All Questions
1,331
questions
15
votes
4
answers
273
views
How to handle duplicate answers that add nothing?
I'm not talking about exact copying, failure to give credit, or one person passing off another person's answer as their own.
Rather, I'd like to know what the best practice is when one user answers a ...
- 113k
14
votes
2
answers
223
views
Is it possible to "over edit"?
Hi!
Since it's beta I want to make sure we have high quality questions and answers. As a result I've been doing some editing, but a bunch of it things like capitalization, spelling, formatting, etc. ...
- 68.4k
14
votes
0
answers
295
views
Out of context comments from the community bot
This question is quite clearly written, and has not been edited so far.
There was a comment from the Community Bot (which I flagged):
Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional ...
13
votes
2
answers
474
views
What do we do with homework-like questions?
Title's pretty clear on what i'm asking. But what should we do with questions like these:
A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux
Ubuntu Linux install xeyes command
... which rely on getting an answer to ...
Thomas WardMod
- 67k
13
votes
3
answers
217
views
What to do with plagiarized tag-wikis?
As I was going through the tag-wikis today to try to add excerpts to those that are lacking, I found many plagiarized tag-wikis and excerpts.
Examples:
libvirt
octave
google-drive
pango
anacron
...
jokerdinoMod
- 40k
12
votes
4
answers
328
views
Is it okay to both answer and mark a question as duplicate?
When I find that a question is duplicate, I just caste a vote to close it.
But sometimes I've got another answer to that question, in that case first I vote to close then I post my answer on the ...
RavexinaMod
- 51k
10
votes
1
answer
102
views
How do I cancel a flag request? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
how to undo a flagging
I don't see a way to cancel a "flag for moderation" request once I've made it, if I see that it was in error.
Is there a way to do it? If not, should ...
- 14.9k
8
votes
1
answer
261
views
Finding questions that other questions have been closed as a dupe of
Is there a way to find questions with a high closed as dupe points here count?
If there were, I think it would be a great way to get a list of questions for people with close-votes without as much ...
- 27.9k
7
votes
0
answers
163
views
Synonimization of singular/plural tag pairs
There are a few [foo]/[foos] tag pairs on Ask Ubuntu. Such tag pairs are usually the singular and plural of the same word and should be synonyms. Occasionally.
Only moderators can create [foos] when [...
40
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Exchange votes or favours
Probably the most risky post I ever posted on AU, nevertheless need to get it of my chest...
Don't ask me how I got the impression, nor whom it involves, but there seems to be a tendency lately that ...
- 79.4k
27
votes
3
answers
355
views
Best way to end a question post
When I ask a question on Ask Ubuntu, I usually end it with some kind of request for knowledge, like "does anybody know the actual meaning of this message?". A lot of newer people end the question with ...
- 2,030
21
votes
1
answer
662
views
Lost 235 rep due to user removal
Is there any tidy way to let me know which user was removed? That's a pretty big hit to take from one user's removal. Just curious.
- 60.7k
21
votes
9
answers
920
views
Are we better off with a general "Unix & Linux" stackexchange site?
Recently launched: Unix & Linux - Stack Exchange (Proposal )
Is Ubuntu perhaps a too narrow topic?
19
votes
4
answers
521
views
How do Mint users end up here?
It's clear to see how Ubuntu users arrive at the site. It's hard to Google for specific problem with "Ubuntu" in the query and not end up here. We're part of the documentation and we're featured (Ask!)...
OliMod
- 280k
16
votes
5
answers
589
views
Dark Theme for Ask Ubuntu
(Edit: looky looky Dark Theme Ask Ubuntu)
I've been using a color inverter extension in Chrome to make websites with prominently white colors be primarily shades of dark gray or black. It's a lot ...
- 19.1k
14
votes
3
answers
737
views
Should one answer one's own question? [duplicate]
And if one does, is it bad form to then select one's own answer as the preferred one?
Here's the particular case I have in mind:
How do I add a program that must be run from within its own directory ...
13
votes
1
answer
351
views
Is translating posts using Google Translate acceptable?
I've seen several questions in non-English, where a user (typically high-rep) puts it into Google Translate. Here's an example (Wayback Machine if it gets deleted). I do realize that post had other ...
