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Our FAQs clearly define questions about upcoming releases as off-topic:

This is not the right place for:

Is it time to update our FAQs to better define when and which questions about upcoming releases are acceptable?

This is a source of confusion for both new and established users and has been discussed before, but no action taken yet to update them.

I keep coming across questions in review flagged by established users, and the questions are clearly on-topic and should stay open. I think this is due to a lack of clarity in our FAQs, which should be updated.

2 Answers 2

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Yes, the FAQ needs updating.

It should probably read like a summary of @Jorge Castro's answer here.

Here's my proposed edit. I just arbitrarily picked Beta 2. Jump right in and change it, I've marked this a community wiki.

We welcome questions about:

  • Upcoming releases once they reach Beta 2 status

This is not the right place for:

  • Upcoming release issues dealing with unfinished UI elements, bugs, and anything else already considered off-topic for a current release.
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  • I don't agree, I think the FAQs are long enough as it is. The link to the me outlines what to do with topics about Ubuntu+1, having another link to the meta question you have in your question should be enough to resolve any outstanding questions.
    – Marco Ceppi Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 14:18
  • @MarcoCeppi The length is probably less important than the quality of the FAQs, within reason. What we have now is an inconsistent policy being applied. I think we can do better. If we are now going to take a hard line that Ubuntu +1 = off-topic then we should say it. If it's on-topic, we need to define it. Right now we are sitting on the fence doing neither.
    – Tom Brossman
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 15:39
  • I would hardly say we're doing neither. This has been the policy we defined and to my understanding that's what we've stuck to. Unless you have a list of examples of this not being the case.
    – Marco Ceppi Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 15:53
  • @MarcoCeppi That policy isn't linked to from the FAQs, which is one part of the problem. I'm confident that if you browse recently closed questions with 12.10 tagged (or in the body of the question) you will see what I mean. Here is a perfect example, and here is another. I maintain this is a real problem, given the inconsistent application of that policy, and I think it needs to be clearer in the FAQ.
    – Tom Brossman
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 16:10
  • Both of those questions are off-topic. The first one is not asking about a feature that's landed, it's simply "Will this exist". Odds are, it won't. Better questions would be "How do I.." The second one arguably could be made on-topic. It's asking about a feature that apparently has landed. Since we're in BETA2 only bugs are being released with a few exceptions, so if a feature is in there it's reasonable to be able to detail what it does and how it works without that changing much.
    – Marco Ceppi Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 16:17
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    For the record, I've updated our FAQ to include a link to the aforementioned meta post about what is and is not on topic for Ubuntu+1
    – Marco Ceppi Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 16:19
  • @MarcoCeppi Okay, thanks for the feedback and update. What I'm after is a consensus that we will all follow (That first example having a 5-3 disagreement among established users) , I don't particularly care which way we define it.
    – Tom Brossman
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 16:26
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I'm not sure the FAQ really needs updating.

It opens a lot of doors to questions that would clutter the site (and our answered rate is already dropping). Adding topics surely won't help that.

It happens every release cycle.

Right at the start of alpha, everyone is on board with carte-blance closing.

As release day gets close, people get ancy and want more and more to be on-topic.

If @Jorge wants to field those questions, fine by me. I think a LOT of the people that want them to be universally or almost universally on topic make no effort to answer them though this does not apply to Jorge. Just a thought.

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  • Who downvoted? Best to leave a comment explaining instead or in addition to voting. That said, this is probably better as a comment and not an answer.
    – Tom Brossman
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 13:21
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    I think this does just fine as an answer.
    – Marco Ceppi Mod
    Commented Sep 28, 2012 at 14:16
  • As far as I can tell as release gets closer and things are finalized we DO start to update the site for the new version.
    – Jorge Castro
    Commented Sep 29, 2012 at 13:03

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