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.

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127 votes
1 answer
2k views

Has Stack Overflow requested a retraction of The Register article?

Obviously, the details of the settlement with Monica are not public, but has SO made the public action of requesting that The Register's article about the mod situation be removed or modified to not ...
David says Reinstate Monica's user avatar
126 votes
1 answer
4k views

What is an SE "day"? When does each day start?

When does a day start on the Stack Exchange network? Some badges (Enthusiast, Fanatic, Mortarboard) and voting limits are bound by and relate heavily to the concept of a day. Do days correspond to ...
125 votes
3 answers
7k views

What are the criteria for questions to be selected for Hot Network Questions?

I really like the new Stack Exchange home page, where certain questions from the Stack Exchange Network are presented, along with a hotness rating that is described as "arbitrary" in its ...
Maxim Zaslavsky's user avatar
124 votes
5 answers
4k views

The new CEO discusses his vision for the growth of SO, in an article behind a paywall

Yesterday I stumbled on a Facebook post by SO, which quotes the new CEO: If we did not not have our community, we would not exist. It's very much part of our DNA. Further on the Facebook posts ...
Luuklag's user avatar
  • 36k
124 votes
1 answer
1k views

Today​'s inappropriate ad: "obesity antidote discovered" on SFF

Two days ago, I wrote: Yeah I'm aware that "a tool to manage ad experience" is currently being developed, but as long as it's not available, I'll keep on reporting these. I'll also keep on ...
Jenayah's user avatar
  • 14.8k
124 votes
0 answers
1k views

Today's inappropriate ad: health scam on Travel [duplicate]

Inappropriate ad spotted on Travel.SE. Looks like the usual health scam. Unfortunately this one seems not to open the link preview when I long-click it, so it's only the image, but it seems to have ...
Jenayah's user avatar
  • 14.8k
123 votes
6 answers
27k views

The reCAPTCHA has become too difficult for humans to solve

The reCAPTCHAs have suddenly become almost illegible. I regularly have to change it four or five times before I find one I can read. I am tempted to just enter the known word (an easy guess), and ...
Arlen Beiler's user avatar
  • 2,007
123 votes
3 answers
3k views

How can I see all my rejected edits?

I looked at one of my approved edits and found I had a whopping four rejected edits (that is much more than what I expected). I was able to see a snippet of a half a dozen recent edits and see the one ...
700 Software's user avatar
  • 4,347
123 votes
1 answer
6k views

What can cause a question to be bumped?

What can cause a question to be "bumped" to the first page in the Active tab of a Stack Exchange site? (Changing the "Last Active" date.) Return to FAQ Index.
122 votes
13 answers
5k views

Deleted Meta Questions Archive

Some keep deleting questions with a lot of discussion, both relevant and/or historical, and we can't search on deleted questions. Some of them are locked so that they cannot be undeleted, so I'm ...
122 votes
2 answers
3k views

What kind of edits contribute to the editor badges?

The descriptions for the editing badges are: Editor: First edit Strunk & White: Edited 80 posts Copy Editor: Edited 500 posts Does "posts" include your own questions/answers, or are these ...
RedBlueThing's user avatar
  • 2,820
121 votes
1 answer
99k views

How do I change my profile picture, or avatar?

Where does the image come from? How do I change my profile picture, or avatar? How do I change my profile picture on all SE sites at once? How can I use different avatars on different SE sites? How do ...
120 votes
3 answers
10k views

Someone flagged my question as already answered, but it's not

I asked a question regarding a very specific feature of a program and whether or not it works with a larger program. Within hours someone had marked it with "This question may already have an answer ...
user avatar
120 votes
3 answers
5k views

What is this "answer your own question" jazz?

I showed up here to write a perfectly normal rant about misaligned pixels, and there's a big fat checkbox cluttering up the "Ask" page, labeled: Answer your own question – share your ...
Shog9's user avatar
  • 450k
120 votes
1 answer
9k views

Where are my starred Questions? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How do favorite questions work? Stack Overflow has a feature that you can star whatever questions you like, but how can I find my starred questions and their answers? Where is ...
Ikbear's user avatar
  • 1,309
119 votes
13 answers
2k views

What's up with the new CSS? [closed]

I've just noticed the new rep/vote counts look different, and not in a good way (IMO, obviously people will disagree). What else has been changed, and is it permanent?
user avatar
119 votes
1 answer
7k views

Why can't I use Stack Exchange if I'm under 13 years old, or if I'm under 16 years old and from the EU?

