Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of questions can I ask here?
San Francisco+Bay related questions, of course! As long as your question is:
- detailed and specific
- written clearly and simply
- of interest to at least one other person somewhere on this planet!
No question is too trivial, and it should be about San Francisco+Bay.
Please look around to see if your question has already been asked (and maybe even answered!) before you ask. If you end up asking a question that has been asked before, that is OK and deliberately allowed. Other users will hopefully edit in links to related or similar questions to help future visitors find their way.
It's also perfectly fine to ask and answer your own question, but pretend you're on Jeopardy: phrase it in the form of a question.
What kind of questions should I not ask here?
Avoid asking questions that are subjective, argumentative, or require extended discussion. This is not a discussion board, this is a place for questions that can be answered!
Be nice.
Treat others with the same respect you'd want them to treat you. We're all here to learn together. Be tolerant of others who may not know everything you know. Bring your sense of humor.
Be honest.
Above all, be honest. If you see misinformation, vote it down. Insert comments indicating what, specifically, is wrong. Even better — edit and improve the information! Provide stronger, faster, superior answers of your own!
Do I have to log in or create an account?
Nope. You can answer and ask questions to your heart's content as an anonymous user, much like Wikipedia. However, there are some things you won't be able to do on the site without registering. But it's easy to register if you want to. All you need is an OpenID account.
What is Karma?
Karma is completely optional. Normal use of SF Answers — that is, asking and answering questions — does not require any Karma whatsoever.
Remember, SF Answers is run by you! If you want to help us run the site, you'll need Karma first. Karma is a (very) rough measurement of how much the SF Answers community trusts you. Karma is never given, it is earned by convincing other users that you know what you're talking about.
Here's how it works: if you post a good question or helpful answer, it will be voted up by your peers: you gain 10 Karma points. If you post something that's off topic or incorrect, it will be voted down: you lose 2 Karma points. If you post something that gets accepted: you earn 15 Karma points. You can earn up to 200 Karma per day, but no more. (Note that votes for any posts marked "community wiki" do not generate Karma.)
Amass enough Karma points and spunk will allow you to go beyond simply asking and answering questions:
| 15 | Vote up |
| 15 | Flag offensive |
| 15 | Post more than one link |
| 15 | Post images |
| 50 | Leave comments |
| 60 | To upload images |
| 100 | Vote down (costs 1 rep) |
| 100 | Edit community wiki posts |
| 100 | Post more than one question per 20 minutes |
| 100 | Post more than one answer per 2 minutes |
| 250 | To close or reopen your questions |
| 250 | Create new tags |
| 500 | Retag questions |
| 2000 | Edit other people's posts |
| 2000 | Convert answers > comments > answers |
| 3000 | Vote to close or reopen any questions |
| 10000 | Close questions |
| 10000 | Access to moderation tools |
At the high end of this Karma spectrum there is little difference between users with high Karma and moderators. That is very much intentional. We don't run SF Answers. The community does.
What if I don't get a good answer?
In order to get good answers, you have to put some effort into the question. Edit your question to provide status and progress updates. Document your own continued efforts to answer your question. This will naturally bump your question and get more people interested in it.
Other people can edit my stuff?!
Like Wikipedia, this site is collaboratively edited. If you are not comfortable with the idea of your questions and answers being edited by other trusted users, this may not be the site for you.
