We need to prepare for our site to enter public beta, and one of the things we need to do is define what goes in the help center and the tour. This is one of The [7 Essential Meta Questions of Every Beta][1].

Here's what the 7 Essential Questions page says about creating documentation:

Much of the site’s documentation will be the same as on every other Stack Exchange site: “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 Help Center.

Take Super User’s “About” page as an example:

Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users. …

Ask about…

Specific issues with computer software, hardware or networking Real problems or questions that you’ve encountered Don’t ask about…

Anything not directly related to computer software or computer hardware Questions that are primarily opinion-based Questions with too many possible answers or require an extremely long answer Videogames, consoles, or other electronic devices, unless they connect to your computer Websites or web services like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress Shopping, buying or product recommendations Issues specific to corporate IT support and networks.

These are then elaborated on in SU’s What topics can I ask about here? page.

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 scope- and documentation-related issues specific to your topic and your community.

Reference "on-topic" questions here on meta as well as Area 51 when creating these articles.

I suggest that we add an answer for each article in the Help Center (and one for the tour), and that me make them community wiki. This means that most people will be able to help edit.

Here is a common legend for answers to use to help with discussing various additions to articles. Feel free to add more if you want to use them.

• Items in italics are debatable. Please discuss them in the comments. Mark items in italics using _underscores_.

We need to prepare for our site to enter public beta, and one of the things we need to do is define what goes in the help center and the tour. This is one of The 7 Essential Meta Questions of Every Beta.

Here's what the 7 Essential Questions page says about creating documentation:

Much of the site’s documentation will be the same as on every other Stack Exchange site: “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 Help Center.

Take Super User’s “About” page as an example:

Super User is for computer enthusiasts and power users. …

Ask about…

Specific issues with computer software, hardware or networking Real problems or questions that you’ve encountered Don’t ask about…

Anything not directly related to computer software or computer hardware Questions that are primarily opinion-based Questions with too many possible answers or require an extremely long answer Videogames, consoles, or other electronic devices, unless they connect to your computer Websites or web services like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and WordPress Shopping, buying or product recommendations Issues specific to corporate IT support and networks.

These are then elaborated on in SU’s What topics can I ask about here? page.

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 scope- and documentation-related issues specific to your topic and your community.

Reference "on-topic" questions here on meta as well as Area 51 when creating these articles.

I suggest that we add an answer for each article in the Help Center (and one for the tour), and that me make them community wiki. This means that most people will be able to help edit.

Here is a common legend for answers to use to help with discussing various additions to articles. Feel free to add more if you want to use them.

• Items in italics are debatable. Please discuss them in the comments. Mark items in italics using _underscores_.