Meta Stack Exchange

Welcome to Meta Stack Exchange

Meta Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for meta-discussion of the Stack Exchange family of Q&A websites. It's built and run by you as part of the Stack Exchange network of Q&A sites. With your help, we're working together to build a library of detailed answers to every question about the software that powers the Stack Exchange network.

Meta is a little bit different from our main Q&A sites. Here's how:

Ask questions about issues that affect all Stack Exchange sites

The guidance on all our Q&A sites explicitly disallows meta-discussion, to reduce clutter and noise. There's no chit-chat; just questions and answers.

In order to keep improving our sites, though, we need a space to talk about how the sites themselves work.

So each community has a meta to discuss site-specific issues, and Meta Stack Exchange is for conversations about problems and ideas that affect the whole network.

This site is all about getting answers. It's not a discussion forum. There's no chit-chat.

Just questions...

...and answers.

up vote

Good answers are voted up and rise to the top.

The best answers show up first so that they are always easy to find.

accept

The person who asked can mark one answer as "accepted".

Accepting doesn't mean it's the best answer, it just means that it worked for the person who asked.

How to refresh a question on Stack Exchange sites?

up vote 14 down vote

Is it acceptable to refresh/re-ask a question if you have some new details?

If so, what would be an acceptable way?

Do I just edit the post by adding details (let's assume I don't want to put up a bounty)?

If there is no answer at all, is it OK to bump a question via a minor edit? If so, what would be the time limit - a day, a week, never?

2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accept

Re-asking a question is not acceptable. It will get closed as the exact duplicate it would be.

If you want to "bump" a question, edit it - adding detail is almost always a good thing.

In regards to time limits - there are none that I am aware of.

up vote 3 down vote

It's perfectly fine to edit an existing question of yours if you have new information.

Editing it just to bump it to the front page is frowned upon.

If you want to draw attention to an old question, you'll have to sacrifice some rep and offer a bounty.

Be part of the community that decides how the sites work

Any question that has to do with the Stack Exchange family of communities is fair game.

Ask about...

  • Specific issues with the software that powers the Stack Exchange network
  • Real problems or questions that you’ve encountered using this software

While we discourage opinions on our main sites, questions here are likely to generate discussion and involve opinions. That's okay!

However, you shouldn't ask about...

  • Anything not directly related to the software that powers the Stack Exchange network
  • Questions that require the expertise of a specific Stack Exchange community - these should be asked on that site's meta instead

Tags make it easy to find interesting questions

All questions are tagged with their subject areas. Each can have up to 5 tags, since a question might be related to several subjects.

On meta sites, every question must contain one of the following tags:

Tags with a red background (like or ) can only be applied by a moderator or Stack Exchange employee.

How to refresh a question on Stack Exchange sites?

up vote 14 down vote

Is it acceptable to refresh/re-ask a question if you have some new details?

If so, what would be an acceptable way?

Do I just edit the post by adding details (let's assume I don't want to put up a bounty)?

If there is no answer at all, is it OK to bump a question via a minor edit? If so, what would be the time limit - a day, a week, never?

Voting is different on meta sites

Your Meta Stack Exchange account functions like an account on any other Stack Exchange Q&A site: your reputation score goes up when others vote up your questions and answers, and you earn badges for your activity here.

For most posts, votes reflect the perceived usefulness: well-written, well-reasoned, and well-researched posts tend to get more attention and more upvotes.

Unlike normal Stack Exchange sites, meta invites the community to discuss, debate, and propose changes to the way the community itself behaves, as well as how the software works. On posts tagged , voting can indicate agreement or disagreement with the proposed change rather than just the quality or usefulness of the post itself.

Unlock badges for special achievements

Badges are special achievements you earn for participating on the site. They come in three levels: bronze, silver, and gold.

In fact, you can earn a badge just for reading this page:

 Informed Read the entire tour page
 Student First question with score of 1 or more
 Editor First edit
 Good Answer Answer score of 25 or more
 Civic Duty Vote 300 or more times
 Famous Question Question with 10,000 views

see all badges

Sign up to get started

Sign up

Signing up allows you to:

  • Earn reputation when you help others with questions, answers and edits.
  • Select favorite tags to customize your home page.
  • Claim your first badge:  Informed
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