All Questions
34,426
questions
615
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 ...
289
votes
1
answer
135k
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 ...
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
...
888
votes
76
answers
193k
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&...
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 ...
440
votes
1
answer
33k
views
Which computer science / programming Stack Exchange sites do I post on?
There seems to be more than a few computer science/programming Stack Exchange sites. Stack Overflow, being the first, has by far the most users, questions, and answers.
What is the reasoning for ...
703
votes
1
answer
137k
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 ...
642
votes
282
answers
87k
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 ...
1859
votes
0
answers
124k
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 ...
1060
votes
1
answer
111k
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 ...
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 ...
96
votes
8
answers
5k
views
Give each site a parallel site for polling, recommendations and subjective-ish stuff
Stuff like polls, recommendations based on subjective constraints, puzzles, webcomics etc. do not belong on the serious main SE sites, where professionals should be considered at work and having just ...
- 17.8k
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 ...
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 ...
1112
votes
1
answer
530k
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 ...
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 ...
1247
votes
31
answers
47k
views
Encouraging people to explain downvotes
Note: If you're looking for a simple explanation as to why comments aren't required on downvotes, see Why isn't providing feedback mandatory on downvotes, and why are ideas suggesting such ...
178
votes
1
answer
36k
views
How can one link / merge / combine / associate two accounts / users? (Anonymous / unregistered / cookie, or Google / Facebook / registered)
I accidentally posted a question without being logged in. Is there a way to associate that question with my account?
Return to FAQ Index
For more information, visit "I accidentally created two ...
218
votes
1
answer
37k
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 ...
379
votes
2
answers
115k
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 ...
1122
votes
32
answers
119k
views
Should 'Hi', 'thanks', taglines, and salutations be removed from posts?
I edit a lot of posts every day. I often run across posts with 'Hi' and 'Thanks' on the top and the bottom of the post respectively. I also run across things like:
--User
Should these items be ...
617
votes
1
answer
125k
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 ...
223
votes
1
answer
52k
views
Which browsers are officially supported, and what else do I need?
Which browsers are officially supported by Stack Exchange?
Also, what else is needed in order to use every feature of the site?
Return to FAQ index
397
votes
1
answer
276k
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 ...
772
votes
1
answer
142k
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
369
votes
1
answer
90k
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 ...
211
votes
1
answer
27k
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 ...
319
votes
12
answers
97k
views
Enable automatic deletion of old, unanswered, zero-score questions after a year?
Related to Meta Super User efforts:
Old unanswered inactive questions with low views/votes
and Meta Server Fault efforts:
Cleaning house, really old, unloved questions
We already auto-remove ...
- 310k
1528
votes
51
answers
64k
views
Fastest Gun in the West Problem
I feel like there's a problem with Stack Overflow, as the number of people prowling it increases.
Each question's answers are sorted by descending score and then by descending time of posting. This ...
658
votes
8
answers
411k
views
Are answers that just contain links elsewhere really "good answers"?
I have often wondered at the practice on Stack Overflow, Server Fault, and the other sites where someone will ask a question and an answer will come in that says "Look here: https://link ...
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 ...
1007
votes
24
answers
96k
views
Show all of my question/answers to me even if they are deleted
I would really like to see all of my questions and answers on the profile page, even if some of them were deleted, and I don't have enough rep to see them on the site.
(Note that some questions are ...
- 13.2k
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 ...
284
votes
1
answer
89k
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?
...
129
votes
1
answer
11k
views
How can I propose a new site?
I have an idea or subject that should have a Q&A, and want to propose a new site. How can I do this?
Related: What makes a winning site proposal?
Return to FAQ index
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 ...
1195
votes
3
answers
365k
views
Are there any clones/alternatives for running a Stack Exchange style Q&A site?
Since the source code for this site isn't available for purchase or external use, I'm looking for software that can run a Q&A environment similar to Stack Exchange. Are there any such pieces of ...
624
votes
13
answers
21k
views
Exit strategies for "chameleon questions"
I'm not sure if there's already an existing term for this, so I'm inventing my own.
(tl;dr: I call them "chameleon questions" because they change every time you submit or edit an answer. If ...
- 34.9k
1868
votes
51
answers
49k
views
Could we please be a bit nicer to new users?
There is a distinct decline in the level of civility on all the sites here. Some of this is due to new users coming in and posting spam and other nonsense, but the off-topic and downvote buttons are ...
313
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 ...
79
votes
5
answers
5k
views
What is Meta Stack Exchange, and how does it work?
Meta Stack Exchange seems to have different rules and user behavior than the "regular" Stack Exchange sites. How is it different?
Individual questions answered below:
What do votes mean ...
270
votes
1
answer
45k
views
How do question bookmarks work?
What does bookmarking a question mean?
How do you bookmark a question?
Do users get updates on their bookmarked questions?
Are my bookmarks publicly visible?
How do you see your own bookmarks?
How do ...
541
votes
1
answer
280k
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 ...
217
votes
1
answer
22k
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 ...
233
votes
1
answer
40k
views
What is migration and how does it work?
I posted a question which was closed as off-topic and it seems like it could fit on another site in the network. How can I go about moving it there?
What is migration?
When can a question be migrated,...
240
votes
45
answers
29k
views
The Follow Questions and Answers feature is now live across the Network
We are happy to announce that the previously announced follow question and answer feature is now live across the Network, including Stack Overflow, all Stack Exchange sites, and all Meta sites. (...
- 61.7k
514
votes
5
answers
46k
views
Is cross-posting a question on multiple Stack Exchange sites permitted if the question is on-topic for each site?
It is possible to migrate a question from one Stack Exchange site to another by closing, but if I have a question that I think is on-topic for multiple Stack Exchange sites, is it OK to post it on ...
141
votes
1
answer
14k
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 ...
374
votes
1
answer
12k
views
What are review tests (audits) and how do they work?
I sometimes receive this rather amusing message while reviewing in the review queues:
Congratulations!
This was only a test, designed to make sure you were paying attention. You passed.
If I am not ...