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A "Super user" like community to include Q&As about software applications usage
Update: launched
We have currently several questions that do not seem to be very welcomed on Software Codidact (example).
I think that many of these questions are interesting, but they do not seem to fit within the software (programming) community. However, they will fit in a "Super User" like community dealing with the usage of software applications, not programming them.
Should we define such a community and ideally migrate all (almost) offtopic questions from Software Codidact?
Feedback to comments. I was thinking more of a community related to software applications usage more than OS tweaks, so "Software Applications Codidact" sounds well for me. This should include office applications + others or only others if we want a separate community for office applications.
Another option would be to have a broader community to encompass both system tweaks and application usage which might be named "Power User" (it sounds great IMO).
Edit from the community team: There's been a lot of discussion in various places about the need for something like this community. We're planning to proceed, even though we don't have a lot of people signed up here specifically, because we think it has broader interest.
Just to throw out another idea: why restrict the scope to use of software? The scope could also include the use of PC ha …
8mo ago
Summary: I'm breaking this out from this answer so it can be voted on separately. It sounds like we have consensus, but …
3mo ago
Test questions: 1. My workplace is using Zoom, and I'm struggling to figure out how to do ABC. I've tried approaches …
8mo ago
There's been a lot of discussion here and on other proposals and questions about this idea. We want to launch a general …
~2mo ago
Based on provided feedback I will wrap up the proposal in this answer: The name Power User Codidact Backers / c …
~1mo ago
Note: Please see also How should we approach our (non-developer) software community proposals?. We are trying to work o …
4mo ago
There's an existing proposal for an "office suite" site. Seeing as this seems to be a broader subject that includes such …
8mo ago
7 answers
Just to throw out another idea: why restrict the scope to use of software? The scope could also include the use of PC hardware and use of other consumer electronics. With different categories. A lot of trouble-shooting software questions will be borderline hardware questions.
Also, similar to how office suite questions on the Software Dev site are borderline between on-topic and off-topic, the same scenario exists on Electrical Engineering when it comes to use of electronics questions. If this site allowed questions about the use of consumer electronics, the EE community would benefit from that.
So with this proposal, the emphasis of the site would be that it is (power) users asking questions.
3 comments
I agree that Power User should include PC hardware. It shouldn't include all other consumer electronics, though, because that would attract a lot of... consumers, and the signal/noise would suffer. There should be a separate site for consumer electronics.
PC hardware and close affiliates like routers, but I agree that consumer electronics are too far afield even if your TV now has a computer inside it.
@Monica Cellio Except fixing all kinds of home electronics tend to boil down to "buy a new one", no matter if it's a graphics card or a blender. I doubt misc home electronics would take up a significant part of the questions. But maybe if there will be a "DIY" community at some point, such questions would fit in better there.
Test questions:
- My workplace is using Zoom, and I'm struggling to figure out how to do ABC. I've tried approaches X, Y, and Z, and none of them have worked.
- I've installed Tor browser and run into problem DEF while trying to browse site GHI. As far as I can tell, there's no way around it. Any recommendations on Firefox extensions to allow for secure browsing while I browse GHI?
- I don't like my current mail client because reasons. What mail clients do you recommend I try instead?
- I'm trying out a new OS. What are some good resources for a beginner?
- I'm having [extremely intricate but well-detailed] problem with [obscure software]. Any solutions?
- I would like to do LMNO with my iPhone. Is this possible without jailbreaking?
- Which is better, Mac or PC?
9 comments
Related suggestion, perhaps avoiding some issues with 3 and 4, and perhaps 2 as well: similar to many other Codidact sites, perhaps Power User should have its own resource request/software recommendation category?
7 is there to see if we're paying attention, right? :-)
@Monica I certainly did not mean it as a legitimate question to be asked on the platform. Anyway, we all know that it's Mac. :)
Is this broad enough to ask video game questions? "Where can I most efficiently farm resource X in game Y?" Etc.
@Sigma I think that video games (and similar such as board games) deserve a community of their own.
Summary: I'm breaking this out from this answer so it can be voted on separately. It sounds like we have consensus, but it's a little hard to tell.
Power User Codidact is a community where computer enthusiasts (power users) ask and answer questions about software and hardware usage.
1 comment
Hi Monica. Are we launching this Proposal? What are we waiting for?
Based on provided feedback I will wrap up the proposal in this answer:
The name
Power User Codidact
Backers / contributors
This is the list of users that seem to support this community (did not manage to talk yet, they are deducted by me, feel free to add/remove).
- Alexei
- Monica Cellio
- pnuts - already posted several questions that would belong here
- DonielF - provided test questions
- laserkittens - casual contributor
- Technologically illiterate
High-level description
Power User Codidact is a community where computer enthusiasts (power users) ask and answer questions about software and hardware usage.
On-topic
MS Office a subset of Google's G Suite that includes Docs, Sheets, etc Libre office and open office WPS office Zoho office, etc.
- questions about the usage of communication applications such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Discord.