I was just reading the Terms of Service, and noticed something: You must be at least 13 years old to access or use the Network or Services, including without limitation to complete a Stack Overflow ...
119 votes
5 answers
17k views

How do I change my Stack Exchange password?

How do I change my password? I have a Stack Exchange account but can't seem to find the option to change my password.
orange's user avatar
  • 1,333
119 votes
2 answers
5k views

Why isn't it required to provide comments/feedback for downvotes, and why are proposals suggesting this so negatively received?

Sometimes my post receives downvotes with no explanation on what I've done wrong. Even worse, sometimes I just get snarky comments! It seems like this is especially bad for new users, who are made to ...
118 votes
1 answer
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 ...
117 votes
2 answers
3k views

"STOP! Look and Listen" audit tricked me

I have noticed this "STOP! Look and Listen" message when the system audits you by having you review something to check how you respond. However, this audit came up and I was tricked. I wanted to up ...
Austin Henley's user avatar
117 votes
1 answer
8k views

What is a "locked" post?

On Stack Exchange, a post can sometimes be "locked": What does it mean to lock a post? Who can lock a post? When should a post be locked? Return to FAQ index
116 votes
7 answers
2k views

Eeeek! Where did the reputation graph go? [closed]

The reputation graph no longer shows up on my profile when I click on the reputation tab. Is it gone now (like the mail icon)? Or has it been moved somewhere else? I do like the more detailed ...
Matt's user avatar
  • 1,591
116 votes
3 answers
4k views

NSFW video and annoying animated advertising on Music SE

I'm seeing this annoying animated advertisement on Music SE. Somehow saving the gif was impossible, so I recreated it as well as I could from screenshots (first image). The actual thing is even more ...
user avatar
115 votes
5 answers
7k views

How can I cancel an edit I made on another user's question or answer?

Edits made by users who do not have edit privileges are placed in a queue until it is peer reviewed. E.g., I edited someone else's answer. but changed my mind. If I'd edited my own question/answer, ...
tiago2014's user avatar
  • 1,452
114 votes
1 answer
3k views

What should I do if a user posts sensitive information as part of a question or answer?

I've observed several incidents where users inadvertently posted detailed, sensitive information. For example, a Server Fault user who posted a question with working login credentials to his actual ...
113 votes
4 answers
2k views

What happened to flag weight? [duplicate]

I just noticed that my profile on Programmers no longer shows my flag weight. Instead I see the number of helpful flags. At the same time, the definition for the Marshal badge has been changed to "500 ...
PersonalNexus's user avatar
113 votes
1 answer
3k views

Why does the Community user approve and reject edits?

Why does the Community user sometimes approve or reject edits? How does a machine know if my edit is valid? What does it mean if my edit was rejected by Community? See also: Who is the ...
112 votes
4 answers
2k views

Question banning should work differently on Meta

I just wanted to report a problem with Data Explorer and realized I was banned from asking questions on meta. Probably because I asked 3 questions with a score <= -10. Reading through the reasons ...
Tomas's user avatar
  • 8,797
112 votes
4 answers
19k views

How do I change the email address associated with my Stack Exchange OpenID? [duplicate]

I registered my Stack Overflow account using the Stack Exchange OpenID provider. I later changed my e-mail, but I cannot change the e-mail address associated with my OpenID for some reason. Why is ...
test's user avatar
  • 1,343
111 votes
2 answers
6k 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 ...
111 votes
1 answer
6k views

What are tag synonyms and merged tags? How do they work?

What are tag synonyms? How can tag synonyms be distinguished from "real" tags? How are new tag synonyms created? Who can create tag synonyms? How can I delete/reverse/undo bad tag synonyms? What are ...
111 votes
1 answer
2k views

Can we please get more information on the "network policy regarding AI Generated content" post?

Meta notes: This was originally posted as an answer in response to What is the network policy regarding AI Generated content?. Some of the requests for more information have been addressed in GPT on ...
starball's user avatar
  • 23.5k
110 votes
2 answers
5k views

What is the daily reputation cap and how can I hit it?

