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There seems to be a class of questions which falls between the cracks.

If it is to do with .net or php then it is a SO question If it is apache IIS or general server/network configuration it is a SF question.

There is another class of question which is to do with the day to day running of websites which I would have thought would have been the domain of SU, but there has been a tendency to call these questions "not computer related"

https://superuser.com/questions/25565/how-can-i-take-my-revenge-on-a-spamming-website-closed https://superuser.com/questions/11818/what-is-a-good-free-blogging-site-closed https://superuser.com/questions/13747/how-to-i-sell-ad-space-on-my-website/13761

I think there are lots of other cases where the questions are answered and give value.

Is there an official line on this? Is it determined on a case by case basis, or are websites by their very nature computer related?

(bias update: I probably think they are relevant as I run websites and think the subject is interesting)

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4 Answers 4

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The FAQ lists it pretty clearly:

Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users. If you have a question about ...

  • computer hardware
  • computer software

...and it is not about videogames or consoles, then you're in the right place to ask your question!

Programming a website, StackOverflow. Designing a site, and you're a something called, "designer", Doctype. Running the backend of a site, ServerFault.

The revenge question, probably for 4Chan. The other questions are constant ad nauseum fodder for meta-blogs, blogs about blogs.

The questions might be have some content of worth, but that doesn't mean just because it doesn't fit into the other SOFU sites that it should just be dumped into SuperUser.

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  • Oh sod it! your/you're of all the things.
    – random
    Aug 19, 2009 at 15:27
  • If it doesn't fit into SO or SF, and it's related to computers but not to what low-level users do, then isn't it correct to dump it into SU?
    – David Thornley
    Aug 19, 2009 at 17:06
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The revenge question is not completely about running a website, that was completely inappropriate the way that written. Website management questions fall under a part of administration IMHO. So I would say serverfault is the place to ask, but I would like to hear from others on this also.

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  • Revenge was inappropriately phrased, but could benefit from advice, like "put in a spam blocker" and "don't take it personally", with some editing might have become a good question.
    – Jeremy French
    Aug 19, 2009 at 14:35
  • I still think that would be about the business side of hosting, but you are right that some editing would have brought it much closer to fitting in. And I think at that point it would have been better on SF than SU.
    – EBGreen
    Aug 19, 2009 at 14:42
  • @Jeremy Yah, that question could have been great, but it seems like those kind of questions just take forever to get "turned around" sometimes
    – Troggy
    Aug 19, 2009 at 15:27
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My feeling is that the content of a website is not computer/programming related. The code behind displaying that content and the server side activities of serving that content to users is related. So for the three examples that you gave, number one had nothing to do with how to code or serve pages. The second did essentially ask about serving pages but not how to do it. The third is explicitly about page content. Again this is my personal feeling and this is exactly why it takes multiple votes to close. I would just paraphrase the famous quote that I know it when I see it.

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Those three questions you reference are not computer relatedd - they are business related. Do we look like business people? While I agree that sometimes we find ourselves wearing the hats of server admin, programmer, and head cheese; that does not mean that there is a place here for questions related to the third role.

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  • Interesting viewpoint, should we explicitly ban business questions, even if they do relate to computer use?
    – Jeremy French
    Aug 19, 2009 at 14:44
  • It depends on if they are about business or computers.
    – EBGreen
    Aug 19, 2009 at 14:47

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