The Help Center is lying about site's scopes.
According to this answer, the /help/on-topic
page is the only Help Center article that can be edited on a per-site basis without going through employees. But many of the articles don't apply properly to the site's they're written on. Here's a mildly amusing example:
Retrocomputing Stack Exchange is a community where users help users. Your customers are part of this mix. In fact, unless your product is brand new, we probably already have some questions about it, and possibly even a tag.
I mean, this is technically valid. But not that useful. For instance, the example questions and where to ask them are wrong for our site's scope:
- How do I? -- ask on Retrocomputing Stack Exchange (tell them what tags to use -- your product tag at minimum)
- I got this error, why? -- ask on Retrocomputing Stack Exchange
- I got this error and I'm sure it's a bug -- report it on your own site
- I have an idea/request -- report it on your own site
- Why do you? -- ask in your own community (support forum, etc)
- When will you? -- ask in your own community
Specifically, "Why do you?" is actually a question that we accept (with restrictions, of course – loosely approximateable as a notability requirement / mind-reading clause – and it's more "Why did this person / team?"). This is a problem.
Other amusing examples:
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We get a lot of requests from product teams about how they can use Pets Stack Exchange to support their communities. Pets Stack Exchange works really well for technical support and we welcome this, within limits.
[…]
- I got this error and I'm sure it's a bug -- report it on your own site
Labrador.com is not a good place to post questions about diagnosing illnesses in dogs, and Pets is not a good place to post questions about repairing a cat-proof cat-food dispenser that the cat got into.
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- you are asking an open-ended, hypothetical question: “What if ______ happened?”
Programming Puzzles and Code Golf Duplicates
The fundamental goal of closing duplicate questions is to help people find the right answer by getting all of those answers in one place.
Not on PPCG it's not! (It is, if I remember correctly, to prevent the duplication of effort / trivial duplication of submissions.)
Interpersonal Product Support (thanks, Catija!)
We get a lot of requests from product teams about how they can use Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange to support their communities. Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange works really well for technical support and we welcome this, within limits. If you follow a few simple guidelines then you, your users, and Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange can all benefit.
Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange is a community where users help users. Your customers are part of this mix. In fact, unless your product is brand new, we probably already have some questions about it, and possibly even a tag. In addition, search the site for your product name or other key words. Answer the existing questions, or if they already have good answers, vote those up. While you're here, look around for other questions you can help with (not just ones about your product). Participate in the site, learn the ropes, and build the reputation you'll need to gain important privileges like commenting, editing, and others.
Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange can help support your product but it can't be the only support. There are issues that only you can address, and if you send your users to Interpersonal Skills Stack Exchange for them they'll just get frustrated.
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Could these be marked as moderator-editable, like the on-topic page, so that they can be customised? It's probably a non-trivial process, but would be extremely useful!