text:
Canonical posts for hardware questions?
As stated in Answering vague support questions (once)?, we should consider having some "canonical posts" for some hardware posts.
Some examples of topics which might benefit from a canonical post:
Problems enabling GPU for cycles:
We get a large number of questions asking about enabling cycles GPU rendering.
We could have a canonical answer which covers installing cuda and system drivers (for linux, mac, and windows)
For example, these questions could be answered in a single canonical answer covering common GPU render issues:

Cannot change to GPU Rendering
Installing CUDA for Blender Cycles on Ubuntu 12.04
macbook pro rendering issue

Update: A canonical post has been added here.

I think we should have one answer for all of the cuda problems for all supported OS (windows, linux (Debian based, Arch Linux) and Mac). We should have a guide for all of these even though it does not fit the question format for the site. Than we could just mark every future question as a duplicate and be done with it.

Should this be done with an existing Q, or should a new Q be created specially?

I agree with this, this is not in our scope so a giant cw post should quell this. I think a new post factoring  in what all the previous posts asked and contained should be fine.


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Duplicate chains: good or bad?
By a duplicate chain, I mean a question which has been closed as a duplicate of a duplicate.
For instance, Transforming a vertex moves other vertices has been closed as a dupe of Nearby objects won't move independently?, which has in turn been closed as a dupe of Duplicate objects transformation applies to both objects.
Is closing a question as a duplicate of another duplicate good or bad?
Possible pros and cons which I can imagine:
Pros

Users will see more related posts (and answers)

Cons

Potentially requires a lot of clicking to get the final destination
Separates content instead of putting it all in one post and directing everything straight to it

Maybe there should be a "Duplicate of:linkToPost. Related posts:linkToOtherDupPosts"

@Qwertieϟ This is effectively what happens, there is a "linked" section on the right which lists all posts which are linked to the current post (this will include all the duplicates).

This was probably a minor blunder on the part of the person who closed it (me). It was the closest one related to that question when I searched using the close as duplicate dialog so I opted to close it as a duplicate of that specific one rather than the first question (Duplicate objects transformation applies to both objects) which I did not notice at the time.
Duplicate chains aren't necessarily a bad thing except that it may be confusing to have multiple posts all being closed as duplicates of the same topic so these small inconsistencies should be flagged and addressed. In a case such as this however, posts such as these are better off being merged since they are exactly identical and the newer answers could add more info to the older question(s).
So yes, it is best to have one post that is used to stamp duplicate questions.

As we now have quite a few duplicate chains can you clarify the action I should take to notify a moderator? Is 'flag'> 'In need of moderator attention'> "This is part of a duplicate chain" good enough or do the individual cases need discussion on Meta?

Had a glance at those linked, I think moderator intervention would be the better route seeing we can detangle these quickly. Thanks!

It wouldn't be a bad idea to open a new meta post either for this topic, lots of these answers are from when I was the primary mod. Much has changed since then and I wouldn't be against new possibly better solutions.

I think the problem lies in what question is chosen when a question is closed voted as a duplicate. We should not close vote a question and link to a another close voted question. Instead we should link the the parent question, the one that all the duplicates should link to.
We should avoid the Duplicate chains when close voting a question.

source: Stack Exchange

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sort: votes


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Should we migrate questions from GD?
There are lots of questions being asked on Graphic Design which would fit perfectly on this site.
For example:

Blender - how are points and paths imported from svg different from points and paths created in Blender?

How to create wireframes in Blender 3D

Rendering only the edges in Blender 2.6x - wireframe with thicker lines

. . . and many more.
Should these kinds of questions be migrated over here in the future? It seems to me that while they might not be off-topic on GD, it would be better to keep blender questions on blender.stackexchange. Otherwise, what is the point of having a site specifically for blender questions?

I have seen Migrating Blender related questions from other SE sites?, but it seems to be targeted at migrating existing questions.

Update:
As mentioned by Ryan in the comments, there is now this post on GD meta.
So far it seems like the GD community is okay with migrating new blender questions over here. Are we okay with this too?
I don't see anything wrong with this (plus I imagine it's good for getting the word out about us, to say nothing of having some extra questions), but I have some questions of my own.
For example, if a question is asked on GD which already has an answer here, should it still be migrated (and then closed as a duplicate)?
Will this confuse users who have there questions shuffled around and then closed?
Or am I just making mountains out of molehills?

Some of your arguments are invalid, with that logic, we should remove our python tag and ask python questions on SO only. There are multiple flavours of language SE sites, religion etc. To each specific user group their own, Blender questions fit here but it's a multi-purpose tool, it can be used elsewhere. We shouldn't be selfish.

Well, we do to an extent. Python questions which are not related to blender are migrated (or closed as off-topic).

I just posted this on the Graphic Design Meta, we welcome input from you all: http://meta.graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/1122/blender-questions

If it's already answered on that site, it makes no sense. GD and many of these sites have a tag for Blender so it is allowed to an extent and these sites might not want their content removed.
Also, if a question is older than a week or two, it's not worth migrating as we don't want to clutter our site with old unwanted garbage for the most part and the user might not come over as well. I constantly poke around other SE sites where Blender is tag and one thing I notice is that the question quality is significantly lower than those that get asked here and in those examples above, most of those are a query away on the front page of google or even the relevant wiki page.
As Robert says:

But beyond that technical limitation, building this community from the old, pre-answered questions of another site would do this site a terrible disservice. That's not how you want to build this site.

So I don't think we should actively go around looking for things to migrate, if it's not on-topic on another SE site, they will probably send it here and we can take it from there.
It is also well worth noting that we are doing extremely well in terms of questions, we have had a 12+ average per day for nearly 2 months now. Questions are not our problem at the moment, we should focus on consistency and quality and improving our answer ratio. If you want more questions to answer, browse the Unanswered tab. ;)

Okay. I was mostly talking about migrating new, unanswered questions (as yet unasked), and just used those existing, answered posts of examples of the kinds of questions they are likely to be.

@gandalf3 Yes, I figured but as I said, other sites want their content as well. If it's not ontopic there, they know we exist. I've seen multiple comments on SO directing people here. Also, sites such as gamedev and graphicdesign seem to get only 1 - 3 questions every month.

Also relevant to this discussion — Respect the community — your own and others'.

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Why exactly was my question closed? Question ID - 2078
Before I get to the matter at hand, please bear with me on this:
When I was 13, I had to go to a boys-only boarding school, in Kenya, and for that first year some 18 - 20 year old prefects were in charge of us new boys (they called us the rabble). They were allowed to punish us in what ever way they wanted, some of them bullied and beat us with canes, and generally made life not worth living! - many homesick tears at night!
A few years on I ended up working as a photo-lithographer, in New Zealand, and that trade was eventually taken over by Macs. I worked for many years on Mac Pros using $80,000 specialist proprietary software, assembling and separating up to 8 colors for the highest level in packaging, and because it was specialized work, I didn't get much opportunity to deal with the technical side of Macs (this was discouraged). Most of the time I only used the mouse and hot keys.
About 4 years ago I discovered Blender, and was delighted! I felt the program was made for me. I have had great fun learning and discovering new things about it. The free software is much more user friendly, and easier to use than that $80,000 program that I used to work with! (By the way, I've never had any problem installing Blender)
A couple of months ago I found a reference to Blender.se on the Blender website and decided to check it out. My first impression was that this site is not very friendly. Since then I've made a little progress, but I'm constantly worried about saying the wrong thing, or making a fool of myself.
The actual problem:
I'm concerned about the structure of Blender.se, - the somewhat silly, childish, game-like business of having 'points' and 'badges' — and making other people feel superior because they have more 'points' than you. I would have thought that Blender is interesting enough to encourage people to participate without these 'props'. I find that the Blender.se structure is drowning this brilliant program called Blender, — it should be working for, not against, Blender.
How many budding Blender users have been scared off the site, I wonder? Have you noticed how it is dominated by the more technical users' questions, and the newer users don't seem to stay very long? We are all only human, I think, and everyone should be encouraged - not discouraged. It shouldn't be just for the more intelligent or 'clued-up' people, and 'to hell' with everyone else.
I made the reference to school at the beginning because this site reminds me of it. The reference to my work, on Macs, is to point out the fact that you can work well with software without necessarily knowing much about what goes on 'under the hood'.
Now I find myself arguing with others (people with 'bells' and 'whistles', and 'points' and 'badges') about whether or not my question, "How to use blender command lines in OSX?" is off-topic or not. They, (who must be obeyed), have come to the conclusion that the fact that I can't get the Render/ Command Lines (in the Blender Manual) to work, is my problem, and should have nothing to do with Blender or Blender.se. It has everything to do with Blender, - what is Blender without a computer? What is Blender.se without questions about Blender (which runs on computers, including Macs)? If anything, those people are 'off-topic' for excluding this question, which just happens to be, about Blender. I wanted to delete the question when it was rejected, but that was 'not permitted', - another 'Gestapo'-like rule!
On the 'Command Line' Manual page there should be some reference to the fact that you might have to do certain other things to make these command lines work, depending on your operating system - and that just typing them in may not be enough.
Some of this is probably not relevant to meta, but I needed to get it off my chest. It was a question of either this, or — "I've had enough, I quit, goodbye!" back there on the question page. (Thank you to stacker, ideasman42 and iKlsR for your encouragement.)   :)