- 2,133
12
votes
2
answers
105
views
Request: Burnination and Blacklisting of [error] tag
One of the most overly used tags in the site is error. In almost every case, there are many other tags which are far more descriptive.
All 303 questions using that tag aside, I believe the tag ...
Thomas WardMod
- 67k
12
votes
7
answers
383
views
404 Image Nominations
All the other sites seem to be doing this...
We need an image that will be displayed when users try to bring up a page that does not exist.
Please quote the source so the team can negotiate rights ...
- 31.4k
12
votes
1
answer
205
views
Who downvoted my question/answer on Ask Ubuntu?
Can I know who down voted my question/answer on Ask Ubuntu so that I can ask him the reason for it?
- 7,016
11
votes
2
answers
317
views
should people who answer a question actively prevent duplicates?
If I see a question I can answer, I answer. If I know it has been answered recently. I point to the existing post in a comment. However if you have to search actively before giving (every) answer if ...
- 79.4k
11
votes
0
answers
691
views
Policy Clarifications In Place on "End of Standard Support" and "End of Life"
Per the discussions yielded in Policy Change Proposal: "End of Standard Support" for ESM releases is effectively the "Not Supported" date for a release on Ask Ubuntu and 30 days of ...
Thomas WardMod
- 67k
10
votes
5
answers
666
views
Ask Ubuntu new site theme coming soon [duplicate]
You might have seen the featured post Rollout of new network site themes on Meta Stack Exchange already, but here are the relevant parts for Ask Ubuntu again:
As mentioned on meta.stackexchange.com ...
- 101
10
votes
3
answers
124
views
Applications, application and software tags must die!
Originally discussed here:
The future of the applications/software tag(s)
Needs to be discussed again as an effort to ban the tags permanently
applications, application and software are useless - ...
- 70.9k
9
votes
1
answer
227
views
Can we please disambiguate or discourage the 'mobile' tag?
I've decided to branch off my mobile concerns from Do we need a new “ubuntu-for-phones” tag?.
In my opinion 'mobile' is too ambiguous and broad in its name being an adjective. Yes, we may have a ...
- 64.5k
9
votes
2
answers
239
views
YouTube embedding request
While trying to maintain a question of mine by adding some more media, I bumped into the issue of not being able to embed YouTube videos. I asked in the Teachers' Lounge and was pointed to make a meta ...
OliMod
- 280k
8
votes
4
answers
280
views
What are Ask Ubuntu's current problems, if any, as of early 2012?
The following question was posed to me on my moderator nomination
Is there any concrete issues you would like to focus on as a moderator?
My answer is what amounts to janitorial work, but I'd like ...
- 58.4k
8
votes
0
answers
168
views
Should we be able to review 40 close votes when the queue length is less than 1000?
I recently asked this question on Meta
Close Vote review queue 40 or 20?
Regarding why on some days I have been able to review 40 close reviews but on others only 20 and received the answer that ...
- 21.2k
8
votes
1
answer
128
views
Why did the "community" user reject my edits?
I was reviewing my suggested edits, and saw that the "community" user rejected three of my edits because they "conflicted with a subsequent edit."
What's that supposed to mean? I've had very few ...
- 14.2k
6
votes
5
answers
242
views
Some closed questions should not be downvoted, just closed. Thoughts?
There are some questions that are not deserving a downvote considering the circumstances, such as when the OP is obviously not accustomed to using the the site and thinks that it is pretty much a ...
- 51.1k
6
votes
1
answer
221
views
Is it really useful to flag very old "best..." questions as "primarily opinion based"?
Don't get me wrong, "What is the best ...." question should usually be closed fast.
But, when they are several years old and have many/several answers I see no point in bringing them into the review ...
- 8,486
4
votes
2
answers
147
views
Time Frame of Abandoned/Old Questions
I have checked the following questions:
What to do with abandoned questions?
How should we define "Abandoned" as a close reason?
Changes to how we close abandoned questions
Closing ...
- 202k
4
votes
1
answer
62
views
How to decide which question to close as duplicate?
I have two questions here:
How do I run executable scripts in Nautilus rather than open them in Gedit text editor?
How do I run executable scripts in Nautilus?
the later of which has been already ...
- 25.8k
4
votes
1
answer
228
views
AskUbuntu pages are returning an error when connected to Opera's built in VPN
The issue is simple.
When I navigate to: Why do pages not load in any browser after updating Ubuntu 12.04?
