Questions tagged [discussion]
The question you're asking is designed to solicit opinions or best-practices on a particular topic, with the goal of reaching community consensus.
334
questions
15
votes
5
answers
579
views
What are the reasons a question can/should get an upvote or downvote on Serverfault?
The Serverfault community seems to treat questions differently than other SE sites... and there definitely seems to be a "culture" or general understanding on how to treat questions that isn't ...
- 8,801
9
votes
4
answers
199
views
What AutoReviewComments have you come up with?
As many already know, there is a GreaseMonkey script call AutoReviewComments to automatically insert comment text for common situations.
The stock comments are less than stellar in my opinion. What ...
- 77.3k
31
votes
8
answers
2k
views
Paddington Bear Choppertar
Many of our top users seem to have avatars with a picture of themselves in a car with what appears to me to be Paddington Bear:
So what is the story behind this?
- 81.8k
28
votes
6
answers
597
views
Over-use of Off-Topic Closure
I'm getting more than a little tired of anything that can possibly be asked on some other site being
marked as Off-Topic here. Since when is user account management off topic for SF?
This one, for ...
- 4,431
18
votes
4
answers
654
views
What to do with questions when the answer is in a man page?
The question that got me wondering about this is here:
Displaying nmap result gradually as results are found
The answer to the question is directly quoted from the nmap man page. I was tempted to ...
- 1,461
15
votes
50
answers
727
views
Free LOPSA Memberships
Opt-In is now closed. Thanks everyone, We will let the lucky 40 sysadmins know shortly
I'm very happy this has gone over so well, with 50 people opting in. If you didn't get a membership this time ...
11
votes
1
answer
775
views
2013 Community Moderator Election
The 2013 Community Moderator Election is now underway!
Community moderator elections have three phases:
Nomination phase
Primary phase
Election phase
Most elections take between two and three weeks,...
8
votes
2
answers
298
views
Should subjective questions be subjected to closure?
The recent discussion around the WebServer Benchmarks question has me thinking.
This question poses a generally useful query that doesn't have one true answer. Part of our mission is to understand ...
- 4,431
7
votes
4
answers
316
views
What is our "competition" for ServerFault?
I see a few references to "other" sites in some of the meta questions in term of improving Serverfault.....However, specifically which sites do you feel are the competition to that of ServerFault?
- 11.7k
-23
votes
3
answers
376
views
My ideas and suggestions to the well-going massive content destruction
For example, you could continue this by closing/deleting of every hardware question, saying that a professional system administrator doesn't make his hands dirty with dusty server parts.
Then, you ...
- 4,914
39
votes
9
answers
465
views
Mod hammering - to do or not to do
One topic I am seeing a lot of the election page, and in meta threads, and in the site in general, is the idea that moderators should be running around slamming close votes on every question that ...
- 68.2k
30
votes
9
answers
475
views
How do you define "sysadmin related"?
I'm done with Serverfault. When people can't see outside their own little box of what's system admin related they're not worth me wasting my time.
This question/COMMUNITY WIKI is related to OUR ...
24
votes
6
answers
645
views
Should Server Fault stop accepting questions from unregistered users?
If you've read the front page recently, you're well aware that there's a large percentage of total crap on it. Indeed, more than a third of the questions posted in the last 60 days have been closed or ...
- 236k
23
votes
3
answers
631
views
2014 Community Moderator Election Results
Server Fault's 4th moderator election has come to a close, the votes have been tallied, and the 2 new moderators are:
They'll be joining the existing crew shortly — please thank them for ...
- 420
22
votes
2
answers
318
views
What posts get deleted, and why?
A fair number of posts get deleted on Server Fault, for a wide variety of reasons and by a diverse set of methods.
Because these posts are, by definition, not visible and not searchable, there tends ...
- 420
22
votes
4
answers
1k
views
Is it okay to tell users to RTFM?
A large bulk of users with 1 rep ask remedial vague and constantly reoccurring questions, many are not down voted and some are answered. aren't we enablers for laziness? it seems to be acceptable ...
- 1,864
21
votes
4
answers
221
views
The never ending flood of "what kind of server do I need for X amount of requests per hour"
These kind of questions just keep pouring in, and the same thing happens every time.
