You should only ask practical, answerable questions. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of this forum.

To prevent your question from being flagged and possibly removed, avoid asking subjective questions where:

• every answer is equally valid: “What’s your favorite ______?”
• your answer is provided along with the question, and you expect more answers: “I use ______ for ______, what do you use?”
• there is no actual problem to be solved: “I’m curious if other people feel like I do.”
• the question is open-ended or hypothetical: “What if ______ happened?”
• it is a rant disguised as a question: “______ sucks, am I right?”

If you fit in one of these examples or if your motivation for asking the question is “I would like to participate in a discussion about ______”, then you should not be asking here. However, if your motivation is “I would like others to explain ______ to me”, then you are probably OK.

(The above section was adapted from Stack Overflow’s FAQ.)

Moreover:

• Answers should not add or expand questions. Instead, edit the question or add a question comment.
• Answers should not comment on other answers. Instead, add a comment on the relevant answer(s).
• Answers shouldn't just point to other questions. Instead, add a comment "Possible duplicate of...". It's OK to include links to other questions or answers providing relevant additional information.
• Answers shouldn't just provide a link to a solution. Instead, provide relevant descriptive text in your answer, even if it's just a copy/paste. Links to sources or additional reading are OK. 
  

Answers should not add or expand questions. Instead, edit the question or add a comment.

Answers should not comment on other answers. Instead, add a comment on the relevant answer(s).

Answers shouldn't just point to other questions. Instead, add a comment "Possible duplicate of...". It's OK to include links to other questions or answers providing relevant additional information.

Answers shouldn't just provide a link a solution. Instead provide relevant descriptive text in your answer, even if it's just a copy/paste. Links to sources or additional reading are OK.

Answers should not start debates. This community Q&A is not a discussion group. Please avoid conducting debates as these tend to detract from questions and answers. For brief discussions please use the commenting facility.

When a question or answer is upvoted, the user who posted them will gain some "karma points". These points serve as a rough measure of the community trust to the user. Various moderation tasks may be assigned to users based on karma points.

For example, if you ask an interesting question or give a helpful answer, your input will be upvoted. On the other hand, a misleading answer may be downvoted. Each vote in favour will generate 10 points, where each vote against will subtract 2 points. There is a limit of 200 points that can be accumulated for a question or answer per day. The table given at the end explains karma point requirements for each type of moderation task.