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This is such an important point and missed so often by technical types. Impressed to hear it stated so clearly here.
I got downvoted for answering some simple questions at stackoverflow.com for encouraging low quality questions. This was discussed in the article.
I can see why some people can get hostile as some questions are framed as please solve this for me. Usually people ask the posters to tell them what they had done but the tone of that request can be harsh.
I think the elitism is most prevalent in stackoverlow. The other stack websites seem less hostile.
>Too many people experience Stack Overflow¹ as a hostile or elitist place, especially newer coders, women, people of color, and others in marginalized groups. Women consider SO an elitist place? People of colour? What colour? Black? White? Marginalised groups? Which groups are those? Are people in SO hostile to Palestinians? Amputees? Such an accusation, where's the data to back it? I'm white and male and completely…
I used to participate in SO but also stopped because people were answering questions faster with better quality. That's a strength not a weakness.
>Too many people experience Stack Overflow¹ as a hostile or elitist place, especially newer coders, women, people of color, and others in marginalized groups. Women consider SO an elitist place? People of colour? What colour? Black? White? Marginalised groups? Which groups are those? Are people in SO hostile to Palestinians? Amputees? Such an accusation, where's the data to back it? I'm white and male and completely…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm kinda baffled by this complaint. [edit: OP has completely changed their post.] I'd think most new SO users are looking for help or a solution to a problem. Why was not being able to vote yet so upsetting you abandoned the resource?
I tried being part of the community
Letting them vote seems like it'd quickly result in voting rings via a bunch of zero rep bot accounts.
> Feelings have no “technically correct.” They’re just what the feeler is telling you. When someone tells you how they feel, you can pack up your magnifying glass and clue kit, cuz that’s the answer. You’re done. This is such an important point and missed so often by technical types. Impressed to hear it stated so clearly here.
> Too many people experience Stack Overflow as a hostile or elitist place, especially newer coders, women, people of color, and others in marginalized groups
Breaking that down...
"...people experience Stack Overflow as a hostile or elitist place..."
This is obvious just by looking at the discussions that happen here, or, even by observing the SO-related memes that bubble up to the top of Reddit programming subs. I have commented on it myself.
"...especially newer coders, women, people of color, and others in marginalized groups."
lol what?
Like most programmers, I use SO practically every day. I don't post much because that's usually a waste of time, but I land on SO from searching for errors all the time. I cannot recall ever, even once, seeing someone's race, sex, or orientation being mocked or even mentioned. As far as I can tell most users don't have full names or photos on their profiles. So it isn't even possible to know such things unless it was volunteered, and that never happens when asking questions about APIs and whatnot.
So what in the heck are they even talking about? I'm glad the issue is getting attention, but justifying like this strikes me as pointless virtue signaling. Perhaps they are trying to stem criticism from their power users who like SO the way it is.
I didn't feel welcome the few times I tried answering questions
I'm kinda baffled by this complaint. [edit: OP has completely changed their post.] I'd think most new SO users are looking for help or a solution to a problem. Why was not being able to vote yet so upsetting you abandoned the resource?
I suspect a lot of people who use Stackoverflow have now used it enough (grown up with it) that they don't have these kinds of problems anymore.