Serverfault and Unix/Linux

Question

Is there a general rule when to ask a question on the "Unix and Linux" StackExchange rather than on "serverfault"?

Or: When should questions in one of these two be migrated to the other one?

Answer 1

_{(Note: I'm a UL mod, so when I say "we" I mean Unix and Linux Stack Exchange)}

If it's a question about Unix and Linux and you don't want it, odds are we do; we're fairly inclusive. We have this same overlap problem with other sites, notably Ask Ubuntu, so here's what we do with them:

• Questions about Ubuntu that have no bearing on other distros are migrated from UL to AU
• Questions about Unix or Linux that don't apply to Ubuntu at all are migrated from AU to UL
• All other questions are left where they're posted unless the OP asks us to move them

I generally apply the same logic to other sites, even if we haven't specifically talked about it. So we almost never migrate here (3 times in the last 3 months), because it's rare for someone to ask a sysadmin question that doesn't involve Unix or Linux. Similarly, we don't expect you to migrate Unix/Linux questions to us if they're on-topic here -- you should only migrate a question if SF isn't a good place for it, or the OP changes their mind and wants it somewhere else.

I'll also mention that one thing you shouldn't do (or encourage others to do) is cross-post. Sites differ on their tolerance for cross-posting; we usually close a question if we find out it was posted on multiple sites. Either pick a site, or tailor your question for the individual sites you're asking it on -- don't just copy/paste it to all the sites that sound relevant

Answer 2

There's inevitable overlap between U&L and SF. Generally, on the U&L side, we only migrate a question if it's definitely off-topic or if the asker agrees.

U&L generally isn't very strong on dedicated-server applications. For example only .6% of U&L's questions are about apache, contrasted with SF's >8%. U&L doesn't cater much for systems that people administrate through front-ends such as CPanel, usually we assume that a command line is available. Another kind of questions that will fare better on SF is practical performance questions (like this question which was migrated from U&L to SF).

A large class of questions that can be migrated to U&L is shell scripting questions. Some of these feel generic on SF, because the techniques involved aren't specific to system administration. The same goes for package management questions. As far as I remember, SF has a good track record for migrations to U&L, so if you keep doing more of the same, that's fine.

The main thing to keep in mind about U&L is that programming questions are off-topic. If someone posts a unix programming question on SF, migrate it to SO.

Answer 3

The community consensus seems to be that if it is clearly for production servers you are working on, it stays. If it is a general Linux question, such as advanced find wizardry, regardless of production-machine status it generally goes to U&L (or gets some flags to that effect).

Linux software, on the other hand, is another story entirely and generally is answered on a topic-by-topic basis.

Now, some questions can have a happy life on both sites since we have strong Linux users who answer questions both here and there. It is my opinion that such overlap is healthy, and not everything needs to be ruthlessly migrated to the other site.

Answer 4

U&L and SF should just be SF. Totally crazy splitting off some Qs to U&L.

Just creates confusion and makes SF less valuable to me as a sysop.