- questions about office applications such as MS Office, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Libre Office, and Open Office (examples)
- questions about command-line interfaces (example)
- questions about browsers usage (e.g. tweaking some setting lead to page display issue on a particular web site)
- questions about the usage of e-mail clients
- questions about operating system usage (settings, trying a new OS etc).
- questions about any software application (even more obscure ones), as long as enough details to reproduce the issues are provided (OS, software version etc.)
- questions about software recommendations? (to be discussed if a separate community makes sense)
- questions about computer hardware usage. This includes video games and consoles
- questions about personal networking (i.e. home networks)
Off-topic
- questions about software development
- questions about video games, unless they are related to the infrastructure (i.e. issues with using a gaming console)
- questions about usage of Web applications, sites, or services such as social networks
10 comments
Please don't assume that people who discuss launching new sites are interested in contributing to the content once launched. I'm only here because this community would offer a place to migrate questions from other other communities where I'm active. I'm not likely to be active on this one, though.
Btw the community name should totally be Codidact Power User (CPU) :)
@Lundin That was just a temporary list to have a start. It was meant to be changed over time. Codidact Power User sounds very well btw :)
software recommendations sounds like good idea for a category in software use? :D
I'll upvote this, if the second and fifth items in the on-topic list has a provision along the lines of "or a separate site for office software [working name Office Suite]" . There will be enough questions to go around for both Power User and Office Suite.
There's been a lot of discussion here and on other proposals and questions about this idea. We want to launch a general "software users" community where questions about applications, OS settings, cloud-based tools, etc will all be in scope -- the broad approach we also took with Software Development. We're working out some details to bring back here, but I wanted to let folks know we're not ignoring this.
The support for a separate Linux community is clear, so even though Linux questions would also be on-topic on a general software-users community, we're not going to overrule the Linux community's desire for a separate place. A Linux community can have scope beyond the actual use of the software, because it's part of an open-source ecosystem, and those questions wouldn't fit on "software users".
1 comment
The overlap needs to be addressed more in detail. For example, suppose I have a hardware problem with my Linux machine, where do I go? Or if I have a trouble-shooting question which could either be caused by Linux software/drivers or hardware. Would these be on-topic on the Linux site? If not, the overlap is inconsistent.
Note: Please see also How should we approach our (non-developer) software community proposals?. We are trying to work out how this proposal interacts with others.
Please use this post to indicate your interest in helping to build this community. You can either edit this post (if you have the edit ability on Meta) or comment and someone else will edit it into the post.
Please indicate if you expect to be a casual or more active participant. If you anticipate primarily asking or primarily answering questions, please indicate that. If you have particular expertise, either in the topic as a whole or specific areas, please say so. We're asking these questions so we can get a sense of the community being built and whether there are important gaps.
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A few people are listed in this answer.
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I'm dumbfound this isn't already up and running! I'll definitely be active. I have loads of questions and issues on software! — DNB
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Sign me up! I'm dumbstruck too why this hasn't been launched already! Who DOESN'T have issues or questions with software? — Technologically illiterate
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I have at least 80 questions? I'm stipulating a number so that you know you'll be seeing many questions from me! - Chgg Clou
3 comments
@DNB the first is a one-liner (no description at all) and the second is significantly downvoted, so I didn't bother, but it doesn't have to be me. If you want to help build up those proposals, feel free to create these answers. If you can help by adding some description/scope where needed, that'd be good too. (You can suggest edits or add answers.)
@MonicaCellio Thanks Monica! If you're interested, it's possible to shorten the writing...please see my edit at https://meta.codidact.com/posts/280744#answer-280744. For example, you need just one "indicate" for all three if-clauses. "Please indicate if you expect to be a casual or more active participant. If you anticipate primarily asking or primarily answering questions, please indicate that. If you have particular expertise, either in the topic as a whole or specific areas, please say so."
Please edit my entry to convey that I have at least 80 questions? I'm stipulating a number so that you know you'll be seeing many questions from me!
There's an existing proposal for an "office suite" site. Seeing as this seems to be a broader subject that includes such programs, should we close that proposal as a duplicate of this one? Same question goes for the AWS proposal, currently closed as a duplicate of what's now Software Codidact.
3 comments
I don't think that we should close the Office Suite proposal. There's will be enough questions to go around for both Office Suite and Power User.
[on a different note] As it stands right now, the Software Development site (Software.Codidact) covers anything from Excel formulas for database administration. It doesn't have a focus. It doesn't match the Software Development name. It needs a hard restart. If it were up to me, I would remake it in the image of SoftwareEngineering.SX circa early 2019.
@Nick Why don't you expand your second comment into its own post on the Software Dev Meta?
10 comments
I'm not sure whether calling such a site 'super user' is actually all that helpful - it sounds more like a site for sys admins than software usage, although maybe that's what you're going for? — Mithrandir24601 8 months ago
Software Applications? — Monica Cellio 8 months ago
Maybe something like "Power User"? — Peter Cooper Jr. 8 months ago
+1 for Power User. — laserkittens 8 months ago
I like Power User too. — Monica Cellio 8 months ago