mod_rewrite/htaccess/etc. questions - migrate?

Question

As was noted by sysadmin1138 in the Unprofessional Questions thread, we've been getting a lot of mod_rewrite questions as of late. Add to those all of the questions we get asked regularly about htaccess, VirtualHost configuration, etc. It seems as if some of these perhaps should be migrated to webmasters.stackexchange.com.

There are certainly some aspects of webserver configuration that are probably best left here. MPM selection/configuation, performance tuning, etc., for instance, are more "sysadmin" type topics. As for the topics listed above, though, it seems as if those are all things I'd expect a competent webmaster to be able to handle as as such, questions on those topics should be migrated.

Agreed? Perhaps I'm off-base, but I'd love to hear others' thoughts on this.

---

Clarifying update:

I guess in my experience at several companies (which admittedly may not match what happens in the most companies), whomever was filling the webmaster role was equally as competent at html/css as they were constructing rewrite rules and limiting access via .htaccess for instance. It seems these functions (especially rewrite rules) are more "front end" than "back end", as they directly affect the user's experience of the website, and (in most cases) can be configured without any involvement from that system's administrator.

Look at shared webhosting as an example of a frequent use case. It would be quite typical for a webmaster, not interested in maintaining a full server, to sign up for a shared (or otherwise managed) webhosting plan. The vast majority of webhosts would have both mod_access and mod_rewrite enabled, but would never consider helping their customers set up rules. In this case, the webmaster would need to have enough knowledge of the topics to get things set up for themselves.

It would seem beneficial to the ProWebmasters community to have a body of question/answers on this topic.

Answer 1

As a mod on webmasters, maybe I can shed some light.

.htaccess and mod_rewrite rules are a real grey area, even on the webmasters site. Our definition of a webmaster is someone who takes care of the day to day running of a website, which does NOT include:

• Server configuration
• Apache/IIS installation
• Apache/IIS configuration

As these are generally taken care of by a sysadmin. Basically, if it's something your hosting provider takes care of for you, then it's not a webmaster problem.

But you raise an interesting point. I will start a meta discussion over there and try and bring it up again. Feel free to throw in your $0.02 on the webmasters meta.

Update

So, after several days nobody has had anything to say on webmasters, so I'm going to make a bold step and state that it's OK for mod_rewrite questions to be migrated, based on the following template:

Consider the following typical scenario: a paid hosting environment (either IIS or Apache, Windows or Linux, whatever).

• If it's something you CAN do without getting your host involved, then YES it belongs on webmaster.se
• If it's something you CAN'T do and need to get your host involved, then NO it's not for pro webmasters and should be closed or migrated to SF

Answer 2

I asked this over on webmasters.meta and the response was pretty clear. They stay on SF. Server-side webmastery thingies like php/apache/mysql configs are clearly Our Problem. Things like picking which packages to run, design within frameworks, increasing search-engine visibility, and suchall are Their Problem.

Answer 3

There is some overlap between the two sites. This has been pointed out before and acknowledged by Jeff Atwood - the guideline seems to be to let a post go on whichever site it fits best, depending on the context of the post.

True, .htaccess, virtualhosts, and Apache configuration are certainly webmaster-y matters, but they are relevant to servers, which SF is all about.

Answer 4

Glad to see a Webmasters mod here! If migrating a few over will help seed the site, and land a few Google searches there, maybe you can pick some questions and list em here? Otherwise it sounds like a mass migration isn't needed quite yet.