What should our FAQ contain?

Question

From The 7 Essential Meta Questions of Every Beta:

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What should our FAQ contain?

Much of the FAQ will be somewhat boilerplate: “be nice,” “how to create an account,” “how to ask questions” — it’s all pretty static. Even the sections about “what kind of questions should I (not) ask here?” comes primarily from the Definition phase of Area 51.

But the questions you want to discuss in meta are those issues specific to your site that need to be mentioned in the FAQ.

Take the Super User FAQ as an example:

Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users.

If you have a question about …

• computer hardware
• computer software

and it is not about …

• videogames or consoles
• websites or web services like Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress
• electronic devices, media players, cell phones or smart phones, except insofar as they interface with your computer
• a shopping or buying recommendation

It took us almost a year to figure out the list of “we want these sort of questions” and “we don’t want these sort of questions” on Super User. Area 51 gave you a head start but you should also be working out other FAQ-related issues specific to your topic and your community.

Answer 1

First, let's deal with Help Center > Asking | What topics can I ask about here?

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$SiteShortName is for professional robotic engineers, hobbyists, researchers and students.

We ask and answer questions about robotics, control systems, control theory, algorithms, actuators and sensors.

We feel the best Robotics questions have links to pertinent datasheets or code, but if your question generally covers …

• a specific robotics design problem
• the theory and simulation of robotic systems
• a sensor for a robotic system
• the writing algorithms for robotic systems

… then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

Some kinds of questions aren't allowed here:

• Shopping recommendations: Questions which ask "which product or library should I use" or "Where can I buy X", are considered shopping recommendations.
• Electronics theory: Questions which are more of generic electrical engineering questions and have no real relation to robotics are better off at Electrical Engineering
• Programming: Generic programming questions with no relation to robotics should be asked on Stack Overflow
• Sci-Fi Robotics: Questions about movies/books involving robots should be be asked on Science Fiction, unless they involve some concept of robotics, in which they are fine here.
• Life Questions: Questions about choosing how to spend your time (what book to read, which class to take, what robotics project to construct, what career to pursue, etc.) may be about difficult decisions, and they are often important, but they are too specific to your own situation and are unlikely to help future visitors to the site. They would be better off asked in Robotics Chat.

Generally speaking, if your question is directly related to robotics then even if your question might also be appropriate on another site, we are likely to be happy to see it here.

Please look around to see if your question has been asked before. It’s also OK to ask and answer your own question.

If your question is not specifically on-topic for $SiteName, it may be on topic for another Stack Exchange site. If no site currently exists that will accept your question, you may commit to or propose a new site at Area51, the place where new Stack Exchange communities are democratically created.

For more help, see "What types of questions should I avoid asking?"

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