Frequent Questions
35,465 questions
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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 ...
448
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1
answer
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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 ...
1012
votes
24
answers
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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 ...
- 13.3k
346
votes
1
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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 ...
311
votes
3
answers
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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 ...
288
votes
1
answer
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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?
...
131
votes
1
answer
12k
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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
318
votes
2
answers
33k
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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 ...
629
votes
13
answers
22k
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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 ...
- 35k
78
votes
5
answers
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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 ...
1876
votes
51
answers
51k
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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 ...
1208
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3
answers
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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 ...
247
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45
answers
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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. (...
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270
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1
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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 ...
546
votes
1
answer
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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 markup is allowed, but not all the HTML tags are allowed, to avoid XSS.
Which ...