# IMPORTANT: Final ROS & Gazebo Answers Migration Schedule

**URL:** <https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779>\
**Category:** ROS General\
**Created:** [August 7, 2023, 10:24pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779 "2023-08-07T22:24:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![tfoote](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/tfoote/32/3813_2.png) [@tfoote](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/tfoote)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2023, 10:24pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/1 "2023-08-07T22:24:42Z")

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As [previously discussed](http://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-and-gazebo-answers-migration-to-robotics-stack-exchange-process/31494) we will be migrating [ROS Answers](http://answers.ros.org) and [Gazebo Answers](http://answers.gazebosim.org) to [Robotics Stack Exchange](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/). We are happy to announce the final migration timeline. It is planned as follows.

- On August the 11th, [answers.ros.org](http://answers.ros.org) and [answers.gazebosim.org](http://answers.gazebosim.org) will be changed to read-only mode and we will begin the export process.
- On August the 15th, we expect the migrated questions to land on [robotics.stackexchange.com](http://robotics.stackexchange.com).

Please take a moment to do the following.

- Before August the 10th, please create a Robotics.SE account, [Make sure that you’ve submitted your usernames for association between the sites](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf2VGB2p6u8BHFqtADTLoMgioKuv_STjhQ__0ZgnZlP0TQLNg/viewform). You will not receive reputation for past votes, but questions and answers will be associated with your Robotics Stack Exchange account as well as future votes on the migrated questions.
- Before August the 11th, please review any questions that you have asked to see if there’s an answer to accept. This will be your last chance to make any changes.

From today onwards please use the [Robotics Stack Exchange](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/) as your primary ROS and Gazebo Q&A forum.

We will be updating the documentation across all the sites to point people to Robotics Stack Exchange. If you see a trailing reference after the migration please let us know or take a moment to fix it yourself.

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**Author:** ![Katherine\_Scott](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/katherine_scott/32/4434_2.png) [@Katherine\_Scott](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/Katherine_Scott)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2023, 10:55pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/2 "2023-08-07T22:55:43Z")

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**Author:** ![Katherine\_Scott](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/katherine_scott/32/4434_2.png) [@Katherine\_Scott](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/Katherine_Scott)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2023, 10:56pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/3 "2023-08-07T22:56:10Z")

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**Author:** ![130s](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/130s/32/21_2.png) [@130s](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/130s)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 2:07pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/4 "2023-08-08T14:07:19Z")

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- Typo `ros @ Robotics Stack Eschange` in the header link on [answers.ros.org](http://answers.ros.org)? 😅
- Do we want to add this notice at the top of [answers.ros.org](http://answers.ros.org) as well? Moderation queue still piled up today even after this announcement.

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**Author:** ![tfoote](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/tfoote/32/3813_2.png) [@tfoote](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/tfoote)\
**Post date:** [August 8, 2023, 4:23pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/5 "2023-08-08T16:23:28Z")

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> [@130s](#):
>
> Typo `ros @ Robotics Stack Eschange` in the header link on [answers.ros.org](http://answers.ros.org)? 😅

🤦‍♂️ Fixed

> [@130s](#):
>
> Do we want to add this notice at the top of [answers.ros.org](http://answers.ros.org) as well? Moderation queue still piled up today even after this announcement.

Yeah, we’re going to be rolling out headers and documentation in general over this week. But I don’t expect that the flow will stop until there’s a hard stop.

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**Author:** ![smac](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/smac/32/6763_2.png) [@smac](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/smac)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/6 "2023-08-09T19:23:59Z")

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Make sure to tag `nav2` for Nav2 related problems / questions. While I _may_ occasionally scroll on other tags to see where I can help, I’m only actively tracking those with `nav2` (and to some degree `ros2`).

Robotics SE is too much of a fire hose to sift through any other way, even with community help in mind 🙂

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**Author:** ![gavanderhoorn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/gavanderhoorn/32/969_2.png) [@gavanderhoorn](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/gavanderhoorn)\
**Post date:** [August 9, 2023, 8:29pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/7 "2023-08-09T20:29:55Z")

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> [@tfoote](#):
>
> On August the 11th, [answers.ros.org](http://answers.ros.org) and [answers.gazebosim.org](http://answers.gazebosim.org) will be changed to read-only mode

👋 :ros: Answers

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**Author:** ![gavanderhoorn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/gavanderhoorn/32/969_2.png) [@gavanderhoorn](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/gavanderhoorn)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2023, 7:59am UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/8 "2023-08-16T07:59:15Z")

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Not sure something can still be done about it, but I just noticed that migrated Q&As with references to others in “shorthand notation” (ie: `#qNNNNNN`) don’t have those references as URLs converted to the new location of the content (ie: the converted Q&A on SE).

