6

It is currently not easy to find the description of what is on-topic for a given stack exchange site - at least not until you know how! I've been more or less involved with various stack exchange sites for a few years now, and I never did understand how to find this.

The help button is fairly hidden away and small, and even when you find the help pages, then there usually just seems to be a fairly large bunch of different pages about 'Asking'. However, in fact, for (almost?) all stack exchange sites, just take the base URL and add /help/on-topic and you will find the page I wanted all along.

I think it would be extremely useful if the left-hand links on any given stack exchange site included an 'About' link, which always links to the /help/on-topic page of that site.

If you try this for a few different sites, you will see that this given page very much does serve as an 'About' page for that site.

I think that this is something that a great many people are going to want to find, and that is also really quite hard to find at the moment.

The suggested change would make it more or less self evident (and arguably as another desirable side effect might help a bit in keeping first questions on topic?).

@TheLethalCoder has produced the following image, which very much captures what I am suggesting here (includes [tour], [help], [help/on-topic] & [help/dont-ask] links, as discussed in comments):

enter image description here

20
  • 1
    It seems to be a good idea to add a help / how to ask link to the left side bar. It would be easy to access and fill up a bit of that empty space. If anyone actually would read it before posting is a different matter.
    – Mark Kirby
    Mar 4, 2020 at 11:16
  • 1
    Better to point it to the tour if you're going to have it. Mar 4, 2020 at 11:16
  • 2
    Did you know posting [help/on-topic] resolves as help center on any site towards the relevant help center?
    – Mast
    Mar 4, 2020 at 11:16
  • Hi @Mast Sorry, I genuinely don't understand what you mean by 'posting' [help/on-topic] - posting it where? How?
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 4, 2020 at 11:35
  • 1
    @MikeBeaton If you type it in a comment. There similar ones like [tour] becoming tour. Mar 4, 2020 at 11:37
  • Those are called "magic links" and full list can be seen here. Mar 4, 2020 at 11:41
  • @TheLethalCoder With respect, I think I disagree. I did not know about the tour either until your comment. How are users supposed to stumble on these things? So maybe it could indeed do with a link too. But I think help/on-topic is much more likely to actually be read; it is much more focused, whereas the Tour seems much less quickly digestible. Even though I can see that the tour is probably designed to be more what someone wants, when they are thinking "what is this site about?", I really don't think it actually is.
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 4, 2020 at 11:41
  • .ShadowWizardisEarForYou and .TheLethalCoder You mean that if I include that link in a post or comment then it will work as shown? Okay, understood! And no, I didn't know that. It's useful to know. But for all that, I don't think it makes the suggestion in my OP any less desirable? (I'm not sure if that was intended as an implication by .Mast or not.)
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 4, 2020 at 11:44
  • @MikeBeaton The tour should give more information on how the site works, what is and isn't on topic etc. And is supposed to be more easily readable with small chunks of information rather than long paragraphs like the help center but YMMV. Mar 4, 2020 at 11:44
  • My mileage does vary, looking at the tour and help/on-topic for various sites, help/on-topic is exactly the focused information I was looking for but didn't know how to find.
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 4, 2020 at 11:46
  • How about adding 'On Topic' and 'Tour' links to each site?
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 4, 2020 at 11:47
  • The Tour is more of a general about page which I thought was more what you was asking about trying to find but adding both would likely be more preferable if implemented. Maybe even customisable per site with a link to the tour then a "help" section which links to help and has an area that each site can customise what they want to add. Mar 4, 2020 at 11:49
  • 2
    I think something like this might be what you're after: i.stack.imgur.com/1DSRp.png I just knocked it up very quickly but is an idea. Mar 4, 2020 at 11:55
  • 1
    @MikeBeaton "I don't know who gets to decide" Well if implemented SE does initially. After that it'd likely be the meta community/mods like with the new ask page. And it is /help/dont-ask. A lot of the "early" stuff isn't too consistent. Mar 4, 2020 at 12:16
  • 1
    And side note, stack uses imgur for hosting so the "size modifiers" work like usual. If you use m, i.stack.imgur.com/1DSRpm.png, the image is smaller. Mar 4, 2020 at 12:17

2 Answers 2

3

Sometimes what's on-topic is more aptly defined in one of the faq tags on the site's Meta.

It's true that /help/on-topic can be edited by the sites' moderators.

That link doesn't seem to be in the new "Ask" help -- The new ask page is now live on the network! -- that seems to me an oversight, maybe they will correct that.

And/or a site can customise that help, by following the same procedure as for a tag warning -- What's the protocol for requesting a tag warning?

7
  • Thanks for the info! Would you have time to elaborate a little more specifically as to how these points bear on whether it is possible and desirable to add links something like I suggested?
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 4, 2020 at 13:32
  • The first 2 sentences are to say that /help/on-topic isn't the only place where "on-topic" is defined -- it's often defined in FAQs on Meta -- but site moderators can control that.
    – ChrisW
    Mar 5, 2020 at 2:51
  • The next two sentences are to say that instead of your suggestion (i.e. the left sidebar) there's now another place where that link might be useful and timely -- and which doesn't depend of SE implementing a new feature request which they might be unlikely to.
    – ChrisW
    Mar 5, 2020 at 2:53
  • So when you say 'a site can customise that help, by following [etc.]' by 'that help' you mean the help modal for new askers? That might arguably have the disadvantages that you can't find it unless you've already decided to answer a question, and that you won't see those links again as soon as you're not a new asker.
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 5, 2020 at 6:35
  • With regard to faq tags, do you have an example of a stack exchange site where help/on-topic wouldn't be useful but searching for the faq tag in the site's meta-site would be? If that is the case in some sites, would that be even harder for most users to find, again?! And wouldn't it be easy to put a link to that in help/on-topic, if it was needed? (Thus still working with the suggestion I'm making here?)
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 5, 2020 at 6:41
  • I think "those links" are visible every time a new question is asked, and not only if/while you're a new asker. I guess you're disappointed by my answer that it doesn't match your suggestion more closely, but it has one advantage of already having been implemented i.e. being practical.
    – ChrisW
    Mar 5, 2020 at 12:37
  • If it is shown for all questions, then I'm only disappointed because as I said, "you [won't] find it unless you've already decided to [ask and compose] a question". Less importantly, I've just tested it and it didn't appear when I created (and deleted!) a test question, so it seems that that help text is not (unfortunately) visible every time a question is asked. I agree it would be simpler to modify an existing feature if it served the same purpose. My first objection (as repeated first in this comment) remains my biggest objection to your suggestion, which otherwise meets that desideratum.
    – MikeBeaton
    Mar 5, 2020 at 15:07
1

I have written a free open-source Chrome Extension which actually adds these links to all Stack Exchange sites. 😊🎉

enter image description here

It now supports:

  • stackoverflow.com
  • *.stackexchange.com
  • superuser.com
  • serverfault.com
  • askubuntu.com
  • stackapps.com

which all work with exactly the same code.

I'm not suggesting this is the best permanent solution - far from it. But it does make it very easy to evaluate how well this works. Personally, I'm definitely planning to leave this installed for myself on my own browser, for now - I find these extra links very useful!

Thanks @TheLethalCoder for additional link suggestions.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .