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I'd like to propose some changes to the guidelines in our help center on what questions are on topic.

The goals of this change are:

• Alter the language to focus on the question being asked as opposed to the person asking the question.
• Clarify some of the wording to be clearer to the target audience what kinds of questions are permitted.

Mainly, what I'm hoping comes of this is a small change in the community's approach to handling questions, so that we're a little more approachable and give a better first impression to potential contributors - we need people getting involved and contributing who aren't already experts, which will help spread the current load of community moderation.

(This is a new post of the current version of the draft here so we can get feedback for the current iteration that's been much improved due to the discussion there. Those interested can see the full background discussion here.)

Here's the current draft:

Server Fault is for questions about managing information technology systems in a business environment.

If your question is about:

• managing the hardware or software of servers, workstations, storage or networks
• tools used for administering, monitoring, or automating these
• deployment to and management of third-party provided information technology platforms

and is not about:

• consumer workstations or networking (which belong on our sister site, Super User)
• working with a service provider's management interface, such as cPanel
• product, service, or learning material recommendations
• product licensing inquiries or legal advice
• career, salary, personnel, employment, or formal education
• unauthorized use or misuse of IT systems

then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

(then leaving the rest of the content of the page alone)

For replacing the "not professional" close reason and covering a gap that we'd end up with after removing it:

"Questions should demonstrate reasonable information technology management practices. Questions that relate to unsupported hardware or software platforms or unmaintained environments may not be suitable for Server Fault"

This doesn't perfectly capture what we need here, because questions about fixing a busted or old environment are on-topic, but we don't need perfect verbal coverage of every condition (which will make things way too wordy).

I'd like to propose some changes to the guidelines in our help center on what questions are on topic.

The goals of this change are:

• Alter the language to focus on the question being asked as opposed to the person asking the question.
• Clarify some of the wording to be clearer to the target audience what kinds of questions are permitted.

Mainly, what I'm hoping comes of this is a small change in the community's approach to handling questions, so that we're a little more approachable and give a better first impression to potential contributors - we need people getting involved and contributing who aren't already experts, which will help spread the current load of community moderation.

(This is a new post of the current version of the draft here so we can get feedback for the current iteration that's been much improved due to the discussion there. Those interested can see the full background discussion here.)

Here's the current draft:

Server Fault is for questions about managing information technology systems in a business environment.

If your question is about:

• managing the hardware or software of servers, workstations, storage or networks
• tools used for administering, monitoring, or automating these
• deployment to and management of third-party provided information technology platforms

and is not about:

• consumer workstations or networking (which belong on our sister site, Super User)
• working with a service provider's management interface, such as cPanel
• product, service, or learning material recommendations
• product licensing inquiries or legal advice
• career, salary, personnel, employment, or formal education
• unauthorized use or misuse of IT systems

then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

(then leaving the rest of the content of the page alone)

For replacing the "not professional" close reason and covering a gap that we'd end up with after removing it:

"Questions should demonstrate reasonable information technology management practices. Questions that relate to unsupported hardware or software platforms or unmaintained environments may not be suitable for Server Fault"

This doesn't perfectly capture what we need here, because questions about fixing a busted or old environment are on-topic, but we don't need perfect verbal coverage of every condition (which will make things way too wordy).

I'd like to propose some changes to the guidelines in our help center on what questions are on topic.

The goals of this change are:

• Alter the language to focus on the question being asked as opposed to the person asking the question.
• Clarify some of the wording to be clearer to the target audience what kinds of questions are permitted.

Mainly, what I'm hoping comes of this is a small change in the community's approach to handling questions, so that we're a little more approachable and give a better first impression to potential contributors - we need people getting involved and contributing who aren't already experts, which will help spread the current load of community moderation.

(This is a new post of the current version of the draft here so we can get feedback for the current iteration that's been much improved due to the discussion there. Those interested can see the full background discussion here.)

Here's the current draft:

Server Fault is for questions about managing information technology systems in a business environment.

If your question is about:

• managing the hardware or software of servers, workstations, storage or networks
• tools used for administering, monitoring, or automating these
• deployment to and management of third-party provided information technology platforms

and is not about:

• consumer workstations or networking (which belong on our sister site, Super User)
• working with a service provider's management interface, such as cPanel
• product, service, or learning material recommendations
• product licensing inquiries or legal advice
• career, salary, personnel, employment, or formal education
• unauthorized use or misuse of IT systems

then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

(then leaving the rest of the content of the page alone)

For replacing the "not professional" close reason and covering a gap that we'd end up with after removing it:

"Questions should demonstrate reasonable information technology management practices. Questions that relate to unsupported hardware or software platforms or unmaintained environments may not be suitable for Server Fault"

This doesn't perfectly capture what we need here, because questions about fixing a busted or old environment are on-topic, but we don't need perfect verbal coverage of every condition (which will make things way too wordy).

I'd like to propose some changes to the guidelines in our help center on what questions are on topic.

The goals of this change are:

• Alter the language to focus on the question being asked as opposed to the person asking the question.
• Clarify some of the wording to be clearer to the target audience what kinds of questions are permitted.

Mainly, what I'm hoping comes of this is a small change in the community's approach to handling questions, so that we're a little more approachable and give a better first impression to potential contributors - we need people getting involved and contributing who aren't already experts, which will help spread the current load of community moderation.

(This is a new post of the current version of the draft here so we can get feedback for the current iteration that's been much improved due to the discussion there. Those interested can see the full background discussion here.)

Here's the current draft:

Server Fault is for questions about managing information technology systems in a business environment.

If your question is about:

• managing the hardware or software of servers, workstations, storage or networks
• tools used for administering, monitoring, or automating these
• deployment to and management of third-party provided information technology platforms

and is not about:

• consumer workstations or networking (which belong on our sister site, Super User)
• working with a service provider's management interface, such as cPanel
• product, service, or learning material recommendations
• product licensing inquiries or legal advice
• career, salary, personnel, employment, or formal education
• unauthorized use or misuse of IT systems

then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

(then leaving the rest of the content of the page alone)

For replacing the "not professional" close reason and covering a gap that we'd end up with after removing it:

"Questions should demonstrate reasonable information technology management practices. Questions that relate to unsupported hardware or software platforms or unmaintained environments may not be suitable for Server Fault"

This doesn't perfectly capture what we need here, because questions about fixing a busted or old environment are on-topic, but we don't need perfect verbal coverage of every condition (which will make things way too wordy).