Help center

Welcome to the Stack Overflow Help Center!

If you are unable to find the answer you need here, you can also search for or ask a question about Stack Overflow onMeta Stack Overflow!

We have acurated list of frequently asked questions. Top FAQ questions include:

• What can I do when getting “We are no longer accepting questions/answers from this account”?
• How do I ask and answer homework questions?
• Why did I gain/lose reputation? Can I audit my reputation history?
• "This question already has answers here" - but it does not. What can I do when I think a question is not a duplicate?

AI-assisted Generated Content Ban

Please be aware that all AI-assisted generated content (including ChatGPT) is currently banned. For more information, see:

• Why can't I use Artificial Intelligence tools to generate answers?
• Policy: Generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) is banned

Asking

• What types of questions should I avoid asking?
• What topics can I ask about here?
• What does it mean if a question is "closed"?
• What is Question Assistant?
• What should I do if no one answers my question?

Our model

• Code of Conduct
• Expected Behavior
• How do I use tags to find topics I'm interested in?
• What is "meta"? How does it work?
• How do I delete all my contributions?

Reputation & Moderation

• Who are the site moderators, and what is their role here?
• Why is voting important?
• What is reputation? How do I earn (and lose) it?
• Why do I have a reputation change on my reputation page that says "User was removed"?
• What are declined flags, and what should I do about them?

Answering

• How do I write a good answer?
• What does it mean when an answer is "accepted"?
• Can I answer my own question?
• Why and how are some answers deleted?
• How to reference material written by others

My Account

• I accidentally created two accounts; how do I merge them?
• How do I add or remove login credentials from my account?
• I lost my password; how do I reset it?
• How do I delete my account?
• How do I report a possible security vulnerability?

Review Queues

• What are review queues?
• Why was I issued a review warning?
• Why was I suspended from reviewing?
• How do I use the First answers queue?
• How do I use the Close votes queue?

Collectives on Stack Overflow

• What is Collectives on Stack Overflow?
• Article guidelines
• What are the different types of users in a collective?
• What is a recommended answer?
• What happens when a provider-focused collective transitions to become a topic-focused collective?

Staging Ground

• What is the Staging Ground?
• What badges can reviewers and askers earn in Staging Ground?
• As an asker, what is considered a successful question from Staging Ground?
• Guidelines and best practices for reviewers on the Staging Ground
• What stats can I see as a Staging Ground reviewer?

Discussions

• What is the Discussions feature, and how does it work?
• Discussions guidelines
• Who are the Discussions moderators and what do they do?

Stack Overflow Jobs

• Frequently Asked Questions
• How to Report a Listing on Stack Overflow Jobs