This post is a supplement to the [Help Center Article](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask) of the same name. That article, in a nutshell, describes questions that are either too broad, too opinionated, or too discussion-oriented to make good questions. 

This article describes the *specific categories of questions* that you should not ask here.

> **IMPORTANT!**
>
> Programmers is a *Software Design* site. If you're not asking a specific question about Software Design, *you're probably in the wrong place.*

###Coding Help
If you need help writing or troubleshooting code (or using the tools), ask your question on Stack Overflow, not here. Read ["What topics can I ask about"](http://stackoverflow.com/help/on-topic) before you ask your question there.

###Review My Design
We don't review entire software designs; that's a *discussion,* not a question. If you have a *specific question* about your design, ask that. 

###Name That Thing
Questions that ask "Is there a name for this thing" are just requests for Google help, which we don't provide here. They make poor questions because you can't prove a negative, and not everything has a name. Ask about the actual software design problem you're trying to solve instead.

###Which way is best?
*We don't know that.*

Because *you* understand the detailed specifications for your software project, *you* are in the best position to answer the question "Which way best meets my functional and non-functional software requirements?" 

If you can clearly define what "best" means to you specifically without simply restating "best," then your question might be suitable for asking here. Otherwise, you're just [trotting after a herd](http://meta.stackexchange.com/a/142354/102937).

###Convince my boss/coworker
We're not here to help you win an argument with your boss or coworker. We're here to help you with your Software Design-related questions.

###Customer Service
If you have a question about how a company's commercial product is licensed, priced, serviced, released, etc., the place to ask that question is the company itself, not here.

###Where do I find...?
We don't help people find things here. We don't know where you can find that highly obscure paper/product/whatever. You have access to the same tool we do, which is Google.

###What do you recommend?
We don't make product or service recommendations of any kind here. Try http://softwarerecs.stackexchange.com or http://hardwarerecs.stackexchange.com, but *read their Help Center first.*