Greatest Hits
2818
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A Terms of Service update restricting companies that scrape your profile information without your permission
Update (April 19, 2016): This change is now live. You can view the updated Terms of Service here, or read about them below.
tl;dr:
We’re planning to make some changes to our Terms of Service to stop ...
- 52.9k
2010
votes
7
answers
791k
views
What is the XY problem?
What is the XY problem?
When asking questions, how do I recognize when I'm falling into it? How do I avoid it?
Return to FAQ index
Other languages:
ES, JA, PT, RU
1121
votes
1
answer
541k
views
How does accepting an answer work?
What does it mean to accept an answer?
How do I accept an answer, and what are the rules?
Can I accept my own self-answer?
What are the reputation benefits?
Which answer should I accept?
Should I ...
-1048
votes
31
answers
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Our Partnership with OpenAI
Update May 14, 2024
I know there have been a lot of questions and comments around attribution. I recently answered a question related to both and am linking to it here for visibility.
Today, we ...
- 14.3k
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14
answers
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Moderation Strike: Stack Overflow, Inc. cannot consistently ignore, mistreat, and malign its volunteers
Update
On August 2nd, 2023, negotiations between community representatives and representatives of the company concluded with an agreement being reached. The details of the agreement can be found at ...
- 84.4k
1206
votes
3
answers
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Are there any clones/alternatives for running a Stack Exchange style Q&A site?
Since the source code for this site isn't available for purchase or external use, I'm looking for software that can run a Q&A environment similar to Stack Exchange. Are there any such pieces of ...
-411
votes
27
answers
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Announcing a change to the data-dump process
UPDATE August 29, 2024
This new post has updates related to various bug reports and feature requests.
UPDATE August 14, 2024
Over the past week we’ve scaled up the availability of the new page and ...
- 21.2k
2576
votes
45
answers
267k
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Firing mods and forced relicensing: is Stack Exchange still interested in cooperating with the community?
The last weeks and days have seen some erratic behaviour by Stack Exchange Inc., such as likely illegal changes to the content license and the firing of an upstanding community moderator with no ...
- 15.3k
731
votes
6
answers
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How do I escape a backtick ` within in-line code in Markdown?
How do I escape a backtick ` within a code block?
This is probably a duplicate, since I'm sure it's a common concern, but I can't find a question that addresses this specifically.
How do I write ...
- 10.3k
-676
votes
71
answers
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An apology to our community, and next steps
I’m David Fullerton, Stack Overflow’s CTO, responsible for the product, engineering, and community teams.
I joined Stack Overflow in 2010 because I believed in the vision and mission of Stack ...
anon
2392
votes
30
answers
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Stack Overflow is doing me ongoing harm; it's time to fix it!
Over the last month, Stack Overflow has violated its own policies
and precedents to cause egregious and unnecessary harm to me -- to my
reputation (personal and professional), to my health, and to my ...
- 183k
740
votes
1
answer
82k
views
What is the association bonus, and how does it work?
I was just awarded +100 reputation on all of my Stack Exchange accounts.
What is this bonus for? It simply says "Association Bonus" on my reputation overview.
Also:
What privileges does the ...
661
votes
8
answers
429k
views
Are answers that just contain links elsewhere really "good answers"?
I have often wondered at the practice on Stack Overflow, Server Fault, and the other sites where someone will ask a question and an answer will come in that says "Look here: https://link ...
795
votes
21
answers
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Moderation strike: Results of negotiations
We have reached the following conclusions during negotiations between community-selected strike representatives and representatives of Stack Exchange, Inc. This aims to address most of the concerns ...
- 84.4k
496
votes
7
answers
99k
views
How can I link to a specific answer?
Is there a permalink I can use for answers/comments?
-564
votes
46
answers
34k
views
We are graduating the updated button styling for vote arrows
Update
This experiment has been graduated. The new styling for vote arrows is now live across the Stack Exchange network.
About a year ago, the Product team, focused on improving the general ...
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-350
votes
60
answers
97k
views
A New Code License: The MIT, this time with Attribution Required
Update: January 15, 2016
Thank you for your patience and feedback. The changes proposed here have been delayed indefinitely - we'll be back later to open some more discussions.
Important context for ...
