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19 votes
3 answers
1k views

"Can I run Ubuntu on my hardware?" questions: a discussion

Ask Ubuntu receives large numbers of questions like this example posted today asking "I have this [specific device], can I install Ubuntu on it?" These questions tend to attract low quality answers (...
Zanna's user avatar
  • 71.6k
17 votes
2 answers
1k views

When do we say a problem can't be reproduced?

Today I saw a question, noticed it was a problem that I and other people have been having in Ubuntu for years, and wrote an answer. I also checked on my machine that the answer was correct. I would ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
-5 votes
3 answers
119 views

Collective "On Topic-ity"

It seems that recently on AskUbuntu, questions have been slipping through the Close-Wall (The wall that keeps a question from being seen by more than a few people). Until now this wall had redirected ...
David's user avatar
  • 3,447
1 vote
1 answer
56 views

Should we really divert all software recommendations? [duplicate]

In the review queue I just stumbled upon a question about a translator app for Ubuntu , which is on the way to be closed as "off topic". Is closing and pointing to https://softwarerecs.stackexchange....
guntbert's user avatar
  • 8,486
0 votes
1 answer
86 views

Proposal to edit the Close-Reason "Not about Ubuntu" to also include questions about other *mobile* OS

The reason why I am proposing this is that I saw this question which is about an android app that the user falsely expected to find in the Ubuntu-touch repository. My reaction would have been to ...
Byte Commander's user avatar
  • 109k
1 vote
1 answer
74 views

The close reason "Off topic" -> "Bug reports..." is still confusing

There is one single point in the review UI that does not fail to irritate me when I see it. It's about how to understand the close reason Off topic->Bug reports. I know that it has been discussed ...
Volker Siegel's user avatar
17 votes
3 answers
363 views

Let's refine and clarify our off-topic close reasons

Recently I have noticed, both as a user and a moderator, a good number of questions either being closed as end-of-life or as a development release when they probably don’t need to be. Just a few ...
Seth's user avatar
  • 58.9k
5 votes
2 answers
118 views

Why is this question on using Ubuntu with Nvidia drivers off-topic?

I am utterly surprised that this question is considered off-topic: https://askubuntu.com/questions/400044/nvidia-x-server-flickers-hangs-and-segfaults-on-start-up . It represents a genuine ...
landroni's user avatar
  • 5,981
2 votes
1 answer
76 views

Why was the question about a problem pinging a Windows system from Ubuntu off-topic?

What was causing the problem, presented in the question https://askubuntu.com/q/418957/44293, only came into light when the question was answered. Before that it was unknown and most probably would ...
Bleeding Fingers's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
78 views

Closing the off-topic and duplicate questions with bounty

There are some questions which has bounty, but are clearly off-topic or are duplicates of another question. e.g. https://askubuntu.com/questions/411887/unicode-fonts-are-not-displayed-correctly-in-...
Bhavin Doshi's user avatar
  • 2,496
5 votes
2 answers
193 views

Let's identify if this question is on-topic

The question I am talking about: Are there any official counters which keep a track on the number of downloads of a particular Ubuntu version across different derivatives? Help Center says: Ask ...
Aditya's user avatar
  • 13.5k
1 vote
0 answers
76 views

Software/Games alternatives in Ubuntu (linux) are off-topic?

I saw this question and voted it to close as too broad since: Is a question about alternatives for a Game title which, telling all truth, there are many alternatives for almost any game in almost any ...
Braiam's user avatar
  • 68.5k
13 votes
1 answer
213 views

How to flag an off-topic question on a non-linux OS?

The question Since the new flags for closing (which I applaud) it is unclear to me how I can flag a question about Windows, Mac, Solaris or whatever which clearly does not belong here. I want to flag ...
don.joey's user avatar
  • 29.1k
2 votes
1 answer
204 views

Can we reopen the question about restarting the Tor browser?

This is a question about how to restart the Tor browser: Restart Tor Browser after closing The OP's motivation for wanting to do so is a bug. This question, however, is not a bug report. The bug is ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
180 views

Can we update the FAQ to reflect the apparent change in EoL policy?

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 ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
243 views

How specific about not supporting non-Ubuntu OS's is AskUbuntu?

