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I asked a question about vim in the ubuntu stackexchange, and someone suggested it should be taken to stack overflow or superuser.

Would this be relevant, or should general Linux/UNIX software stuff be taken elsewhere?

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    Good question! Considering that Ubuntu (as any other distribution) consists primarily of general upstream software I am not sure if there is an obvious/easy line to draw.
    – andol
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 9:37

4 Answers 4

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I don't really think general Linux/Unix questions should be excluded from the Ubuntu StackExchange. I really think anything related to Ubuntu at all, no matter how general should be accepted.

Sure they can go to the Linux StackExchange when thats up or SuperUser but really they are going to be asked here anyways by someone eventually, its inevitable. This is the whole problem with questions that can go on more than one site, not everyone can get it right as to where its supposed to go. And these other sites, it isn't always obvious that they exist.

A Ubuntu user might look here for an answer to the vim question and not know about Super User or the Linux Stack Exchange, as they are completly seperate sites. Or maybe they just dont want to do this whole signing up to 10 different sites and hopping between them. So far as I know there is no inter-site search yet that isn't Google so searching isnt exactly a breeze either.

I would ask a vim question here opposed to anywhere else more because I want a Ubuntu specific answer. I don't care if RedHat or another disto does it differently or the same. I dont want to get an answer for another distro that ends up being completly different for Ubuntu. I want the answer from a Ubuntu user, for a Ubuntu user.

If we draw the line at only Ubuntu applications and Ubuntu UI, users are going to drop off for other sites that have a more complete Question/Answer base. On the flip side that could be fine, it concentrates the questions more. But it also just makes it less complete of a resource.

So my opinion is anything that has to do with Ubuntu at all is fine.

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    I kind of agree, but then again your definition would make the question 'how do I create a mask in gimp' valid for the site, assuming that the user is using gimp on ubuntu.
    – Ressu
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 19:39
  • @Ressu I think thats a bit of a streatch... 'how do I create a mask in gimp' falls too far into the artistic side of things.. Although 'Where would I find a good Tutorial for Gimp' would be OK I think
    – WalterJ89
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 23:50
  • @Ressu I think thats a bit of a streatch... 'how do I create a mask in gimp' falls too far into the artistic side of things.. Although 'Where would I find a good Tutorial for Gimp' would be OK I think If it was 'how do I create a mask in gimp opposed to MS paint' thats a bit borderline, but if thats more asking about the feature differences than the artistic method.. it might be ok. At least thats my opinion.
    – WalterJ89
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 23:58
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    Sure it is a far fetched example, but we need some kind of guidelines on what is ubuntu specific enough for the question to be posted on the ubuntu site. Where do we draw the line?
    – Ressu
    Commented Jul 30, 2010 at 7:22
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    Thankfully far fetched questions that fall far out of the ubuntu category are likely to be rare. I wouldn't expect anyone to post an art related question here. And if they do its not likely it would get a great answer. As soon as you start excluding general Linux questions (although meant for ubuntu) there is going to be too large of a foggy zone. Perfectly fine question will be redirected to other sites and there will just be holes left.
    – WalterJ89
    Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 1:03
  • We need one place to go, and not start research if it's Ubuntu specific or not. A used of Ubuntu stack site should know that everything works on Ubuntu, and could not care less if it's unique to Ubuntu or not
    – Aviah Laor
    Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 17:37
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    +1 for I want the answer from a Ubuntu user, for a Ubuntu user.
    – Torben Gundtofte-Bruun
    Commented Dec 30, 2010 at 8:58
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General Linux/UNIX (seriously, are you asking if UNIX questions should be posted on Ubuntu StackExchange?) question should be posted on https://superuser.com/ or the Linux StackExchange.

A good rule of thumb (for now) is that questions involving Ubuntu UI (e.g. applications, desktop shell) or community should be posted here; questions that do not relate to Ubuntu UI or the Ubuntu community should go elsewhere.

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  • Yeah, I'm asking if generic UNIX applications are covered by this stack exchange. Some of the questions so far aren't specific to Ubuntu, and if we want newcomers to be able to ask here without finding the heritage of each component, then we should expect to get these in future.
    – Jeremy Kerr
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 9:04
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    I hope that this stackexchange will be primarily targeted at a non-technical audience, but I suppose there's nothing wrong with asking questions about command line utilities. It's not that technical questions don't belong here, it's just that you'll find a more suitable community to answer it elsewhere.
    – David Siegel
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 10:00
  • I'm not just talking about command-line utilities - things like firefox, openoffice, gnome, etc, aren't Ubuntu-specific.
    – Jeremy Kerr
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 11:00
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    I'm of the opinion that if it can be run on Ubuntu, and that's where the user is having issues then it should be on this exchange (otherwise it will be pretty sparse).
    – Ross
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 11:40
  • @Ross - good thinking, I like it.
    – Jeremy Kerr
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 14:47
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    -1 I'm sorry, I dont really agree. As soon as you start excluding general Linux questions (although meant for ubuntu) there is going to be too large of a foggy zone. Perfectly fine question will be redirected to other sites and there will just be holes left.
    – WalterJ89
    Commented Jul 29, 2010 at 16:29
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    - 1. This concept will re-create the isolated knowledge islands nightmare already available on the Internet. If you use Ubuntu you should have one place to go: here (SuperUser and ServerFault were conceived before the stackexchange idea, and should not lock further sites)
    – Aviah Laor
    Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 17:40
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    "I'm of the opinion that if it can be run on Ubuntu, and that's where the user is having issues then it should be on this exchange" I second that. I need this forum to have answers on my OS. Not to be snubbed by people who know the answers and will tell me to Google that. If the half the answers I get is "closed because it's a generic Linux question", then all this forum is useless. ubuntu.stackexchange.com needs to become the site where Ubuntu users come to have answers.
    – paercebal
    Commented Jul 31, 2010 at 22:03
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    Most questions that aren't obviously Ubuntu-specific probably get better answers on serverfault/superuser with a ubuntu-tag
    – ptman
    Commented Aug 3, 2010 at 14:28
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If it is part of the archives, it is right to ask here. If someone wants to install something on Ubuntu too

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Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distribution over the world. So there may be some general questions relevant to any Debian based Linux distro. But that does not mean he/she can't post it here. Because if it is a general question for Debian based distro there will be a 90% probability that ubuntu also have the same question.

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    We only allow questions about Ubuntu, not about other distros, Debian based or otherwise. But, questions do not have to be specific to Ubuntu - they can also be applicable to other distros
    – Zanna Mod
    Commented Jul 20, 2020 at 16:34

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