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I am participating in the 3D Printing Beta.

There have been several things that have come up that we are used to being able to do on Stack Overflow, but could not do on the 3D Printing Beta. The answer is often "It must be a Beta restriction".

E.g.,

  1. Flagging a question for migration
  2. Is the "inlining videos" capability turned off on this site?

Also, the UI layout is different. For example, the top bar layout is completely different.

Can someone please clarify what restrictions are placed on a Beta site? Where are rules like this documented?

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    "The top bar layout is completely different." it's the same as every site other than Stack Overflow (which has the new top nav bar).
    – DavidPostill
    Jun 5, 2017 at 22:19
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    @DavidPostill I think OP means the generic beta design.
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Jun 5, 2017 at 22:20
  • @DavidPostill, yes, the Beta sites I have seen, all seem to have a similar UI which differs from the non-Betas.
    – markshancock
    Jun 5, 2017 at 22:24
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    Inline video is something that most sites do not have. It has to be requested specifically by the users. I think there are only 4 sites that have it.
    – Catija
    Jun 5, 2017 at 22:35

2 Answers 2

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The only major differences between a "beta" site and a "graduated" site are:

  • Beta sites don't have a custom site theme.
  • Beta sites have lower reputation requirements for their privileges.
  • Beta sites don't have community advertisements.
  • Beta sites don't have default migration paths (although moderators can still migrate to/from).
  • Beta sites don't hold moderator elections, but instead have appointed moderators.
  • Beta sites aren't linked in the footer.
  • And of course, a beta site has a "beta" label in the title.

Pretty much everything else can be customized on the site based on that site's needs. Inline videos is a feature that is off by default on all sites and only turned on if the community thinks it's necessary to improve the quality of a good portion of their question base (as in it wouldn't only be useful on a handful of questions). The same goes for several other default-off features, such as MathJax and syntax highlighting.

The top bar is only different on Stack Overflow currently. It is the same across all other sites on the network (with the exception of slight alterations on AskUbuntu).

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  • Regarding "default migration paths", can alternate migration paths be configured (by moderator or other)? To me this is awkward now as I have to ignore the "Off topic because it belongs to another Stack Exchange" selection when flagging a post when that IS the issue. I makes my "rules follower" internal voice "feel all dirty inside".
    – markshancock
    Jun 5, 2017 at 23:11
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    Sites can have up to 5 migration paths, one of which is always consumed by the site's Meta. But beta sites are only allowed to have the one path to Meta, and other sites are not allowed to have migration paths to beta sites. Moderators cannot in any way configure migration paths. They can only be changed by staff.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Jun 5, 2017 at 23:15
  • How is the request made to add one? Note: I would recommend that you consider adding SO by default. The majority of the referrals I see are new users that are confused by the difference between SE and SO and ask programming questions because their target product is 3D Printing related.
    – markshancock
    Jun 5, 2017 at 23:30
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    Generally when the site graduates, there will be some sort of conversation about migration targets that would make sense to start off. Past that point, discussions on that site's meta are needed to change it. But that's still not something that can be done until the site is out of beta. Stack Overflow does not make sense as a default target, as not all sites are even related to programming and would not have a high number of questions that belong there. Most sites that get programming questions get them because people are avoiding blocks, and it wouldn't get migrated anyways.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Jun 5, 2017 at 23:32
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    @markshancock Migrations are messy for a variety of reasons — the user may not have an account, it bypasses the dupe check, the tags are typically wrong — so it is better to ask the user to re-ask their question in the context of the correct site rather than moving it mechanically.
    – Robert Cartaino
    Jun 6, 2017 at 0:49
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    As of June 1st, all Stack Overflow in language X sites have implemented the new top-bar. That is Stack Overflow en español, スタック・オーバーフロー, Stack Overflow em Português and Stack Overflow на русском
    – Mariano
    Jun 6, 2017 at 3:53
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Also, the UI layout is different. For example, The top bar layout is completely different.

Stack Overflow is the exception. Check out any of the other sites; the beta site top bar layout is identical to e.g. the one here on MSE (or, say Mechanics, which is graduated but has no theme yet, or Cooking, same functionality just fully equipped with a themed design). SO's top bar is relatively new; presumably it will be rolled out to other sites eventually, but currently it isn't. SO also has a lot of other unique features that no other sites have, especially regarding the categories and tabbing in the page header, and the complexity of the review queues (triage and such, all unique to SO).

Is the "inlining videos" capability turned off on this site?

Also not a beta site limitation. This is configurable per site. You'd have to make a good case for it and petition SE to enable it. Slightly more info here. There is a query to get some stats here.

Everything else is covered nicely in animuson's answer.

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  • When you say petition SE to enable it... what exactly is the procedure? I would quite like to have it turned on for 3D Printing. Neither link seems to show how to ask for it.
    – Greenonline
    Aug 1, 2018 at 7:47
  • @Greenonline: This process didn't exist at the time of your comment, but currently, mods can add the [status-review] tag to escalate a post for staff attention. The CMs can then triage it to the appropriate team (which in this case is the CMs). If you think there's a feature request or bug report on your site's Meta which you think the mods should escalate for staff attention, you can raise a custom mod flag on the post to suggest that they do so.
    – V2Blast
    Jul 26, 2022 at 16:08
  • It is already turned on for SE.3DP (about three years ago), please see YouTube video embedding has been ENABLED for this site. However, thanks for the info/update. People currently want mhcem support
    – Greenonline
    Jul 26, 2022 at 16:14
  • @Greenonline: I figured your particular request had been addressed already; I just wanted to let you (and everyone else) know the process, if you didn't already. Didn't realize I had also replied to you more recently on that mhchem request :P
    – V2Blast
    Jul 26, 2022 at 16:18
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    @V2Blast - Yeah, but it is fortunate that you sent the message above as I'd completely missed the previous comment of yours on SE.Meta.3DP. So, that's all cool :-) I've notified the other mod.
    – Greenonline
    Jul 26, 2022 at 16:22

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