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This banner:

could now include the Elementary OS site.

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  • How many "Elementary OS" questions do we get? IMO the paragraph should not grow any more.
    – guntbert
    Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 20:22
  • 1
    @guntbert enough that i think people should be redirected to get help..
    – Tim
    Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 20:22
  • 4
    I actually agree. There may not be many questions, but there are enough that I see them pretty often. @guntbert
    – TheWanderer
    Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 20:34
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    @guntbert bearing in mind most are deleted, 200+ is a fair number... askubuntu.com/search?tab=newest&q=elementary%20os%20is%3aq
    – Tim
    Commented Jan 18, 2016 at 20:36
  • 3
    I think "questions about other Linux distributions" sufficiently explains it and subtly hints to the OP of a closed question that they came to the wrong neighbourhood :) No need to overindulge in listing which distros are off-topic. We could however have a link to a list of the supported releases :)
    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Commented Jan 24, 2016 at 4:01

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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Note: This answer now also exists as separate feature request here on meta.askubuntu.com.
Further updates and discussion should take place over there.
If you like this answer, please make sure you also upvote the linked question. Thanks!

I have a completely different suggestion.

What about rewording the banner to something like

This is not about Ubuntu.

Please visit our [off-topic compass] to find out on which partner site in the Stack Exchange network your problem might fit best.

And then create a nice community-wiki site here on meta.askubuntu.com which looks like this:

Q: My question was marked as off-topic, where should I ask it instead?

You posted a question here and excitedly waited for an answer, but received a close banner like this?

example image

Read through the answers below to find out where your question would fit best!

A: Unix & Linux

Every question about any UNIX or Linux based system is allowed here.
However, if you use for example Ubuntu, ElementaryOS, OSX or Android, there are specialized sites for them, where you can get more specific answers.

A: Stack Overflow

All general programming questions should be asked here.
If you have working code and just look for optimizations, you're better of at Code Review though.

A: Super User

This is the most general site all about computers and related stuff. Every operating system is welcome, and so are hardware problems.

... and so on, one answer for each possibly related site.

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  • 3
    Should I maybe convert this answer into a new feature request question?
    – Byte Commander Mod
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 13:52
  • yes 100% please!
    – Tim
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 17:05
  • 1
    This answer now exists as separate feature request: meta.askubuntu.com/q/14982/367990
    – Byte Commander Mod
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 18:53
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The off-topic banner isn't meant to be all encompassing. That would be impossible to maintain and extremely messy. It covers the basic and most common occurrences, it's up to the user to figure the rest out. That's not our job. What do you propose we do if/when sites specific to Mint, Kali, or [insert other Ubuntu based distribution here] launch?

As it is we only have 28 characters remaining in the existing reason anyway, so we couldn't add it even if we wanted to.

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  • What do you think about my proposal below? That way we could both save space in the banner and create a very user friendly and complete list of all possibly related sister sites and a short summary of their scopes. The only way to add more user friendliness in my opinion would be to implement automatic migration (which wouldn't work well...).
    – Byte Commander Mod
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 19:00
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No.

Sorry, the message is space limited and we need to mention Windows, Mac and just don't have the room (or in my case, inclination) to list every non-Ubuntu distribution directly.

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  • 7
    We just don't get as many Mac questions as we get eOS ones, and Mac questions are also covered by U&L. Just nuke Ask Different and replace it with eOS.
    – muru
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 9:44
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    @muru And what do you propose when Mint, Kali, bodhi, zorin, etc all get their own site?
    – Seth Mod
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 2:46
  • @Seth give an ETA on that and I will come up with a proposal in T - 6months.
    – muru
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 3:14
  • Question: so if someone came up with a sentence stating the same but with less words it would be ok? >:-D
    – Rinzwind
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 14:12
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    What do you think about my proposal above? That way we could both save space in the banner and create a very user friendly and complete list of all possibly related sister sites and a short summary of their scopes. The only way to add more user friendliness in my opinion would be to implement automatic migration (which wouldn't work well...).
    – Byte Commander Mod
    Commented Jan 25, 2016 at 19:01

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