If your looking for friendly discussion and help, see http://blenderartists.org The inter stack exchange network is designed around efficiency, not having a party. I've been stung on other network sites before, but I understand that it is the price to be payed for this incredibly efficient way to collect knowledge. To see this in action, look at stack overflow. I use it more than most official programming language documentations in my work. If you really wan't to be social, come visit chat. We won't judge you by your rep there.

The rant
Unlike the bullies at your boarding college, blender.SE mods and users are transparently accountable for what they do and those points, bells and whistles vanish if the site gets discontinued. It's in no-one's interest to behave like a bully or make people feel dumb. At the same time also your contribution is there for everyone to see and judge.
Blender.SE lives side by side with many other great Blender centric sites (both free and subscription based), and we get users from all skill levels. We even have lead developers chime in regularly to either answer or edit answers to ensure accuracy. Sometimes it happens that a question lives in this grey area with regard to how it should be answered, or asked. And I agree it may take a while for new users (at least users who are not acquainted with the  StackOverflow way of doing things) to appreciate why a question is off-topic / beyond the scope / put on hold.
The question you mention is a good example of a problem that you perceive to be blender related, but that is in-fact nothing to do with blender. I will justify this statement. As soon as you start to need command-line access to a program, there are several Operating System level concepts that deserve study -- this is so for everyone who ventures down into the depths of command-line interfacing. You will be no exception, you will need to read ..and the stuff you will be reading will be specific to your operating system. -- it would apply to any command-line program interaction.
The question
Questions get put on hold only with consensus. If your error message is still 'command not found', this is an Operating System response, the command you are trying to feed blender hasn't even reached blender. Blender itself is more verbose when the passed command flags/switches aren't recognized.

bad cop: gee, how can this be blender related if the command doesn't even reach blender? Get out of here!
good cop: well, let's see if we can offer a few keywords to help you find answers elsewhere, it might help future discussions and prevent this kind of interrogation from happening again.

I'm positive the question deserves to live (with modifications), the long comment section suggests that the question needs to be updated with  clarifications based on the interactions you've had. I'm not on a mac or I would be all over that question like a bad rash, in a good way.
It isn't clear to me what commands you are feeding Blender or what the problem/error message is at the moment. Screenshots of the terminal window input and output would be great (maybe essential even), add more information to the original question stating what you have tried (be exhaustive too, what works.. what doesn't), and remove the parts that have been cleared up by gained knowledge.
In it's current form the question doesn't reflect all that you've tried.

I've had no experience with any other 'Blender centric sites', apart from viewing the odd tutorial.
You mention the 'StackOverflow way of doing things'. The name 'StackOverflow' and its 'way of doing things' mean nothing to me, and I thought the Blender.SE site (although being part of the Stack Exchange group) was set up and organised, including rules, by people like iKlsR, etc.

Your third paragraph is partially correct, and it brings to light the main problem, which is that Command Line page in the Manual - if it included what you say in that paragraph then it would be totally acceptable, but it doesn't! Then you get 'morons' like myself who decide to use those commands, and low and behold, they don't work.
I do plan to modify my question, but it takes me a long time to type (with one finger), and to decide what to say (I'm fed up with the negative comments).

@SteveW Not really, myself and the other mods you might see around are merely volunteers from the normal users who keep an eye on things. We do not represent StackExchange.

This seems to be focused towards myself (since everyone else involved was thanked). I fully expected the links included in my comment to be sufficient for you to understand and fix the issue. Bullying was certainly not the intention — I visit this site only to help create a knowledge base for the community. Please don't ask question you don't care about, only to later request them and the attempts at help be deleted. That's just a waste of everyone's time.

Can someone show me the rule in the help center that my question doesn't fit?

This one from the scripting tag was what came to mind when flagging your question (just replace script with environment):

Off topic:
"Why is my Blender cmd rendering script not working?" - in which the shell is sh and the problem is with the script (not Blender).

If not for that, it would have likely been flagged for not providing enough information. It's currently unclear if you are even running the commands in a shell or a application launcher of some kind.

Since the error message your getting if from your environment not Blender. The superuser stack exchange site would have been a better place to ask, e.g. Bash in Mac OSX terminal: “command not found”. Why?

Blender.SE is not the place to complain about wiki.

It has it's own discussion feature.
It's also user editable, so you can add any missing information yourself.

I think you should take note that not 'everyone else involved' was thanked. The three people I thanked approached this issue in a friendly, helpful and encouraging way - that's why I thanked them. Although, you are right, I think your attitude is the main reason for my 'rebellion'.
As for your comment, it started with the negative 'off-topic' statement - that turned me off, and angered me, so I ignored the rest of it! I have since checked out the links you included, I set up the $PATH but it still doesn't work.

I wanted to delete the question because many people had decided it was irrelevant, and shouldn't be there! I thought we would be better off without it (I wish I hadn't asked it). Now look what's happened.
The last place I expected to find information about 'off-topic' was the scripting tag!
As for 'not enough information', I will deal with that elsewhere.

I thought it would have been obvious that I'm running the commands in Terminal, which is the application to do this on a Mac (don't people use Macs anymore??).
I had no idea that Manual issues were not part of Blender.SE! I have applied to be able to edit the Manual but I've had no response yet (it's been over 2 weeks now).

@SteveW Generally speaking, the manual and here are two different places maintained by different people. Questions regarding issues with the manual shouldn't really be asked here since it can be edited by pretty much anyone with access to it. The question has also been reopened so bring up any further issues there. If you still think you aren't getting anywhere, I am in the chatroom (The Renderfarm) so you can drop by. I will also contact an admin for the wiki about your request.

@SteveW You can flag your question in the future for deletion and a mod will review it. It is too late for that now since it has useful information and someone has already taken their time to answer it and earned some rep for it so it would be wrong to deny them that.

@SteveW And also, I don't think Aldrik intended to offend you or seem negative. See http://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/187796/i-think-i-have-offended-a-user-how-did-this-happen-and-what-do-i-do-now - The off-topic comments we usually post are usually very direct and generic. He is one of our avid users and has made several valuable contributions and continues to do so.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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How are Tags read?
If a question is asked, and a certain (what might be relevant) 'tag' is not added, does it mean that answers, relative to that missing 'tag', will be excluded (as being 'beyond the scope of the question')?
For example, in my question:  How can I change the centre of rotation of objects during an animation?  I thought the tag ' Animation' would suffice, along with the details in my question, but if there's a chance of solving the problem by scripting, would I only get a 'Scripting' answer by adding the 'Scripting' tag?
By the way, the answers I got work (I had already tried them previously), but in a very limited way, and don't really solve the problem. Now the question, and answers are just left hanging there!

Expanding on what Luke said.. Tags decide very little on the type of answer(s) you will get on a question. For example, the question you linked could have had rigging or constraints added too, that didn't stop people from adding those solutions.
As he also said, it is just a fancy organization feature so don't depend too much on them when asking questions. For short term reasons, they help to set the scope of your question and possibly attract an audience and for long term reasons, they are nice filters for searching for answers etc.
Here are some simple dos and don'ts to keep in mind when tagging however..
Do:

tag with the closest related tag(s)
use as many as you think you need to the maximum
create new tags if the current ones aren't good enough
retag the question as needed if you update it

Don't:

tag the question with what you are expecting as an answer unless it relates somehow
use unrelated tags to fill space
retag the question with the method that solved it unless it relates somehow

It is also worth noting that if anyone thinks additional tags are needed, they more than likely will be added.

