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Does ServerFault have any intention of removing "Network routing, switches, and firewalls" from their on-topic listing?

Most Stack Exchange sites come to fruition because there isn't any other place to ask those questions within the Stack Exchange network. Network Engineering has, in my opinion, an uphill battle with getting good content here; mainly because there is already a reputable site to ask those questions at.

Are we just waiting on Network Engineering to come out of beta before we take complete ownership those questions?

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    More of a reflection than an answer, but this site was created presumably because there was a scope of questions not being covered by Server Fault. You are here to form your own community, but overlap is inevitable. That doesn't mean Server Fault will cede a part of their scope unless there is a range of topics that never quite fit there anyway. See Respect the community – your own, and others’ – Robert Cartaino Feb 25 '14 at 16:42
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Does ServerFault have any intention of removing "Network routing, switches, and firewalls" from their on-topic listing?

I doubt it, and really why should Server Fault change their on-topic material? As a beta site, it is our job to build a community, they shouldn't donate part of theirs.

I would not be concerned about overlap. Our site views grow by hundreds of views per week, on average; of those, between 10-15% are considered regulars. To quantify this more, at the end of August 2013 our best weekly page views per day was around 1500. Now (six months later) we just crossed 5000 page views per day. Weekends are much slower, and we currently fall to around 2000 page views per day on the weekends. Even so, that's still far above the best daily page view count six months ago.

Most Stack Exchange sites come to fruition because there isn't any other place to ask those questions within the Stack Exchange network

You are correct that many, if not most Stack Exchange sites don't overlap, but some do... for instance, consider how much overlap there is for linux topics...

I think we are doing fine as a beta... the best things we can do to continue growing is:

  • Asking good questions
  • Writing good answers
  • Voting
  • Telling your friends / coworkers about the site
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In addition to Mike's excellent answer, I wanted to add my thoughts.

I think it would be a mistake for ServerFault to remove networking questions from their on topic subjects. While there are many network questions asked there that would fit here, there are quite a number of them that won't.

ServerFault is targeted more at systems administrators. In many cases (small businesses, non-profits, etc) there may not be a dedicated network professional, and the system administrator(s) are also expected to run/maintain the network.

Consider the fact that there exist a number of businesses that run with consumer grade network equipment but do have a systems administrator on staff. This type of environment would be off topic here because of the equipment, but on topic at ServerFault.

Or even if the small business was using equipment that would be on topic, the systems administrator may not be able to ask a question that would meet our quality expectations here, but might work on ServerFault.

While this does create overlap in some areas, this is by no means a bad thing. In my mind, it is better to have overlap so that people are able to find answers to their questions than to enforce a separation that may allow for a situation where some questions just aren't on topic anywhere.

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  • I am not disagreeing, but Server Fault requires asking the question "in a professional capacity". I have seen the use of consumer devices as justification to say the question doesn't qualify as such. – This Feb 25 '14 at 3:57
  • @MikePennington, agreed that SF is geared toward professionals and professional topics, and I didn't mean to imply that they weren't. However I have seen a number of network questions that have worked just fine there, but would be off topic here. For instance, all you need to do is start checking tags like Linksys, Netgear, or D-Link to find a number of them...and that is by no means an exhaustive list. – YLearn♦ Feb 25 '14 at 4:48
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    As a SF person I'd like to weigh in. The topic definition of SF has changed over the years, and questions about non-professional network gear are now routinely closed even if it is used in a "professional" setting. Certainly, we welcome questions about how to design a network, or how 802.1x or 802.1q work. However, we eschew most questions about specific models of equipment and most questions about capacity planning. – Falcon Momot Feb 25 '14 at 9:11

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