I personally made quite some use of those `#qNNNNNN` references.

One example: [https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/99143/apt-update-signatures-were-invalid-f42ed6fbab17c654](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/99143/apt-update-signatures-were-invalid-f42ed6fbab17c654).

Another: [https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/84745/package-manifest-2-depend-attribute-version-does-not-work](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/84745/package-manifest-2-depend-attribute-version-does-not-work). This one links to [https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/78977/how-to-specify-package-version-in-package-xml-or-rosdep-depends-yaml](https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/78977/how-to-specify-package-version-in-package-xml-or-rosdep-depends-yaml) which was migrated.

If a Q&A wasn’t migrated, linking might be difficult, but perhaps it could then link back to ROS Answers?

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**Author:** ![tfoote](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/tfoote/32/3813_2.png) [@tfoote](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/tfoote)\
**Post date:** [August 17, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/9 "2023-08-17T16:50:43Z")

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That’s a good point. I’ll see if we can do some post processing to revive those links.

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**Author:** ![jediofgever](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/jediofgever/32/11084_2.png) [@jediofgever](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/jediofgever)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2023, 3:30pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/10 "2023-08-23T15:30:06Z")

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I realized that only a portion of my answers had been ported from ROS Answers to Robotics Stack Exchange. Is this expected ?, I had like 71 answers in ROS answers and only 32 of them seem to be registered in RSE.

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**Author:** ![gavanderhoorn](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/gavanderhoorn/32/969_2.png) [@gavanderhoorn](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/gavanderhoorn)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2023, 7:04pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/11 "2023-08-24T19:04:59Z")

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It wasn’t a 1-to-1 sync: there are approximately 800 answers missing from my ‘list’ on RSE.

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**Author:** ![jediofgever](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/jediofgever/32/11084_2.png) [@jediofgever](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/jediofgever)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2023, 12:48pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/12 "2023-08-25T12:48:30Z")

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well, I would have been concerned, that is a lot of value left behind.

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**Author:** ![peci1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/peci1/32/10145_2.png) [@peci1](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/peci1)\
**Post date:** [August 25, 2023, 4:38pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/13 "2023-08-25T16:38:30Z")

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In this post, [ROS and Gazebo Answers Migration to Robotics Stack Exchange Process - ROS General - Open Robotics Discourse](http://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-and-gazebo-answers-migration-to-robotics-stack-exchange-process/31494?u=peci1)

you can read:

> Unfortunately, we can’t transition all ROS Answers content, and it will not be perfect. However, we plan to be transparent about what’s happening, and respond to community feedback about the process.

I thought there was an even more detailed description of what will be migrated, but I couldn’t quickly find it… I think it was something about questions with no answers, comments and votes not being migrated.

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**Author:** ![gbiggs](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/gbiggs/32/30361_2.png) [@gbiggs](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/gbiggs)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2023, 12:39am UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/14 "2023-08-26T00:39:45Z")

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Only those answers that were marked as accepted were migrated.

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**Author:** ![peci1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/peci1/32/10145_2.png) [@peci1](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/peci1)\
**Post date:** [August 27, 2023, 10:41am UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/15 "2023-08-27T10:41:56Z")

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@tfoote could we please get some basic statistics about the transfer? How many questions were migrated? How many ARO user accounts got migrated to (merged with) RSE accounts?

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**Author:** ![tfoote](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/tfoote/32/3813_2.png) [@tfoote](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/tfoote)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 9:03pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/16 "2023-08-29T21:03:17Z")

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Because we were able to backdate content into the database we were able to be more liberal with the imported question and not disrupt the experience on Robotics Stack exchange so we actually opened it up to any question which had an upvote or any question with an upvoted or accepted answer. Thus migrating basically any content that had been recorded as valuable to more than one person.

