Questions tagged [documentation]
Do not use this tag. If asking about the help center or FAQ, use the help-center or meta-faq tags respectively. If asking about the now-retired Stack Overflow Documentation Beta, please ask on Meta Stack Overflow instead.
60
questions
3
votes
1answer
29 views
Possible error on /search/excerpts documentation?
The StackExchange API documentation states the following for the tagged parameter of /search/excerpts:
tagged - a semicolon delimited list of tags, of which at least one
will be present on all ...
11
votes
1answer
161 views
Typo on https://api.stackexchange.com/docs/posts
In https://api.stackexchange.com/docs/posts
Most applications should use the question or answer specific methods, but /posts is available for those rare cases where any activity is of intereset.
'...
6
votes
1answer
65 views
Documentation-related privileges are still searchable in the help center
Related: "Secret" Documentation Privileges on sites other than SO
When searching something in the help center (e.g. "comment"), documentation-related privileges are still shown in the help ...
18
votes
2answers
193 views
“Secret” Documentation Privileges on sites other than SO [closed]
I was searching the Help Center and I found something strange:
Privilege: documentation votes - Vote on documentation content
This wouldn't be strange if I was on Stack Overflow, since they ...
2
votes
1answer
51 views
Where should I post the question related to reviewing a document that I prepared for security hardening of wordpress
I am preparing technical documents which contain steps that can be taken to harden the security aspects of websites built using Open Source PHP frameworks. Below are some of the documents or questions ...
11
votes
1answer
71 views
Inbox typo “exampe comment”
I just received an inbox notification for an "exampe comment" (sic):
That should be "example comment".
1
vote
1answer
31 views
Format of `{ids}` missing in the api documentation
A problem I stumbled upon is that the format of {ids} in the API documentation is unknown. It took a while to figure out that the requested format was 2;3;5 (and I'm not sure this is the only accepted ...
23
votes
1answer
307 views
What SEDE examples would be most useful to new users?
This question asks about an SEDE tutorial, which doesn't really exist. The answer there suggests that you can look at existing queries, which I think is how most SEDE users have learned, but that has ...
6
votes
1answer
100 views
“the Stack Exchange”
The API docs on throttles has the following paragraph at the end of the page:
While not strictly a throttle, the Stack Exchange employs heavy caching and as such no application should make ...
4
votes
0answers
66 views
Can we use straight XML/XSLT for the meat of the API documentation?
This would make it much easier to create the bulk of language-specific wrappers (using a different XSLT or your favourite XML parsing tool). As it stands now, the documentation contains little ...
2
votes
1answer
48 views
Wrong links in API Documentation
/docs/me-posts and /docs/me-network-activity are inaccessible from the main /docs/ page. Instead, their links point to what the domain interprets as a malformed request (i.e. /docs/me/posts) and it ...
0
votes
0answers
51 views
List off-topic sub-topics in flag posts documentation
Could you add an enumeration of the "off-topic" flag options to https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/flag-posts?
I didn't realize that (unintuitively) buried at that third level was an option I ...
2
votes
1answer
39 views
Flag-Posts Privilege documentation needs updating
According to https://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/flag-posts users should be able to flag a question for 6 different reasons as soon as they have 50 rep.
However not all reasons appear on all ...
7
votes
1answer
135 views
'Remove New User Restrictions' privilege also allows uploading images?
An answer to the 'How to upload an image to a post?' thread says that in order to do this you'll need the 'Remove New User Restrictions' privilege to do so.
The 'Remove New User Restrictions' page ...
3
votes
0answers
66 views
Documentation about anonymous users
Where can I find documentation on what anonymous users are?
Expect stuff like 'users who did not register', 'users whose username is 'user34894'', 'users who can get reputation points', yadda yadda, ...
14
votes
1answer
179 views
Can we have documentation on copyright and fair-use with regards to improving link-only answers?
On our own Meta I've just highlighted something that happens with link-only answer on Ask Ubuntu: user posts link-only comment, reviewer uses an auto-comment to tell them off and the user copies the ...
