116 votes
Accepted

What to do with the "rm -rf" hoax question

It was closed as a dupe. Delete the hoax and keep the dupe. Consider merging the answers from the hoax into it. Remember SF is for practical problems you are trying to solve. A hoax by definition isn'...
user9517's user avatar
  • 116k
113 votes

What to do with the "rm -rf" hoax question

Consider Nuking the OP's account too. Anything less will just encourage other marketing stunts like this.
user9517's user avatar
  • 116k
55 votes

What to do with the "rm -rf" hoax question

Undelete the question and edit it to explain the situation.
Sven's user avatar
  • 99.5k
41 votes

What to do with the "rm -rf" hoax question

Undelete the question, mark it as a dupe, add a note, and lock it. It has a significant number of inbound links, and a lot of traffic right now. Deleting it leaves these links broken, "Page Not ...
Adam Davis's user avatar
  • 5,456
37 votes
Accepted

Is it okay to tell users to RTFM?

If the questions are of a low quality, they should be downvoted and/or closed. You haven't linked to any of the questions you consider remedial, but I'm assuming that you mean ones that show little or ...
Jenny D's user avatar
  • 28.1k
37 votes

PART 2: How does the drama on meta.SE affect Server Fault?

Thanks a lot for your times to write that to explain the situation. It’s really appreciated. I will state it to let other know that I don’t intend to quit my moderation tasks. nb; to state my ...
yagmoth555's user avatar
  • 17.1k
35 votes
Accepted

Can non-professional administrators still ask questions about professional setups?

I am fine with this, as long as: The systems and equipment are truly professional-grade. (No questions about Aunt Mabel's inkjet printer) You have full administrative permissions on the systems you ...
EEAA's user avatar
  • 110k
34 votes
Accepted

Answer questions from low reputation users

There's a few things at work here: You're right that some people avoid answering questions from low-rep users because there's a good chance that the asker won't give any sort of feedback. Personally,...
womble's user avatar
  • 97k
34 votes
Accepted

I've found the answer to a question about 10 minutes after posting it. Do I just delete the question?

Answer yourself. It provides useful information to other people (including Future You -- I've found my own answers to SF questions via searches more than once).
womble's user avatar
  • 97k
33 votes

Rest in peace, Michael Hampton

Michael was someone I only knew online, here and through other sites. Among the group of very experienced and widely knowledgeable SysAdmins that he interacted with, he stood out as being pretty much ...
Ward - Trying Codidact's user avatar
30 votes

Any reason not to display my full name in profile?

First of all: there is no requirement to associate your SE profile with your real life identity, it is a personal preference to do so or not. The reasons to do that are also personal and diverse. ...
HBruijn's user avatar
  • 80.3k
29 votes
Accepted

What is this [blocking] tag?

It looks like a tag that should be burninated to me.
user9517's user avatar
  • 116k
28 votes

What to do with the "rm -rf" hoax question

His account should be deleted, and the question should be heavily edited in content, along with a warning message explaining what happened. I'll outline why I think so: His hoax post in itself has ...
Florian Heigl's user avatar
27 votes
Accepted

Octopus Deploy Will Soon Be Sponsoring Server Fault!

👋🏻 Hi Server Fault community, I’m the founder of Octopus Deploy. I’m a developer by background and started Octopus in 2011 as a project in my spare time. We’re bootstrapped, not VC funded, but we ...
Paul Stovell's user avatar
25 votes

Labor action notice

I think it's important to remember that not only those with diamonds moderate. We all do - through up and down-voting, through closing, flagging and so forth. It's whats left of the community at stake....
vidarlo's user avatar
  • 9,147
22 votes

Is it okay to tell users to RTFM?

It's generally not acceptable to say things to the effect of: RTFM and GTFO It's rather hostile. I know these people annoy us, and it feels good to chase them out with vigor. But the severed heads ...
sysadmin1138's user avatar
  • 134k
22 votes
Accepted

What to do with questions when the answer is in a man page?

RMaaS (Reading Manuals as a Service) is part of our community services... Although I often comment with: Server Fault is a site for information technology professionals -- as such we have certain ...
HBruijn's user avatar
  • 80.3k
22 votes
Accepted

Should I delete a question where the answer turned out to be a hardware problem?

The second option is more useful. Sometimes "Replace the hardware" is the correct answer. To make it even more helpful, add information that lead you to test this angle.
Sven's user avatar
  • 99.5k
22 votes

2018 Community Moderator Election Results

Congratulations to @Ward and @yagmoth555 have fun! Thanks to @HBruijn and @EEAA for your moderation (in all senses).
user9517's user avatar
  • 116k
22 votes
Accepted

I will no longer be moderating SF

Michael, I am truly saddened by your news but heartened that you are able to deliver it to us yourself. I hope that your continued treatment works, is not further complicated by the Covid-19 crisis ...
user9517's user avatar
  • 116k
22 votes

Rest in peace, Michael Hampton

I have no words. I seen the new yesterday but I still can't find the correct words. I didn't knew Michael in real life, but he was a great mentor there for me. (and possibly for other members). He was ...
yagmoth555's user avatar
  • 17.1k
22 votes

Labor action notice

I have not played the Serverfault game with any gusto for some time but my day job does land me here occasionally. When that happens I will often do some moderation. I have signed the letter and will ...
user9517's user avatar
  • 116k
21 votes
Accepted

Why are we so strict on the rules?

In essence we're strict on topicality rules because any Q&A platform with only questions and no answers, is useless. Unfortunately there are many more people asking questions, many new ones ...
HBruijn's user avatar
  • 80.3k
19 votes
Accepted

How to ask my question but obfuscate my real data

First, one point: if you are basing your server's security on people from the internet not "finding" your server, you've already lost. If your server is vulnerable, then you should implement firewall ...
EEAA's user avatar
  • 110k
19 votes

Many old questions getting additional proftpd/vsftpd tags

As I've been the one doing much of the proftpd, vsftpd, and pureftpd retagging, I feel I should explain why I've been doing it. I'm the author of proftpd, and have lately been spending much time on ...
Castaglia's user avatar
  • 3,379
19 votes
Accepted

Posting warnings about bugs

SF is not for announcements. There are plenty of other venues for those. However, if it can be phrased as a well-reasoned question, something that would otherwise be on topic here, I'm fine with you ...
EEAA's user avatar
  • 110k
19 votes
Accepted

Do we want to humor "how do I intentionally provide an insecure service" questions?

There is already a close reason defined for this sort of thing: Questions should demonstrate reasonable business information technology management practices. Questions that relate to unsupported ...
Michael Hampton's user avatar
19 votes

Massive Spam Attacks since couple of days

You can get an overview of the current issues many SE moderators are having with the company by reading the recent posts here on meta.SF That will lead you, if you're interested, to many more posts ...
Ward - Trying Codidact's user avatar

Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible