___Upfront__: I know this is off-topic here, belongs to meta, and should be closed and moved to meta. I post it here nevertheless, so it will get seen by more people who watch the `C++` tag. Feel free to move this to meta (I've even tried to already add the `discussion` tag, although I'm not sure it will survive the transition), and in case you're interested, __go over there to discuss this__. (Oh, and if you can think of improving this text, also feel free to do so.)_
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A while ago Neil Butterworth, one of the most highly reputed people in the `C++` tag (he has given so many good answers, that in the two months since he left, his defunct account has amassed >2000 rep from old answers), left here, obviously in frustration about Stackoverflow. I have since heard a few other highly reputed users expressing sentiments very similar to his, namely that again and again answering the same newbie questions becomes very tedious. ("_What should be the result of `i == ++i + i++`?_" anyone?) Those who say this frequently are highly reputed, very knowledgeable users, whose decreased contribution of even departure would be a great loss to the community.
So I started thinking that we should have an FAQ. The (more or less official) [C++ FAQ](http://www.parashift.com/c++-faq-lite/) is frequently linked to, but IMO it lacks. It doesn't necessarily address the question most frequently asked on Stackoverflow most prominently, it's not editable for us, and we cannot close questions with a pointer to the FAQ, or even merge questions into it. But a set of well-worded and constantly improved answers to frequently asked questions, so that repeatedly arising questions could be closed as duplicates or merged into their FAQ counterpart, seems highly desirable.
At first, the new [tag pages](http://stackoverflow.com/tags/c%2b%2b) with their [tag wiki](http://stackoverflow.com/tags/c%2b%2b/info) and a list of frequently linked-to questions (unfortunately named "faq") seemed a step into the right direction to me, but I soon realized that this didn't get far enough. Then, [GMan and I had an initial discussion](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3997700/can-we-create-static-array-with-a-size-that-is-an-execute-time-constant/3997733#3997733) about this the other day, that was later continued in the [chat](http://chat.stackoverflow.com/transcript/10?m=38556#38556).
I feel the need to discuss this at meta, because
1. Others might explain why I am/we are wrong about this and why this isn't needed at all and a great waste of time and resources.
1. More people would bring more ideas to the table.
1. Regulars in other tags might have similar ideas that we don't know about.
1. If we do this, this would need support from as many people as possible
1. As everyone who followed the link to the chat saw, chat transcripts aren't exactly a great way of documenting a threaded discussion.
1. We might feel that some new feature would greatly enhance our ability to pull this off, which would _require_ a discussion on meta.
Here's an initial list of questions that, IMO, should be answered in such a discussion:
- Do we need yet another C++ FAQ anyway? If so, how do we pull this off?
- Would questions with a special tag (I've gone and added my initial idea, `c++-faq` to this post) be sufficient? Would the voting system be sufficient to ensure that the best answers bubble up (as opposed to the funniest, controversial, etc.)?
- Should we restrict editing rights to FAQ answers? If so, how do we do this?
- Could the [tag wiki](http://stackoverflow.com/tags/c%2b%2b/info) (currently requires 1,500 rep) be a good place to use for that?
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If you answer to this, please, be ___polite___, ___critical___, and ___constructive___, try to ___stay focused___, and ___refrain from repeating___ the umpteenth time what has been said before you.
Also again: _Please feel free to edit this question_ if you think it lacks in any regard. _This is by no mean __my__ project_, I'm merely the one who, about 10 hours ago, said he would be able post such a question today at the time we more or less agreed upon.
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_My opinion_:
1. I believe that Stackoverflow is a great place to setup an FAQ as a ___highly dynamic___, ___collaborative___, wiki-style ___community___ effort.
1. I believe such a project to be worthwhile and the result could be a ___great knowledge resource___, and be a step into the direction of Stackoverflow's goal to ___make the web a better place___.
1. We should ___start with what we have___ (I currently see tags or the tag wiki as possible way to go, but you might have more/better ideas) and see where this takes us. In time, we could see what works and what doesn't, and whether an additional feature here or there would be an improvement.