4
votes
0answers
102 views
What is the purpose of the new Site Self-Evaluation Review category? [duplicate]
I spotted this Site Self-Evaluation category as a History Stack Exchange Review category today. However, it is not clear what content will appear here, or what tasks reviewers are meant to perform. ...
10
votes
1answer
105 views
“Access to moderator tools” page in Help Center still mentions close flags
According to this comment by Shog, flags to close a question are no longer shown in the 10K tools. However, according to the Moderator Tools Privilege description, they are. This is what it looks like:...
-5
votes
4answers
276 views
Questions give way to documentation — evolution of Stack Overflow
I propose that Stack Exchange evolve to support more of a crowd sourced documentation model than just questions and answers. Please don't dismiss this as heresy. The great thing about Stack Exchange ...
2
votes
1answer
67 views
Instructions to comment on duplicate is out-of-date
The page Cast Close And Reopen Votes, has this section:
Alternatives to closing
If you don't have enough reputation to cast close votes, or have used
up your close votes for the day, there ...
4
votes
0answers
66 views
Incomplete documentation on creating tags
The documentation (on Stack Overflow) on creating tags appears to be either wrong or incomplete. Specifically, it states:
Simply enter a new tag with your question and it will be created.
however ...
6
votes
0answers
149 views
FAQ is missing the meaning of “on hold”. Should that be added?
Under the topic:
Working with posts
In the list:
What does it mean when a question is...
closed?
locked?
deleted?
protected?
The status [on hold] is missing.
Should this be added?
There is a ...
2
votes
1answer
82 views
What is the recommended reading list for new SO users? [closed]
I didn't really see much using that search term. In making a number of posts related new user issues I received some good suggestions. Of course what is relevant are the items that go beyond the ...
4
votes
2answers
9k views
What is the ``` (3 x backquote) markdown used for?
I looked over https://meta.stackoverflow.com/editing-help#code but could not find what the Github-style code block markdown is used for on SE websites.
I see that they generate a <code> element ...
8
votes
1answer
71 views
The 'Cast Close and Reopen Votes' privilege page needs to be updated
This page contains the following image:
It should be updated to a new one since the closing reasons changed
Update: The problem also exists in this page about flagging. Also in this page about ...
11
votes
1answer
113 views
Provide an unambiguous description of how election votes are counted using the OpenSTV software
A moderator election just finished up on math.SE. Eager to find out who won, right after the election closed I followed the given directions:
I opened the OpenSTV program, loaded the election data ...
4
votes
0answers
50 views
Code formatting instructions are incomplete
The code block instructions say
To create code blocks or other preformatted text, indent by four spaces:
but it fails to mention that you also need to have a blank line before the code block as ...
11
votes
0answers
85 views
Requirements for the Research Assistant badge are misleading in the badge list
The badge page has this description for the Research Assistant badge:
edited 50 tag wikis
It does not mention that editing excerpts does not count. This is just unfair. Please update the ...
2
votes
1answer
64 views
Where can I find the official documentation on review? [duplicate]
On Stack Overflow you can make reviews, but there is a limit. This limit is not static.
Since I began reviewing, rules governing the review limit has changed a lot!
Where can I find the last updated ...
-11
votes
2answers
177 views
How should I (not) ask requests for documentation?
I asked Where do I find conceptual documentation for Windows Runtime? which was fairly quickly closed a "not constructive". Despite my pleas in comments as soon as the first close votes appeared, ...
asked Nov 4 '12 at 13:38
hmakholm left over Monica
4,4021 gold badge15 silver badges27 bronze badges
19
votes
0answers
167 views
A call for MATLAB link maintenance
I recently noticed that the documentation pages for MATLAB on the MathWorks site have been updated to a new format. Unfortunately, this also involves a new format for many of the page URLs, breaking a ...
5
votes
2answers
164 views
Should SO be a repository for documentation?
I often see questions that ask "X vs Y" with regard to methods or functions that are part of any specific language (trying to make this as broad as possible). In these cases the 'answer' will merely ...
11
votes
1answer
241 views
Why is the participate in meta privilege shown at rep 5 for MSO? [closed]
I was going through privileges given on MSO according to reputation. We all know MSO is not tied with reputation on main site i.e. SO.