I've found some questions and those two badges "Epic" and "Legendary" regarding the "daily reputation cap". What is it and how can I hit it?
Martin's user avatar
  • 1,381
110 votes
2 answers
3k views

How can I get the "cleanup" badge [duplicate]

In other words, what counts as "First Rollback"?
DavRob60's user avatar
  • 4,858
109 votes
2 answers
25k views

How does SO's new auto-login feature work?

SO and SU just told me I've been logged in. I'm guessing because I'm already logged into my Google account... but how does SO know that?
mpen's user avatar
  • 1,542
109 votes
1 answer
7k views

How much bandwidth does SE eat up?

I recently saw this image posted in an answer on Meta by @Nick Craver ♦: I'm interested to know how much bandwidth (in total GB/TB) gets used on average each month for such a large site, and on which ...
Danny Beckett's user avatar
109 votes
2 answers
5k views

When exactly does the Unsung Hero badge get awarded? [duplicate]

A while ago, I spotted the gold badge, Unsung Hero, which carries the description, Zero score accepted answers: more than 10 and 25% of total. The way I interpret that is that you need more than 10 ...
Bryan's user avatar
  • 1,338
109 votes
1 answer
3k 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?...
108 votes
3 answers
2k views

Having a bad start. Is that normal?

I'm sorry to bother you with my thoughts but since I'm quite new here, I am not familiar with this. Stack Overflow was my first choice for help for a long time. I decided, now that I'm a bit better in ...
Tobias Reich's user avatar
  • 1,101
108 votes
2 answers
6k views

How do I properly use the "Not an Answer" flag?

What is the "Not an Answer" flag and what is its purpose? When should I use this flag? When should I not use this flag? But I'm still not sure if I'm using the flag correctly... An answer is ...
108 votes
9 answers
3k views

Is there any way to favorite/bookmark an answer?

Lots of questions are very generic, "share an experience" kinds of questions. In these cases, I am quite often interested in specific answers that may not have gotten that many upvotes. ...
Gareth Simpson's user avatar
107 votes
2 answers
16k views

Key stroke combination markdown? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Keyboard Glyphs I got an answer with some cool keystroke formatting, but I don't see how to do it on the markdown reference, or the more detailed markdown reference -- maybe I ...
Greg Mattes's user avatar
  • 1,229
107 votes
1 answer
7k views

Users are calling me a plagiarist. What do I do?

Other users have been leaving me angry and hostile comments accusing me of plagiarism and saying that I'm a liar and I should stop stealing answers. But I have only been copying content from other ...
106 votes
6 answers
5k views

Someone contacted me by email but my email is not public

Last week I got an email to my email address saying "I saw on Stack Overflow that you were interested in.." and the content of the question I asked. The email suggested I'll star a bug \ feature ...
Segev's user avatar
  • 951
106 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why does flag marking as helpful/declined not always correlate with moderator action?

I flagged a post and (choose one) my flag was marked as helpful, yet nothing was done my flag was marked as declined, yet the post was deleted/edited/closed Why? Return to FAQ index
106 votes
1 answer
3k views

The Real Essential Questions of Every Beta

The blog post Seven Essential Meta Questions of Every Beta gets linked to prominently from every beta's meta. However, this blog post is somewhat inaccurate and misdirects new users. In almost every ...
106 votes
2 answers
5k views

What other hidden or inobvious RSS feeds are available on Stack Exchange and its sites?

I know about finding the RSS feed icon at the bottom of any "Top Questions" page, giving access to recent, featured, hot, week & month questions feeds. I also know that you can get RSS ...
Mark Booth's user avatar
  • 4,501
105 votes
14 answers
7k views

(Historical) Policy on the use of GPT detectors

The policy below was posted on the Mod Team on May 29, 2023 to update moderators as to changes in how the GPT policy should be enforced. A day later, a shortened version of this policy was published ...
Philippe's user avatar
  • 20.6k
105 votes
2 answers
3k views

How can I search my comments using some keyword(s)?

Here's my problem: I know I've posted something on Stack Overflow about a particular topic. I know how to search all my answers with a given keyword, and that feature works well. But, if I don't ...
Nate's user avatar
  • 1,173