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I have been thinking that AWS (Amazon Web Services) is a massive technology and maybe deserves its own site. I want to start a discussion to see if we should just let AWS be discussed in Stack sites such as Server Fault or if it is worth pursuing a site of its own.

AWS is a massive technology that is becoming more and more an industry standard.

I propose a AWS site could be used to disuse how to use AWS features and help the overall community with the concepts and uses of AWS.

If anyone has any good ideas on main topics to discuss I can add them in my question.

I will start with this:

  1. AWS navigation questions
  2. AWS command line questions
  3. AWS group policy development (with json files)
  4. ...
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    I would appreciate an explanation on the down-vote. Can't improve on what I think is a perfectly good question without knowing why it was down-voted. – Mike - SMT Feb 25 at 16:09
  • If you think you have a proposal, do it. Go through the process like everybody else. If you aren't confident you can get it through, why bring it up here at all? – Nij Feb 25 at 18:46
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    @Nij I cannot produce a proposal without support and a group so my question here it to see if it is worth the effort to build a support group for this idea. That is why I want to discuss the topic. If I can find some people that also are interested in this then I can start building towards a proper proposal. – Mike - SMT Feb 25 at 19:10
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I submitted such a proposal on Area 51 in 2017 (old link). In fact, I proposed a general "cloud computing" site to combine AWS, Azure, Google, etc to get a bigger audience. However, it didn't get enough of a following to succeed.

I got quite a few up-votes by adding comments on "Off-topic CLOSED" questions on SO, redirecting people to the proposal.

My original reason for proposing it was because there were lots of AWS-related questions on SO that were receiving down-votes because the questions were not for "programming". However, the line between programming and cloud computing is now being blurred, given that most of it is API-driven.

I've been answering AWS questions on SO for about 5 years and I've noticed a significant decrease in the number of "Off-topic CLOSED" messages on AWS questions over the past two years. It's as though AWS is being more accepted as a topic on StackOverflow.

I suspect that sufficient votes could be gathered by getting support from well-known AWS bloggers / evangelists such as Jeff Barr and Cory Quinn. However, this doesn't necessarily mean there would be a large group of regular users once the site launches. That would need some publicity to a large group of regular AWS practitioners.

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This has been tried many times, and each attempt has failed utterly. As cloud computing platforms becoming increasingly ubiquitous, it's become clearer that such questions should go to the site where the application is being applied (Stack Overflow, Server Fault, Database Administrators, Webmasters, Super User, etc).

Apart from the issue of AWS specifically, if you look at the proposal form it states:

Please link to the organization or website where you will be organizing support for your proposal:

Please note: Stack Exchange does not have a community to build your site. If you do not have a community or organization to back your efforts, please do not submit an application for a site.

I need to write this up as part of a semi-official checklist of what you need before proposing a site. Asking here whether there should be a site about [x] is not the best place to start (hence the down-votes). First you need to have a community organized and ready to actually help build your site. Area 51 cannot find that community for you. See Changes to the Area 51 process.

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    Yes that quoted section is the reason I did not submit a proposal. So a discussion seamed like the next best thing to see if building a community to support AWS was a worth while idea. I still think the down-votes for a discussion like this were a bit on the unnecessary side as I still think a good discussion is possible on this topic but that is just my opinion. As you mentioned it does seam like the best site for general cloud systems computer should be done on sites like the ones you mentioned but I felt AWS was big enough in its own right to warrant a discussion on it. – Mike - SMT Feb 25 at 19:41

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