About

This site is for meta-discussion of the Server Fault Q&A website, which is part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A websites.

What the heck is meta-discussion?

Let’s ask our friends at Wikipedia:

Meta-discussion means discussion of the discussion itself instead of the actual topic of the discussion. For example:

  • the style of a discussion
  • its participants
  • the setting in which the discussion occurs
  • the relationship of the discussion to other discussions on the same or different topics.

The etymology for the “meta-” prefix dates back to Aristotle’s Metaphysics, which came after his works on physics. The fundamental meaning of the prefix in Greek is simply “after.”

Why do we need this site?

The FAQ explicitly disallows meta-discussion on the main site, to reduce clutter and noise.

This frustrated many members of the community who wanted to ask questions about how and why the website works the way it does. We needed an outlet for this activity, a separate place where community members could go for sanctioned meta-discussion. And here it is!

How do I use this site?

  • Ask questions about how the website is supposed to work for this topic.
  • Ask general questions of the community.
  • Post bugs and suggest features.
  • Resolve governance and moderation issues.

The focus of this site is the content topic. If the question is about the Stack Exchange engine in a general sense, it should be asked on Meta Stack Overflow instead.

Who are the moderators?

Site moderators, appointed May 19th, 2009 and July 4th, 2009 and July 11th, 2010

We believe moderation starts with the community itself, so in addition to privileges earned through reputation, we periodically hold democratic moderator elections. If the site is not yet large enough to support an election, we will appoint likely moderators from within the community.

The following users are our current community moderators:

profile for Chris S at Meta Server Fault, Q&A about the site for system administrators and IT professionals
 
profile for Iain at Meta Server Fault, Q&A about the site for system administrators and IT professionals
 
profile for Mark Henderson at Meta Server Fault, Q&A about the site for system administrators and IT professionals
 
profile for mrdenny at Meta Server Fault, Q&A about the site for system administrators and IT professionals
 
profile for Sam at Meta Server Fault, Q&A about the site for system administrators and IT professionals
 
profile for splattne at Meta Server Fault, Q&A about the site for system administrators and IT professionals
 
profile for sysadmin1138 at Meta Server Fault, Q&A about the site for system administrators and IT professionals
 
profile for voretaq7 at Meta Server Fault, Q&A about the site for system administrators and IT professionals
 

Please see A Theory of Moderation for information on our moderation philosophy.

How can I learn more?

Check out the FAQ. And if you need to contact us, you can do so at team+meta.serverfault@stackexchange.com