The Stack Exchange network is a collection of sites dedicated to making finding answers easy. Although there are a number of different sites in the network, they all share the same codebase and therefore most of the features will be the same from site to site.^[1]

The intention of this guide is to make it easy for beginners to learn how the Stack Exchange sites work and how they function.

When Stack Overflow initially launched in private beta in 2008,^[2]no one knew just how popular the site would become. Since Stack Overflow was the first site in the Stack Exchange network, all of the screenshots and examples will refer to that site.

Contents

A printable version of The Stack Exchange User Guide is available. (edit it)

• The Home Page
• The Stack Exchange Sites
• Asking a Question
• How Reputation Is Earned
• What is 'meta'?

References