What's the difference between AskUbuntu and UbuntuForums?

[mendhak]

I'm sorry if this is a daft question. I've been seeing both askubuntu and ubuntuforums appear in documentation/wiki pages as places to go to when you need help.

But I'm not sure what the difference is. When would you go to which place? Are they competing or complementing?

[gsmanners]

AskUbuntu is a Q&A site, designed with that in mind. The forums here are more geared around chronological discussions, and not necessarily Q&A.

[Paqman]

Askubuntu is more focussed on answering specific, often highly technical questions.

[grahammechanical]

If I am correct the idea behind Askubuntu is to produce a kind of database of solved/answered questions. For this reason you are only supposed to ask questions that have not been asked before, especially if they have been already answered. You are supposed to ask the type of question to which a definite answer can be given.

Answers must answer the question and the more compete the answer the better. This includes posting screenshots and images explaining how to do things.

Questions are often closed because they have already been asked or because they are inappropriate.

I like Askubuntu. I also like Ubuntu forums. Which one is better. There is only one way to find out! [private joke that will be understood by those in the UK who have watched a certain TV program]

In these forums you can guess. And you just might be right or be able to set the person in the correct direction.

You can also get your hand held when trying to fix a problem.

You can also express an opinion. On this forum we say that there are no stupid questions. On Askubuntu stupid questions are not allowed. We are supposed to find the answers by first searching the database of questions before asking for our own question.

There is one other difference. Some of those deeply involved in Ubuntu development post answers on Askubuntu. I have also seen Mark Shuttleworth give answers. That does not happen here very much.

Regards.

[castrojo]

We are supposed to find the answers by first searching the database of questions before asking for our own question.

You don't have to do this, when you're typing your question it will do a duplicate search for you.

Either way having a question closed as a duplicate isn't a bad thing, actually it helps because each closed page acts like a signpost when people are searching for the solution to a problem, so if anything, having duplicate questions just helps the next person find it easier.