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As a long-time user of Stack Overflow, I have noticed that a certain answer seems to be the 'catch-all' answer for that website: jQuery. It seems that if you have any type of question related to a website at all, someone will post an answer using jQuery, regardless of its helpfulness. It has even become its own meme in some circles:

I see you are trying to [insert task here]. You should totally drop that and try jQuery

[Insert optional jQuery example here].

I have also noticed in recent times that Greasemonkey scripts are becoming the new jQuery for Meta Stack Exchange, thanks in large part to Greasemonkey-scripter extraordinaire Jonathan Sampson. Oftentimes now I will watch posts on Meta wondering when someone will come in with a Greasemonkey script to add or modify some piece of functionality that was requested.

What I am wondering now is: as a user who does not patrol Server Fault with any type of regularity, does a similar meme exist there as well? Is there a "catch-all" answer that seems to show up no matter what the question is?

Also, what do you predict will be the "catch-all" answer for Super User?

6 Answers 6

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I can only guess that Super User's catch-all will be

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

Or as Moss from The IT Crowd refers to it:

Have you tried forcing an unexpected reboot?

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  • 5
    yeah, 3 times just like they always tell me to. Jul 14, 2009 at 16:22
  • 2
    Just use the term "power-cycle" and you'll totally sound official.
    – Sampson
    Jul 14, 2009 at 16:23
  • Make sure that you unplug it and wait 30 min too. Other wise the reset won't 'take.'
    – jjnguy
    Jul 14, 2009 at 16:44
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Another one for Super User, inspired by the jQuery meme:

"I see you are trying to use Windows. You should totally drop that and try Ubuntu."

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Another catch-all answer that appears often on SO (and will probably appear more often on SU) is the obligatory xkcd comic.

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I haven't been to SF in a while, but if it isn't "Have you tried rebooting?", then those guys are all hacks.

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"Have you tried rebooting into safe mode?"

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chkdsk /r and grab a coffee.

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