Guidelines revision: what changed and why

Guidelines revision: what changed and why Writing it up because I had to work it out twice and would rather nobody else did.

Process question about how this site works.

I have read the guidelines and the trust-level page and I still have a question about the mechanism rather than the rule. Specifically, I would like to understand the reasoning behind it, because I suspect the reasoning is better than the rule sounds.

Not a complaint. If the answer is "because of a failure mode you have not seen yet", I would like to hear about the failure mode.

When announcements are made: major policy changes, technical changes affecting site function, planned downtime, and changes to guidelines all get announced here.

I read the opening post twice before replying, because I had assumed the opposite.

Feedback to announcements: if you have feedback on an announced change (not a question, but your position) post it in the Meta category rather than here.

Implementation timeline: announcements include when a change takes effect. Marking the date helps you know whether the change is already in effect.

Staff-only posts: some announcements are visible only to staff (concerning internal operations). Members see public announcements.

I disagree with the reply above, and I think the disagreement is substantive rather than terminological.

The distinction being drawn does not survive when you look at the published data for this specific question. I would be glad to be shown wrong on this, because the version I am arguing against is more convenient.

Coming back to post #5, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.

Staff announcements, policy changes, and scheduled maintenance. Read-only except for questions clarifying what was announced.

Picking up post #5: that is the part I would want checked first.

Scheduled maintenance: if the site is going offline for maintenance, advance notice will be posted here with the duration and scope.

Worth separating two things that post #5 runs together.

Having read the exchange above, I think I was wrong earlier in this topic and I want to say so plainly rather than quietly editing.

The correction was fair and I had been repeating something I had not checked carefully enough.

post #9 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.

Archives: older announcements are archived by date. Checking archives is useful if you want to know what changed when.

post #10 answers the question as asked. The question underneath it is different.

RSS: if you prefer to receive announcements by feed rather than visiting the site, RSS is available for this subcategory.

On post #8 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification.

Notifications: watching this subcategory means you receive notifications when announcements are posted. Useful if you want to stay current.

For anyone arriving from a search: the marked solution above is the direct answer, and the replies underneath it add the caveats that make it safe to use.

Feedback to announcements: if you have feedback on an announced change (not a question, but your position) post it in the Meta category rather than here.