I visit Super User now and again, and I get amazed by the amount of Unix & Linux Questions asked there. Seems like many don't know of the existence of this site (or they simply resist?). This worries me because we may be missing some juicy Q&A, and that leaves one to decide which of the sites to focus on. This is sub-optimal, so I'd like to hear other's thoughts?
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4Ask here ofc!!!– StefanCommented Dec 8, 2010 at 7:22
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3 Answers
My rule of thumb recently has been, ask here first. If I don't get a good response then cross post to SuperUser or ServerFault. I understand that by doing this it might take me a longer time to get an answer, but doing so helps Unix.SE grow and keeps it full of fresh content. I feel that's worth taking a possible hit on visibility so to speak.
In response to the question "The real question is why Unix.SE is a separate site!" which Gilles posed, I counter that far too many people avoid SuperUser because they feel it is a "dumping ground" for questions from StackOverflow or ServerFault which are not programming / sysadmin related. Many people I respect have told me that they flat-out ignore SuperUser. As Unix.SE has grown it has avoided such preconceptions.
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This is offtopic regarding the Answer, but I wanted to mention that unix.SE vitals are healthy enough for it to launch. I actually thought the reason for the delay is because the designer is busy with the other more-ready sites.– tshepangCommented Dec 9, 2010 at 15:53
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Oh, that's great news! I've been too busy to answer/ask much recently but I've been voting like crazy :-)– JoshCommented Dec 9, 2010 at 15:56
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Advising cross-posting is not a good idea, should be "flag for migration" instead.– MatCommented Oct 12, 2012 at 7:51
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@Mat: I know it's against Stack Exchange policy and frowned upon by most. I still say if it's done very carefully it can work, and I personally think that's why it's so frowned upon: most people don't do it carefully. If you must do it, make sure that you keep both questions updated -- when one gets a correct answer, post it on the other and link them together. Don't leave one open and one answered. But you're right Mat, the official stance is that cross posting is bad and users should flag for migration instead.– JoshCommented Oct 12, 2012 at 12:17
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If there is a scope clash between two or more stackexchange sites, then it's only a matter of time until those sites receive the same question. One way to we could solve this would be to flag one question for moderation attention and ask a mod to lock the question and put a notice up, which points to the other question. This ensures that there is only one active, unlocked, canonical question.– FlowCommented Dec 18, 2013 at 10:11
I just had a question closed on SuperUser for posting it here. I talked to the mod responsible (slhck) and he pointed me to a discussion on meta.SO that apparently states the official Stack Exchange position.
To make a long story short, cross posting is frowned upon.
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It depends. Sometimes moder is so much sillier. But such is life. It can't wait not to ban. Whereas an article could be nicely written with all emphasis in order to put the question into your head lean. And it passes links off a crossposting, long exposition as unclearness, and surely sort as ambiguous rhetorical.. (you know)– XsiCommented Nov 30, 2012 at 20:48
Unix questions are on-topic on Super User. This site is in beta, which will put some people off. This site is a lot younger so has a lot less visibility — many people will find SU from word of mouth or Google searches, and won't have heard of Unix.SE. So why wouldn't people ask unix questions on SU?
The real question is why Unix.SE is a separate site!
answered Dec 8, 2010 at 20:10
Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'Gilles 'SO- stop being evil'
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