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I posted a self Q&A on Stack Overflow:
Re-enable GitHub two-factor authentication with Authenticator app when switching to a new smartphone.

It got closed because "This question does not appear to be about a specific programming problem, a software algorithm, or software tools primarily used by programmers."

What is the best Stack Exchange site for this self Q&A?

I was thinking of these sites, both of which have github tags:

Note:

The Authenticator app is the Microsoft Authenticator app for iPhone

MS Authenticator

UPDATE Dec 22, 2023: The above question on Stack Overflow was reopened after minor edits.

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    I would wait for the question to be reviewed in the Reopen Votes queue first, because I'm sure there's other people who think that GitHub is one of the "software tools primarily used by programmers".
    – Laurel
    Commented Dec 21, 2023 at 18:18
  • @Laurel Thank you, I will wait before I make a move to another site. And if we assume the worst-case scenario for this question (= it remains closed), then which sites would be your alternative candidates?
    – Timur Shtatland
    Commented Dec 21, 2023 at 18:23
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    It would be on-topic at Ask Different [because it's an iPhone], but off-topic at Super User [because it's an iPhone;) I'd agree with Laurel, though, that if you can't get it reopened on SO, then WebApps might be 2nd best.
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Dec 22, 2023 at 9:42
  • @Tetsujin Thank you! If you convert your comment to an answer, even if a brief one, I will be happy to upvote. Also, how can I estimate how long to wait for the review to reopen the question to happen? It's been 20 hours. I don't know how long the wait time in this queue is currently... Could be many days?
    – Timur Shtatland
    Commented Dec 22, 2023 at 13:04
  • Please don't insert "EDIT"s/"UPDATE"s, just make your post the best presentation as of edit time. Please delete & flag obsolete comments.
    – philipxy
    Commented Dec 22, 2023 at 22:09
  • @philipxy Thank you for the comment. I agree that this is a good rule to follow in general. But this specific question and many of the comments often make sense only when the OP is clearly separated from the UPDATE Dec 22, 2023 part. All rules have exceptions, that's certainly one of them.
    – Timur Shtatland
    Commented Dec 22, 2023 at 22:21

3 Answers 3

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First, I would wait for the question to be reviewed in the Reopen Votes queue first, because I'm sure there's other people who think that GitHub is one of the "software tools primarily used by programmers". You might be able to get some eyes on it faster if you post in a relevant SO chatroom.

If that fails (e.g., the question is automatically deleted), it would be on-topic on Web Apps, which has questions about GitHub and multi-factor authentication (when about a website).

Note: After about a day in the reopen queue, the question was reopened on Stack Overflow.

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  • By relevant chatroom, do you mean this: SO Close Vote Reviewers | chat.stackoverflow.com? Because this one seems much less active: Git | chat.stackoverflow.com
    – Timur Shtatland
    Commented Dec 21, 2023 at 19:13
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    @TimurShtatland I'm not really familiar with SO chat, where there are dozens of rooms with their own rules. If SOCVR allows that type of request according to their rules, then sure.
    – Laurel
    Commented Dec 21, 2023 at 19:20
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    @TimurShtatland you're involved in that question and that makes that you can't ask SOCVR for a re-open-pls. SOCVR rules are explained in their FAQ: socvr.org/faq#GEfM-no-requests-youre-involved
    – rene Mod
    Commented Dec 21, 2023 at 19:58
  • @rene Thank you. Does that mean that I should just wait a reasonable time until it gets reviewed after I last edited it? Perhaps, wait ~24 hours since I last submitted it for review? It currently says: "Closed 18 hours ago. This post was edited and submitted for review 4 hours ago."
    – Timur Shtatland
    Commented Dec 21, 2023 at 20:23
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    @TimurShtatland re-open reviewers don't have a schedule / plan to stick to. They get to the review task eventually. Give it 6 to 8. Days, if not weeks. Not that many fancy doing free labor these days ...
    – rene Mod
    Commented Dec 22, 2023 at 20:48
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It would be on-topic at Ask Different [because it's an iPhone], but off-topic at Super User [because it's an iPhone;)

I'd agree with Laurel, though, that if you can't get it reopened on SO, then WebApps might be 2nd best.

I'm afraid I have no guess as to how long it may sit in the review queue; I'm not a frequent visitor to SO, only Ask Different & Super User.

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I think WebApps is a better fit for the question for sure. If I happened upon a question like this organically on Stack Overflow, and weren't currently prioritizing a cleanup of old Python questions, I would vote to close it as off topic.

Topicality on Stack Overflow generally requires a question that is about at least one of

  • a specific programming problem
  • a software algorithm
  • software tools commonly used by programmers

and is also

a practical, answerable problem that is unique to software development

That's how the "and" and "or"s in that description are intended to be parsed.

Now, GitHub is established to be a "software tool commonly used by programmers" - there are about 57 thousand questions under that tag on Stack Overflow - so you're covered on the first part. It's also clear that the problem is practical (because authenticating with a website is a common task) and answerable (because you answered it quite well).

However, just because you are authenticating with a website used uniquely by software developers, doesn't make the problem of authenticating with a website (i.e., by ordinary end-user means, not by writing a program that uses some OAuth API or whatever) unique to software development.

In my mind, this is the same as if you were asking about the same problem logging in with your phone (while posting from a desktop) to Stack Overflow itself. Even though Stack Overflow itself is specifically used by developers, such a question would clearly belong on meta.SO and would not be accepted on the main site. That is, it would go on a site that's about Stack Overflow, rather than on a site that's about programming. Similarly, I think your question and answer belong on a site that's about GitHub qua webapp, because the question fundamentally views GitHub from that perspective. It's neither about authentication in a programming sense, nor about using GitHub specifically for a programming-related task.

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  • Thank you, I think you are correct, and you are making an excellent point. Like many others, I skimmed the page "What topics can I ask about here?" incorrectly parsing the definition. Your answer does require some effort to understand the precise definition of what is on topic on Stack Overflow. I will keep this in mind for the next question I post.
    – Timur Shtatland
    Commented Dec 22, 2023 at 19:44
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    To be fair, I think the Help Center article is poorly written, especially that part. It's just that this is the only way to parse it that remotely makes sense to me. (Also as future guidance: when your question is closed on a SE network site, it's usually more productive to ask on the site-specific meta before coming to meta.SE to find a better home for the question. Sometimes the change needed to make the question on topic is minor enough that it makes more sense to edit. Also, meta denizens for the technical sites usually have a good idea about each others' topicality requirements.)
    – Karl Knechtel
    Commented Dec 22, 2023 at 19:45
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    I agree. The relevant chunk of the Help Center article lacks parentheses, which would make it less ambiguous for readers like me. Or, even better, that single chunk can be broken up into two chunks, as you did in your answer. I would support a question on Meta asking for improvement of that article.
    – Timur Shtatland
    Commented Dec 22, 2023 at 19:51

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