What is Staging Ground?
Staging Ground is a place for new askers to receive guidance from more experienced users before their question is posted publicly.
Who can use Staging Ground?
Staging Ground is available to two different types of users on Stack Overflow:
- Users who are asking their first questions
- Users who want to review and offer guidance on newcomers’ posts
A “new question asker” will be guided to Staging Ground if they have asked fewer than two questions on Stack Overflow, and have less than 500 reputation on the site.
Any user who has earned more than 500 reputation points may review questions new askers have posted in Staging Ground, for the purpose of helping them improve their posts and providing guidance.
As an asker, how do I use Staging Ground?
When you ask your first questions on Stack Overflow, you will be guided through the Ask Wizard. When you submit your question, it will be posted into Staging Ground. Once the question is in Staging Ground, experienced users will be able to engage in back-and-forth discussion with you to help you improve your first posts. Your post will leave the Staging Ground when one of the following happens:
- A reviewer indicates that your post is ready to leave the Staging Ground. Your question will then be posted directly to Stack Overflow.
- A reviewer indicates that your post needs some minor changes, but is otherwise ready. You’ll be asked to revise your post, and then you can post it to Stack Overflow.
- Your post does not receive timely feedback, in which case your post will be automatically posted.
You will receive both inbox and email notifications as you receive feedback on your drafted questions. These notifications help you know when you need to return to the Staging Ground to respond to the reviews you have received. You will also be able to see the status of your question by clicking the “Staging Ground” icon on the left sidebar navigation.
As a reviewer, how do I use Staging Ground?
If you have earned 500 reputation points, you can get started reviewing questions by clicking on the “Staging Ground” icon on the left sidebar navigation or through this link. Within the Staging Ground, you may select any post to evaluate. Then, you may perform one of the following outcome selections:
- Approve and post to public site: This option indicates the question is ready to be posted on the main site. Selecting it will post the question immediately.
- Conditionally approve with minor edits: This option indicates that the post is nearly ready, but needs simple tweaks or changes before it goes live. This option requires the asker to revise their post before it is posted.
- Require major changes: This option indicates that the post needs substantial work before it is ready to be posted. A request for revision will be sent to the asker, who may revise their post and submit it for re-evaluation.
- Vote as off-topic: This option indicates that the question is not a good fit for the site.
- Vote as duplicate: This option indicates that the question has been asked before.
When a reviewer has reviewed a post, an asker may request re-evaluation. In this case, there will be an additional option:
- Decline request for re-evaluation. This option serves to indicate that the original reviewer’s comments were not sufficiently incorporated into the post, and therefore the original feedback still has merit.
Finally, reviewers may edit Staging Ground posts freely at any time, and may also opt to automatically upvote the post once it is created on the main site.
What happens to my question in Staging Ground?
While your question is in the Staging Ground, a select group of reviewers will evaluate your question. They will classify your question into one of these categories:
- Ready to post: Your question is ready to be posted to Stack Overflow, and you may do so at your leisure.
- Requires minor changes: Your question is ready to be posted to Stack Overflow, but could benefit from edits or further information to improve its chances of success.
- Requires major changes: Your question needs significant revision before it is ready to be posted on Stack Overflow.
- Off-topic: Your question is not on topic for Stack Overflow; documentation and reviewer help specific to your post will provide more helpful guidance.
- Duplicate: Reviewers believe your question has been asked before, and have linked to the duplicate post. If your post is not a duplicate, please revise it to help make the differences clearer.
Reviewers will provide feedback on how to improve your question by leaving comments and assigning it a status based on the work they feel it needs to be ready for the main site.
As the author of the question, you can follow the feedback that reviewers provide and edit your question to help improve its quality before posting on the site. If you need more clarity about the feedback you are receiving, you can use the comments section below your question to ask reviewers questions or for additional guidance.
Some functions of the main site that are normally available to users are not available while a question is in Staging Ground. Other users will not be able to:
- Answer your question: Users will only be able to answer your question once it is posted to the main site.
- Vote on your question: Users will not be able to upvote or downvote your question until reviewers have approved it to be posted on the main site.
To make sure the process is efficient for you, your question will be posted automatically if you do not receive reviewer feedback in a timely manner.
What should I do if my question requires minor edits or major changes?
If reviewers marked your question as needing minor edits or major changes, you should read through any feedback that reviewers left for you. Once you understand reviewer recommendations for how you can improve your question, edit it to make those improvements.
If your question needs minor edits, you can post it immediately after you have edited it. If it needs major changes, you can submit it for evaluation again so reviewers can have another look at your question and evaluate it again.
My question was closed; what can I do now?
Questions are closed within the Staging Ground if they are duplicates of existing questions, or if they are off-topic for Stack Overflow.
For more information, see our help center articles about closed questions, duplicate questions, and what topics are appropriate for this site.
My question was posted; what should I do now?
Once your question is posted, it can receive answers and votes from other users. It is still possible you will receive comments and feedback on how you can further improve your question, and users may still ask you to clarify parts of your question as they attempt to answer it. Please check the comments on your posts to see if there is any more information answerers need.
Why don’t I see the Staging Ground?
The Staging Ground is only visible to newer question-askers and users with over 500 reputation points. If you have asked two or more questions, have fewer than 500 reputation points, and do not currently have any active Staging Ground posts, you will not be able to access the Staging Ground as either a question asker or question reviewer.