10

As some have already seen, the /about page on main has changed dramatically. It's fancy now with all the moving parts and visual examples, but there is one thing that feels kinda odd about it.

The example is not a good one

The example currently given, as seen in the following screenshot, is a slightly modified version of this question.

screenshot from /about

While I fully understand that the examples need to be kept short so they don't take up too much space, the given answer is pretty much link-only and would be deserving of the "Nothing but a URL (and isn't spam)" pro-forma comment:

Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.

The /about section is intended to show new users what this site is about, and introduce them to the way the site works. Shouldn't we, then, encourage good answers with a good example, rather than bad ones?

So, this question boils down to two points:

  • Why was this specific question chosen, or what makes a question eligible for being the example question on /about?
  • Shall we replace the current example question, and with what other question?
2
  • 3
    as per shog9's answer, i present askubuntu.com/questions/93671/… as a viable option.
    – jrg Mod
    Commented Jan 13, 2013 at 19:08
  • 1
    I think jrg's question would fit. It might even be useful to new user, where I doubt the Nexus one would apply to most.
    – Seth
    Commented Jan 13, 2013 at 20:30

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

There are certain requirements for the question there, due to the space available and the need for at least two answers that will fit (one which must have a comment on it).

Here are some eligible questions. Pick a better one!

Keep in mind, the posts displayed on /about will be chosen to not have any lists, images, code, or headers. So if you pick a question that has one great (but long and detailed and heavily-formatted) answer and two short, crappy ones, the short ones will be the answers displayed. I realize this often is not an ideal way to show off the site's expertise and preferred style of answering, but it's currently necessary to avoid overwhelming the actual content of /about.

Currently set to jrg's suggestion

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .