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Borrowed from Web Apps meta

I would like this post to be a compilation for the FAQ of what is off-topic for this site. With the purpose to prevent a lot of discussion early on, about what we do or don't want to see. Off course, the community has to decide what it should be, but it does make a difference if the early examples leave out things we would want to be off-topic!

Any thoughts?

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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because scoping problems should be conducted in the face of actual questions that have been asked rather than creating a lot of hypothetical rules that haven't shown to be a problem at all.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Feb 28, 2017 at 17:50
  • @RobertCartaino But wouldn't closed questions dissapear in a rather short time? Wouldn't this question be more valuable long-term by its answer?
    – Dan Cornilescu
    Feb 28, 2017 at 23:54
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    @DanCornilescu As far as I know the roomba doesn't remove question with positivily scored answers. related post on MSE
    – Tensibai
    Mar 1, 2017 at 11:01
  • (drive by wit) funny that the question about off topic would be off topic...
    – Newtopian
    Apr 7, 2017 at 18:39

2 Answers 2

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Don't anticipate problems.

This site is only 45 minutes old and we've already started a thread to decide what posts should be closed here.

I can understand the desire to get to work trying to figure out the entire scope of this site in one exhaustive thread, but as a general rule for building a new community, it is typically better to wait for problems to become invasive in actual practice before we start actively seeking to create a lot of rules discussions around hypothetical situations of how people are going to do this site wrong.

If you see a problem that is concerning for you on the actual site, by all means, raise it here. But it is simply waaaay too early for an all-encompassing "what does not belong here" thread when no actual problems have been observed on the site itself. It's just not a great way to build a new community.

That is why I closed this thread.

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    I fully agree, just answered as per the talk at the proposal time for general guidance ;)
    – Tensibai
    Feb 28, 2017 at 17:50
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I assume I can extract from my answer on Area51:

While a question is on topic here or not would be quite easy to guess, for how I see it it would be question about near anything as long as it's related to one of:

  • Automation/orchestration in a wide range (all tools, from MesoSphere/Consul to .cmd files IMHO)
  • Continuous integration
  • Integration testing
  • Unit testing of automation scripts
  • Configuration management

Out of this, it will probably best suited to one StackOverflow, SuperUser, etc.

In fact the on-topic here are all the questions on a razor blade on StackOverflow or SuperUser as they involve programming and computer management (mainly server, but I won't block workstations questions)

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  • So far most of my questions about "culture" and "affecting change" have been closed as being too broad. Not that I mind, but where do those questions belong to? :/
    – Evgeny Zislis
    Mar 1, 2017 at 0:54
  • They've been closed because they are too broad, that doesn't mean off-topic. You should try to find a way to turn them into a focused area so it can be answered without writing a novel :) Happy to discuss it in chat.
    – Tensibai
    Mar 1, 2017 at 8:51

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