Questions tagged [faq]
These posts are your quick guide to the what, how, where, and when of the Stack Exchange network.
156
questions
47
votes
9answers
10k views
How can I get answers fast?
How do I ask a question so that it can get a quick response? I see some of the questions are very old and still not answered, but some others get a very quick response.
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81
votes
5answers
35k views
How do I write a good answer to a question?
Are there guidelines for what constitutes a good answer? Let's discuss. Perhaps, we can come up with some ideas for the FAQ.
Building off Should the official FAQ include information on how to ...
270
votes
1answer
83k views
How can I delete my account?
How can I delete my Stack Exchange account(s)? Also,
What happens to my content? Can I request it be deleted as well?
What if I'm suspended, rate-limited, or banned from posting questions or answers?
...
239
votes
13answers
28k views
Embrace the non-Googlers
There seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to "easy" questions that involve quickly answering by copy/pasting embarrassing links to lmgtfy.com (or similar responses in comments, which aren't downvotable) ...
108
votes
2answers
5k views
What are the moderation tools available to 10,000+ reputation users?
The site FAQ refers to moderation tools, available to users who've earned more than 10,000 reputation:
10,000 Delete closed questions, access to moderation tools
What are these tools ...
287
votes
5answers
114k views
How to nest code within a list using Markdown
Oftentimes, I want to include code samples in a list, for example:
Item One
Item Two, for example:
private bool ItemTwo()
{
return this.IFeelLucky;
}
Item Three
The problem is that there isn't a ...
68
votes
13answers
4k views
How should you respond to "Give me a fish" / RTFM questions?
How should you respond to "Give me a fish" / RTFM questions? I mean the case where people post questions simply to get someone else to write their code for them, on topics that would usually be the ...
347
votes
2answers
85k views
Database schema documentation for the public data dump and SEDE
Stack Exchange releases "data dumps" of all its publicly available content roughly every three months via archive.org, and also makes that information queryable over the Internet at the Stack Exchange ...
130
votes
2answers
49k views
What's the recommended syntax for an image with a link?
What's the recommended syntax for an image with a hyperlink? I tried doing it
with the markdown toolbar buttons and the image and link buttons conflict
with each other, so I had to resort to HTML.
For ...
505
votes
1answer
267k views
What HTML tags are allowed on Stack Exchange sites?
Stack Exchange sites use Markdown for questions and answers. Per the Markdown specification, intermixing HTML and Markdown tags is allowed, but not all the HTML tags are allowed, to avoid XSS.
Which ...
113
votes
1answer
3k views
How long does it take for badges to be awarded? How are they generated?
Do badges get calculated in real time, or do they get calculated by an external service? How long does it take for a badge to be awarded, once its requirements are met?
Does Stack Overflow use any ...
204
votes
1answer
19k views
How do I change my login provider(s)?
I no longer use the service that I originally used to register, and would like to change the service I use to log in, or at least add a second account.
Is this possible? How do I change my login ...
171
votes
2answers
19k views
How does comment voting and flagging work?
Comments can now be upvoted and flagged. How do those features work?
Do users get rep for their upvoted comments? Do upvoted comments have any effect on comment sorting? And can users see their own ...
747
votes
1answer
131k 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?
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268
votes
1answer
29k views
How should duplicate questions be handled?
What should I do when I see a question that is a duplicate of another one?
Should I answer it?
Should I downvote it?
Should I comment?
Should I edit the question to indicate it's a duplicate?
If I ...
21
votes
6answers
1k views
What is the etiquette for correcting old questions with incorrect answers?
What is the etiquette for fixing up questions which have an incorrect answer that is the highest voted answer, or a wrong answer is accepted?
Related: Why do incorrect answers keep getting “accepted”?...
585
votes
1answer
65k views
How does the bounty system work?
It's possible to offer and award bounties of reputation on questions.
What is a bounty?
How can I find questions that have a bounty attached?
How do I start a bounty? When can I start a bounty?
Why ...
37
votes
2answers
2k views
How are Stack Exchange sites officially branded?
How are sites in the Stack Exchange network, including Stack Overflow, officially branded? How are their names abbreviated? What conventions should be used in the FAQ?
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82
votes
12answers
9k views
Are taglines & signatures disallowed?
I recently had a number of my valid answers voted down because people objected to the fact that I added a tagline to the end. The answers were correct for the questions asked and the downvotes were ...
86
votes
11answers
11k views
Thanking users who answered my question
Quite often a number of users will give similar answers to one of my questions. Sometimes someone will give an answer that is interesting, but does not really help with my question.
In all cases, I ...
294
votes
2answers
35k views
Should questions include "tags" in their titles?
I've seen questions edited to remove the language name from the title. Won't search engines - and folks using search engines - have an easier time finding them if these "tags" are kept as part of the ...
24
votes
1answer
3k views
How do I remove an OpenID or login?
How do I remove login credentials (emails or OpenIDs) from my account?
For more information, see "How do I add or move login credentials from my account?" in the Help Center.
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54
votes
4answers
3k views
Who owns the content I post?
Does Stack Exchange own the content that I post?
What do I do if I want all of my posts and my user account deleted?
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281
votes
1answer
23k views
Do posts have to be in English on Stack Exchange?