No, tags are simply used for organization. If a question is missing a tag, go ahead and retag it with the correct tag. If an question lacks a tag, the quality of the answers should not suffer (assuming the question body makes clear the question).


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Is it all right to copy our tag wikis from the Blender wiki?
Consider the tag wiki for modifiers:

Modifiers are used to modify objects non-destructively until Applied.
There are four groups of Modifiers:

Modify
  Modifiers in the Modify group act simpler than those in the
  Deform group without directly affecting the objects shape, rather than
  affecting some data.

etc…

Now, from the Blender wiki entry on Modifiers (excerpted):

Modifiers are automatic operations that affect an object in a
  non-destructive way … you can Apply a modifier if you wish to
  make its changes permanent.
There are four types of modifiers:
Modify
  The Modify group of modifiers are tools a bit similar to the Deform Modifiers (see below), but which do not directly affect the
  shape of the object; rather they affect some other data, like vertex
  groups…
etc…

Sure, there are minor changes (sentence collapses, "types" to "groups"). But these are trivial, and some of these changes that appear to be for the sake of making changes actually obfuscate the meaning (e.g., "rather" to "rather than" completely inverts the meaning of the sentence). With that in mind,
Are these kinds of tag wikis really helpful?
Judging by this answer, the answer would seem to be that it's discouraged:

Often times people ask these questions, they have an idea of what it
  does and are not entirely sure or they have read the manual but don't
  quite understand it (which is one of the reasons why simply linking to
  something is frowned upon.)

Personally, when I write tag wikis, I tend to explain the concept on my own as best as I can, and dot it with links to the Blender wiki and/or Wikipedia (e.g. animation, cycles). This offers a new point of view/method of explanation, while still containing references to authoritative sources for more in-depth explanation of a particular subconcept. I find that simply copy-pasting from an obvious source of information will not help the user to "learn more" about the subject, as the link implies that they will.
What should be our policy on this?

If you can produce higher quality content that's great. If not quoting is fine as long as you remember to include a link to the source. Forking is stongly discouraged. Improvements should be made to the Blender wiki before quoting.

The only times these won't be accepted is if they are directly copied from the wiki. There is a reject reason for these type of edits that says:

This edit plagiarizes content from an external source without proper attribution.

So, it is perfectly fine to copy and or modify these provided that you link to the original source and cite as you think necessary. If you see one that obfuscates the meaning too much, feel free to suggest an edit or edit it if you are a trusted user.
More importantly, as you note, these are often not very helpful at times so it is generally a good idea to try and reword them to be more compact and informative.

How directly is "directly"? Is correcting a typo or substituting a word still plagiarism?

Directly.. as in you go there, highlight text and slap it here and as I said, as long as you link to your source, modifications are ok. As Aldrik also notes, if you are going to be changing a good portion of it, consider rolling your own definition and still linking for more info. Wherever possible, we try to include tutorial links and resources in the tag body.


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Suggestion: Merge `python` and `python-api` tags
I would recommend that the python and python-api tags be merged.
Rationale:

⇒ The only part of Python that should be discussed on Blender.SE is the Blender Python (bpy) API. Anything else is not in the scope of Blender.SE and should be asked on StackOverflow.
⇐ Clearly anything related to the Python API is related to Python.

I have already submitted a synonym request at the python-api tag but I don't have enough rep to suggest it on the python tag. If possible it should probably be that python is kept while python-api is removed, because the latter is unnecessarily verbose.

Related Should 'scripting' and 'Python' be made tag synonyms?.

I'm starting to think this should be so after all. Will discuss it a bit and make a decision. A small subset of python will still be allowed but we don't need both tags, I think [python-api] should go.

Update
The python-api tag was removed since people ignore the subtle differences, it's now just python.

I am tempted to merge these ever so often but since we support a strict subset of Python related questions, it is ok to have both of these in my opinion.
There are currently questions here that use python but aren't directly related to python-api. I agree that tagging every scripting and python-api related question with python is kinda redundant and the last two seem to be used interchangeably but at the moment, the tag is general enough to also apply to these.
Here are some tagged Python questions that have little or nothing to do with the api.

Interactive Python workflow for Blender beginner
How to make Blender use Python2.x?
How to interface with blender using IPython from terminal?
Environment for implementing/testing Computer Graphics algorithms
Can I run a Python script step by step in Blender?
Is there a way to acces external .blend file's data with python script?
How to make Blender use Python2.x?
Console vs scripting python constants
Using blender as a python module
Which modules are guaranteed to be present in Blender's Python?

What we could do however is revisit the scope of this tag.
Related:

Should 'scripting' and 'Python' be made tag synonyms?
Python tags and versions


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Does the community have any say over the design?
Re: Congratulations! Blender is graduating!

Possible duplicate of Blender site design ideas - input welcome!

Yes. There is a discussion post gathering community feedback for the general direction of the design. When the design has been drafted, it will be pitched to the community for review.
Here is an example pitch for the Movies & TV community.

Is there a projected timescale for when the draft will be pitched?

@PGmath 6-8 weeks :P


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General 3D Graphics
After seeing How can we ensure Blender.SE doesn't share 3DGraphics.SE's fate?
Are questions regarding general, or theoretic, 3D concepts on-topic?
e.g.

Best lighting for a specific set
How to make sure the render keeps the depth perception
How does the computer handle models mathematically

Maybe not best examples, but it's what I came up with.

Try not to ask subjective questions or ones that are too open to interpretation or likely to start a discussion.

- Best lighting for a specific set?
This is too broad and the title is extremely vague. There will be numerous ways of doing it if the answers are to relate to the question, and as the OP you might end up not approving any of them.
Instead you could ask Which lamps are better for lighting an indoor nighttime set?

- How to make sure the render keeps the depth perception?
This is ok, the scope is immediately set, you are asking a question on rendering settings. Fine.

- How does the computer handle models mathematically?
Off-topic, this is highly technical and does not directly ask how its done in Blender. Too general IMO.
You could instead ask How does the Blender parse and handle wavefront object files?

The key thing to keep in mind here is to always ask specifics and be as explicit or clear as possible. If someone has too think too much about what you are asking, you are less likely to get a good answer. CG questions that are too general would not be ideal. Try to have your question ask as to how something can be done using Blender, as that's what the site is about.

Regarding the last - it can help with scripting

@JNF how can knowing how the computer handle models mathematically help with scripting?. There are dozens of model formats, each with their own quirks and cons. It is not only off-topic but broad.

Computing volume, for instance. I mean math and algorithms for working with 3d data

I think, as this answer said, that if the question is sufficient specific it will be welcome. A question that is generic (meaning generic as doable in others CG programs) but that make users to answers specifics to Blender would be ok.

I don't think it is wise to begin accepting questions that aren't related to Blender - at least at this point.
Most general/theoretical/conceptual questions can probably be related to Blender in some way. If they can't, they should be closed as off topic. I'd imagine that many of these questions wouldn't be suitable for other reasons as well (e.g. not constructive or too broad).
It would be really sad to see this site go down the same path as 3D Graphics, which also started out at as a Blender proposal:

The proposal started
  out as a Blender site, and grew in scope over time until by launch
  its focus was unrecognizable - there's a very good chance it simply
  overshot its target audience. It's also quite possible that in the
  nearly year and a half incubation period, the folks who might
  have made up a core group of experts simply lost interest.

I think we have a fair shot, the community is more motivated. Lots of new features in Blender and plenty of other sites that stick to one topic have been successful, askubuntu for one.

Interesting. Thank you for pointing that out

I think, at least at the moment, there seems no other place to ask such questions. Even if it would be acceptable in another place, this is probably the best place to do it.
These questions are of interest for the community even if they don't necessarily involve Blender.


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Beginner's Reference
Update:
Since this post is less likely to be seen by visitors to the site and is technically not what meta is for (we were working on the kinks at the time), there is now a community maintained wiki post on the main site listing many resources for blender. If you want to contribute to this, add your content there.

After going through faq and seeing questions What would be wrong with tutorials as long as they describe a reusable workflow? and What questions should be definitely off-topic?
Two points are fairly clear:

The site isn't a ground for tutorials
People are going to come by asking for them

To help out on that, and to help more experienced users who still have what to learn, I propose building a page where links to documentation, references and tutorial are available. This would also make the site more welcoming, instead of just closing the question.
Another option, just linking to blender.org/support/tutorials.

