Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of questions can I ask here?
The Area 51 Discussion Zone is for users of Area 51 to discuss new proposal ideas, improving or promoting existing proposals, and questions about Area 51 and the site proposal process. For example,
- Should we merge the _____ and _____ proposals?
- Do we really need another site about _____?
- How do I link to a discussion from the original proposal?
- What category does the _____ proposal belong in?
What kind of questions should I not ask here?
You should not ask questions about launched Stack Exchange sites or the operation of the Stack Exchange network (bugs, feature-requests, support, etc). Those questions belong on our network meta-discussion site.
Do I have to log in or create an account?
No. Your account exists only on the main website, so when you are logged in there, you are also logged in here.
What is reputation?
You must have at least 5 reputation on the main website to participate on Meta.
Reputation here is entirely derived from the main website; your reputation is the same here as it is there, synchronized hourly. Votes here do not affect your reputation in any way. However, you can earn unique badges here on the meta site.
(Please note that offensive penalties, if levied by the community through spam or offensive votes on your posts here, will affect your reputation on the main website.)
Amass enough reputation points on the main site and you'll be allowed to do more:
| 15 | Vote up |
| 15 | Flag for moderator attention |
| 50 | Leave comments† |
| 100 | Edit community wiki posts |
| 125 | Vote down |
| 200 | Reduced advertising |
| 250 | Vote to close, reopen, or migrate your questions |
| 300 | Create new tags |
| 500 | Retag questions |
| 1000 | Show total up and down vote counts |
| 2000 | Edit other people’s posts |
| 3000 | Vote to close, reopen, or migrate any questions |
| 10000 | Delete closed questions, access to moderation tools |
† you can always comment on your questions and answers, and any answers to questions you’ve asked, even with 1 rep.
At the high end of this reputation spectrum there is little difference between users with high reputation and ♦ moderators. That is very much intentional. We don’t run this site. The community does.
