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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How is a Question/Answer community different from a typical forum?
A Question/Answer community is different from a typical forum because it focuses on finding answers to the questions of its members. A typical forum, by contrast, operates more like a discussion group, where people are free to give their opinions and topics tend to be more subjective.
By keeping a laser focus on questions and answers, this community ensures that finding answers to existing questions - and getting answers to new questions - can be done without any distractions.
What kind of questions can I ask here?
As long as your question is:
- detailed and specific
- written clearly and simply
- of interest to at least one other person somewhere
... it is welcome here. No question is too trivial or too "newbie".
Please look around to see if your question has already been asked (and maybe even answered!) before you ask. If you end up asking a question that has been asked before, that is OK and deliberately allowed. Other users will hopefully edit in links to related or similar questions to help future visitors find their way.
It's also perfectly fine to ask and answer your own question, but pretend you're on Jeopardy: phrase it in the form of a question.
What kind of questions should I not ask here?
Avoid asking questions that are subjective, argumentative, or require extended discussion. This is not a discussion board, this is a place for questions that can be answered!
Be nice.
Treat others with the same respect you'd want them to treat you. We're all here to learn together. Be tolerant of others who may not know everything you know. Bring your sense of humor.
Be honest.
Above all, be honest. If you see misinformation, vote it down. Insert comments indicating what, specifically, is wrong. Even better — edit and improve the information! Provide stronger, faster, superior answers of your own!
What should I avoid in my answers?
LinuxExchange is a question and answer site - it is not a discussion group. Please avoid holding debates in your answers as they tend to dilute the essense of questions and answers. For brief discussions please use commenting facility.
Who moderates this community?
The short answer is: you. This website is moderated by the users. The community features a karma system that allows users to earn rights to perform a variety of moderation tasks.
How does the karma system work?
When a question or answer is upvoted, the user who posted them will gain some points, which are called "karma points". These points serve as a rough measure of the community trust in him/her. Various moderation tasks are gradually assigned to the users based on those points.
For example, if you ask an interesting question or give a helpful answer, your input will be upvoted. On the other hand if the answer is misleading, it will be downvoted. Each vote in favor will generate 10 points, each vote against will subtract 2 points. There is a limit of 200 points that can be accumulated per question or answer. The table below explains karma requirements for each type of moderation task.
- add comments -> 20
- delete comments -> 2000
- close own questions -> 250
- reopen own questions -> 500
- retag questions -> 500
- edit any answer -> 2000
- vote to open or close any question -> 3000
- delete any comment -> 2000
Why are some questions closed?
Questions that are deemed sufficiently off-topic may be closed by the community. Closed questions may be opened by casting reopen votes in the same manner. However, you can only vote to close or reopen a question once.
Why are some questions or answers removed?
Questions that are extremely off topic, or of very low quality, may be removed. Over time, closed questions that are not useful as signpoints to other questions may also be removed, as well as questions which have no significant activity over a very long period after being asked. For additional guidance, see How to Ask.
Answers that do not fundamentally answer the question may be removed. Answers that are …
- commentary on the question or other answers
- asking another, different question
- “thanks!” or “me too!” responses
- exact duplicates of other answers
- not even a partial answer to the actual question
… may be be removed. If you wish to improve an existing answer, click edit. For additional guidance, see How to Answer.
What if I see bad things happening?
Please use our flagging system to let us know about it. Each comment has a small flag icon, and every post has a flag menu at the bottom. Take advantage of it! We actively moderate our community, but we need your help to do so. Anything that is getting consistently flagged by our community members will be investigated and followed up on. And of course you can always email us directly if you feel the matter is urgent.
What is a gravatar?
Gravatar means globally recognized avatar - your unique avatar image associated with your email address. It's simply a picture that shows next to your posts on the websites that support gravatar protocol. The default gravatar appears as a square filled with a snowflake-like figure. You can set your image at gravatar.com
To participate in this community, do I need to create new account?
No, you don't have to. You can login through any service that supports OpenID, e.g. Google, Yahoo, AOL, etc. Login now!
Why can other people edit my questions/answers?
Allowing experienced members of this community to curate the questions and answers improves the overall quality of the knowledge base content. If this approach is not for you, we respect your choice.
Still have questions?
Please ask your question, help make our community better!