This is a question about editing the FAQ. This is not a good place to discuss whether or not we should allow EoL questions. We already have a meta question (actually, three) for that. (See below.)
It seems community consensus on the acceptability of questions about EoL releases has shifted over the past ~1 year. Judging by votes on meta:
- Around November '11, we overwhelmingly supported allowing them.
- Around May '12, we were about evenly split. At most there was perhaps a slight preference for allowing them.
- Around December '12, we had a ~2:1 majority in favor of considering new questions about EoL releases off-topic.
Disclosures:
- This is my reading of the data. Please take a look yourself, in case you disagree with my analysis.
- If people voted on those questions much more recently than they were asked, their votes factor into my accounting. That is, I'm looking at the votes as they are right now. I did not record what they were at the time.
- On the underlying issue, I lean slightly toward the position that EoL questions should be allowed here. I don't think that is really a problem here, since this question is about effectively documenting and enforcing the new policy (that I slightly disagree with). But maybe some sort of conflict of interest will arise in the future--so now you know.
Now, we appear to be closing questions as off-topic for being about EoL releases.
(Here's one example, though it might end up reopened since the OP needs a solution in order to upgrade.)
This seems reasonable; if the votes on that meta question represent the community as a whole, then most of us don't want these questions.
So, assuming we're going to continue closing them, can we edit the FAQ to make the new policy clear?
Right now it is not; reading the FAQ strongly suggests that EoL questions are welcome.
Please answer this question if you:
- have an opinion about whether or not we should edit the FAQ.
- have other information pertinent to this question that is better as an answer than a comment.
- believe my evaluation of current community opinion is mistaken.
- believe the current majority is insufficient to support a policy of closing these questions.
- believe we should close these questions but, for some reason, should not edit the FAQ.
Please post elsewhere instead (perhaps commenting here--within reason--to provide a link) if you:
- don't have an opinion about whether or not the FAQ should change, but want to discuss the issue of EoL questions further (you can use the existing questions for that).
- think the majority is sufficient to support the policy of closing EoL questions, but oppose it anyway because you feel it's so important to keep them open (for that, you should probably post in the existing questions, and if that's not enough, post one new question).
So:
- Should we edit the FAQ?
- If not, why not?
- If so, then (optionally) exactly what should it say?
