All Questions
121
questions
-1
votes
2
answers
122
views
How broad should questions about approximate performance of library functions be?
I've asked this question, which was closed as too broad. It is about the approximate performance of a library function that is commonly used in a great many environments.
Someone further commented ...
- 30.4k
2
votes
1
answer
84
views
How should one deal with questions that can be answered by copy/pasting from a manual page?
Example:
How download multiple files with cURL?
The person is unsure how to store results from several different URLs in different files.
The manual page describes how to do exactly that.
In the past ...
- 6,985
-41
votes
1
answer
246
views
Where could I ask the question "What is the cheapest stock you could buy on the US stock market"?
This question is potentially related to coding since you could use the exchange API in any supported programming language to find out the answer.
So is it acceptable to ask this question on Stack ...
- 1,023
19
votes
6
answers
889
views
Are questions seeking answers in either of two or more languages on-topic?
Usually, when I see a question like Bash or Python script to check numbers, I cast a close vote choosing needs more focus as the reason. This time around, I thought the question was salvageable, and ...
- 39.4k
-22
votes
1
answer
152
views
Can I ask computer-networking questions? [closed]
I'm enrolled in a CCNA-networking course. I want to support and help from the community.
Where can I get help and ask questions? Is Stack Overflow a good platform for me?
77
votes
9
answers
6k
views
Should questions about obfuscated code be off-topic?
Per another Meta it came to our attention that there was a user posting potentially malicious code. There's no real rule about that, but, for unrelated reasons of moderation, the account that posted ...
MachavityMod
- 29.8k
18
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Are changelog type questions acceptable?
Are changelog type questions acceptable on SO?
By changelog, I mean questions like: 'what are the concrete API differences between version 1 of Foo and version 2?' or, the specific question regarding ...
- 1,800
4
votes
0
answers
103
views
Would it be appropriate to ask SO about how computers sort arrays of chinese characters (UTF-8)
I ask because I didn't have an actual problem regarding chinese character enumeration. I just happened to have this thought come to my mind and I'm eager to know it.
My question would be about sorting ...
- 203
-21
votes
2
answers
182
views
Why was this question about coefficients in Big O notation upvoted instead of being closed?
I saw that this question had received many upvotes and was not closed:
Why do we ignore co-efficients in Big O notation?
I was confused by this, because it seems to me that the question is not about ...
user14349917
55
votes
7
answers
2k
views
How should we handle machine learning questions asking for performance improvements?
I have seen a lot of questions on tagged with machine learning that are along the lines of "here is my ML training script and a link to a dataset. I am getting x% accuracy, and how do I improve ...
- 2,435
-44
votes
3
answers
311
views
Can we open up Stack Overflow to accept questions which are opinion-based? This induces a constructive answer of pros & cons & industry best practices [duplicate]
Closing good questions which have useful answers and apply to many developers for being "opinion-based" or "too broad" is one of the huge problems I have with Stack Overflow in ...
- 23.2k
-7
votes
3
answers
286
views
Explain why my code works like it does - on or off topic? [closed]
I've been reading the guidelines
What topics can I ask about here?
in order to understand what's on-topic and what's off-topic after having my question closed with the comment Not suitable for this ...
- 589
4
votes
0
answers
83
views
Is asking for an analogy on-topic? [duplicate]
To quote Eric Lippert:
An analogy usually helps.
I'm currently learning Generators and yield in Python, and writing code to better understand the topic. I also find having an analogy does help ...
user13476485
-2
votes
1
answer
138
views
How to avoid being off-topic for off-site recommendations if the problem necessarily involves a library? [duplicate]
Suppose I have a problem to solve, which necessarily involves using a library (but not a specific one). How can one ask for help with such a problem w/o it being closed as being off-topic? If it can'...
- 47.2k
-15
votes
2
answers
132
views
Rules for voting close when OP is looking for suggestions [duplicate]
How do you word a question that is asking for possible solutions or tools so that it is not immediately closed by observant curators?
My question (How to verify external symbols in an .h file to the ....
- 2,903
-11
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is this question about an npm install error *really* on-topic?
What does 'x packages are looking for funding' mean when running `npm install`?
According to ye olde Help Center:
if your question generally covers…
a specific programming problem, ...
- 26.7k
-9
votes
1
answer
231
views
"Soft Questions" in StackOverflow [duplicate]
I just noticed in math.stackexchange (and maybe other sites on the network) there's a tag named "soft-question":
For questions whose answers can't be objectively evaluated as correct or incorrect, ...
