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Where can I ask a question like:

What does the string "scrlybrkr" do in URLs?

It doesn't seem to fit particularly well on any of the Stack Exchange sites that I've checked.

Edit: I figured out what it was, the reason it was doing weird stuff was because of Securly(which is installed on my school Chromebook), it doesn't do much if your device doesn't have Securly.

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    With the information provided here, that question would be closed due to lack of detail on any Stack Exchange site. That string doesn't inherently do anything in a URL, so we'd need a lot more context. With that context, there are some sites that it could be on topic on (for instance, if the question were "Why does Contoso Antivirus report an error when I open a URL with the string 'scrlybrkr' in it?", that would be on-topic on Super User), but we'd need the context to make a useful site recommendation.
    – Ryan M
    Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 15:13
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    Someone asked that question on Stack Overflow in 2018 and it was closed.
    – smitop
    Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 15:14
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    @smitop not only that, it is also deleted.
    – rene Mod
    Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 15:58
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    Dunno where you can ask, but that's most likely a "cache breaker", meant to prevent the browser from caching the page, if the value of the URL parameter is random. If it's not random, might be tracking, e.g. to know where you came from. Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 16:02
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    @rene yeah, here is screenshot of a useful answer, that might answer the OP here as well. Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 16:04
  • And now we are doing the human search engine thing anyway. Perhaps it should be formalised? While we are in the rabbit hole: scrly = Securly Commented Apr 18, 2023 at 16:31
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    Does this answer your question? Which computer science / programming Stack Exchange sites do I post on?
    – gnat
    Commented Apr 19, 2023 at 5:57
  • @gnat This isn't about computer science or programming, so that does not answer this question.
    – Ryan M
    Commented Apr 19, 2023 at 14:24
  • @RyanM is this merely your opinion or you can justify it somehow. I for one have an opinion that questions about Universal Resource Locator fall squarely into this field
    – gnat
    Commented Apr 20, 2023 at 11:14
  • @gnat Well, it's certainly not about the academic discipline of computer science. And while questions about URLs can be about programming, this one really doesn't seem to be. It's certainly off-topic on Stack Overflow, the site I moderate. It's also off-topic on Web Applications (which, while not about computer science/programming, is mentioned there) unless it's about a specific web application, according to a moderator there. Basically, I don't see what site from that list you're implying it should be posted on.
    – Ryan M
    Commented Apr 20, 2023 at 13:52

2 Answers 2

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That question shouldn't be asked anywhere within the SE network if all you have is an observation and answers are at best trivia. For example:

it is a query string used for tracking and analytics

or

It is a content filter for schools.

What have you and future visitors now learned? Not much useful I would argue.

If this url is used in a context where you need something solved, logged, untracked, etc it can become on-topic on several sites, depending on context. Until then you have to find a chat room or a site outside of the SE Network to get an answer for that question.

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TL;DR: Details are required.

You are right, due to the lack of details, the "question" doesn't look to be a good fit for any Stack Exchange site.


Overview

It looks that there is a misconception about what "question" means in Stack Exchange, in a community tour, the articles about like How to ask a good question from the communities' Help Centers and in mosts meta posts that discuss the post type named question.

Questions in the wild Vs SE questions

Stack Exchange is not about "questions" as they are defined in Wikipedia (links and formatting not included)

A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are interrogative in form but may not be considered bona fide questions, as they are not expected to be answered.

Someone might argue that SE questions are requests for information but that is not really correct as SE sites are not information request services (see digital reference). SE sites serve communities that are working together, to build a knowledge base about certain topic.

Questions come in a number of varieties. Polar questions are those such as the English example "Is this a polar question?", which can be answered with "yes" or "no". Alternative questions such as "Is this a polar question, or an alternative question?" present a list of possibilities to choose from. Open questions such as "What kind of question is this?" allow many possible resolutions.

Polar questions and alternative questions are not allowed in any main site. It might be possible to ask a question where the answer might be Yes or no, one option or another, but should invite to explain why and how, and never should be about trivial or non-relevant stuff (boring, short-living, helpful/interesting only to the asker or to a very narrow niche) from the point of view of the core community.

Considering this clasification, SE questions are open questions but not all of them are allowed. SE questions should be "answerable", "good subjective questions". What exactly these attributes means for each community varies.

Questions are widely studied in linguistics and philosophy of language. In the subfield of pragmatics, questions are regarded as illocutionary acts which raise an issue to be resolved in discourse. In approaches to formal semantics such as alternative semantics or inquisitive semantics, questions are regarded as the denotations of interrogatives, and are typically identified as sets of the propositions which answer them.

If you are willing to go deep about the different type of questions, you might be interested in

  • English Language and Usage

    Q&A for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts

  • Linguistics

    Q&A for professional linguists and others with an interest in linguistic research and theory

Purpose of Stack Exchange Questions

SE questions are closer to Inquiry (links and formatting not included)

An inquiry (also spelled as enquiry in British English)[a] is any process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. A theory of inquiry is an account of the various types of inquiry and a treatment of the ways that each type of inquiry achieves its aim.

Each Stack Exchange community, as a community of inquiry, has its own process that has the aim of augmenting knowledge, resolving doubt, or solving a problem. All SE communities use the same "implementation model" / "template": there is a post called question which might have none, one or multiple posts called answers. During this process there might be flags, votes, comments, chat messages and meta posts to help clarify, improve and even delete questions and answers known as moderation. Post are moderated by the community. The specific working details varies on each community.

Conclusion

Please checkout How to ask a good question from the Help Center of the community were you might think that this seed question (conversation starter) might be well received. Below there is a list of communities that might be related. You might have to review their tour, What topics can I ask about here? and their per-site meta to have a precise knowledge about what each community want

  • Computer Sciences: If you want to go deep into the science behind how computers and Internet works. https://cs.stackexchange.com/tour.
  • Computer Science Educators: If you want to go deep into the science behind how computers and Internet works as self-learner. Computer Science Educators, the main audience of this site, might help you to create a self-learning plan. https://cseducators.stackexchange.com/tour.
  • History of Science and Mathematics: If your are able to write this as a practical detailed question about history of science and math. https://hsm.stackexchange.com/tour
  • Stack Overflow: If you are able to write this as a practical, detailed question about programming. https://stackoverflow.com/tour.
  • Super User: If you are able to write this as a practical, detailed question about using computer hardware and software as end-user. https://superuser.com/tour.
  • Web Applications: If you are able to write this as a practical, detailed question about using web applications as end-user. https://webapps.stackexchange.com/tour.

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