This heuristic resulted in 34,114 questions from ROS Answers and 2,004 questions from Gazebo Answers being migrated to Robotics Stack Exchange, which was just less than half of the 69,832 questions available on [answers.ros.org](http://answers.ros.org), and 7,233 on Gazebo Answers.

This migrated 39,953 and 2186 answers from each site respectively. Of these 33,821 and 1976 questions had accepted answers. Which means that 99.1% and 98.6% respectively of the migrated questions had accepted answers. This is setting a very good standard for the new site in terms of expecting to be able to find answers to questions.

A fun stat most questions had one answer, but some had as many as 10 here they are ordered by frequency.

1: 31130  
2: 4156  
3: 644  
4: 124  
5: 33  
0: 19  
7: 5  
6: 4  
10: 2  
8: 2  
9: 1

For the user accounts we had 187 people submit user associations. A handful were invalid (such as only providing one of the accounts or linking to non-extant profiles) And some had obvious typos that were able to be manually corrected so there were 183 accounts which had associations which could be credited.

We will be maintaining the old sites as in their read-only state. And are working on longer term archives as well as redirects for content which has been migrated. Gazebo Answers has been having stability and performance problems so we hope to switch to the archive asap to make it more accessible.

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**Author:** ![peci1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/peci1/32/10145_2.png) [@peci1](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/peci1)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2023, 9:14pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/17 "2023-08-29T21:14:47Z")

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Thanks a lot, that’s a great chunk of work you’ve all done 😉

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**Author:** ![peci1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/peci1/32/10145_2.png) [@peci1](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/peci1)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 7:24am UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/18 "2023-08-30T07:24:01Z")

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I was curious how much did our community extend the RSE community. I don’t have exact numbers, but e.g. the “Supporter” badge awarded for the first upvote is given to ~3000 users.

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**Author:** ![Satco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Satco](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/Satco)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 8:15am UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/19 "2023-08-30T08:15:41Z")

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I think the heads up on the migration was a bit short. I get that it can be troublesome to have a longer transition period, but not everybody is monitoring the forums actively here. Anyways I missed the window to register my username between ros answers and robotics SE. I already had an account on both sites with the exact username. But the questions from ros answers were not linked to my robotics SE account. Is there a way to still do that? My username is Hakaishin on both platforms.

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**Author:** ![tfoote](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.openrobotics.org/tfoote/32/3813_2.png) [@tfoote](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/u/tfoote)\
**Post date:** [August 30, 2023, 7:20pm UTC](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779/20 "2023-08-30T19:20:17Z")

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> [@peci1](#):
>
> I was curious how much did our community extend the RSE community. I don’t have exact numbers, but e.g. the “Supporter” badge awarded for the first upvote is given to ~3000 users.

I don’t have one to one visibility in metrics. Looking at the number of users who have earned Karma on [answers.ros.org](http://answers.ros.org) there’s about 50% more on ROS Answers than Robotics.SE.

It’s still early but we have seen significantly increased engagement on Robotics Stack Exchange since the migration with double to triple some of the very basic site statistics.

> [@Satco](#):
>
> I think the heads up on the migration was a bit short. I get that it can be troublesome to have a longer transition period, but not everybody is monitoring the forums actively here. Anyways I missed the window to register my username between ros answers and robotics SE. I already had an account on both sites with the exact username. But the questions from ros answers were not linked to my robotics SE account. Is there a way to still do that? My username is Hakaishin on both platforms.

I’m sorry that you didn’t get a chance to do the association. We’ve been messaging with the specific link to sign up [since May](http://discourse.ros.org/t/ros-and-gazebo-answers-migration-to-robotics-stack-exchange-process/31494) and [June](http://discourse.ros.org/t/call-for-action-ros-answers-migration-account-association/32037) about getting people to register.

The migration has been completed. There’s a question on Robotics Meta Stack Exchange which has the best known solution to try to associate your data now.

[https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1502/ros-users-migrated-to-robotics-stack-exchange-how-to-link-accounts](https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1502/ros-users-migrated-to-robotics-stack-exchange-how-to-link-accounts)

[Next page](https://discourse.openrobotics.org/t/important-final-ros-gazebo-answers-migration-schedule/32779.md?page=2)