**First question:**

From the ServerFault FAQ as of January 20, 2011 (emphasis mine):

> Server Fault is for system
> administrators and desktop support
> professionals, ***people who manage or
> maintain computers in a professional
> capacity.***

Please enunciate what you believe is a good definition of "professional capacity".


----------
**Second Question (related):**

What determines if a question is asked in a "professional capacity" and deserves an answer and what should be closed and/or migrated to another site (usually SuperUser)?

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## Response: Mark Henderson


> **First Question:**
> 
> If you are in charge of more than just
> your own computer at your company, or
> your company has appointed you to a
> position where you're expected to
> manage hardware or software, then you
> can ask your question here. This
> includes both beginners and old-timers
> alike. That said however, we expect
> you to take a professional attitude
> towards your question, and not ask
> "plz send teh codes, kthxbai".
> 
> **Second Question:**
> 
> Does the question include the word
> "home"? If it does, can the question
> be re-written so that it applies to
> the sysadmin community. For example,
> if you're setting up "Windows Home
> Server", then it should be moved to
> Super User. However, if you say "I'm
> having trouble applying a GPO policy
> to my Active Directory that I've set
> up at home", then by removing the last
> few words of the question the question
> is then applicable to a wider
> audience.

## Response: SysAdmin1138

> **First Question**
>
> "Professional Capacity" means you get paid to do what we do, or in a better funded organization would normally be paid (I'm sure we have some non-profiteers around here somewhere). That's about 80% of it right there, which is the easy part. We also expect a certain foundation of learning in questions, unless they're specifically tagged as seeking learning. The topics vary, and so does system-administration, but some depth in your field is expected. Depth provides the ability to ask focused questions, which yield answers and not multi-page essays on the potential gotchas of $Technology. 
>
> **Second Question**
>
> Questions asked in a professional capacity and not deserving of closure/migration, have a few key features:
> 
 - Is implicitly not about something in the home, or devices/technologies rarely seen outside of the home.
 - Displays at least some understanding of the technology causing the problem.
 - Is asked with enough focus to allow an answer with just the supplied information.
 - Focuses on technology in the context of the enterprise or web-services, or policy relating to that technology.
>
> Migrating to another site needs to be done with care. The SuperUser community is tired of being the dumping ground of the trilogy (see their moderator nomination-statements for proof of this). Webmasters.SE, one of our migration targets, defines "webmaster" differently than we system administrators do. A good question for migration needs to be topical on the destination community as well. Because of this I've been voting to close-as-off-topic questions that are earning migration votes.