- 5,178
683
votes
19
answers
117k
views
Any way to send a personal message to another user?
There has been quite a few times that I wished I could send a message to another user on SO - not ask a question for everyone to see, but just a short message informing them of something or requesting ...
- 10.9k
-254
votes
54
answers
46k
views
Practical effects of the October 2023 layoff
I hope that by now you’ve all had a chance to read and digest the announcement and the blog post about today’s layoff.
This was not an easy decision to make, nor is this an easy conversation to have. ...
- 21.2k
271
votes
7
answers
401k
views
How to write nested numbered lists
I just posted an answer on Stack Overflow where I wanted to have nested numbered lists, something like
1. Dog
1.1. German Shepherd
1.2. Belgian Shepherd
1.2.1. Malinois
1.2.2. Groenendael
1.2.3. ...
- 2,813
-431
votes
39
answers
52k
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New blog post from our CEO Prashanth: Community is the future of AI
For posts following this one, see:
An example of a generative AI tool: Suggesting better question titles
AI/ML Tool examples part 3 - Title-Drafting Assistant
Stack Overflow will be testing a title-...
- 21.2k
894
votes
76
answers
198k
views
The Many Memes of Meta
Catchphrases and concepts that spread from person to person are known as memes, which, courtesy the Internet, can now explode across the Earth like a highly contagious virus (hence "going viral&...
1261
votes
31
answers
48k
views
Encouraging people to explain downvotes
Note: If you're looking for a simple explanation as to why comments aren't required on downvotes, see Why isn't providing feedback mandatory on downvotes, and why are ideas suggesting such ...
223
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9
answers
20k
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We spent a sprint addressing your requests — here’s how it went
You may have noticed posts getting status-completed at an unusually high rate last week — there’s a reason for that, which I’ll get into further down. But first, some context for those who might need ...
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32
votes
2
answers
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views
If I leave a comment, then delete it, does a person still get notified?
Sometimes I leave a comment, then think better of it -- perhaps I decide to answer instead. If I delete the comment, does the user still get notified that new comments are available or does the ...
- 44.6k
15
votes
7
answers
18k
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Upcoming initiatives on Stack Overflow and across the Stack Exchange network (July 2024)
Today I shared an update on progress from last quarter and what we’re up to this quarter on the blog.
TL;DR - top areas of focus include:
Community Asks quarterly event
Iterating and scaling Staging ...
- 4,613
22
votes
18
answers
23k
views
Testing a new version of Stack Overflow Jobs
Update on October 10, 2024:
As of today, Stack Overflow Jobs will be hosted on stackoverflowjobs.com. If you visit stackoverflow.jobs it will reroute to the new domain. Along with making this change, ...
- 3,327
775
votes
1
answer
144k
views
Which tools and technologies are used to build the Stack Exchange Network?
What tools and technologies are used to build the Stack Exchange Network?
See also: Which tools and technologies are used to build Data Explorer?
Return to FAQ index
36
votes
3
answers
15k
views
We've made changes to our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy - July 2024
We’ve just made two adjustments to our Terms of Service & Privacy Policy:
For the Terms of Service, we moved Copyright and DMCA information to a dedicated page.
For the Privacy Policy, we updated ...
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1126
votes
32
answers
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Should 'Hi', 'thanks', taglines, and salutations be removed from posts?
I edit a lot of posts every day. I often run across posts with 'Hi' and 'Thanks' on the top and the bottom of the post respectively. I also run across things like:
--User
Should these items be ...
543
votes
58
answers
100k
views
The MIT License – Clarity on Using Code on Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange
Update (Dec. 22, 2015): Thanks, everyone, for your feedback to this proposal. We're going to digest this one over the holidays and should have a follow-up announcement answering your questions and ...
- 5,178
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votes
51
answers
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Net Neutrality and Stack Overflow / Stack Exchange
It's July 12th! (2017) (in Coordinated Universal Stack Exchange Time)
Today we're gonna be showing a banner directing readers to the blog post (and thus, indirectly, this discussion) from every Stack ...
- 454k
324
votes
13
answers
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Enable automatic deletion of old, unanswered, zero-score questions after a year?