Documentation

Manual 2.6

Blender Wiki

Python API 2.6

General Tutorials

Tutorials on official site

Noob to Pro

Blender Cookie (Jonathan Williamson)

Blender Guru (Andrew Price)

Blender Nerd (Greg Zaal)

Blender Diplom

KatsBits Blender tutorials & Blender training

Blender Modifier Series

Spastic Kangaroo (CharlesL)

Blender Hints and Advice: A General Guide

Game Engine

Nilunder's BGE Request Branch

Detailed Reference of Logic Bricks

Wiki (python)

Python

Python basic

Scripting

Wiki

Blender Scripting blogspot

Blender Sushi

Addon tutorial

Resources

Blend Swap - free blender meshes, materials, and whatnot

CG Textures - free textures

List of resources on the main site

GLSL

GLSL 1.2 Tutorial

Misc

Blender Artist - Blender forum to showcase and get feedback on Blender art.

Blender Nation - Hub for Blender news, resources and art showcases.

code.blender.org - Blender development blog.

How should I get started if I want to work as a 3D designer for games? - A question on the Graphic Design Stack exchange about how to get started making 3D for games.

I've created a 21 part text based tutorial series for getting a completely new user up to speed to create 2D or 3D game assets in Blender that might be a good fit on your list. Complete Blender Game Art tutorial for Beginners

@stacker This was mainly a list of tutorial/training type resources (as opposed to asset resources), unless I'm missing something..

@gandalf3 agreed I rolled back, I going to start my own collection at zeef.com it would have been more useful if we had one collaborativly list.

It is also common to put resources and tutorials relating to a specific topic in the tag wikis. Most of the popular tags on stackoverflow have quite comprehensive wikis (e.g. PHP or Java).
I'd love to see some useful links and information added to the tag wikis here, especially for common tags like modeling or rendering.

Nice suggestion, but half of the tags we currently have can barely fill the excerpt box. ;)

The site only launched yesterday :P


text:
Community Promotion Ads - 2017
It is a bit late into this new year, being that we're already in the second month, but we are now cycling the Community Promotion Ads for 2017!
What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar. The purpose of this question is the vetting process. Images of the advertisements are provided, and community voting will enable the advertisements to be shown.
Why do we have Community Promotion Ads?
This is a method for the community to control what gets promoted to visitors on the site. For example, you might promote the following things:

the site's twitter account
interesting Blender addons, tutorials, and other resources
relevant events, conferences, or meetups
anything else your community would genuinely be interested in

The goal is for future visitors to find out about the stuff your community deems important. This also serves as a way to promote information and resources that are relevant to your own community's interests, both for those already in the community and those yet to join.
Why do we reset the ads every year?
Some services will maintain usefulness over the years, while other things will wane to allow for new faces to show up. Resetting the ads every year helps accommodate this, and allows old ads that have served their purpose to be cycled out for fresher ads for newer things. This helps keep the material in the ads relevant to not just the subject matter of the community, but to the current status of the community. We reset the ads once a year, every December.
The community promotion ads have no restrictions against reposting an ad from a previous cycle. If a particular service or ad is very valuable to the community and will continue to be so, it is a good idea to repost it. It may be helpful to give it a new face in the process, so as to prevent the imagery of the ad from getting stale after a year of exposure.
How does it work?
The answers you post to this question must conform to the following rules, or they will be ignored.

All answers should be in the exact form of:
[![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]

   [1]: http://image-url
   [2]: http://clickthrough-url

Please do not add anything else to the body of the post. If you want to discuss something, do it in the comments.
The question must always be tagged with the magic community-ads tag. In addition to enabling the functionality of the advertisements, this tag also pre-fills the answer form with the above required form.

Image requirements

The image that you create must be 300 x 250 pixels, or double that if high DPI.
Must be hosted through our standard image uploader (imgur)
Must be GIF or PNG
No animated GIFs
Absolute limit on file size of 150 KB
If the background of the image is white or partially white, there must be a 1px border (2px if high DPI) surrounding it.

Score Threshold
There is a minimum score threshold an answer must meet (currently 6) before it will be shown on the main site.
You can check out the ads that have met the threshold with basic click stats here.

For some reason, I have not been able to use the same image link that I used on the meta of Gamedev. The image will lie if the committed percentage changes over time.

Why the enforced requirement for an image from i.stack.imgur this year? This breaks any dynamic images, such as the blend-exchange ad from last year.

copy/paste from 2016: http://meta.blender.stackexchange.com/a/1011/599

Support the proposed Stack Exchange site for other 3D programs and 3D theories. You may need this resource in the future as you expand your tool set - many already feel the need now!

There has been some criticism that ad is ugly, or doesn't have good "copy." Last year, however, it over 1,000 clicks, and has been shown to work. Besides, this proposal needs all the help it can get.

As the 3D proposal didn't pan out I made a simple one with the help of Scalia that leads to the 3D tag on GDSE. Perhaps it would also be useful to edit this one from "Support the Proposed Site!" to something like "Support 3D Questions!" and also linking to GDSE for now

This is a demonstration post to indicate how this should look when an ad is posted. It also doubles as your twitter ad, but it's up to you if you wish to promote it by voting


text:
Community Promotion Ads - 2016
It's 2016 now, and we've made some changes to the sidebar size. As such, we can now restart the Community Promotion Ads for 2016!
Keep in mind, we have updated some of the guidelines compared to previously - the changes are marked in bold in the Image Requirements section.
What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar. The purpose of this question is the vetting process. Images of the advertisements are provided, and community voting will enable the advertisements to be shown.
Why do we have Community Promotion Ads?
This is a method for the community to control what gets promoted to visitors on the site. For example, you might promote the following things:

the site's twitter account
interesting Blender addons, tutorials, and other resources
relevant events, conferences, or meetups
anything else your community would genuinely be interested in

The goal is for future visitors to find out about the stuff your community deems important. This also serves as a way to promote information and resources that are relevant to your own community's interests, both for those already in the community and those yet to join.
Why do we reset the ads every year?
Some services will maintain usefulness over the years, while other things will wane to allow for new faces to show up. Resetting the ads every year helps accommodate this, and allows old ads that have served their purpose to be cycled out for fresher ads for newer things. This helps keep the material in the ads relevant to not just the subject matter of the community, but to the current status of the community. We reset the ads once a year, every December.
The community promotion ads have no restrictions against reposting an ad from a previous cycle. If a particular service or ad is very valuable to the community and will continue to be so, it is a good idea to repost it. It may be helpful to give it a new face in the process, so as to prevent the imagery of the ad from getting stale after a year of exposure.
How does it work?
The answers you post to this question must conform to the following rules, or they will be ignored.

All answers should be in the exact form of:
[![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]

   [1]: http://image-url
   [2]: http://clickthrough-url

Please do not add anything else to the body of the post. If you want to discuss something, do it in the comments.
The question must always be tagged with the magic community-ads tag. In addition to enabling the functionality of the advertisements, this tag also pre-fills the answer form with the above required form.

Image requirements

The image that you create must be 300 x 250 pixels, or double that if high DPI.
Must be hosted through our standard image uploader (imgur)
Must be GIF or PNG
No animated GIFs
Absolute limit on file size of 150 KB
If the background of the image is white or partially white, there must be a 1px (2px if high DPI) border surrounding it.

Score Threshold
There is a minimum score threshold an answer must meet (currently 6) before it will be shown on the main site.
You can check out the ads that have met the threshold with basic click stats here.

Support Blend-Exchange, the free long-term .blend hosting site. This ad will show new users where they can upload .blend files, and remind experienced users.

Like this a lot

Extra Info: The blend count is dynamic and updates directly from the blend-exchange server.

That is so cool! It makes me want to upload a blend just to see if the count updates :-)

still at 859.... I'm waiting for it to go up.....

@X-27  It's gone up.

That is sooo Cool   !!!!!!!!!

I don't think I need to ding this for the border because while it isn't solid, it's still around the whole ad so its shape is still very clear. And also the regulations didn't SAY solid though it's a lot easier to do it that way...

I always wondered how blendheads look like. Awesome!

It's not a bug, it ...should be... a feature !

what happened to "no more than 250px width?

@RadishofKnowledge 2x resolution for retina happened.

