Provide as much information as necessary to answer the question. Obfuscate anything that may be sensitive, but be careful of obfuscating too much. These may occasionally come into conflict...

Passwords

Never post passwords, API keys, or any other credential that can be used for authentication or authorization.

If you accidentally post such data, do the following:

1. Consider the credentials compromised and have them revoked or changed immediately.
2. Edit the post, removing the credentials and other sensitive information.
3. Flag the post for moderator attention. Moderators can then request to have the sensitive information removed from the post's revision history.
4. A moderator will temporarily delete your post. After the sensitive revision has been removed from the database, the post will be undeleted for you.

User names

If the content of the user name is itself sensitive, consider replacing it with something generic.

Host names and domain names

If your domain name is sensitive, replace it with an example domain name. The example domain names are specified in RFC 6761, section 6.5:

• example.com
• example.net
• example.org
• example TLD and any subdomain thereof

When referring to Microsoft products, it may also be acceptable to use Microsoft's example domain names, contoso.com and fabrikam.com.

Never replace your domain name with a domain name which does not belong to you or your organization and which is not reserved for use in examples.

NB: In many cases it may be necessary to know the actual domain name in order to answer your question. This is especially true if your question relates to setting up or reconfiguring the domain name itself. An experienced community member will typically comment on your question if this is the case.

IP addresses

Do not obfuscate private IP addresses. This only leads to confusion and makes it more difficult to answer your question. Private IP addresses are those defined in various RFCs:

• 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16 defined in RFC 1918
• 100.64.0.0/10 defined in RFC 6598
• fc00::/7 defined in RFC 4193

When obfuscating public (globally routable) IP addresses, always use an IP address range reserved for that purpose.

Never obfuscate using IP addresses not controlled by you or your organization and which are not reserved for use in examples or documentation.

The following IP address ranges can be used for examples and documentation. These should be used only to obfuscate public IP addresses:

• 192.0.2.0/24, 198.51.100.0/24, 203.0.113.0/24 defined in RFC 5737
• 2001:db8::/32 defined in RFC 3849

NB: In some cases it may be necessary to know the actual public IP address(es) in order to answer your question. An experienced community member will typically comment on your question if this is the case.

Service providers

If your question involves resources purchased or leased from a third party service provider, do mention the names of the providers involved. Many such providers have their own idiosyncrasies and this information makes it possible to answer your question in these cases.

Business information

When asking questions, do not mention the name of your company unless it is necessary to understanding the question.

When answering questions, do mention the name of your company if you are recommending or advising regarding your company's product or service. You are required to disclose your company affiliation in this case.