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Saying "that software/solution does not exist" is a perfectly acceptable answer to a question asked in good faith — that is assuming you can say so authoritatively. Conversely, it is not reasonable to require a user to know for certain there is a solution to a problem before they ask it. Of course, if you believe a user is intentionally asking ...

To give such an answer, either you must be pretty profient in that area to be sure – or the question must be a "little stupid". In both cases, an answer should not be limited to "there is no such program" – but should give proof/reasons why. Depending on the question, such reasons could include technical impossibilities (such a program cannot be written for ...

Whyever would we not accept questions about Youtube downloaders? The topic of this site is software recommendations, not software-that-doesn't-download-from-Youtube recommendations. On the legality of using Youtube downloaders In my jurisdiction, it is legal to make copies of any content covered by copyright (a book, a CD, a website, …) for personal use; ...

There's nothing wrong with using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. However, if there's an answer that involves a simpler, more elegant tool, say a nutcracker, its more likely to be selected as correct. Posting an answer which meets all the requirements, even if thats a subset of what the product does should be fine, where you clearly show how to use the product,...

Robert and Flyk have it right, together. Robert is quite correct in his concerns surrounding spam, guerrilla marketing and the like. However, our worst possibility is also our best when it comes to that, there will be times when people paid to market software outright nail a question with a good, comprehensive and quality answer. Moderating this site is ...

Absolutely. If its a distinct, great answer post it anyway. If its a new feature on an existing product in an answer consider commenting or editing it to update the answer. Don't forget that answers are meant to help more people than just the OP. You're building a knowledge base. Even if they OP dosen't see the new solution, the next guy with the same ...

An answer that meets our quality requirements while not completely satisfying the requirements stated in the question are still answers. I say this for a number of reasons: Sometimes an asker may have been too specific, there may be simply be no software that fully meets their requirements, as stated in the question After some period of time, the asker may ...

In the past, this was done. And I don't see anything wrong with that – after all it's software "available", and in cases like that the user could even skip the download+install part. But in your example, keep in mind whether the user might be happy with it: recommending a CLI software (here: ping) to an Android (or iOS) user might not be a good fit (if ...

We do not enforce agreements between third parties - and we shouldn't set that precedent. You're free to downvote, comment, and refrain from answering, but it's unlikely that any moderation action will be taking based solely on a contract being broken. I'm not a lawyer, and I don't intend to become one.

No, they are not. While such content is valuable, it needs its own set of criteria for distinguishing good questions and good answers. We focus on stuff that can be executed on computers, "software", rather then stuff that you consume, "content". Tutorials etc. are content, not software. That makes them off-topic here. Maybe one (you?) could create an own ...

If one obscure, difficult-to-find feature is enough to qualify their entire requirements list, sometimes one feature is enough to say "I can't find this software myself." We shouldn't ask folks to pad their question out unnecessarily simply to meet the {2} drink requirement minimum. In judging the fitness of these questions, you have to consider why were ...

I think it depends on the answer. (a) If the answer is (nearly) a copy or a subset (e.g., a link and some facts that are also mentioned in the previous answer), flag it. It should probably be deleted. (b) If the answer is nearly the same and only adds trivial information or facts, flag it. It should probably be an edit to the previous answer. (c) If the ...

It depends on the context. If you can authoritatively say that the problem statement is implicitly a "bad idea", than saying so might actually be a perfectly acceptable 'answer'. It's really just a variation on Impossible/Impractical Requests. But… It is not okay to inject commentary posing as an 'answer' just to make a point. For example: Q: I'm ...

In the order given, I think that should be OK – and fully within the rules: At the time you asked there was no solution, nobody gave you one, so you worked it out for yourself and then answered your own question. And it's even open source, so I'd say that's great! What would be not OK IMHO is to ask a question giving the specs for software you already wrote ...

What you don't see is the six other poor quality and sometimes actually spammy answers there. Granted its a video conversion question, and they attract spammers. You're not one. Awesome. We've iterated reiterated and for that matter, even been berated over post quality, and well, its something that's essential considering the unusual scope of the site. As ...