Filesize is too big, must be 150KB or less

Support the proposed Stack Exchange site for other 3D programs and 3D theories. You may need this resource in the future as you expand your tool set - many already feel the need now!

This proposal will also support questions about Lux Render and other opensource 3D tools, so it could very likely become immediately useful to you.

Could the down voters give some feedback? if there are issues with the ad, they can be fixed.

I gave a downvote as I don't personally see it as a good advert, design wise or message wise, particularly when comparing it to the bright, clear, blendernation advert, currently above. Are general users of the site aware of what a 'proposed site' is and that it will be on SE? I think the image looks quite drab in terms of colour and not really a 'modern' design. I also find the 'Get the answers you need' to be very generic as it gives no indication as to what answers I will find. No offence meant, all just opinion of course.

@RayMairlot Trying to explain your message in its entirety is not always possible in a tiny little sidebar ad. I personally prefer giving enough information to make someone click for more. Besides, not all the ads here need to be targeted for general users. This one is more aimed at the top 10%, which is that is needed from this site to make the proposal happen - which is why the add was made in the first place. This add will do its job, and that makes it good enough in my eyes. Of course if someone has a specific suggestion, I'll try it out. I always like to improve my work :).

Exploreing is spelt Exploring..... and depending where you live modeling may have 2 L's

@angussidney Ah thanks for that, it makes the layout work better :) (as well as not make more literate people than I cringe)

Filesize is too big, must be under 150KB

@GraceNote Fixed

Some odd messaging here... as if Blender users are in the dark and should be looking elsewhere to be enlightened. Also, there was a "3D Graphics" SE site that went into beta and ended up closing - http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/5022/3d-graphics, How will this be different?

@ideasman42 How will this site be different - not very, but that is not a problem 1: There are enough questions, basically ever question on this site, x3 or four, plus more relating to scanning and other fields. 2: There are enough people, Max and Maya users alone eclipse the size of the blender community. Therefore this site can make it. The issue is the right people aren't on SE, and this time we will try (once the site is launched), to post and share the site across the internet.

@ideasman42 In a sense blender users live in a dark box of one software package. Most commercial software users/professionals can name 6 or 7 packages that make up their workflow. I have explored other software a bit recently (specifically for texture painting), and have discovered how much really good tools can help. Blender can render and model well, but it simply cannot compete with commercial offerings in many areas. B.SE users might benefit from a resource if they ever do leave their one software workflow, and that is what this add is advertising.

PS: Choking this ad is going to send this new 3D modeling proposal the way of the last one.

That there was a last one is even more confusing ... it was just a few clicks away from the re-proposed 51 site to the message that it was closed 4 years ago. http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/5022/3d-graphics ... these two need to be decoupled somehow.

This is a demonstration post to indicate how this should look when an ad is posted, now with 80px more width! It also doubles as your twitter ad, but it's up to you if you wish to promote it by voting. Gonna need to update the graphic soon though...

Can we actually have this as one of the circulated ads.

Adapted from Community Promotion Ads - 2016 - it will show the number of questions with bounties if these exist. The size is not a problem.


text:
Congratulations! Blender is graduating!
It's a big day. You've been cleared for graduation by the Stack Exchange Community Team! Blender has already met our threshold for graduation-worthy sites, and today joins in the new design-independent graduation process! Reaching 'mature community' status is a big milestone, and you should be very proud.
You've already had an election to have celebrated this previously, but now you will receive the remaining benefits detailed in this process, which include:

You will no longer see the "beta" label attached to your site's name
You will become eligible for question migration paths with the rest of the network
You will be able to select your own community ads

In the coming months, the site will receive a full design from one of our designers, which will be packaged with an increase in the amount of reputation needed to access each privilege. It's no secret that our backlog for site designs is long, and although you're looking at wait of several months, we wanted to give you the things we could give you now. There are also bound to be bugs as the new process gets rolled out so if you come across anything out of place, please report it on Meta Stack Exchange using the [graduating-sites] tag.
This site has reached this point because of your generous contributions. Together, you've created a valuable resource that helps people. Congratulations on all you've accomplished.

Awesome news! Congrats everybody!

Yay! Congrats everyone! I assume our chance to try and get custom stuff comes when the design is implemented?

@gandalf3 We need more then that, http://meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/610/things-to-address-with-stack-exchange-upon-graduation

Can't tag the OP, but if anyone can answer this: http://meta.blender.stackexchange.com/questions/904/does-the-community-have-any-say-over-the-design

status-completed
Our chat still says "beta". I think the developers should be notified of this, since this design-less graduation is a new thing.


text:
Community Promotion Ads - 2015
As your site is undergoing our new design-independent graduation process, you'll be enjoying your own run of design-independent Community Promotion Ads!
What are Community Promotion Ads?
Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar. The purpose of this question is the vetting process. Images of the advertisements are provided, and community voting will enable the advertisements to be shown.
Why do we have Community Promotion Ads?
This is a method for the community to control what gets promoted to visitors on the site. For example, you might promote the following things:

the site's twitter account
interesting Blender addons, tutorials, and other resources
relevant events, conferences, or meetups
anything else your community would genuinely be interested in

The goal is for future visitors to find out about the stuff your community deems important. This also serves as a way to promote information and resources that are relevant to your own community's interests, both for those already in the community and those yet to join.
Why do we reset the ads every year?
Some services will maintain usefulness over the years, while other things will wane to allow for new faces to show up. Resetting the ads every year helps accommodate this, and allows old ads that have served their purpose to be cycled out for fresher ads for newer things. This helps keep the material in the ads relevant to not just the subject matter of the community, but to the current status of the community. We reset the ads once a year, every December.
The community promotion ads have no restrictions against reposting an ad from a previous cycle. If a particular service or ad is very valuable to the community and will continue to be so, it is a good idea to repost it. It may be helpful to give it a new face in the process, so as to prevent the imagery of the ad from getting stale after a year of exposure.
How does it work?
The answers you post to this question must conform to the following rules, or they will be ignored.

All answers should be in the exact form of:
[![Tagline to show on mouseover][1]][2]

   [1]: http://image-url
   [2]: http://clickthrough-url

Please do not add anything else to the body of the post. If you want to discuss something, do it in the comments.
The question must always be tagged with the magic community-ads tag. In addition to enabling the functionality of the advertisements, this tag also pre-fills the answer form with the above required form.

Image requirements

The image that you create must be 220 x 250 pixels
Must be hosted through our standard image uploader (imgur)
Must be GIF or PNG
No animated GIFs
Absolute limit on file size of 40 KB
If the background of the image is white, there must be a 1x1 border of not-white at the edges of the ad

Score Threshold
There is a minimum score threshold an answer must meet (currently 6) before it will be shown on the main site.
You can check out the ads that have met the threshold with basic click stats here.

Support Blend-Exchange, the free long-term .blend hosting site. This ad will show new users where they can upload .blend files.

Resolution is not an issue, see here: http://meta.apple.stackexchange.com/a/1884

"If the background of the image is white, there must be a 1x1 border of not-white at the edges of the ad" --- so #fefefe  ?  :)

@zeffii Fixed, borders have been added

@zeffii For the record, I voted for #fafafa :P.

Is the gradient necessary? I think plain white would be nicer and more in-keep with the site look.

I guess not, but I tried a few different things, and plain white looked too, well plain. I do agree that it looks a little dark, will lighten it up.

@David maybe just a background similar to the twitter add? I personally think that would look best.

For some reason the alignment of the blender logo bugs me.. What about shifting it over (like this)?

I don't know exactly what, but something about "get the program" seems a little odd, kind of blunt if you know what I mean.  I definitely think we should advertise blender.org, but maybe someone could think of a little more "suave" way of putting it. :)

Maybe you need to use Real flow for a fluid sim, or 3DS max for a job! Either way you will need SE quality resource that has all the answers you need. Make this a reality! Join the proposal now (We also need sample questions).

Why the down votes? This is perfectly relevant to this site, and may be helpful for Blender users who also use other commercial packages in their workflow. Besides, there is no official place on stack exchange for Max, Maya, Modo, and Zbrush quetions. Why not add the missing Q&A site?

By the way, this won't be representing our site on other site. This will be appearing on the margins of this site, ad is to gain support for this Area51 proposed site: http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/86368/3d-graphics-modeling-animation?referrer=4bIZIhmQJeWKQcyqcR7pKw2

Final note: We are graduating. If anyone is afraid this site will consume us and get merged with us, fear not, the chances are low

I'm not sure I understand this ad. If it is to gain support for a new site, why does it say 'Learn to Model and Texture'? I also don't think it's clear that '3D Graphics' is the name of a proposed stack site.