The questioneer never gives out enough details to even guess what kind of spec/bandwith he/she needs, the type of ...
- 19.5k
18
votes
3
answers
413
views
Pretty low standard for "constructive" comments
It's been a bit quiet in meta.SF the past few days, so I thought it was time to stir the pot. :)
So, I came across this question just now. Reading through the comments (see comment thread screenshot ...
- 108k
17
votes
3
answers
408
views
Serial close-voting?
Is this considered a bad thing? i.e. if someone goes through a specific user's questions and casts a close vote on all (or most) of them?
...'cause I'm pretty sure someone is doing that to "Sandra." ...
- 12.8k
17
votes
3
answers
263
views
Confused about joining the community (reputation)
I am confused about how to join this community. Here's what I've done so far:
1) I have a problem.
2) I came here for help
3) When I went to ask the question, the instructions told me to ...
- 111
17
votes
6
answers
903
views
Is "Telephony" (as defined by Area 51 proposal) on topic here?
I need your help and expertise. There is a proposal inching its way through Area 51 to create a separate site for experts in Telephony (PBX/PABX/IP PBX/VoIP/ToIP). Please have a look at this proposal:
...
- 788
13
votes
18
answers
889
views
Community Promotion Ads - 2014 [duplicate]
It's the time of the year again, namely it is December 2013, and so we shall now refresh our Community Promotion Ads for the new year.
What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads are ...
12
votes
5
answers
605
views
Proposed change to Server Fault guidelines
Following up on the discussion here, I’d like to propose some changes to our help center guidelines to remove subjective language (particularly the “professional” part) and simplify things a bit, ...
- 113k
11
votes
4
answers
379
views
2015 Moderator Election Q&A - Questionnaire
In connection with the moderator elections, we are holding a Q&A thread for the candidates. Questions collected from an earlier thread have been compiled into this one, which shall now serve as ...
- 101
8
votes
3
answers
205
views
Revision / Exam questions?
What's the position on helping someone with understanding technology, but in response to learning or education rather than a formal 'I have a specific issue ....'
I'm thinking of this question,
...
- 9,201
8
votes
3
answers
436
views
We want to celebrate the community's 10th anniversary together!
April 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of this great community and we want to celebrate together with you!
I am looking for suggestions from you as to how we can realistically enjoy this momentous ...
- 101
7
votes
6
answers
470
views
Will/Should Serverfault be dropping the "networking support" in the upcoming future?
There is a currently private beta site for Network Engineering here:
http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/52519/network-engineering
The beta is new, but seems to be garnering a decent following ...
- 32.3k
6
votes
2
answers
480
views
2018 Moderator Election Q&A - Questionnaire
In connection with the moderator elections, we are holding a Q&A thread for the candidates. Questions collected from an earlier thread have been compiled into this one, which shall now serve as ...
- 101
5
votes
1
answer
127
views
Community Promotion Ads — 2019 [duplicate]
2019 is here! And with the new year, as usual, comes a new iteration of Community Promotion Ads! Let’s refresh these for the coming year :)
What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads ...
- 101
0
votes
4
answers
332
views
Serverfault mods on a higher horse than stackoverflow (closing questions)
Edit (by MadHatter, not the original poster): before posting a response to this question, please read the entire thing, including the comments thread at the bottom. The OP deleted the original ...
- 133
65
votes
14
answers
1k
views
Where can I ask questions that aren't IT questions?
Thank you for your confidence in our abilities
But have you read this FAQ?
We get a lot of interesting technical questions on here, but Server Fault is meant to be first and foremost a resource for ...
- 5,366
32
votes
2
answers
729
views
Any way around this: "Edits must be at least 6 characters; is there something else to improve in this post?"
See the accepted answer on this question: Give user-creation privileges to a user
There's a small mistake (my fault): the .should be *.*. Changing that is only two characters. There's nothing else ...
- 5,439
26
votes
2
answers
342
views
SF should use the "interesting" home page
As you might be aware, Stack Overflow has a unique home page which tries to display questions which are relevant to the user. This works very well for SO and helps its users sift through the thousands ...
