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How should we deal with questions that are posted simultaneously at Unix.SE and another Stack Exchange site?

I've found some discussion on Meta Stack Overflow, but no official policy:

This is especially a concern here since most questions would also be on-topic at one or more of Stack Overflow, Super User, Server Fault, Ubuntu.SE.

I recently echoed Robert Cartaino's answer in a comment to this question, but it's nothing like an official policy or at least an FAQ entry.

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3 Answers 3

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We're in line with the SE policy on this now; the FAQ explicitly discourages cross-posting:

Cross-posting is strongly discouraged -- if you post on one site and then change your mind it can always be migrated to another. If you're not sure if your question is on-topic, ask on meta or just give it a try and the community will decide.

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At the moment we don't deal with it at all. We can't migrate then merge... or anything like that. Basically our hands are tied. Plus I've no interest in watching for cross posting. Actually I've been encouraging cross posting due to lack of migration capabilities in a way. Since I tell people "you'd be better off asking on X".

In the future "Migrate and Merge" might be the most appropriate solution.

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  • I'm not actively watching for crossposts, but I dislike it when a question is answered independently on multiple sites and the asker could easily have avoided this. So for the time being I'll continue telling people to cross-link. Jan 8, 2011 at 20:42
  • @gilles crosslinking is a good idea. I have been crossposting after a few weeks of not getting a good idea on another site, I reasked a question on dba after it not having gotten a good answer on SO for weeks. Jan 9, 2011 at 3:15
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I think if someone posts an Ubuntu-specific question both here and on Ask Ubuntu, it should be closed here. I say this because I really care about quality, and Ubuntu folk are surely going to give a superior Answer (and it's a larger community too, so will have a quicker response).

As for Super User, I think both Ask Ubuntu and Unix & Linux supercede it, and it should be restricted to Questions about Windows, Hardware, cross-platform apps..., but that's another topic.

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  • "I say this because I really care about quality, and Ubuntu folk are surely going to give a superior Answer" wow... I just feel like that reads troll all over... must ignore flame bait... Nov 26, 2010 at 16:10
  • @xeno I meant that since there's more of them there and the whole site is focused only on Ubuntu, the chances of a high quality answer there are higher than here. There are high profile Ubuntu developers there. Do you disagree?
    – tshepang
    Nov 26, 2010 at 16:25
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    @tshepang yes You may get a faster answer, but there's absolutely nothting that says the answer will be higher quality. I believe it's quite obvious that most ubuntu-ers (at least the original users) only use that unix, otherwise I think more would have voted to merge. Nov 27, 2010 at 0:12
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    @tshepang it also ignores the fact that there may be developers here, just because this site isn't officially sponsored by a corporation... I just feel that the comment is all around disrespectful to this community. Yes they have greater numbers, so? that doesn't necessarily make them better... 1 Gilles is all you need. Nov 27, 2010 at 0:19
  • @xeno I think you are still in pain due to the split, and this clouds your judgement a little bit. I seems you also have an aversion to corporate blessings. I gave you a reason why I think it's better to ask an Ubuntu-specific question on Ask Ubuntu (in case of multi-postings), and it's not good enough for you. You even mention a speedier Answers, which is a plus. Note that I would also have preferred that both were merged, but what does it help to keep crying? BTW, many also think these 2 sites are a duplicate of Super User. I agree that greater numbers != superior Quality, but they do help.
    – tshepang
    Nov 29, 2010 at 9:44
  • @tshepang I don't think I ever got an answer to a question on superuser... so I'm glad this exists. But I stand by all my earlier mentionings that we shouldn't close ubuntu questions here as they are ontopic here. And I stand by the fact that suggesting that AU users give superior answers to Unix SE is trolling. Nov 29, 2010 at 11:16
  • @xeno I limited this argument only to duplicates.
    – tshepang
    Nov 29, 2010 at 11:51
  • (Looks like this post got locked from flags, which seems a bit ridiculous; I unlocked it). Until we launch I'm of the opinion it's fine to post both here and on AU. We're going to have to revisit it after we launch, since generally you shouldn't need to crosspost questions, they should fit best on one site, but for the moment neither site has been closing questions that fit on both Dec 6, 2010 at 4:10

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