Otherwise known as
必须用英语吗？(is English required?)
¿Necesito hablar en inglés?
?האם אני חייב לכתוב באנגלית
Muss ich auf Englisch schreiben?
Do I have to use English when posting a question, an answer ...
51
votes
3answers
3k views
Denoting keyboard shortcuts in Stack Exchange posts
What is the recommended method/syntax for denoting keyboard shortcuts in Stack Exchange questions and answers?
For example, how would you write the following in a less verbose manner?
Press ctrl, ...
56
votes
7answers
6k views
View or search for unanswered questions with a certain tag
How do I view unanswered questions with a certain tag?
How do I search for unanswered questions with a specific tag (or tags)?
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1085
votes
1answer
478k 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 ...
220
votes
4answers
73k views
How is the default user avatar generated?
Is there a name for the default avatars that are generated for users who do not assign one themselves?
Not the avatar of the blank user, but the one made up of shards, shapes, and colours:
Is ...
376
votes
1answer
263k 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 ...
187
votes
1answer
12k views
Who is the Community user?
I see the Community user on the user page. It seems to edit posts sometimes. What is it?
And why has it downvoted over 1800 times?
See also:
What are “Community Wiki” posts?
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50
votes
7answers
4k views
What third-party tools are there for the trilogy websites?
What third-party tools, plugins, addons, widgets are there for the trilogy websites?
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105
votes
1answer
2k views
How can we get rid of misspelled and unused (or "zombie") tags?
During the re-tagging of questions, tags sometimes become orphaned from existing questions.
Are these zombie tags ever removed from the tags list?
What if a tag is misspelled and needs to be removed?...
63
votes
2answers
10k views
How do I correctly tag my questions?
Here are some tips for tagging questions. These guidelines will help you more accurately tag your questions, which in turn will help them get more attention and lead to better answers faster.
For ...
499
votes
1answer
86k views
How does deleting work? What can cause a post to be deleted, and what does that actually mean? What are the criteria for deletion?
What circumstances can cause a question or answer to be deleted, and what does that actually mean?
How can a post be deleted?
When can't I delete my own post?
Can I still see my post even after it's ...
241
votes
1answer
11k views
What are the limits on how I can cast, change, and retract votes?
What limits are there on how I can vote?
How often can I vote? How do my votes become locked/unlocked?
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56
votes
4answers
2k views
Why does the "Unanswered Questions" tab show questions that have answers?
Why does the "Unanswered Questions" tab show questions that have answers?
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46
votes
1answer
7k views
What do "watched tags" and "ignored tags" do?
What are watched tags and ignored tags? How do they work?
What are tag subscriptions?
What are interesting tags?
On Stack Overflow, the content of the main page question list appears to be influenced ...
61
votes
5answers
15k views
How do I search for questions with (or without) specific tags?
How do I search for questions with specific tags?
How do I search for questions that have specific tags?
How do I search for questions that contain specific text, as well as specific tags?
Are there ...
54
votes
5answers
14k views
Answer or comment: what's the etiquette?
I very often see comments about a question posted as answers, e.g., "format it this way" or "why don't you post it over here". I think this practice clogs up the answers and the comment feature is ...
133
votes
1answer
13k views
How do "badges" work?
What are badges?
How do users get badges?
How can users get tag badges?
Can badges be lost/revoked/taken away after they are awarded? If so, how and when?
How can I suggest a new badge?
For more ...
197
votes
1answer
33k views
How do comments work?
Across the Stack Exchange network you may leave comments on a question or answer.
How do comments work?
What are comments for, and when shouldn't I comment?
Who can post comments?
Who can edit ...
572
votes
1answer
81k 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 ...
98
votes
1answer
12k views
How does editing work?
It is possible for users to edit an existing post.
How do edits work?
Who may edit a question or answer?
How can you tell what has been changed between edits?
For more information, see "Why can ...
36
votes
1answer
3k views
Flagging a post for moderator review
Suppose I want to have someone with moderator abilities review a post. What would be the best way to flag this?
Is there already some standard way to do this that I don't know about?
For more ...
284
votes
6answers
92k views
Do I have to worry about copyright issues for code posted on Stack Overflow?
I was wondering about the copyright of code snippets from answers. Let's say you ask a question and the solution consists of ten lines of code, which are given in an answer. Are there any restrictions ...
111
votes
1answer
7k views
What is a "locked" post?
A post can be locked.
What does it mean to lock a post?
Who can lock a post?
When should a post be locked?
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1012
votes
1answer
100k 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 ...
201
votes
1answer
26k views
What is a "closed" or "duplicate" question?
Questions can be closed or marked as duplicates.
What does it mean for a question to be "closed"?
What does it mean for a question to be marked as a "duplicate"?
Who can close a ...
166
votes
27answers
26k views
How should we deal with Google questions?
There have been a lot of questions that can be answered with a simple Google search.
For these questions, an answer can be found by just copying and pasting the question directly into the Google ...
71
votes
8answers
14k views
Filtering questions by multiple tags
I know you can select a tag and then click on unanswered to view the unanswered questions for that tag.
But is there a way to view questions only for a certain set of tags > 1 tag?
Mainly I'd like ...