I've found time and again that a good recommendation question comprises two parts: A purpose or user story, establishing the scenario. Some firm requirements. In the end, questions here are problem-solving questions: I have a job to do, what's the best tool for this job. The most important criterion to judge answers is whether they are a good fit for the ...

I would say that such an answer is perfectly appropriate. A great many extra features don't invalidate a recommendation - in fact, they often make it stronger! In the (very rare) cases where a piece of software is terribly bloated (I.e. needs huge infrastructure to run or has a horrific feature-laiden interface), I would argue that voting should take care ...

We've had a somewhat similar question in the past: Are answers which provide a complete script acceptable? As I write, the top two answers are: [+5] I would say that we probably shouldn't be giving people large blocks of code in the answer [+5] I think it is perfectly acceptable. Sorry, no general consensus here. In the specific case of https://...

Definitely not: Questions provoking list-type answers are frowned upon at all SE sites Our help center lists several list-type questions as explicitely off-topic – a.o. "there is no actual problem to be solved", which matches your "doesn't seek a tool to accomplish a task, but it seeks everything there is in that area" We are not a Google-Extension. Such ...

It is irrelevant whether software is/can be illegal, because that is defined by local authorities. As a user, I can't determine where an asker lives and which laws he should follow. Furthermore, any other person (following other laws) can find recommendations where some other software you never thought about may be illegal. Additionally, you must add time ...

While to you it is "pretty obvious" such a tool "needs" a GUI, that's not necessarily the case. I for example much more prefer a CLI for such tasks: Why should I take the hazzle having to start a (maybe even bloated) GUI, navigate to some folder (20 clicks or so), mark it, open some menu, find the right item, and click that to watch a fancy progress-dialog – ...

Sometimes a bad idea is a bad idea. I don't think this is a good example of such a question (OP might have been able to do it as a comment), but in some cases something really is a bad idea. For me the test would be "Could this be said as a comment?" "Does this provide a viable alternative, within the scope of being a software recommendation?"

To my mind there is no limit as to when a new and better answer may come out. Yes likely the new answer won't help the original poster but that question will be found on outside search engines by people having similar requirements and the new option may in fact be better for them. Yes it will have the drawback of not having as much time to gather votes but ...

Yes, it is completely fine, so long as the other requirements for a quality answer are met. However, just because it should be allowed, do not mean it is going to be a good answer. Answering with it is maybe unlikely to earn upvotes, and people who think that it is bad, will as usual, downvote. To be a good answer, it should follow the usual requirements. ...

helping someone with a task that could turn out to be, somewhat of a malicious task, is that something we should answer here in our community? “That could turn out to be (…) malicious” is not a reasonable criterion. Any question could turn out to have a malicious purpose. As an example, let me take a random question¹: E-tender system Gee, a tender system. ...

Yes, such questions are on-topic as long as they fulfill our usual requirements. there are legitimate uses of password crackers, e.g. when you have forgotten your own password or when testing the security of your application like in this question about breaking the terms and conditions, we are not lawyers, especially not for all countries around the world ...

At least up to now, we deal with this the same way your second paragraph indicates (bounty even has a special entry for that, and usually draws more attention than a "plain question"). I'd say if the software recommended meets your requirements, still exists and still is maintained, it's still a valid answer. But if it e.g. is no longer maintained, does not ...

No problem go ahead if you want to possibly conflicty: Are you only using SoftwareRecs to advertise? If yes that is questionable. Is it Open-Source? If yes that decreases questionability. If paid software it gets really sounding like advertising. Basically if you use SR for other purposes and you won't be getting monetary benefits it is probably okay, ...

I don't mean to speak in absolutes, but unless the author is clearly offering a persuasive argument that their software is "close enough" to actually answer the question, we should flag it as Not an answer We have to be really, really careful here. Folks become very energized when you start talking about their favorite software. That will likely lead to a ...