28
votes
Is it better to ask in the high traffic time?
It might seem better to ask in the high time but actually it doesn't matter. Because:
You ask in the high time, more people are online (mostly CET day time). More people can look at it. You have ...
- 157k
26
votes
How can I know whether an answer is obsolete?
Typical procedures include the following sequence of elevated proposals:
Comment on the answer, requesting some feedback on your updated request/criteria.
Visit the chat room and see if one of the ...
WernerMod
- 598k
25
votes
Accepted
Questioners not responding to answers
Remember that most of the 'value' of the site is meant to come not from dealing with the original poster but rather the wider user base. As such, a good answer should gain upvotes from several (or ...
- 257k
23
votes
Accepted
Etiquette for poorly researched questions?
Every so often this sort of question comes up, and although it gets posed usually as 'etiquette' it's often more about 'policing' or 'teaching people a lesson'. Personally I think such 'policing' ...
- 215k
23
votes
Accepted
Asking a seemingly duplicate question in case of not being able to find the original
Of course, it would be a lovely idea to pop by the chat room first and it's always a good idea to look to see if your question has been answered before, in order to avoid the site getting cluttered by ...
- 10.3k
22
votes
Can one use TeX.SE to "promote" ones package
If you actually find questions that are related to your package content, then you can fire an answering frenzy by mentioning you can also do this with <insert package name> and so on. Then I don'...
- 157k
19
votes
Accepted
Why are the bounties irreversibly spent?
Technically, a bounty may be reversed or cancelled, if it can be justified...
However, the bounty systems acts like an advertisement in the real world. You pay for something to entice visitors/...
WernerMod
- 598k
19
votes
How to handle completely rewriting questions instead of asking follow-up questions?
The StackExchange model works as answers (and thus questions) have value beyond the original asker. To make that work, we have conventions such as answers always being separate from questions, and ...
- 257k
19
votes
Can one use TeX.SE to "promote" ones package
Strange, mostly I use the site for the opposite use:
Don't use longtable
Longtable vs. supertabular: Which is right for which job?
Don't use xspace
https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/86620/1090
Don'...
- 741k
18
votes
Why are the bounties irreversibly spent?
Well, regarding point 1, if you post the bounty on your own question, then, if it is upvoted a lot, you will get a good chunk of rep from that which might well pay back some of the bounty. For example,...
- 10.3k
17
votes
Accepted
Will there be an official "What's new in TeX, version 3.141592653?" question to go along with the 2021 TeX tune-up?
I think that such a question should be mandatory.*
Given that TeX aims to be as bug-free as possible, fixes are nowadays rather on the esoteric side, mostly about obscure corner cases, but who knows?
...
- 1.1m
16
votes
Is it ok to change an OP's question to fit an answer?
In the situation you described I should say "absolutely not".
In my opinion, the correct way to act, to not waste the answer, is that the answerer should ask a new question where to put his/her ...
- 61.3k
15
votes
Accepted
Bounds on the questions/answers ratio
Is it okay for me to keep asking questions, while making minimal contributions to the answers here?
Absolutely!
A high quality contribution is a high quality contribution.
Other people may have ...
- 10.3k
15
votes
TeX and friends FAQ posts
If you see a question that has been asked before, vote to close it as a duplicate. So it gets a link to the earlier question (choose a good one if there are several candidates).
Naturally, frequently ...
- 229k
15
votes
Accepted
Should I ask one question with many requirements instead of many questions on same topic?
You should ask only one question per question.
This helps everyone involved.
You are more likely to receive an answer if you ask one thing, because you don't discourage people who know the answer to ...
- 173k
15
votes
Accepted
Can (or should) I post Latex examples on TeX.SE?
The Q&A format of the Stack network doesn't lend itself well to a standalone post (SO tried this with the documentation experiment; it didn't go well). In that sense, no, you should not post your ...
- 6,348
14
votes
Accepted
TeX questions on StackOverflow
By-design, the network treats each site as a separate entity, so there is no possibility of marking as a duplicate between different sites. As such, the only ways to answer such questions are to post ...
- 257k
14
votes
Fun questions (contests/social events) which require coding: Main or Meta?
They should be asked on the Main site, that's why the fun tag is for.
If you're worried because of some reputation gain which someone may deem undeserved, you could ask the mods to trasform the ...
- 61.3k
13
votes
Can TikZ/PGF experts be lenient with the existence of MWE?
If you need a drawing quickly for a current publication there is nothing wrong with making it in illustrator or whatever.
When asking a question it always helps to give a MWE (as Samcarter commented ...
- 741k
12
votes
Renaming question for better search results
I'm guided by the following ideas:
Titles are used by the community as the main gauge for suitability. This is similar in the nature with which we review search results when performing a regular ...
WernerMod
- 598k
12
votes
Accepted
Does creating a chat room for TikZ/PGFplots discussions help eliminate the do-it-for-me or bad questions?
Based on my expierence on FreeNode's LaTeX IRC channel over the last years, I don't think an extra channel dedicated to TikZ questions only would solve the problem of "lazy" new users. Additionally to ...
- 13.3k
11
votes
Accepted
Can TikZ/PGF experts be lenient with the existence of MWE?
You can add incomplete MWEs, here is an example (with bonus frustration)
\documentclass[tikz]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{..., ..., ...}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
% I have these coords
...
- 157k
11
votes
Questioners not responding to answers
This answer is more a response to Peter's comments on Joseph's answer.
The fact that a user accepts an answer or responds to it is neither necessary nor sufficient evidence for the validity of an ...
- 215k
11
votes
Questioners not responding to answers
This is the internet. Asking a question takes just a few seconds. We are a help desk, and we help free of charge.
You can end a phone call saying "Works, Thanks mate" and hang up without waiting for ...
- 24.1k
11
votes
Updating a question, vs. asking a new question
There's no hard-and-fast rule here: it's a value judgement. If you feel that an update clarifies or enhances the question and doesn't make existing answers confusing (or plain wrong), then an edit is ...
- 257k
11
votes
Why are the bounties irreversibly spent?
They don't want to have the pranks related to putting the bounty and after having the interest pulling it back.
Rep points don't mean anyth.... anyways, that's why.
- 157k
11
votes
What to do with questions whose accepted answer invalidates the question?
While the general question in the title could have some answers or policy decisions, I don't think the example you give is an example of the problem.
I think you start out with an incorrect premise.
...
- 741k
11
votes
A plea to those who answer "just do it for me" questions: please edit question titles to be usefully descriptive as well
There seems to be some who are not willing to change the meaning of the original question (or title), because they feel they may impede on the requirements originally posted, even if it's obvious that ...
WernerMod
- 598k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible