Questions tagged [support]

Use this tag for requests for assistance with tools and other features on the Stack Exchange Network. This includes understanding how features work and why they work that way, or how to better use them.

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
1857 votes
0 answers
123k views

FAQ for Stack Exchange sites

Community FAQ For sites in the Stack Exchange 2.0 network To see a list of commonly used words and phrases, see the glossary. For official guidance from Stack Exchange, visit the Help Center. Asking ...
1112 votes
1 answer
527k 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 ...
1096 votes
3 answers
15k views

Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?

I often have my browser's devtools open since I'm often debugging a snippet. I noticed this message often recently: Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio? Update. I see it's from an ad(?). ...
gman's user avatar
  • 4,500
1062 votes
1 answer
110k 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 ...
1016 votes
22 answers
88k views

Firing Community Managers: Stack Exchange is not interested in cooperating with the community, is it?

Less than a month ago, there was some settling of the incident with firing Monica. It's obvious that there was not a lot of approval from the community on the course of action chosen by SE, or the ...
Anton Menshov's user avatar
886 votes
76 answers
192k 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&...
846 votes
1 answer
21k views

What does "user was removed" mean and why did my reputation change because of it?

Message appearing when a user was removed. It seems I lost 1765 reputation points on Stack Overflow yesterday. The reason given in my history is "removed", with the description of User was ...
843 votes
9 answers
48k views

What are the badges I can earn on each site, and what are the exact criteria for earning each badge?

Formerly List of all badges with full descriptions. What are badge name's requirements? Why didn't I get badge name (right now)? Which badges can I earn multiple times? Jump to: Question Badges ...
810 votes
15 answers
77k views

Recent feature changes to Stack Exchange

This is an unofficial list/changelog of new features and various changes to Stack Overflow and the Stack Exchange network. It is maintained by the community, while a Stack Exchange employee changes ...
771 votes
1 answer
141k 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
734 votes
1 answer
45k views

How do I get attention for one of my own questions without a good answer?

I asked a question almost as soon as I got my account. I got a few decent answers, but none of them helped solve my problem. The question has long since become buried by newer questions, and there's ...
716 votes
1 answer
69k 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 ...
697 votes
1 answer
136k views

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 ...
689 votes
6 answers
324k views

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 ...
smartcaveman's user avatar
  • 9,892
642 votes
273 answers
86k views

Formatting Sandbox

Notes: Answers will occasionally be moved to the Sandbox archive when there are too many of them. When using them to report bugs, keep an eye on the post. You may also want to take a look at the ...
614 votes
1 answer
123k views

What is syntax highlighting and how does it work?

I noticed that sometimes my code gets highlighted in different colors when rendered. What is syntax highlighting? How does it work? Why isn't my code being highlighted correctly? How do I report a ...
614 votes
1 answer
70k 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 ...
585 votes
1 answer
84k 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 ...
571 votes
1 answer
30k views

What is serial voting and how does it affect me?

I just noticed that I lost a bunch of points from my reputation score, and I used the "reputation" tab on my user profile page to try and track down the cause. During my investigation, I noticed ...
540 votes
1 answer
279k 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 ...
519 votes
1 answer
93k 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 ...
489 votes
7 answers
96k views

How can I link to a specific answer?

Is there a permalink I can use for answers/comments?
481 votes
2 answers
26k views

How can I format as keyboard keys? [duplicate]

Some answers contain characters that look like keyboard keys. They look like Ctrl + E What markup do I need to add to make Ctrl and E look like actual keys? That's not mentioned in the formatting ...
Torben Gundtofte-Bruun's user avatar
451 votes
1 answer
24k views

A site (or scraper) is copying content from Stack Exchange. What should I do?

Since day one of Stack Overflow, all content posted on Stack Exchange sites by their users (i.e. you wonderful people) has been provided to the whole universe under the CC BY-SA license. For my fellow ...
423 votes
5 answers
17k views

What is a 'rollback'?

What is a 'rollback' on Stack Exchange sites? I have seen this mentioned but I do not understand the term. Please note: this question has been locked as it was used as a sandbox for performing ...
399 votes
1 answer
8k views

What is a disputed flag?

In my flagging summary under the statistics, there is 1 flag listed as "disputed". This is the first time I've ever seen a disputed flag in my summary, so I'm just curious, what is a disputed flag? ...
396 votes
1 answer
275k 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 ...
377 votes
2 answers
113k 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 ...
375 votes
9 answers
27k views

What is "chat with an expert"? [closed]

A box just comes out of nowhere which says "chat with an expert". It happened once on Stack Overflow and once on Meta. Is this an ad? Isn't Meta supposed to have no ads? Here's the HTML for that ...
Antony's user avatar
  • 6,435
374 votes
1 answer
12k views

What are review tests (audits) and how do they work?