- 11.7k
-16
votes
1
answer
128
views
Questions about how something was made on certain website [duplicate]
Is it ok to point to a website and ask how this or that effect/behavior was achieved? Long time ago I asked this way and immediately got downvoted. But it's completely valid inquiry about programming-...
- 6,853
0
votes
1
answer
183
views
Is this "fake" question with a documentation like answer on topic?
How to understand Format Specifiers in C programming
It's a ... "fake" question with an answer which is very documentation like. Ignoring the mistakes in the answer for a moment, is such a question /...
- 15.6k
-3
votes
1
answer
79
views
Should we move questions that ask about the features of the Stack Exchange sites to Meta?
Consider these questions:
observer(subscriber) Design Pattern on Web?
How can I make something like the Stack Overflow tag popover?
Stack Overflow tags - How do they display info on mouse over?
They ...
- 4,520
5
votes
0
answers
126
views
Is it OK to ask a question about RDF/XML that is not a programming question?
I'm trying to see if a Linux tool exists that validates RDF/XML and can deal with what appears to not be a normal situation. Or, perhaps I'm not understanding how to properly use the tools I've ...
- 875
7
votes
1
answer
94
views
Are questions about Android Studio settings on-topic?
Do questions about Android Studio plugins, or settings fit into the scope of Stack Overflow?
I've come across a couple of questions regarding Sublime Text add-ons that were received well, but ...
- 408
-16
votes
1
answer
163
views
Downvoting or deleting coding style questions [duplicate]
I asked a question about code style Which of these styles of golang code (if any) is objectively most legible/best? (copy of question content below in case it is deleted) and it is being thretened ...
- 505
5
votes
2
answers
384
views
Should I flag questions that are recruitment tests?
I found a question where an algorithm is posted, and its problem is
14% mark in codility
The question's merit notwithstanding, I googled "codility" and apparently it's a platform where recruiters ...
- 2,702
-11
votes
2
answers
149
views
Are questions that do not contain code always inappropriate? [duplicate]
I was recently chastised by a fellow member who also unilaterally closed my question on SO because it, "does not contain a minimum, verifiable, etc." piece of code. I'm not seeking to debate that ...
- 15.5k
2
votes
2
answers
379
views
Would "Has <programming practice> ever gone badly wrong" questions be on topic here?
I'm wondering if questions about whether a given programming practice has ever been the cause of a large problem, would be on topic here.
Note that when I say "programming practice" I mean a way of ...
- 843
5
votes
1
answer
129
views
Questions in the gray area between "code" and "design"
In my review work, I - rarely, but sometimes - see questions such as this one:
Keep a div spaced exactly X amount of pixels away from another
when I saw this, I realized "I have no idea whether this ...
- 104k
46
votes
1
answer
685
views
Should definition questions be allowed?
I had asked a question to define some jargon commonly used in coding, but it was closed as off-topic. I understand where this is coming from and agree with it to some extent, but I'm not sure I ...
- 6,035
10
votes
0
answers
356
views
Is a specific Docker networking issue really about "general-purpose software"?
Someone voted to close my question on the grounds that it is "about general computing" software, which according to the Stack Overflow policy is discouraged unless the question "directly involve[...
- 1,537
-15
votes
3
answers
511
views
Why are there so many questions closed as off-topic that have many upvotes?
I've seen many questions on Stack Overflow that are closed as off-topic, saying that it's based on opinion, but there are tons of upvotes and WE LEARN stuff.
For example, this one:
Docker for ...
- 7,483
-6
votes
1
answer
143
views
Is this question about the Google Maps API off topic?
I asked this question about the Google Maps API. It took time carefully to explain the problem, what I was getting and what I expected. I included all relevant code. But the question now has a down- ...
- 3,950
-17
votes
1
answer
158
views
Should questions off-topic on SO but on-topic elsewhere (like agile and scrum tags) be flagged for mod attention instead of closure? [duplicate]
There's been a lot of discussions about how to deal with tags like agile and scrum, and the solution seems to be the same so far - close questions as offtopic.
Recap on SE mission: "Stack Exchange is ...
- 2,029
2
votes
1
answer
117
views
Is it on-topic to ask why a GitHub feature is not working as expected?
I found a possible issue with search in GitHub issues and wanted to post a question about it, but I am not sure is a valid question.
Question:
I was trying to find an issuethat i created so i went ...
- 405
-12
votes
1
answer
155
views
Is it eligible to post a question that contains informative links regarding a topic? [duplicate]
I was searching for the last few hours for the best practices for managing lists in Python but I couldn't find a single resource that contains all beneficial information about lists.
