Highest scored questions
100,226 questions
2821
votes
9
answers
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views
A Terms of Service update restricting companies that scrape your profile information without your permission
Update (April 19, 2016): This change is now live. You can view the updated Terms of Service here, or read about them below.
tl;dr:
We’re planning to make some changes to our Terms of Service to stop ...
- 52.9k
2584
votes
45
answers
269k
views
Firing mods and forced relicensing: is Stack Exchange still interested in cooperating with the community?
The last weeks and days have seen some erratic behaviour by Stack Exchange Inc., such as likely illegal changes to the content license and the firing of an upstanding community moderator with no ...
- 15.4k
2402
votes
30
answers
157k
views
Stack Overflow is doing me ongoing harm; it's time to fix it!
Over the last month, Stack Overflow has violated its own policies
and precedents to cause egregious and unnecessary harm to me -- to my
reputation (personal and professional), to my health, and to my ...
- 184k
2021
votes
7
answers
814k
views
What is the XY problem?
What is the XY problem?
When asking questions, how do I recognize when I'm falling into it? How do I avoid it?
Return to FAQ index
Other languages:
ES, JA, PT, RU
1876
votes
51
answers
51k
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 ...
1867
votes
0
answers
132k
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 ...
1611
votes
46
answers
58k
views
Thank you, Shog9
@Shog9, a longtime Community Manager here at Stack Exchange, has just tweeted that he is no longer working at Stack Overflow:
@shog9: Well... I suddenly find myself in need of work.
If anyone's ...
- 88.8k
1547
votes
51
answers
66k
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 ...
1279
votes
13
answers
20k
views
Don't throw away all votes when a user is deleted
Currently, when a moderator deletes a user all of the user's votes are removed along with the user themselves. I was pretty surprised at this behaviour when I first heard about it, and I don't think ...
- 194k
1267
votes
31
answers
48k
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 ...
1208
votes
3
answers
373k
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 ...
1203
votes
14
answers
118k
views
Moderation Strike: Stack Overflow, Inc. cannot consistently ignore, mistreat, and malign its volunteers
Update
On August 2nd, 2023, negotiations between community representatives and representatives of the company concluded with an agreement being reached. The details of the agreement can be found at ...
- 88.8k
1126
votes
32
answers
123k
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 ...
1120
votes
1
answer
543k
views
How does accepting an answer work?
What does it mean to accept an answer to my question?
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?...
1118
votes
3
answers
17k
views
Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
I often have my browser's devtools open since I'm often debugging a snippet. I noticed this message often recently:
Why is Stack Overflow trying to start audio?
Update.
I see it's from an ad(?).
...
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