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.
61
questions
4
votes
1
answer
34
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 ...
- 195
11
votes
1
answer
164
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.
'...
- 383
6
votes
1
answer
68
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 ...
- 9,223
18
votes
2
answers
198
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 ...
- 33.5k
2
votes
1
answer
52
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 ...
- 187
11
votes
1
answer
72
views
Inbox typo "exampe comment"
I just received an inbox notification for an "exampe comment" (sic):
That should be "example comment".
- 8,255
1
vote
1
answer
34
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 ...
- 428
24
votes
1
answer
348
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 ...
- 177k
6
votes
1
answer
101
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 ...
- 39.1k
5
votes
0
answers
69
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 ...
- 457
2
votes
1
answer
51
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 ...
- 457
0
votes
0
answers
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 ...
- 2,549
2
votes
1
answer
40
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 ...
- 2,549
7
votes
1
answer
136
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
0
answers
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, ...
user173505
15
votes
1
answer
182
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 ...
- 7,390
4
votes
0
answers
103
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. ...
- 1,456
10
votes
1
answer
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:...
- 7,196
-5
votes
4
answers
286
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 ...
- 173
2
votes
1
answer
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 ...
- 974
4
votes
0
answers
67
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 ...
- 159
6
votes
0
answers
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 ...
- 423
2
votes
1
answer
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 ...
- 423
5
votes
2
answers
16k
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 ...
- 443
8
votes
1
answer
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 ...
- 11.4k
11
votes
1
answer
118
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 ...
- 1,105
4
votes
0
answers
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 ...
- 141
11
votes
0
answers
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 ...
- 641
2
votes
1
answer
69
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 ...
- 241
-11
votes
2
answers
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, ...
19
votes
0
answers
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 ...
- 31.8k
5
votes
2
answers
165
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 ...
- 2,068
11
votes
1
answer
242
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 ...
- 6,842
10
votes
0
answers
76
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 ...
- 253
54
votes
5
answers
646
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 ...
- 673
-5
votes
1
answer
107
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 ...
- 23
1
vote
2
answers
139
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 ...
- 4,845
1
vote
1
answer
61
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 ...
- 1,165
5
votes
1
answer
143
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:
...
- 22.4k
11
votes
3
answers
164
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 ...
- 22.4k
7
votes
0
answers
93
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 ...
- 11.6k
4
votes
0
answers
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 ...
- 751
12
votes
2
answers
218
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 ...
- 10.6k
6
votes
1
answer
112
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 ...
- 163
8
votes
1
answer
107
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?
...
- 5,922
7
votes
2
answers
206
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 ...
- 173
6
votes
1
answer
112
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 ...
- 477
4
votes
1
answer
98
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 ...
- 20.8k
7
votes
1
answer
180
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 ...
- 470
7
votes
1
answer
155
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 ...
- 1,480