However, SO ...
- 4,669
21
votes
1
answer
723
views
How to avoid being "baited" into off-topic'ness as a software recommendation question?
Suppose I ask a question whose gist is "How can I do A in scenario B?"
Now, it's possible that the solution involves some configuration, or use of standard system utilities - but it's possible the ...
- 104k
5
votes
2
answers
135
views
Are Questions about TFS usage/commands on-topic?
As the title says, are questions asking about TFS usage/commands on-topic? It's not really a programming question, but it is a programming tool. I see other questions about TFS, but they are mostly ...
- 10.8k
2
votes
1
answer
120
views
Is a question about the architecture of an external GitHub demo project on topic?
I was reading a blog post from Jason Taylor, about building and architecture with his "Northwind Traders" project.
And I had a question about one particular block of code, a class/factory thing he ...
- 1,856
22
votes
3
answers
713
views
Are questions about "how to ask" off topic on SO? [duplicate]
Came across this question today: How to ask high quality reproducible questions in Stata
I do appreciate the effort the OP has put in and both question and answer seem to be well thought out, helpful ...
- 19.4k
-9
votes
1
answer
112
views
How to ask a question about blocking annoying auto-play animated adverts on FT.com when using Google Chrome? [duplicate]
FT.com has recently introduced rather sneaky (my interp!) Bulgari & Mandarin Oriental adverts that auto-play. I am stumped on how to halt them using Google Chrome. Sadly, I am a paying customer ...
- 19.2k
1
vote
0
answers
116
views
What should I do after a question had a surprise answer?
I'm a little new. I had a problem on my VPS with infinite redirects and https. I asked about apache configs, but the answer turned out to be a WordPress plugin. So, what should I do?
I don't want to ...
- 585
-1
votes
1
answer
97
views
Where can I ask questions of the form "what services could I use to solve X" questions? [duplicate]
While spinning up on GCP services, I often find myself wanting to describe a problem and ask for suggestions about which GCP components I might stitch together to solve it. But my questions sometimes ...
- 5,331
3
votes
0
answers
88
views
Are questions about visualizations of neural networks on-topic?
Neural networks are pretty complex things and definitely programming-related. However, I've come across a question where neither I nor a few of my peers in chat can tell whether it's on-topic or not.
...
- 21k
25
votes
4
answers
905
views
Is it OK to ask a question looking for better ways to do things?
I'm asking in reference to this question that I just asked.
Often, I'll write a piece of code that works, but is ugly or inefficient. I know that Stack Overflow is not Code Review and isn't meant to ...
- 46.4k
13
votes
2
answers
565
views
Google one liner questions with no SO answer [duplicate]
I was wondering what is the common policy for questions such as:
I want to move alternate rows to another sheet in excel
It lacks research as googling the title or something close yields plenty of ...
- 23.3k
4
votes
1
answer
267
views
Should I report bugs/issues with applications on Stack Overflow? [duplicate]
I sometimes encounter a buggy/unexpected behavior in applications which have an issue tracker.
Should I then raise a question on Stack Overflow, or is it irrelevant to the site?
There was a comment ...
- 52.8k
5
votes
0
answers
101
views
What to do about old, off topic questions that still have value?
This question I ask is regarding a particular Q&A here: Python: check whether a word is spelled correctly. This is an old question, which by today's standards would be off topic (source request) ...
- 336k
5
votes
1
answer
133
views
Is Stack Overflow a good place to ask specific sympy questions? [duplicate]
Questions like such as: How to do X in sympy? E.g. questions which touch math as well as programming.
(Not questions such as: "How to install sympy on OS Y?")
Is there a better place than Stack ...
- 241
12
votes
3
answers
396
views
Should questions have a backstory in them, or should it be edited out?
So yesterday I stumbled upon this question.
First of all, I am amazed at how well received the question was. Not only does it have 5 answers, but I don't think I have ever personally witnessed 20 up-...
- 47k
1
vote
0
answers
85
views
May I ask a question which relates to commercial tools? [duplicate]
I want to make an automatic refactoring of source code. I can do it using regular expressions, code it in C# or writing a plugin for ReSharper.
The benefit of the last choice is that it would be code ...
- 7,433
6
votes
0
answers
102
views
Are Visual Studio Licensing questions on-topic or not?
I keep seeing this pop up over and over and I have to shake my head at VS being a constant culprit. Now, we've discussed Licensing before and determined it was off-topic: Questions about licensing
...
MachavityMod
- 29.8k