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Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

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Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#321

Post by jehlakj »

mark-r wrote: post #214
cf498 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Most of the times I end up on Stack Overflow, I arrive via Google. I usually have to check for around 5 answers before I find one that hasn't been locked as "not constructive" or for some other arbitrary reason. Thats kind of the point though isnt it? The idea is that you should find the right question and answer and not the x-th repost of them. Anyone familiar with the side know why reposts arent simply deleted ins…

Sometimes it's helpful to have a question that's worded differently so that there's multiple ways of finding the answer. And sometimes a duplicate question gets an even better answer than the original before it gets locked.

Also the timing helps a lot in some cases. Not every old and correct answers are updated constantly.

Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#322

Post by sigstoat »

0x00000000 wrote: post #203
stuartd wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> one of my questions from 2011 edited today, to remove the word "Thanks!" from the bottom. A successful edit is a way to gain reputation, which is hard to get these days for new users. I know it feels a bit odd when someone else edits your question: you could roll it back, but then again why should you be bothered? It's the same question, with one less word.

I guess that explains why literally almost every single question and answer has been edited by a high ranking user to add a comma or change one word usually

as someone who can edit posts freely, you've got to change a minimum amount of stuff. you can't just add a comma or change one word.

(also as the sibling comment points out, once you can do that, you don't get anything for it.)

Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#324

Post by Ajedi32 »

corobo wrote: post #269
ldiracdelta wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still find great results from questions that the Most Holy Keepers Of Stackoverflow Purity deem "off topic".

Oh yeah I more mean the ones where someone doesn't manage to sneak in an answer before the question police get there

Those get automatically deleted after a few months. https://stackoverflow.com/help/roomba

Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#325

Post by [deleted] »

Karunamon wrote: post #92
weberc2 wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that SO has an arrogance problem and the diversity appeal is pandering, but the "trash fire" characterization is too hyperbolic. The site is still immensely useful if suboptimal.

SO is a trash fire that has some really great content down in the basement, [beware of leopard metaphor elided]. But the problem is the people on the ground floor that the average new user will run into are, to put not too fine a point on it, a buncha jerks. Great place for finding answers to older common questions, really awful place for asking new ones.

[deleted]

Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#326

Post by blueline »

vorpalhex wrote: post #30
lukev wrote: post #11

> 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.

"I just feel it's ok to have variables named after single letters."

"the tone of your response makes me feel like i'm being condescended to" is me expressing an emotion i experienced due to something you said

"i feel that " is a different use of the word (nearly synonymous with "think")

unless you're a non-native english speaker, i'm almost 100% positive that you know the difference and are being intentionally obtuse

Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#327

Post by corobo »

ben509 wrote: post #221
crispyambulance wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the point of SO being a canonical source for generalized questions relating to CS/programming. NO. The point of SO is NOT to be a "canonical source for generalized questions [and answers] relating to CS/Programming". In fact, if you ask a "generalized question" it will be smacked down as "too broad". If you ask a CS question, it will be downvoted as off-topic. SO is a place to ask certain kinds of very specific and…

> Anything outside of that narrow band (hell, even most stuff that's perfect appropriate) gets smugly dismissed by petty assholes. The petty assholes who spend hours of their time tediously cultivating one of the world's most useful resources? Those petty assholes?

Honestly reading that I'm picturing Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons as a StackOverflow moderator and the personality type slots in so perfectly. Yes, those petty assholes.

Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#328

Post by bcoughlan »

freeflight wrote: post #270
s73v3r_ wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Feeling get injected into everything, because we're all humans with feelings, not robots.

But that doesn't mean they should dominate everything we do. Feelings shouldn't control us, they can guide us sure enough, but the moment they control us we might just as well climb back up the trees and go back to angrily flinging poo at each other.

Well said. People mostly want to avoid hurting others feelings, but that opens us up to an attack vector where a person or group demands that others change their behaviour so as to respect their feelings, but in bad faith a means of subjugating others. The Crybully exploit if you will.

This has become such a common feature of every debate that the angry mobs on the internet are a greater threat than government to freedom of speech.

Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#329

Post by thedarkginger »

protonimitate wrote: post #3

Glad to see an active approach is being taken. SO is a great resource and contains some of the best information on the web IRT programming. If there was only one thing I could change it would be this: If someone marks a question as duplicate, and closes, make them provide a link to the 'original' question and a brief summary as to why it is a duplicate. Closing something as duplicate and then forcing the user who sub…

My favorite is when I do the digging, find a similar answer that misses a key nuance, link to it to help explain the difference, and then get marked as a duplicate to the question that I am saying is different with no explanation.

SO is a killer resource for me as a new-ish coder but man, there's an uphill climb before you can avoid making people mad while using it.

Re: Stack Overflow Isn’t Very Welcoming – It’s Time for That to Change

#330

Post by politician »

Someone1234 wrote: post #150
Karunamon wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SO is a trash fire that has some really great content down in the basement, [beware of leopard metaphor elided]. But the problem is the people on the ground floor that the average new user will run into are, to put not too fine a point on it, a buncha jerks. Great place for finding answers to older common questions, really awful place for asking new ones.

> Great place for finding answers to older common questions, really awful place for asking new ones. It might just be me, but I've found it substantially harder to find good Q/As on SO for newer topics and frameworks. You ask about a technology which existed in 2014 and there are high quality detailed posts all about it, with different viewpoints, upsides/downsides, etc. But you do the same with a technology populari…

I've seen that too, and strongly suspect that's because everyone that tries to post is beaten down by overzealous mods - so no one tries anymore. I don't.

You have to perfectly craft questions to sneak past the fast-close and you-should-do-X karma farming traps. It's not worth the time trying to predict how today's trolls will close your question.

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