@RayMairlot This was originally made for other sites and was (lazily) ported here. AFA learn to model and texture, the idea was for people on other art sites (GD etc.) to get involved so they can learn to model and texture (they all wan't to get around to it someday). If you have a suggestion for a better add, you can contact me in chat. Use "@GiantCowFilms" to ping me.

This is a demonstration post to indicate how this should look when an ad is posted. It also doubles as your twitter ad, but it's up to you if you wish to promote it by voting

Lacks a call to action. What will happen when I click on it???? Maybe some text saying download....?

You have the tools to make 3D art. Now get your answers.
blender.stackexchange.com

If you guys like this catch copy, or some variation of it, go ahead and vote / suggest improvements. Next step will be to come up with an image.

Please don't use the answer space in this thread to solicit help for ad design / copy review. Also, keep in mind that this thread is solely for ads that will show up on your own site - advertising your own site on your own site is probably less than productive.

Huh? I'm not soliciting help for anything, just inviting community feedback. "Community Promotion Ads are community-vetted advertisements that will show up on the main site, in the right sidebar." Isn't the purpose of this post to come up with ads for advertising blender.stackexchange.com to people browsing other sites on the StackExchange network? That's the impression I got. I guess I don't understand how StackExchange's ads work or what the real purpose of this is. So "Community Promotion Ads" are NOT ads for the purpose of promoting the Blender Stack Exchange community?

No, in this context, "main site" is blender.stackexchange.com (since we are on the "meta site"). It's for ads to promote to the people already on your site. Show folks who are interested in your subject matter things that they would be further interested in that isn't necessarily on the network or even related to the network.

@Mentalist Also, please retract any Down Votes to adds you don't think represent our site, since they represent other sites ;D thanks.

@GraceNote Thanks for explaining. So would I for example post an ad for CG Cookie, or Blend Swap if I thought members here may like those sites? Seems odd to me since ads are usually paid for - couldn't anyone trying to promote their own Blender-related site come over to SE trying to get free promotion? Or are we all okay with that as long as something gets enough upvotes? (I have not voted on any of the ads posted here yet.)


text:
2015 Experimental Moderator Election Q&A - Questionnaire
In connection with the moderator elections, we are holding a Q&A thread for the candidates. Questions collected from an earlier thread have been compiled into this one, which shall now serve as the space for the candidates to provide their answers. Due to the lack of submission count, we have selected all provided questions as well as our back up questions for a total of 9 questions.
As a candidate, your job is simple - post an answer to this question, citing each of the questions and then post your answer to each question given in that same answer. For your convenience, I will include all of the questions in quote format with a break in between each, suitable for you to insert your answers. Just copy the whole thing after the first set of three dashes. Oh, and please consider putting your name at the top of your post so that readers will know who you are before they finish reading everything you have written.
Once all the answers have been compiled, this will serve as a transcript for voters to view the thoughts of their candidates, and will be appropriately linked in the Election page.
Good luck to all of the candidates!

How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?
Following directions, working together and abiding by site policy are all important. How well do you follow directions?
What important contributions or actions have you not been able to do that moderator-ship will allow you to perform? (besides banning trouble users)
How much time can you currently commit, and are there other things that may come up in future that will limit your availability (i.e. intensive college or other studies, heavy workload)? This is important as the whole point of being a moderator is to care for and direct the site.
How would you treat duplicate answers or answers in comments then posted as an answer later by a different user? This happens fairly frequently if there is a question that is somewhat vague, someone will post a potential answer in the comments, and then will have to leave. Several hours later, the OP will respond, and someone else will add the answer. How would you handle this situation?
In your opinion, what do moderators do?
A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?
In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

A candidate's thoughts on this new process: 1 Keep the question list shorter. 2 Do not ask duplicate questions (#4 and #9 are about the same) 3 Specify whether or not the question are to remain in the order posted.

@David Why shouldn't they remain in the order posted? I'd be surprised if it mattered, but there isn't really a reason to change the order (that I can see)? On another note, each of these answers ends up looking like a massive wall of text imo. Is there any way to make them more reader-friendly? e.g. if there were a way to define collapsible boxes in markdown, each question could have it's own box. Collapsible boxes would be very useful as a formatting tool for long answers elsewhere too.. ;)

@gandalf We do not currently have the means to split it any better than the block quote method we currently have here, where each question is a block quote. That said we have some brainstorming going on about improving this kind of system in the long run (by, ultimately, probably designing something that isn't just using Meta), so I'll add that note about formatting to the list of ideas.

@David Thanks for the feedback. 1) Noted. 2) For some reason when I was setting this up, I parsed 4 and 9 as being opposites rather than the same. Sorry about that. 3) I designed the formatting here for the candidate convenience in terms of they just get a giant form and spaces to put their answers without any need of self-formatting - this makes it simpler to just leave the questions in order, but it's not required. Some people do actually shuffle them.

How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

If the flags have merit, then after acting on the specific comment flag, I would contact that user. In only extreme cases, and after multiple contacts with the user, I would put a time out on him.

How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

I would first talk with the mod that I disagreed with. I have no doubt that among the three mods we would be able to come to an agreement, even if it is not what I think may be best. (there are many examples where I have done just that, such as a discussion about the 3d-view synonym)

Following directions, working together and abiding by site policy are all important. How well do you follow directions?

I follow directions quite well, and will be able to work together with the other mods (no matter who gets elected). SE has well documented features and clear polices in place, reading and understand what is expected to be done will be no problem.

What important contributions or actions have you not been able to do that moderator-ship will allow you to perform? (besides banning trouble users)

Tags.
I do a lot of work with tags, there are a lot of features about the tag system that are locked to only mods (such as this one).
Deleting bad posts.
For non mods it takes 3 votes to delete a post. There have been times when I find post and then put the link in the chat and ask for delete votes.
Question migration.
There has been many questions I CVed with a reason such as "This question is off topic because it belongs on _______.stackexchange.com" Mods can move questions to any SE site, there is no mechanisms to move questions for non-mods.

How much time can you currently commit, and are there other things that may come up in future that will limit your availability (i.e. intensive college or other studies, heavy workload)? This is important as the whole point of being a moderator is to care for and direct the site.

I agree that being active is very important. First as to will I be here: a definite yes. I have only missed one day on this site (camping) since March 24, 2014 (over 250 consecutive). I have made time for this site, and I will continue to be here, no matter what happens. How much time per day: Look at my activity I'm here a lot, minimum 2+ hours.

How would you treat duplicate answers or answers in comments then posted as an answer later by a different user? This happens fairly frequently if there is a question that is somewhat vague, someone will post a potential answer in the comments, and then will have to leave. Several hours later, the OP will respond, and someone else will add the answer. How would you handle this situation?

Answers in comments is a topic that has been well covered on meta. The issue is rather clear cut. There is nothing wrong with answering a question with an "answer" from the comments. Further the OC (original commenter) may not want to post an answer (I have done that).
What I do is to ping the OC and ask them to add an answer; if they do not respond then I will sometimes add the answer.

In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Moderators on SE or here to handle the exceptions in a well working system. Like any program, there will be exceptions, and errors. Mods are here to act mainly on those cases, the cases that the SE system can not handle.

A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

I try to watch everything I do so that no matter what (whether posts, comments, chat, or meta), people can not see it in a bad light. However, there are a few of my first answers that I want to rewrite. Nothing "bad" just not very good answers. (please do not go look before I fix them :)

In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

See my answer to question #4.

How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

The specifics would depend on the exact nature of the flags/arguments.. But say for example the cause of the friction appears to originate as some kind of deliberate provocation in the answers, then my first step would be to contact the user and ask why they are doing this.
Depending on their reasons, I might explain that their contributions to the site are appreciated, but this behavior isn't acceptable on blender.stackexchange.
If the behavior persists, I'd probably consult another moderator and suggest a time out.
Of course, this is assuming a lot about the situation. In a real situation I'd want to know a lot more about what is going on before taking such drastic action as a ban.

How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

I would contact the moderator in chat and ask why they took the action they did.
After listening to their reasoning, if I'm not satisfied, I would explain why I think their action was unjustified.
If they still disagree, then I would consult another moderator and see if we can come to an agreement between the three of us.

