson needs to have of contracts. If there were a Small Business Stack Exchange, I suspect simple ...
6
You weren't rude, which is the only criteria for anything "Summer of Love" related, so no you didn't do anything wrong there. Personally I don't think you did anything wrong at all, though an optional addendum explaining how the question could be improved would be even more helpful.
And frankly, discouraging you from trying to improve questions and the site,...
6
I think you should consider adopting one of Stack Overflow's custom reasons:
Questions asking us to recommend a tool, library or favorite off-site resource are off-topic for Programmers as they tend to attract opinionated answers and spam. Instead, describe the problem and what has been done so far to solve it.
This is (sort of) covered under Too Broad, ...
6
I'm strongly against this. I think the concept of 'canonical question' altogether won't work, it'll send the message that the topic is relevant and appropriate to ask questions regarding to the many new visitors who won't know better, further as you pointed out the answers wouldn't work for most, therefore many would think "This is on topic, but this Q doesn'...
6
I think the closure of this question is correct. Not that the question itself is bad, but I think it does not pass the test: "Would the answer to the question be materially different if a non-programmer answered it?"
Rephrasing your question to a non-programmer one:
"As a soon-to-be-grad, will my skills and/or career suffer if I join a startup where I'll ...
6
Assuming that this doesn't happen frequent enough to warrant changes to the system, one approach that comes to mind is to flag these cases for moderator attention.
Flag message explaining the issue could refer this very question, in order to make it easier for moderator to find more details, eg like as follows:
please take a look - this off-topic question ...
6
No. A list is a list and the same rules apply. We don't do lists here and we also don't do basic research that can be solved by simply reading a document page. We solve problems.
6
The topic of software performance testing is on-topic - it's part of "quality assurance and testing". However, please consult our guidance on questions about where to start to avoid your question being unclear or too broad. You should do some initial research on your own, and then come back with one or more specific questions or concerns.
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
