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How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

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Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#41

Post by Alupis »

prdonahue wrote: post #37
Alupis wrote: post #22

Perhaps it's time they consider paying Moderators for their time and effort. It doesn't need to be anything large, even a small stipend will suffice. Moderators are the real lifeblood of StackExchange. They spend countless hours ensuring their respective Sub Exchange hums along. Yes, it's a volunteer "job", but it's a job none-the-less - especially since once you become a Moderator, it's more-or-less expected you hav…

Are you a moderator?

> Are you a moderator?

No, and have never been. I have no dog in that race - but as a long time Stack Exchange user, I witness these people's hard work every day.

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#42

Post by tedmiston »

lucb1e wrote: post #5

StackOverflow is an extremely valuable resource for all programmers. I've not seen the option anywhere, but a yearly donation would definitely be something I'd do for a substantial amount (substantial to me as a student, so it's not the moon but not a beer either).

I consider the time that I give to the community answering questions to the best way to help. While I have no idea how to value that in dollars, it's something I put an effort into regularly.

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#43

Post by EpicEng »

sosborn wrote: post #34
overcast wrote: post #31

At this point, I have no desire to participate in or help stackoverflow. The attitudes there are such hostile, elitist garbage, where someone is incapable of asking a question, because it will instantly be closed by the mods. God forbid they are a newbie to the site. Responses essentially amount to go RTFM. This sums it up well. https://hackernoon.com/the-decline-of-stack-overflow-7cb69fa...

> Responses essentially amount to go RTFM. Let's be honest, reading the docs should be everyone's first step before posting a question. So many questions follow the template of "I want to know how to do this but I don't want to put in any effort." The volume of those kinds of questions are what drove me away - not the moderation.

And, on the flip side; people who do RTFM will only ask relatively esoteric questions looking for help on a difficult problem. Good luck getting any answers to that. It happens, but it's pretty rare. Everyone jumps on the latest "why is my hash map implementation crashing?" (It's a bad pointer) in the race for rep.

I am still pretty highly ranked on SO (top 1%), but I haven't been active for nearly two years now.

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#45

Post by nicky0 »

criddell wrote: post #36
vlunkr wrote: post #14

Another good article linked from this one: https://stackoverflow.blog/2016/02/why-stack-overflow-doesnt... . Stack Overflow is IMO the site to look to if you want to do ads correctly. So many big sites have incredibly trashy ads, SO shows that they care to not subject their users to that junk.

I'm actually surprised ads work at all on StackOverflow. I would have guessed that most of their visitors are blocking ads.

Most of the ads are served to non-logged-in visitors who come to specific question pages through a web search.

SO actually shows you fewer ads the more reputation points you have.

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#46

Post by tedmiston »

jaydles wrote: post #11
lucb1e wrote: post #5

StackOverflow is an extremely valuable resource for all programmers. I've not seen the option anywhere, but a yearly donation would definitely be something I'd do for a substantial amount (substantial to me as a student, so it's not the moon but not a beer either).

We're humbled hearing from folks like you - your willingness to give back is what makes it all work. Keep your money. But here's how you CAN help, right now: Sign up if you haven't, create a developer story, and when you ARE job-hunting, try Jobs. We I think you'll find it to be the most developer-friendly offering on the planet.

Just an anecdote from my experience — I am really enjoying the new Stack Overflow Developer Story. Mine is at [1] for example. While I do appreciate jobs, I'm a full-time independent contractor and not looking for a traditional job right now (though I have seen quality offers through SO Jobs).

That said, Developer Story / CV has been instrumental for me and has become my canonical resume. I'm a huge fan.

If I could make one feature request... it would be a way to indicate conference attendance. It's something I give extra credibility to, for both employers as sponsors / presenters and employees as attendees / speakers / volunteers, as not everyone is willing to put in the effort to give back. [You can see on my CV that I've tried to incorporate this as an "other" at the bottom, but it feels a little out of place.]

[1]: http://stackoverflow.com/cv/taylor

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#47

Post by collyw »

Alupis wrote: post #22

Perhaps it's time they consider paying Moderators for their time and effort. It doesn't need to be anything large, even a small stipend will suffice. Moderators are the real lifeblood of StackExchange. They spend countless hours ensuring their respective Sub Exchange hums along. Yes, it's a volunteer "job", but it's a job none-the-less - especially since once you become a Moderator, it's more-or-less expected you hav…

Overzealous moderators are the worst part about Stack Overflow.

Re: How We Make Money at Stack Overflow

#50

Post by collyw »

Zergy wrote: post #40
overcast wrote: post #31

At this point, I have no desire to participate in or help stackoverflow. The attitudes there are such hostile, elitist garbage, where someone is incapable of asking a question, because it will instantly be closed by the mods. God forbid they are a newbie to the site. Responses essentially amount to go RTFM. This sums it up well. https://hackernoon.com/the-decline-of-stack-overflow-7cb69fa...

I used to be very active on SO and I stopped because dealing with new people to the site is a waste of everyones time. SO has the goal of being a Q to A catalog. You're not contributing unless you are asking a new, answerable question or providing and answer to a new or existing question. There are tons of people asking questions that are already answered, tons of people asking questions that would take a book to ans…

A more recent problem with Stack Overflow now that its a few years old. The tech gets updated, and previously good answers are now out of date, as libraries and frameworks have changed.
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