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I agree with the general principle that writing a latex document is writing in a markup language that often insists on receiving the respect due to a programming language.

I'm less happy to see the use of tools, such as LyX, appearing on SO in this way, where the question doesn't actually involve latex source.

Does it make sense to say these are SU questions, or does this just make matters needlessly complex?

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What does Cf. mean? –  jmfsg Feb 2 '10 at 13:01
Cf. = In reference to. Look over here. Remember this? So, as we were talking... @dow –  random Feb 2 '10 at 13:04
@Downvot: FTFY! –  Ladybug Killer Feb 2 '10 at 13:17
Wtf does FTFY mean? –  jmfsg Feb 2 '10 at 14:26
WTF does Wtf mean, @dow? –  Ladybug Killer Feb 2 '10 at 14:43
google.com.ar/… –  perbert Feb 2 '10 at 14:49
@joh, urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wtf –  jmfsg Feb 2 '10 at 15:07
@dow: Why do ask for the meaning of acronyms, if you know how to find out? –  Ladybug Killer Feb 2 '10 at 15:21
@joh, I just learned –  jmfsg Feb 2 '10 at 15:59

3 Answers 3

IMO LyX questions belong on http://superuser.com just as much as MS Word or OO.o Writer questions.

Questions about editing ODF programaticaly would belong on http://stackoverflow.com, just as a LaTeX question would.

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I think it's making things needlessly complex, and can stay on SO. My reasoning is that if we consider LaTeX to be programming, then tools that are used specifically to work with LaTeX can be considered "programming tools" and are fair game, just like IDEs, markup validators, and debuggers.

It can probably be considered to be similar to Dreamweaver. Technical questions belong on SO, for example regarding generating specific markup codes or proper encoding. General usage questions, e.g. "Why does Dreamweaver crash after my upgrade?" belong on SU.

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LyX is a Text Processor that happens to use LaTeX as it's backend. SO material in my opinion. –  perbert Feb 2 '10 at 14:04
@The Big Cheese: You mean SU? ;) ... Fair enough, like I said I don't know anything about it. –  ベレアー アダム Feb 2 '10 at 14:10
yeah, SU. Must. get. coffe. –  perbert Feb 2 '10 at 14:31

Surely this simply comes down to the question of Which site has the most people able to answer this question, and the answer is the same site as the one with the most LaTeX users.

That said, why do LaTeX questions belong on StackOverflow? Although LaTeX could kind of be considered programming in some sense, in reality it's not programmers who use LaTex, and so its not programmers who are best suited to answer LaTeX questions.

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LaTeX is used by some of us as a templating system for reports. –  perbert Feb 2 '10 at 14:31
Lyx questions that don't involve Latex source attract much less interest on SO than regular Latex qns, and without the latex regulars participating. This might be a case for treating the cases differently. –  Charles Stewart Feb 2 '10 at 17:13
"why do LaTeX questions belong on StackOverflow?" See my answer to the question the OP linked: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/12918/… –  dmckee Feb 2 '10 at 19:34

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