6
$\begingroup$

Since this is a Q&A site on Blender, we should accept questions regarding the functions of Blender (other than too broad/tutorial requests).

However, does the community here accept questions which ask about things that are already covered in the Blender manual?

For example:

What does the "Mix" node in compositing do?

This example question seems totally on-topic here, but the answer to this example can totally be found on Blender Manual > Composite Nodes > Types > Color. In this case shall we accept the question?

There may also be some cases where the question may be answerable by the manual, but the documentation is shown to be incomplete, misleading, unclear or outdated. In this case shall we accept the question, or simply edit the manual (since it's a wiki) and then direct the question poster to the manual?

How about questions regarding things which should be in the manual but missing? (Now this part may become a little bit too broad since almost everything can be in the manual...)

For accepting a question I mean the question will be answered and not be downvoted, closed or even deleted.

$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ I'll have to give this some thought. $\endgroup$ Commented Jul 22, 2013 at 5:34

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5
$\begingroup$

…does the community here accept questions which ask about things that are already covered in the Blender manual?

Yes, we accept everything

This is a bit tricky as it also depends based on the simplicity of the question.. so instead of making exceptions, we just accept everything. The reasoning behind this is that:

  • 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.) Link to the manual where you can in these cases but add any explanations or any experiences you have had etc.
  • We have to cater to beginners who for all we know aren't aware of the manual. Simply pointing people to the manual detracts from what this site should be about as we are trying to make a useful compilation of self-contained answers, not pointers to other sources.
  • The manual tends to be short of usage examples and also often has vague descriptions of the tools and what they should be used for, (some entries are just plain useless in my experience).

There may also be some cases where the question may be answerable by the manual, but the documentation is shown to be incomplete, misleading, unclear or outdated. In this case shall we accept the question, or simply edit the manual (since it's a wiki) and then direct the question poster to the manual?

If it was not in the manual when OP searched, updating it and pointing back to it might be a bit confusing even if you explained that it was updated etc. Also, how would you know your edit is accurate, useful and or the correct way to do it etc. It's best to answer on this site, have your answer reviewed by the community and possibly accepted and then edit the manual later.

How about questions regarding things which should be in the manual but missing?

Answer here. Edit the manual later. — That is the purpose of this site. The manual and Blender itself are constantly changing, wiki pages and the information there gets updated, removed, revised, moved etc.

$\endgroup$

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.