Related to Meta Super User efforts:
Old unanswered inactive questions with low views/votes
and Meta Server Fault efforts:
Cleaning house, really old, unloved questions
We already auto-remove ...
- 311k
400
votes
1
answer
279k
views
How do I format my code blocks?
How do I post text so that it is formatted as code?
What do I need to do so that my code shows up properly — not escaped or removed — when posted? And how to get the correct syntax ...
589
votes
1
answer
85k
views
How does "Reputation" work?
On Stack Exchange, users may gain a certain level of reputation.
What does reputation do?
How can a user gain or lose reputation?
See also:
What is reputation? How do I earn (and lose) it? in the ...
1069
votes
1
answer
115k
views
What are "Community Wiki" posts?
Some questions and answers are marked Community Wiki and are owned by a community wiki user:
(In fact, this very question is one of them)
Why have Community Wiki posts?
How do Community Wiki posts ...
153
votes
4
answers
28k
views
Shifting the data dump schedule: A proposal
My colleague Rosie recently announced that, because of our difficulties predictably getting data dump files to the Internet Archive[1],[2], we are setting more realistic expectations for completing ...
Aaron BertrandStaff
- 43.5k
1875
votes
51
answers
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Could we please be a bit nicer to new users?
There is a distinct decline in the level of civility on all the sites here. Some of this is due to new users coming in and posting spam and other nonsense, but the off-topic and downvote buttons are ...
-453
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30
answers
25k
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Our partnership with Google and commitment to socially responsible AI
Today, we announced an exciting new partnership with Google to bring Google's Gemini to Stack Overflow and to provide Stack Overflow content directly within Google Cloud. The story of this partnership ...
- 14.3k
-463
votes
24
answers
100k
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Stack Exchange and Stack Overflow have moved to CC BY-SA 4.0
Effective today, all Subscriber Content on Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network will be available under the terms of version 4.0 of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) ...
user50049
573
votes
17
answers
20k
views
How to avoid "Hot Network Questions" on the sidebar
This may sound like a 'first world problem', but I am quite easily distracted by the 'Hot Network Questions' sidebar, as I find them quite amusing and some of them quite intellectual
But where the ...
- 6,045
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votes
1
answer
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How do comment @replies work?
How do the comment replies (aka "pinging users") work?
Who can I send an @reply to?
How do I respond to a specific user when entering my comment?
Will they be notified?
What do people mean ...
69
votes
10
answers
24k
views
New Focus Styles & Updated Styling for Button Groups
New Focus Styles
We’ve released a design update to focus styles across the many components within our design system and as well as a new design for our button group component. See more details on how ...
CarrottStaff
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votes
21
answers
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Statement from SO: June 5, 2023 Moderator Action
Update: GPT on the platform: Data, actions, and outcomes
As you may be aware, a number of moderators (on Stack Overflow/across the network) have decided to stop engaging in several activities that ...
- 21.2k
70
votes
22
answers
34k
views
Update: New Colors Launched
November 22, 2023: To help with internal managing issues, you may see a reference number added next to the status tag on your post. These numbers don't determine the order or priority of issues but ...
PiperStaff
- 5,843
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votes
46
answers
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Thank you, Shog9
@Shog9, a longtime Community Manager here at Stack Exchange, has just tweeted that he is no longer working at Stack Overflow:
@shog9: Well... I suddenly find myself in need of work.
If anyone's ...
- 84.4k
354
votes
6
answers
171k
views
How do I write a good title?
A good title helps your question get the attention it deserves. What goes into a good title?
Return to FAQ index
373
votes
1
answer
98k
views
Why do I need 50 reputation to comment? What can I do instead?
Users with less than 50 reputation points cannot write comments on questions and answers that they don't own.
Why does this limit exist?
But I want to contribute now. What should I do instead?
But I ...
201
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7
answers
266k
views
Does Markdown have a way to express strikeout?
I've been using <s> to put strikeout in posts -- is there a Markdown way of doing it?
It seems like -[Text here] would make sense, hehe :)
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13
votes
2
answers
142k
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How to pass "I'm not a robot"
I didn't have trouble answering questions in the past, but now I fail the human verification check.
Basically, instead of a CAPTCHA, I can check "I'm not a robot". When I check it, it goes away and I ...
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