Questions tagged [asking-questions]
For questions specifically about the process of asking questions on a Stack Exchange site.
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Why do my questions keep getting downvoted? [closed]
Ref:
Is it possible to demote "master" to a sub-branch (with its entire structure) and create a new master?
I have noticed that my last few questions both get edited and downvoted. That ...
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Is "required" tooltip on required fields legend required?
Recently the new "required" icon (a red star symbol) was added next to Title, Body, Tags words on Ask New Question page around all SE network. I think it's a good change for site UX. But do ...
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Browser issues workaround for the "Review Question" button not working? [duplicate]
Every so often on Safari (v16.2 - haven't tried other versions, and yes, I'm due for an update), the "Review Question" button doesn't do anything. Surprisingly, a page reload doesn't fix it ...
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Stack Exchange's stance on using AI to write questions
I have read Stack Overflow's current stance on AI generated content and understand the decision making process that went into deciding that AI generated content was not suitable for answering ...
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How should ask a question about involving a knowledge gap? [closed]
How should I post a question asking for help to identify a knowledge gap?
Currently, I have an issue related to database design. In the legacy database that I am now in charge of maintaining, I've ...
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Could users still get “This question body does not meet our quality standards”?
We have a faq for a system message: What can I do when getting “This question body does not meet our quality standards”?
As of October 2023, can the users get this message?
I'm asking because recently,...
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How do I get help with an issue involving an image which is meant to be confidential?
I was going to ask a question on a Stack Exchange website about why my website's SVG logo was appearing pixelated on my HiDPI screen in the Safari browser.
The logo in question is an original graphic ...
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Request for new user limitation: minimum character count to ask a question
Over at Worldbuilding we periodically receive new users who (not surprisingly) don't believe they need to take the tour or read the Help Center pages before they use the site. Call it being human... ...
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Tags should be markable as obsolete, and opted out of being suggested for new questions
I don't know what algorithm is being used to come up with tag suggestions, but it probably wouldn't be too hard to add a simple filter that blocks it from suggesting "obsolete" tags.
I ...
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How do I as moderator of beta community change content of top right block on our Ask a Question page? [duplicate]
We are a community still in beta after many years. Long ago I created a block on the top right of our Ask a Question page. How do I edit the content of that block as a moderator?
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The "Ask Question" page shows a "question ban" page to suspended users instead of showing that the user is suspended [duplicate]
When I was suspended on MSE, I tried to ask question while being suspended. The page showed:
I think it should show the "You are suspended" page or something like that. Currently this page ...
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On which sites is off-site research strongly encouraged or required, and for what types of questions?
My understanding has been that off-site research to find answers to a question before posting is generally not required to ask a question on a Stack Exchange site. Searching for duplicate questions ...
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Should I ask questions if I am on strike?
Recently, I've come upon a really interesting question and would like to see it answered. However, I have signed the strike letter which says
Until this matter is resolved satisfactorily, we will be ...
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Request layout change ("ready to post" on asking page)
Many Stack Exchange sites (not all) have a quality check when you try to post. It jumps to the top of the page and puts a box saying it is ready to post (or not). Then you have to scroll back down ...
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When should I ask why a question I asked was downvoted?
Once on Meta, I asked a quite badly received question and then asked why it was downvoted. My question: Why was my question - Why does downvoting mean 'no?' - downvoted? about why my other ...
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Is there a way to "flatten" a search across Stack Exchange sites without going to an external search engine (not that that's bad)? [duplicate]
Watching the Vsauce short The Only Element You Can Chew Like Gum I was intrigued by
This is indium, the only element in the universe that is safe, and soft enough to chew like bubble gum... it ...
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Meaningless placeholder for tags on new sites
When asking a question on a new private beta, the input field for tags has a rather meaningless placeholder:
e.g. ()
I understand no tags can be recommended, but wouldn't it be better to just omit ...
GlorfindelMod
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"This looks like spam" error message when attempting to ask a non-spam question on tor [duplicate]
I'm trying to ask in the "Tor Stack Exchange Q&A Site" about Signaled readiness to systemd... but always count my question as spam while it is not...
my question body : https://pastebin....
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What are the exact conditions for the /questions/ask/advice ("interstitial") page to show to a user?
Ex. the page on Stack Overflow: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/ask/advice
What are the exact conditions for such pages to show to a user?
On what sites?
With what history/conditions of the user'...
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How exactly do people (accidentally) end up here on MSE? [duplicate]
On a daily basis, MSE gets a few (sometimes more than a few) off-topic questions that are posted here by accident. This is when a user intends to post the question on a specific site on the network ...
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Preparing a better question: large data file (JSON from a SVG) on Pastebin.com to be run through JavaScript, AWK, and sed:
I have a task that will benefit from writing a good question on Stack Exchange - in that I think the results will be instructive in general. Of course.
There is a large SVG file already on Pastebin....
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Asking for any/"best" program for X vs. asking how to do X with specific program, and the "X/Y Problem"
I can find myself struggling to write a question about doing Y with any of the usual GNU/*nix tools like awk, sed, tr, .. perl (not sure that's GNU/*nix..), or perhaps others I do not know of.
I saw ...
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What is the proper way to emphasize the central sentence of a question (if there is any)?
It's quite common for authors, in the post body, to emphasize a sentence which is 'central' to their question. It's often similar to the title, and for well-written questions with some introduction, ...
GlorfindelMod
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Is it allowed on SE to include AI (ChatGPT) generated output in the question post? [duplicate]
My initial understanding is that Stack Exchange currently bans ChatGPT generated answers.
But is it allowed to include text that ChatGPT has generated as part of a question?