While browsing AskUbuntu, I found a question about Wine + Steam. The OP said that he was using Linux Mint, and upon reading that, I thought "Oh, isn't that non-supported, or something?". So I opened ...
ananaso's user avatar
  • 4,060
3 votes
1 answer
76 views

Is this Perl-related question being closed too hastily?

This question is about to be closed: Perl doesn't include directory That's too bad, since: Perl scripting is a standard system administration technique and it doesn't make much sense to reject ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
230 views

Let's reopen this on-topic question about using Ubuntu software in Ubuntu [duplicate]

This question is, and has always been, on topic. The OP's reading of the FAQ is correct. A question about using built-in Ubuntu software and third party Ubuntu software on Ubuntu is a question about ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
90 views

Are bug complaints with addressable non-bug causes on-topic?

Sometimes a user asks a question and shows the error message, and the error message clearly indicates that there is a bug in the application. If it weren't for the bug, that message wouldn't be shown. ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
201 views

Are questions about issues with the Ubuntu keyserver on-topic for off-topic distros?

I saw a question asking for help related to the Ubuntu keyserver, but on a computer using Mint. Although this server is monitored and run by Ubuntu(I think even Canonical), like Ubuntu One, I feel as ...
nanofarad's user avatar
  • 20.8k
2 votes
2 answers
279 views

Are license questions about PPA-provided software on-topic?

We accept licensing questions on Ask Ubuntu. Or at least many such questions. Here are just a few such questions that the community has embraced. (And this is just what I was able to find in under 10 ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
241 views

Ubuntu-specific programming questions are on-topic, so let's reopen this one

This (somewhat confusingly named question) question was closed, perhaps because it is asking something about programming. (It is, and has never been, in any way about Microsoft Windows. It's about the ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
104 views

Let's reopen this question about setting up a Mint-like menu in Ubuntu

This is a question about how to get an interface in Ubuntu that resembles an interface available in Linux Mint: How to install Linux mint like menu/gnomenu in Ubuntu? This question is about Ubuntu. ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
42 views

Let's reopen question about why/how to use workspaces

I think we should reopen this question about why and how to use workspaces: What can I use workspaces for, and how can they be used? It has some good answers already, but if it's reopened, perhaps ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
123 views

Questions about Amazon search results in the Dash in 12.10 are off topic, are we making an exception here?

Questions about Amazon search results appearing in the Dash in 12.10 are appearing here on the site. Example 1, Example 2. Reading our FAQ: This is not the right place for...Issues with the next ...
Tom Brossman's user avatar
  • 13.2k
2 votes
1 answer
83 views

Should this ping question, where the OP was using improper syntax, really be closed?

This question is about how to use ping properly: https://askubuntu.com/questions/159921/why-cant-i-ping-http-ushou-appeng01-ufm The user is not asking: why a particular site does not respond to ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
60 views

Can we consider the recent question about syncing to Android on-topic?

I don't think this question is off-topic: Apple cloud replacement? But it seems like a lot of other people do, and it looks like it may be closed soon. In that question, the OP is asking if you can ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
82 views

Are software-recommendation questions for browser plugins on-topic?

Are questions asking how to do something in a web browser, which either implicitly or explicitly must be accomplished by a plugin, considered on-topic? That is, should we accept questions like this? ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
237 views

I think closing questions on Ubuntu derivatives as off-topic is unhelpful

I realize that the topic of derivatives has been touched on before but I am shocked that this community is so closed to questions that, were they answered, could assist pure Ubuntu users. I recently ...
Moog's user avatar
  • 353
3 votes
1 answer
169 views

Was 142386 closed because it's about FreeBSD, or because it might not also be about Ubuntu?

This question was closed as off topic, and there is a comment (though not by one of the close-voters) saying that it's off-topic but would be on topic at Unix.SE. The question is undeniably about ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
199 views

Are questions about official Ubuntu software in other OSes generally on-topic?

My understanding is that we consider questions about running Ubuntu One in Windows to be on-topic for this site (thanks to Jorge Castro for clarifying this in chat). But we close at least some ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar
17 votes
4 answers
540 views

Should questions about using end-of-life Ubuntu releases be closed? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Should we allow questions that are about releases which are considered End of Life? Should questions requesting advice using end-of-life (i.e., officially unsupported) Ubuntu ...
Eliah Kagan's user avatar