Following directions, working together and abiding by site policy are all important. How well do you follow directions?

I feel I'm good at following directions. But really, the people giving the directions are much more qualified to answer that ;)

What important contributions or actions have you not been able to do that moderator-ship will allow you to perform? (besides banning trouble users)

I see uses for "special" moderator-only tools quite often. For example I regularly see new users without the "comment anywhere"
privilege writing their comments in answers. These usually get downvoted, which can be discouraging for new users writing what would otherwise be a perfectly good comment.
As a moderator I'd be able to convert these as soon as I see them.

How much time can you currently commit, and are there other things that may come up in future that will limit your availability (i.e. intensive college or other studies, heavy workload)? This is important as the whole point of being a moderator is to care for and direct the site.

Currently I'm a little busier than normal, but I'll be around keeping an eye on reviews, flags, and question activity. A ping in the chat should reach me at almost any time.
If any unforeseen schedule problems crop up, I'll still try to keep an eye on reviews and flags at least.

How would you treat duplicate answers or answers in comments then posted as an answer later by a different user? This happens fairly frequently if there is a question that is somewhat vague, someone will post a potential answer in the comments, and then will have to leave. Several hours later, the OP will respond, and someone else will add the answer. How would you handle this situation?

I would leave duplicate answers alone unless the duplicate is essentially a verbatim copy of the first answer, or very low quality, in which case it will be treated as such.
As noted in a discussion about this very thing on meta, knowing the answer is only half of answering. You also must communicate it, and sometimes having different explanations from different people can throw a fresh light on an answer.
Regarding the exact scenario you describe,
I'd leave a comment on the answer explaining that another user had already recommended this in a comment and
suggest that in the future the answerer check to see if they would like to answer first.
I'd also encourage the original commenter add another answer to explain the answer in their own way.

In your opinion, what do moderators do?

I agree with SE's theory of moderation after seeing it applied in practice on this site. There is little I can say that hasn't already been said there, but to briefly describe my own words:
On SE there is little difference between moderators and high-rep users who actively participate in moderator activities such as reviewing and closing questions.
The purpose of a moderator is to handle (hopefully uncommon) situations which cannot be handled by such users, though there is no reason a user who is a moderator can't also be one of those users at the same time.

A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

I've always tried to comment and write in what I think is a "moderator-like" fashion, but now more than ever I will try to set a good example and explain my actions.
If anything the diamond will encourage me in this regard, as I too will be able to see what my words look like next to a ♦.

In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

I really feel like the answer to this is the same as the fourth question.. But in the spirit of duplicate questions, not duplicate answers, I'll try to come up with another answer..
One action which I thought seemed overly difficult to do as a high-rep user is suggesting tag synonyms, though because of the broad effect this action can have (I imagine that moderators merge tags directly and don't go through the suggestion process?) I'd likely ask at least another moderator first.
Being able to see flags again and go straight to spots which need attention will obviously help a lot.

How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

I message the user advising them to desist or try to find why the source of the problem (one case I remember was someone was getting aggravated about their answers being edited after). If they persist or refuse to acknowledge this warning, a reasoned number of days or so in the penalty box should suffice. If the user does persist, it would be handled accordingly with longer suspensions and could eventually result in a ban. As valuable as your answers are, if you are constantly hostile and disrespectful to the community we would rather not have you.

How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

I would speak to that moderator and ask why, if their reasoning isn't solid enough  I will ask another mod's opinion, if I'm still not satisfied. General consensus from user's in chat and or eventually raise it on meta for the community. Either way, I will not directly try to force what I think is right on someone else and the majority is usually always right. Anyone who has ever raised an issue with me knows that I don't shrug it off, I immediately assume I was wrong and look at it from that viewpoint before going back to my original reasoning then making a decision because we all make mistakes.

Following directions, working together and abiding by site policy are all important. How well do you follow directions?

As a moderator, I would say to the point, I follow the necessary steps in any case, leaving comments after editing, downvoting, rejecting edits etc. I know the people and I know exactly what my job requires.

What important contributions or actions have you not been able to do that moderator-ship will allow you to perform? (besides banning trouble users)

I'm already a moderator

How much time can you currently commit, and are there other things that may come up in future that will limit your availability (i.e. intensive college or other studies, heavy workload)? This is important as the whole point of being a moderator is to care for and direct the site.

I spend upwards of 6+ hours daily on the site and can usually be summoned via a ping in chat or a response on a post within the hour. Since launch, I have not missed a single day, currently at 749 consecutive days as of writing.

How would you treat duplicate answers or answers in comments then posted as an answer later by a different user? This happens fairly frequently if there is a question that is somewhat vague, someone will post a potential answer in the comments, and then will have to leave. Several hours later, the OP will respond, and someone else will add the answer. How would you handle this situation?

I see this all the time, answers posted in comments. Some users often don't want to write a fully fledged answer but I encourage them anyway to do so and the majority of the time this goes through, if not I will add it myself or if I'm short on time, ask another user.

In your opinion, what do moderators do?

Moderators from my experience are basically flag handlers and issue resolvers, someone at the helm to have an unbiased overview. Someone who is fair and strict in decision making, when a moderator stamps a question as a duplicate or off-topic this shouldn't be questioned as they should know the exact scope of their site.

A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

I've always taken care to be as straight forward as possible and polite to users, since I've been a moderator, I've never had anyone retaliate or call me out on any of my posts.

In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

I'm already a moderator

:-) is a proper smiley face.

A statement about how you've always been a moderator, or a hypothetical scenario about what would happen if you lost your post is much more effective and informative then a smile.

@GiantCowFilms Ah, good point but I have a shiny diamond. 2 + 2 = 5? I'll update it, thanks.

How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?

First I would contact them, and explain what the issue is. If they didn't change their behavior, or started an antagonistic argument about their conduct rather than a discussion, then extreme measures might become necessary.

How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

I would first try to ping them in chat, or contact them in a similar way, and ask them why they did it. Quite likely I am not seeing it the same way, and they may be able to satisfactorily explain their actions.

Following directions, working together and abiding by site policy are all important. How well do you follow directions?

Generally fairly well . . . I can work with other people and follow guidelines, but sometimes I can forget specific instructions. A reminder is all that is necessary.

What important contributions or actions have you not been able to do that moderator-ship will allow you to perform? (besides banning trouble users)

I will be able to help mold the site, and take some of the workload off of our current only active moderator. Specific things I personally could do would be listed in this question.

How much time can you currently commit, and are there other things that may come up in future that will limit your availability (i.e. intensive college or other studies, heavy workload)? This is important as the whole point of being a moderator is to care for and direct the site.

A large amount. I am homeschooled, so currently i am very free. I may become more restricted later in the year studying for tests though.

How would you treat duplicate answers or answers in comments then posted as an answer later by a different user? This happens fairly frequently if there is a question that is somewhat vague, someone will post a potential answer in the comments, and then will have to leave. Several hours later, the OP will respond, and someone else will add the answer. How would you handle this situation?

I would comment on the answer notifying them that we try to, as a common courtesy, give someone who answers in the comments like that at least 12 hours to respond and post an answer.

In your opinion, what do moderators do?

They kind of fill in the cracks, continue where the average user leaves off. A moderator needs to be able to help settle disputes, enforce site policy, and make decisions with decisiveness and authority, while not being afraid to be taken to task if someone disagrees with them.

A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?

It is a big responsibility. I have always been dedicated to trying to contribute valuable and professional content, and I don't think I have anything to be ashamed of.

In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

This is a good question, especially as 10k is not too far in the future for me. I think it is more what the site needs, rather than what I can do per se. The site needs dedicated professional moderators, and I think I could be one.

I did not read your when I wrote mine, yet some of our answers are very similar. PS this is a reminder about following directions (your name at the top)

Ooops . . . and I just needed a reminder :P


text:
2015 Experimental Moderator Election Q&A - Question Collection
In connection with the experimental moderator elections, we will be holding a Q&A with the candidates.  This will be an opportunity for members of the community to pose questions to the candidates on the topic of moderation.  Participation is completely voluntary.

The purpose of this thread was to collect questions for the questionnaire. The questionnaire is now live, and you may find it here.