I can load it as expected.
When I toggle on Opera's built in VPN I get:
Page Not Found
We'...
- 388
32
votes
9
answers
940
views
How should we celebrate 10 years of Ask Ubuntu?
It seems that Ask Ubuntu was launched on or around 10th October 2010. This means that our 10th birthday is coming up in about three months :)
This post is here to invite your ideas on how we can ...
ZannaMod
- 66.5k
28
votes
8
answers
695
views
Is it smart to use threats or insulting language when asking for help?
I've seen many questions where the person asking for help, uses insults as part of their question. As examples, look at these:
How can I get your (bad word here) software to do what I (bad word here)...
- 29.2k
23
votes
2
answers
517
views
Migration Paths?
Migration paths allow for questions to be moved from Ask Ubuntu to other sites in the Stack Exchange network. The idea is that rather than simply closing questions as being "off-topic", then the ...
- 28.4k
21
votes
1
answer
351
views
Discouraging "Ubuntu" tags
Figured I might as well be the first to bring this up...
Some relation to but not the same issue as: What ubuntu versions are covered?
At time of writing, there are currently nine instances of the "...
- 2,346
19
votes
2
answers
736
views
Is Ask Ubuntu sponsored by Canonical?
According to the answer in Meta Stack Exchange, Ask Ubuntu is "sponsored informally, under special agreements that were negotiated before SE launched the formal site sponsorship program" by ...
- 1,368
18
votes
1
answer
168
views
Flag answers that should be comments?
As new users can't comment, they sometimes posts answers that would have been comments if they could. Should we flag them so they can be cleaned up properly, or leave them alone because that's how the ...
- 13.3k
17
votes
5
answers
661
views
What should we do with an invalid accepted answer?
Specifically with regards to these JAVA questions:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/5567/how-to-install-the-sun-java-jdk
https://askubuntu.com/questions/52154/how-do-i-install-the-latest-version-of-...
fossfreedomMod
- 168k
17
votes
3
answers
384
views
What should I do with answers about other Linux distros?
See this chat conversation for intense discussion.
When I see an answer "here's how to do this in Windows", I flag it and leave a comment explaining that this is off-topic. All such flags have been ...
ZannaMod
- 66.5k
16
votes
2
answers
470
views
Get rid of Windows answers?
Isn't it time to get rid of this answer and enforce the policy of closing Windows questions, here, here, ... as off-topic?
I'd rather leave a comment "We're sorry, but this site is all about Ubuntu ...
- 33.6k
14
votes
3
answers
288
views
When do comments disappear?
I was browsing the main AU site, when I chanced upon the following comment in the question Why can't I turn on recommendations in software center?:
Please provide additional information only by ...
- 3,670
14
votes
1
answer
230
views
How to get Vox Populi badge
If I know right i can use maximum 30 votes in day. How can i get Vox Populi badge when it needs 40 votes:
Vox Populi Used the maximum 40 votes in a day.
- 6,331
13
votes
1
answer
188
views
What is the purpose of bookmarking questions?
It shows no increase in the reputation points of the asker, then what is the purpose of being able to bookmark questions by clicking on bookmark icon with a star?
- 7,618
13
votes
0
answers
172
views
Should we blacklist the freeze tag?
The wiki of freeze says:
Do not use. This tag is in process of removal. If your software is
freezing then you likely need to file a bug, as freeze problems are
usually off topic here and will ...
- 182k
13
votes
1
answer
1k
views
EOL Notice: Raring (13.04) is now past End of Life
This is a notice regarding releases of Ubuntu that have reached end of life.
The following versions of Ubuntu and derivatives are officially end of life as of January 27, 2014:
Raring 13.04
New ...
Thomas WardMod
- 67k
13
votes
1
answer
202
views
Under what specific conditions should a question be flagged as "very low quality"? [duplicate]
I was going along doing some editing and whatnot on the main site when I hit a question that just looked so ugly quality-wise that I could not think of how one might be able to edit it back into ...
- 14.3k
13
votes
1
answer
245
views
Please don't abuse of the custom close reasons (nor just agree with the previous close voters)
I've seen this for a while now. We are (miss)using the custom close reason:
Has anyone spoted the problem here? As you can see, both say the same with different wording. Why should we close it with a ...
- 64.7k