As an example:
Suppose I ...
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Ask a "public" question… as opposed to what?
When I clicked "Ask Question", the next page shows "Ask a public question". I heard that Stack Exchange can be purchased for use within a company through the Stack Overflow for ...
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How to put alternative / synonym words (phrases) in questions?
Alternative question:
When multiple known cases will match answer for your question,
what's the best way to pack them in the question title (or body)?
Additionally to this question itself, an example ...
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Does Meta SE automatically remove signatures?
This is derived from finding What is the right site for asking a question about how to configure a browser, such as Firefox, Firefox ESR?. The original revision, included THX. This word looks that ...
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Imgur link fails to render while adding an image in question: "Failed to upload image; an error occurred on the server"
I have faced this issue 2-3 times. Whenever I paste an Imgur link in an image upload window, it gives an error:
Failed to upload image; an error occurred on the server
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GPT-generated "search as you type" responses
There is a current hot meta post on SO regarding banning ChatGPT answers, which I fully agree with (plus some).
However, I still think GPT bots themselves have a lot of value. They're trained on ...
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Should we require users to check ChatGPT before posting their question? [closed]
With the release of ChatGPT, a large majority of simple coding questions can be answered by ChatGPT.
Should we thus require that users check ChatGPT before posting their question, to avoid trivial ...
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Editor heartbeat gives a 409 - Conflict sometimes
Yesterday, while writing a question, I saw errors in the console. They were caused by a failed heartbeat call by the editor, which returned a 409:
I'm not sure under which circumstances they happen, ...
GlorfindelMod
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Linking "Similar questions" suggestions from every Stack Exchange website
Suggestions for an addition to the "Similar questions" feature
Each Stack Exchange site has a "Similar questions" list under which the user generates the title for their question.
...
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"Asking a good question" starter sentence sounds off
This is what the popup says when you attempt to ask your first question here on Meta Stack Exchange:
Asking a good question
This is NOT Stack Overflow - Ask your question on Stack Overflow
What is ...
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Stack Overflow forbids usage of the word `help` in question about CLI `--help` option
A question title I wanted to submit got rejected because it ended with help?:
How do I get typer to accept the short `-h` as well as the long `--help` for help?
I was told:
Your question couldn't be ...
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Users with 10 reputation points hop the fence of protected questions while one with less than 15 can't even upvote an answer
Users with 10 reputation points hop the fence of protected questions while one with less than 15 can't even upvote an answer
"Questions should be protected when they are attracting poor answers ...
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Where can I ask questions related to Sociology?
Apparently, there's no SE site that is specifically for Sociology or the Social Sciences in general, hence this question.
I recently asked a question on Economics stack exchange, summarized here:
A ...
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What can and cannot be implemented in the advice guideline for new users? [duplicate]
Context: Chemistry SE is going through changing their interface shown to new users
When a new user decides to write their first question, they are greeted with this pop up,
My question, is what can ...
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The "you shouldn't want to do that" response
This question is mostly about the broader Stack Exchange network, rather than Stack Overflow.
I have a recurring issue when I asking questions on Stack Exchange, across the whole network: very often, ...
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Getting a code formatting error when I try to post this question on Stack Overflow
When I try to post this question to Stack Overflow I get the following error:
Your post appears to contain code that is not properly formatted as code. Please indent all code by 4 spaces using the ...
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Where should a user post to ask for help bridging the knowledge / communication gap between experts in a field and themselves?
Is there a location where someone can post a potential question so that experts in the fields could help insert/correct the jargon used within it. Jargon being terminology that an amateur in the field ...
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A gallery for a project which will involve multiple Stack Exchange questions
My project is fixing up an old bicycle, but I think the question could apply to lots of sites, not just bicycles.
I am starting a project which is probably going to require (and be worthy of) several ...
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How might the Staging Ground & the new Ask Wizard work on the Stack Exchange network?
We have been working for some time now researching ways to improve the new user onboarding process while also addressing issues with question quality from new question askers. Based on our user ...
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When I try to post a question on Stack Overflow, I get the error message "Comments must be at least 15 characters in length." [closed]
When I click the "Post Your Question" button, an error "Comments must be at least 15 characters in length." I am confused since I am creating a question, not a comment.
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So many sites won't let me post. How can I fix this?
I have a good question. But then it says,
Your question is ready to publish!
Our automated system checked for ways to improve your question and found none.
When I click post, it just scrolls up and ...
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Link to per-site meta in the sidebar/dropdown "Step 1: Draft your question" is not HTTPS and has the old format meta.*.stackexchange.com
Similar to: Link to parent site is not HTTPS in the sidebar/dropdown "Step 1: Draft your question" on any per-site Meta.
When asking a question on some SE sites, such as Mathematics the ...
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What site-specific changes can be made to the Ask Question page to help askers on that site write better questions?
I've seen that some sites have customized content on their Ask Question page.
For example, here's some custom content on the English Language & Usage ask Question page. They have extra information ...
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Add option "ask a new question" to page not found
The page "Page not found [newline] This question was removed from Stack Overflow for reasons of moderation." list various options how to continue but fails to list the option to ask the same ...
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Contact page provides weak guidance on providing feedback and making feature requests
https://stackoverflow.com/contact mentions "Feedback" only under the unclear heading "Jobs Support" near the end and there is no mention of "feature requests" or "...
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What do we do when we don't have any prior research that we can share?
Yesterday, I asked this question on the Biology SE. Shortly after posting, I received a comment saying that a close vote has been posted and stating the ways in which I can improve the post. The main ...
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Can't create my question, because it looks like spam
I have read a lot about this theme now and I don't get why my question looks like a spam...
Question:
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