I recently received this rather amusing message while reviewing a user's first post: Congratulations! This was only a test, designed to make sure you were paying attention. This post has already been ...
365 votes
1 answer
89k 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 ...
340 votes
1 answer
19k views

The Complete Rate-Limiting Guide

I noticed that I can only perform certain actions such as commenting a finite number of times in a given period of time. Obviously, rate limiting is in place to prevent accidental misuse or ...
326 votes
5 answers
4k views

Dear SE, please stop disparaging the moderators in the press

The VP of Community for SE gave the following statement to the press: Stack Overflow ran an analysis and the ChatGPT detection tools that moderators were previously using have an alarmingly high rate ...
Mad Scientist's user avatar
317 votes
5 answers
143k views

How to nest code within a list using Markdown [duplicate]

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 ...
313 votes
1 answer
44k views

How do suggested edits work?

When clicking "edit" I see: Your edit will be placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed. We welcome edits that make the post easier to understand and more valuable for readers. Because ...
313 votes
5 answers
10k views

Was the retroactive change to CC BY-SA 4.0 approved by Stack Exchange's lawyers?

Update: I have started a GoFundMe in an attempt to have a court or arbitrator settle this. It has raised a decent amount, but more will be necessary to retain counsel. On 2019-09-05, Stack Exchange ...
jhpratt's user avatar
  • 4,568
312 votes
2 answers
32k views

What are the “spam” and “rude or abusive” (offensive) flags, and how do they work?

When flagging, there are two special case options: spam and rude or abusive. What is spam, and when should I flag content as such? What is considered offensive, rude or abusive content? How does the ...
312 votes
2 answers
38k 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 ...
307 votes
3 answers
51k views

Can I answer my own questions, even if I knew the answer before asking?

I might want to answer my own question because: I arrived at a solution before there were any other correct answers or I like mine better, can I still answer my own question? I have a folder with ...
301 votes
14 answers
36k views

June 2023 Data Dump is missing

The data dump usually gets refreshed the first weekend of the month, every 3 months. The current data dump is still from March. Is there just a problem and it's delayed like in the past? Relevant ...
Data Dude's user avatar
  • 1,711
300 votes
6 answers
108k 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 ...
298 votes
1 answer
29k 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? 英語で書かなければなりませんか? Do I have to use English when posting a ...
297 votes
5 answers
26k views

Keyboard Glyphs

How are people showing keyboard "glyphs" on Super User? I looked at the Markdown help page and it didn't show anything regarding this. Here is an example. (question has been deleted since ...
Jorge Israel Peña's user avatar
297 votes
3 answers
17k views

Stack Exchange Glossary - Dictionary of Commonly-Used Terms

What are the common phrases, words, abbreviations that are used on Stack Overflow, Server Fault, Super User, Meta Stack Overflow, and the other Stack Exchange sites? This is meant to be a very quick ...
291 votes
6 answers
11k views

Under what circumstances will Stack Exchange, Inc. share private/sensitive information with the press?

What are Stack Exchange, Inc.'s policies regarding whether and when private or sensitive information will be shared by the company with the public, and particularly with the press? By "private ...
Isaac Moses's user avatar
  • 9,976
290 votes
1 answer
134k views

What can I do when getting "We are no longer accepting questions/answers from this account"?

If you are reading this, you may have been affected by one of our post quality bans. If so, it is important that you read the following information to understand what has happened and how to regain ...
284 votes
1 answer
88k 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? ...
281 votes
1 answer
32k views

How does duplicate closing work? When is a question a duplicate, and how should duplicate questions be handled?

Questions can be closed as duplicates. When are two questions considered duplicates? Which question is the duplicate? It's a duplicate. What do I do? Should I edit the question? Should I answer it? ...
280 votes
7 answers
21k views

How can I insert my Stack Overflow rating into LinkedIn?

Is it possible to connect Stack Overflow (or other Stack Exchange) accounts with LinkedIn network? Is it possible to insert your stats into LinkedIn?
Yury's user avatar
  • 4,079
272 votes
5 answers
15k views

How do I audit my reputation?

If I am concerned that my reputation score is incorrect, how can I audit it, or get a report of a detailed breakdown of my reputation? Return to FAQ index

1
2 3 4 5
493