Here's how it'll work:

During the nomination phase, (so, until Monday, June 8th at 20:00:00Z UTC, or 4:00 pm EDT on the same day, give or take time to arrive for closure), this question will be open to collect potential questions from the users of the site. Post answers to this question containing any questions you would like to ask the candidates. Please only post one question per answer.
We, the Community Team, will be providing a small selection of generic questions. The first two will be guaranteed to be included, the latter ones are if the community doesn't supply enough questions. This will be done in a single post, unlike the prior instruction.
This is a perfect opportunity to voice questions that are specific to your community and issues that you are running into at current.
At the end of the phase, the Community Team will select up to 8 of the top voted questions submitted by the community provided in this thread, to use in addition to the aforementioned 2 guaranteed questions. We reserve some editorial control in the selection of the questions and may opt not to select a question that is tangential or irrelevant to moderation or the election. That said, if I have concerns about any questions in this fashion, I will be sure to point this out in comments before the decision making time.
Once questions have been selected, a new question will be opened to host the actual questionnaire for the candidates, containing 10 questions in total.
This is not the only option that users have for gathering information on candidates. As a community, you are still free to, for example, hold a live chat session with your candidates to ask further questions, or perhaps clarifications from what is provided in the Q&A.

If you have any questions or feedback about this new process, feel free to post as a comment here.

A most interesting system. I hope the community will be active.

This sounds like a great idea :)  I assume candidates can't suggest questions?

@gandalf3 Candidates are fine to submit questions.

@David in moderator elections, you can rest assured :)

Here is a set of general questions, gathered as very common questions asked every election. As mentioned in the instructions, the first two questions are guaranteed to show up in the Q&A, while the others are if there aren't enough questions (or, if you like one enough, you may split it off as a separate answer for review within the community's 8).

How would you deal with a user who produced a steady stream of valuable answers, but tends to generate a large number of arguments/flags from comments?
How would you handle a situation where another mod closed/deleted/etc a question that you feel shouldn't have been?

In your opinion, what do moderators do?
A diamond will be attached to everything you say and have said in the past, including questions, answers and comments. Everything you will do will be seen under a different light. How do you feel about that?
In what way do you feel that being a moderator will make you more effective as opposed to simply reaching 10k or 20k rep?

Following directions, working together and abiding by site policy are all important.

Please only post one question per answer.

quoted from here
How well do you follow directions?

What important contributions or actions have you not been able to do that moderator-ship will allow you to perform? (besides banning trouble users)

How is this different from the final question here?

How much time can you currently commit, and are there other things that may come up in future that will limit your availability? (i.e. intensive college or other studies, heavy workload)
This is important as the whole point of being a moderator is to care for and direct the site.

+1 for the questions pertaining to stress management; super important, super rare.

@HomegrownTomato Well they didn't follow their own instructions . . . so yeah. I guess I need to split this answer up?

How would you treat duplicate answers or answers in comments then posted as an answer later by a different user?
This happens fairly frequently if there is a question that is somewhat vague, someone will post a potential answer in the comments, and then will have to leave. Several hours later, the OP will respond, and someone else will add the answer. How would you handle this situation?


text:
Moderator Pro Tem Announcement
Throughout the beta, we need members from the site whose focus is to engage the community, both in community-building issues and site management. That's why we select a few members from each community to act as temporary, provisional Moderators. You can read about the program here: Moderators Pro Tempore.
I am pleased to announce that these members have stepped up and generously volunteered their time to help us assure that each community’s issues are properly addressed:

We want to make this site a huge success, and these members are great examples of exactly the type of people we need to make this site succeed. Please welcome them for the hard work and time they contribute.
Did I overlook anyone?
Almost certainly. There are members who are actively involved and very deserving of recognition. My failure to account for everyone this early on is in no way a slight against them. Ideally, Moderators are elected by the community and that's why you'll have your elections in several weeks.
Most of all, be respectful and understanding of the Moderators Pro Tem. Members of your community are volunteering their time and learning on the job. It’s a learning experience for everyone.

Several weeks? Has graduation time been decided already? O.o (or is "several" supposed to mean "6-8"?)

@Manishearth the former could and might be possible since we are doing so well. ;)

@ikls  you may even beat Mathematica.SE for fastest launch! Good luck!

Yep I think we might out do our own expectations :)

Congrats new mods. Great to see you've stepped up

Thanks for the welcome. We already have 1000 views per day!

Great job folks. Great to have you leading the way. :)


text:
Overuse of images in answers
Some answers are including images just to show a menu-item.
eg:

original post
I'm concerned that doing this too much makes posts harder to update (if blender changes), where: 3D View Header -> Mesh -> Clean up -> Fill Holes
... would do just as well.

My question is, should we discourage use of screen-shots for menu-items and other references which are easily described as text?

I prefer looking at images in posts, because instead of sifting through the text, sometimes you can get your answer immediately just by glancing at the different images.  But, like you say, making it difficult to update the answers in the future could be a serious problem.

I suppose one argument against would be that in the future, you could just delete the picture and replace it with the text...

Another factor to consider is that pictures are easier for beginners to look at.  In your example, it's possible someone new to Blender might not know what the 3D View Header is.

If the community ends up agreeing there's too many images being used, we could start a separate community wiki When should I use images in my questions/answers?.  And then have list out when you should and shouldn't:  Node Editor setups, pictures of meshes, menu items, pictures of a panel showing multiple settings, render results, etc.

@Garrett - if the question is obviously from a beginner, then I think this is a case where using an image might be preferable, but beginners really need to go over some beginner tutorials first too, so they can understand basic terms in blender like the header or the viewport, otherwise answer's end up having to explain too much background info.

@Garrett, regarding a separate community wiki, of course anyone can start a wiki or host tutorials where they like. But I think this should be kept seperate from stackexchange

I'm not sure I understand your second point.  I was suggesting that we have a page on Blender meta where there are general guidelines on when to use images in answers.  Although, perhaps that's overkill if the problem is limited to images that show where menu items are.

Ok. setting general guidelines is good, and perhaps this issue can be included there, understand your point now & agree.

@Garrett - regarding comment #1, I disagree that sifting through the text is really a problem here, if there are 4 steps to perform a task, having each step in a dot-point really isn't a problem for the reader to follow (at least for common cases when its just accessing menu items).

In the end it's a personal choice at most, it neither adds nor detracts from the post but is really not that necessary and can be obtrusive especially if the image is a large one (See How can I optimize images and screenshots that I embed in my post?). While Blender is a visual program and images help to convey the answer better. I don't think relatively simple menu operations such as this merit a full image that could just as easily be visualized with a string of text and the same goes for shortcuts entries that can be done with the <kbd> tag.
So, while not a bad thing per se, really not necessary. It's better to keep simple posts or points concise and straight to the point.

Menu items are moved from time to time, so issue I have is if I edit and update an answer for the latest blender. is it reasonable to remove the image and replace with text?

@ideasman42 Another good point, yes, I agree it would be perfectly fine to do so.

I think the main issue is that of the OPs skill level. If they are an intermediate/advanced user, the screenshot won't help at all. However, I think there should be screenshots for beginners, as finding menus can be rather difficult if you don't know where everything is located in Blender.
Text is easier to edit later on, but if the goal is to help beginners, I think we should use images.

Should we only use images where the question is obviously asked by a beginner, or everywhere (which would help any beginners which find the question later)?

Only add images to posts when simple text explaining where a menu or a panel is inadequate.
Considerations:

This is not a tutorial site, users who don't understand terms like The header or The 3D view-port should be pointed to beginner documentation on the interface. Trying to help users without this means including too much background info.
There are many more people asking questions then answering them, if images are expected for even simple menu access, then it makes answering questions more work... or anyone who answers questions without so many images will have lower votes because users are expecting images even for basic info.
Reading text takes a little effort in some cases, but text can be searched, edited and updated significantly more easily.

As someone who answers questions on this site, I don't think its reasonable to expect image heavy answers unless its really needed (to show mesh topology for example).
I've noticed users voting up image-heavy answers, which weren't necessarily the best.

Contrary to Charles's answer i think that the OP is the least relevant factor. Just because the OP is advanced and doesn't need a visual reference, does not mean that the next beginner to view the article would have the same insight... SE is a place for learning and to punish those that don't understand what you mean by "Properties > Render" is counter intuitive to the idea of education...
However i do believe that to save on server memory only the REQUIRED images should be included. perhaps even in a minimal resolution

Is there a problem with storage space on Imgur?  Images are pretty small files typically.  The images seem to never be more than 500kB.  It seems like we don't need low-res images.