Must the OP specify whether they are using the web version of the product of interest in their question?

Question

I read on https://webapps.meta.stackexchange.com/a/4789/18147:

By the other hand in the case of Slack, as it happens with a lot of "software as a service", it has multiple apps for different platforms, web, Windows, Mac, Android, iOS. In someway the question body should make it clear that the question is about using or direclty interacting with the web app as on this site only questions about using web app are on-topic.

Is specifying whether one is using the web version of the product of interest in the question a requirement on https://webapps.stackexchange.com? (requirement = the question will be closed if not specified)

I'm surprised as:

1. Many tags clearly indicates that the OP is interested in the web version, e.g. the slack tag clearly indicates:

   Use for questions about the Slacks's web version accessible from a browser. Questions about the installable versions are off-topic on this site.

2. If that was the requirement, many questions should be closed.

Answer 1

Just because a person when they write the question places labels on the question, doesn't automatically mean that labels applies.

While it is expected that they might miss a label, or they may not be sure if they should specify gmail or gmail-labels or gmail-filters, there are times where they put a label on the question that clearly doesn't apply.

So if the question is ambiguous about if the situation is about the web-application, you can ask for clarification in the comments, or write your answer to be clearly about the web application.

I never assume that the person writing the question fully understood the implication of a label and if it looks like it isn't about the web application, then I either vote to close, or ask for the clarification.

Answer 2

Yes, the OP must state that they are using the web site version of the application.

A big reason for this is that the web site version might have different features to the desktop or (more likely) smart phone version of the application so asking a question about a feature that isn't available on the website, or is implemented differently, will cause confusion amongst potential answerers and result in an unsatisfactory experience for the OP.

The fact that the tags mention that they are about the web version of an application is just to reinforce this message.

If you find any questions about native applications then you should vote to close them as off topic. It might take a little while for the question to get closed, but that shouldn't stop you.