- 236k
23
votes
3
answers
426
views
Being professional to professionals
My favourite thing about SF is the 'professional' requirement. I think it's unique in that respect, in that I can't think of another technical Q&A site that has both critical mass and such a ...
- 7,648
23
votes
15
answers
423
views
Server Fault Conference
I’m excited to announce that Server Fault will be hosting a one day educational conference for system administrators and other network operations professionals. This conference will be supported by ...
- 81.8k
22
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Do we need a 2013 Election?
Well, it's January, which is the traditional time to hold a moderator election on Server Fault.
My question is; do you think we need one? I'd like input from everyone - new users, regular users, high ...
- 68.2k
21
votes
9
answers
326
views
Are we getting out-of-hand with all of the sub-communities?
On Serverfault I saw the question "Invalidate Google Site Validation (Google Webmaster) [migrated]" and was disappointed to see that it redirects me to webmasters.stackexchange. (I was expecting the ...
- 11.9k
18
votes
5
answers
360
views
How many moderators do we need?
The moderator election states that there are two positions open. With the recent loss of Chopper3, this means that this is a net gain of 1.
There's some discussion with regard to the specific count ...
- 113k
18
votes
2
answers
250
views
10 years anniversary of Server Fault
Is there any plan for Server Fault's 10th year anniversary? The first question posted on Server Fault on April 30, 2009.
Few months before Stack Overflow celebrated their 10th year Anniversary by ...
- 103
17
votes
6
answers
542
views
Is this site becoming what it's aspiring to be?
Looking at "What topics can I ask about here?" and comparing to what's actually going on on the site I sometimes wonder if it's what it's supposed to be.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I'd think ...
- 2,795
14
votes
2
answers
420
views
How to handle antiquated questions
Is there a method for how to deal with questions that are no longer valid?
In my case, I asked a question which was never resolved, and I am no longer in a position where I could even test an answer ...
- 823
14
votes
1
answer
195
views
How should I review First Posts?
I keep finding myself inside the review queue of First Posts, and then not knowing what to do. If there are grammatical or formatting issues, those are easy - and I edit the question/answer and fix ...
- 3,395
13
votes
2
answers
281
views
Are "Help me get [X] to compile!" questions off-topic?
Many of our migrations from Stack Overflow are questions asking for help compiling a particular piece of software (recent example: https://serverfault.com/questions/440591/error-with-...
- 79.2k
12
votes
4
answers
217
views
Moderation inconsistencies
I flagged this deleted answer (unilaterally deleted by a moderator) for reopening, and gave the explanation "This answer is no worse than any others that have been left intact. It should be reinstated ...
wombleMod
- 94.8k
12
votes
3
answers
417
views
Canonical: "Help me size my wholly unspecified application" question
We periodically get the "Help me size my wholly unspecified application" questions, like What capacities should have a hosting to support an average of 1000 registered users simultaneously? or Server ...
- 141k
10
votes
0
answers
162
views
2012 Moderator Election - Town Hall Chat: Monday 21:00 / 4pm EST [closed]
In connection with the moderator elections, we will be holding a Town Hall Chat session with the candidates. This will be an opportunity for members of the community to pose questions to the ...
- 101
10
votes
2
answers
561
views
How to deal with people that don't accept your reasoning?
User peterh doubted my reasons and decided to engage in an edit war with me, ultimately downvoting my question. I used an image instead of the text because, as explained, I don't want my client's FQDN ...
- 1,747
9
votes
5
answers
296
views
2018 Moderator Election Q&A - Question Collection
Server Fault is scheduled for an election starting next week, September 17th, for 2 slots. In connection with that election, we will be hosting a Q&A here for candidates. This will be an ...
- 101
8
votes
1
answer
151
views
Is it ok to post a question on both StackExchange and another software specific forum at the same time?
I have a question about my Server Fault post: How do you configure Confidant to use the Access Key Id/Secret Access Key for its IAM user?
I've seen a couple users post a question and leave a note, ...
- 101
8
votes
1
answer
196
views
Improving questions vs. teaching new users how to use the site?
I recently flagged a question for being off-topic based on its original version. (Q: setting up virtual host on windows apache) There was a clear reference to Windows 7 as a desktop OS and as the ...
- 31.7k