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Or better yet: xyzzy.stackoverflow.com to test against?

ETA: sandbox.stackoverflow.com is a much better name, and better encapsulates my idea. Thanks dbr.

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    What are you testing? – jjnguy Jun 29 '09 at 17:13
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    It doesn't really matter what, does it? Stackoverflow is not an appropriate place for any sort of testing (automated posting, cross posting, auto replies, etc [yes these are all bad bad things]). – Alan Jun 29 '09 at 22:45
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    I would say meta-so is OK for this type of stuff, as long as it's tagged as "site-testing" and not done excessively. Maybe you should ask that as ANOTHER meta question, to see if the community is OK with a little testing here on meta.* – Jeff Atwood Jun 30 '09 at 2:35
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    @Ivo - It might be helpful if you left comments indicating in what sense you consider these old random requests "completed". I'm guessing that you mean Jeff's comment is sufficient, but it'd be good for people who stumble across this later to be able to tell more easily what the resolution actually was. – Brad Mace Aug 18 '11 at 17:43
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    I'm simply following up on flags, the mods have been clearing through the [feature-request] tag to clean it up. So don't shoot the messenger. – Ivo Flipse Aug 18 '11 at 17:48
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    It would be nice to be able to test all the features of stackoverflow even when you don't have enough reputation on real stackexchange sites. – onokazu Aug 26 '12 at 7:06
  • @Alan (I saw this question because it was active today, although I'm not sure how). Personally, I think sandbox.stackexchange.com would make more sense. If something like this were to go forward, it shouldn't be restricted to one site in the SE network. – John Bensin Sep 13 '13 at 13:31
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    I can imagine exactly what this would be used for; "testing" when the serial voting script kicks in – Richard Tingle Sep 13 '13 at 14:08
  • @JohnBensin: Yeah that makes sense. I think when I first asked this, there really wasn't stackexchange as being a network of sites (iirc). – Alan Sep 13 '13 at 15:26
  • @Alan If you're still interested: Area51 Sandbox proposal :) – ᔕᖺᘎᕊ Jun 27 '15 at 20:30
  • So we still not have this feature...? – ch271828n Aug 7 '19 at 3:52
  • @fzyzcjy no and we'll never have, this request has been officially declined. – Shadow The Vaccinated Wizard Aug 7 '19 at 8:23
  • @ShaWiz Ah sorry to hear that... By the way where is it declined? (It seems that my Googling skills are not good enough to find it) – ch271828n Aug 7 '19 at 8:24
  • @fzyzcjy see the question tags. On meta sites in Stack Exchange, a bug report or feature request might get a special status tag that explains the official decision about that bug or request. The status-declined tag set here means the developers decline to implement the suggested request. Often when setting such a tag they also add answer to explain, the answer in this case is here. – Shadow The Vaccinated Wizard Aug 7 '19 at 10:28
  • It was a good idea in 10 years ago :) – Alan Aug 7 '19 at 15:48
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"SandboxOverflow"?

There has been times I'd want to try something about the StackOverflow site without touching the actual site. I can't remember specific examples, but one would be deleting my own answer when a bounty is issued, or how negative reputation is handled etc..

The site could be reset every 24 hours, perhaps even users (with over x reputation on SO/SF/SU) could create (temporary) accounts with specific privileges/reputation.

The FAQ and sofaq tag has satisfied most of my curiosities, but it could prove useful..

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    isn't that what this site is for, sorta? – Jeff Atwood Jun 30 '09 at 2:28
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    Sort of, only SandboxOverflow would be even more.. chaotic – dbr Jun 30 '09 at 2:41
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    One thing is for sure, you would probably get sand up your .... usb ports. – Brad Gilbert Jul 8 '09 at 0:33
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I would actually like to see something like this for new moderators. There are numerous new tools available, one of which is recalculating individual users' reputation. As a test, I recalculated mine and I lost the 99-point rep boost that everyone has when they start here. I emailed Jeff to see if he could restore it, but I haven't heard back.

There are also some other tools that I'd like to try out (like deleting/destroying users) but I don't want to junk up this site with test accounts.

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Meta Stack Overflow is the testing site / sandbox.

While it might be occasionally useful / amusing to have another one, in practice I don't know that it would enable much beyond what is already possible here.

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  • Yeah, considering the amount of bugs that are found here before changes are deployed network wide (small sample) it's surely a sandbox site! – Shadow The Vaccinated Wizard Oct 24 '13 at 18:56
  • here is example of test I want to do and I have no idea where. I want to add code in the comment. I read how, but it did not work for me in first attempt so I want to test test 02 code in comment without line break – Ronen Ariely Jun 26 '18 at 13:49
  • OK, at least this orked so I know how to add code now ;-) – Ronen Ariely Jun 26 '18 at 13:49

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