And for participating on MSO we require only 1 reputation. But ...
10
votes
0answers
71 views
Badges not represented as so in the privileges
In the "Set Bounties" help center page, the badges are not represented as actual "badges", but rather plain text.
Since it's not the case on the other pages, I think it's a forgotten style so I ...
54
votes
5answers
640 views
SO's lack of documentation
Given the barrage of downvotes because I could not find something on meta that apparently everyone thought I should know, I would like to mention what I see is a serious disconnect in the organization ...
-5
votes
1answer
106 views
Why is there no user guide to using the stackexchange engine? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Create a guided tour for new users
Yes, I've read all the faqs here and on the stack exchange site I joined only yesterday, meta and otherwise. I know about the off-site ...
1
vote
2answers
138 views
Documentation links in Markdown
I'd like to propose a new feature for StackOverflow Markdown: documentation links. There are a couple problems with adding documentation links right now:
Links can die, leaving them almost useless ...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
Further clarify the documentation for tag synonyms
The information on voting on tag synonyms previously stated:
Users with a total answer score of 5 or more, can vote for tag synonyms.
The previous question Clarify the documentation for tag ...
5
votes
1answer
142 views
Another election description discrepancy — how many nominees go to Primary?
I'm afraid there's another mismatch in the phase descriptions of the Armadillo Stack Overflow Moderator Election.
The Nomination phase sidebar says only 30 candidates will advance to the primaries:
...
10
votes
3answers
161 views
Discrepancy in Primary/Election stage descriptions
The sidebar description for the "Primary" phase of The Stack Overflow Moderator Election, Armadillo Edition says that ten candidates will advance to the "Election" phase:
Whereas ...
7
votes
0answers
90 views
Documentation for frequented tags feature
Since there's so much confusion around this, I'll start off with a little background.
Frequented tags are an alternative to favorite tags which are automatically inferred from browsing patterns. If ...
4
votes
0answers
50 views
Should links to version-specific documentation be updated (if applicable)?
I see quite a number of answers (specifically questions dealing with Qt), which link to a specific version of documentation, e.g. v4.5 of Qt. If this is appropriate, i.e. the answer refers to a ...
11
votes
2answers
212 views
Where are the link shortcuts documented?
I've been searching around for this for a while now. I know I read somewhere that you can use
[cstheory.se]
as a shortcut to insert the following link
Theoretical Computer Science.
and similar ...
6
votes
1answer
111 views
Duplicating manuals as answers?
Example: Read data from HTTP PUT
How should I answer that further? I feel that the official PHP manual has an appropriate answer and even has comments that extend on that answer. But I don't want to ...
8
votes
1answer
106 views
mistake in view-vote-counts privilege's documentation
The page https://stackoverflow.com/privileges/view-vote-counts (and the corresponding page on the other SE sites) includes the following question and answer:
When should I view vote counts?
...
7
votes
2answers
204 views
Trouble with new-user restrictions
I spent a long time writing the answer I found to a question that I asked and only after I hit submit, I got this:
Oops! Your answer couldn't be submitted because:
New users can't answer their ...
6
votes
1answer
111 views
A better formatting help
Some people is not able to understand the key concepts of formatting in SO (and all other sites).
I would suggest to improve the default formatting help with some features, like:
Explain the basic ...
4
votes
1answer
97 views
Clarify the documentation for tag synonyms
Cannot vote on synonyms has someone confused because "Users with a total answer score of 5 or more, can vote for tag synonyms."
Please expand (or hyperlink) what's meant by "answer score" in the tag ...
7
votes
1answer
179 views
Where is the documentation for the correct format of the user profile's location field?
According to When did I move to Andøy, Norway? and Why does my location in stackoverflow profile change?, there is now an effort to standardize on a canonical format for the location field in a user's ...
7
votes
1answer
154 views
Why are some profile fields (contents) grey, and others black?
This started as a comment on this meta question, but I don't understand what Jeff told me, so I'm posting this as a question. Sorry if I'm just not seeing it :)
The question asked why some profile ...
