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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

#341

Post by s73v3r_ »

inostia wrote: post #320
s73v3r_ wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are far, far more constructive ways to educate the asker of such a question than to outright tell them they're stupid. Especially because, while such a question might not be the most constructive, it being there doesn't hurt anyone at all. It doesn't cost anything to be nice and to try and make the community feel more welcoming.

I wasn't talking about mean or hurtful language. I was talking about telling someone that their question isn't a good fit for SO. The consequence of that may be a feeling of being "excluded". So now everyone has to add a smiley face at the end of their comments when they say, "You didn't add any sample code. I don't know what you're asking help about" or "I can't understand your question, you should rephrase it"?

No, and I believe you're taking things way too far. And we've all seen pretty mean SO rejection messages. It doesn't take much to be polite in doing so. If you're going to come back with, "What if I'm polite and they still think I'm mean," well, then I don't know what to tell you. I do know that the answer is not to add actual hostility to the site just because you feel that a few people might take expectations of politeness too far.

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

#342

Post by Izkata »

JPGalt wrote: post #298
warent wrote: post #45

I've experienced a form of hostility in StackOverflow just recently--as in a couple of days ago. On a whim, I visited the website and answered a couple questions, something I'd never done before. I realized it was actually a lot of fun, so I started rapidly answering the all JavaScript questions I could as they were asked. Suddenly a "higher ranking" individual started leaving comments on my answers that I needed to…

I have had similar issues on this site. I have had 3 high rep users of the site close a question I asked having never answered a single question in the technology I was referencing. That said I have never felt that because I was not white I was treated differently, how would anyone even know that? I guess they could go look for a profile picture before they answer? If you have people doing that then there is a much b…

> That said I have never felt that because I was not white I was treated differently, how would anyone even know that? I guess they could go look for a profile picture before they answer?

> If you have people doing that then there is a much bigger issue then what has been described by the EVP.

Probably why the comments are disabled on that blog post. Doesn't want anyone pointing out the disconnects from reality.

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

#343

Post by joeax »

Stack Overflow needs to be broken up into smaller, baby SO mini-sites (Bell telecom style) focused on separate lagnuages or stacks, like one for Node, one for .NET/C#, one for databases, etc. It seems they are headed this way for some disciplines like game dev and Unix/Linux, but they need to take it further and shut down the main SO site and migrate questions to these smaller sites. The site as it exists today is just one big monolithic mess with too many busybodies making it awkward for everyone else.

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

#344

Post by simonblack »

The only time I use Stack Overflow these days is when Google takes me directly to a single question and answer.

Way back when SO was new, I actually had quite a few karma points from my answers. I stopped going there/using it/answering questions when I was being denigrated for doing so by some elitist dickheads. I continue to deliberately stay away.

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

#345

Post by manigandham »

galacticpony2 wrote: post #313
manigandham wrote: post #284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly, if you are more prone to sunburn, wear more sunscreen. Same as handling your own feelings. And yes, feelings are completely in your head. Things happen in the world and your mind reacts a certain way. Nobody else knows how you will react nor do they have any control of your consciousness.

> Exactly, if you are more prone to sunburn, wear more sunscreen. Same as handling your own feelings. If you could "handle your feelings" as easily as putting on sunscreen, literally every psychotherapist would be out of work. > And yes, feelings are completely in your head. Anything you will ever perceive is "in your head". You don't control a lot of it. "Positive thinking" doesn't cure depression or schizophrenia.…

It's not about easy or hard, the point is that it is under your control.

If your emotions are subconscious and you yourself aren't fully in control then how could you possible blame someone else for them? If it's that simple to be affected then you could just as easily affect yourself back to the state you want to be in, hence it is a circular argument without basis.

The world happens. You react. Equip and train yourself to react differently if you don't like the outcomes.

Predictability does not mean causation, especially when it is not accurate 100% of the time and therefore subjective. Sure, when you yell at someone, they might become upset. But another person might not care at all. So are you now causing both anger and apathy in these individuals with the same statement? Or is it that they react as individuals instead and it's really under none of your control?

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

#346

Post by mr_toad »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #234
icc97 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the relevant Meta SO post about that [0] and the main meta SE discussion about it [1]. The guy posting [0] has 145k in reputation and writes comments along these lines: > So I started to remove "Thanks in advanced", which in addition to being inappropriate for Stack Exchange, is a corruption of the English language, and needs to be stamped out before too many people decide that it's correct English (thus makin…

I like how your [1] has 2 opposing opinions as the top comments, both at exactly 147 points. > Whats wrong with hi or thanks? Boy what is this world coming to. Mundane mutes who just want answers. > Kill it with fire. You want to do social you get on Facebook. :) I like the questions just to be questions (without any noise).

I think they want to discourage people begging for answers, along the lines of ‘please help or I’ll get fired and my wife will leave me and my kids will starve.’

And to some people, saying ‘thanks’ before anyone has agreed to help sounds passive-aggressive. Like those notes in the workplace kitchen that feign gratitude for ordering you to do something.

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

#347

Post by sesutton »

kristianc wrote: post #138
herogreen wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally very much like SO. I have However a friend of mine (that I believe as a better level in programming than me) has the same feeling of "bizzare community" that you have, so I know that the issue is complex. That said I really have zero ideas about what they could do to improve the way they are seen by everyone without breaking the way the site currently works. Have you heard about the term "help vampire" ?…

I wonder if there's a bit of "5 Whys" going on here. 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. Is it any wonder that people find it easier to ask their own questions? The name "help vampire" is so telling of how SO mods see themselves (as arbiters an…

I often come across questions that are closed as being duplicates but are different in some important way that whoever closed it obviously doesn't understand.

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

#348

Post by corobo »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #324
corobo wrote: post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That works for site maintenance and garbage collection but it doesn't stop them appearing in search results which is where my problem lies

If I see a StackOverflow result in my search I'd wager there's a more than 50% chance it's a closed question without an answer. Sometimes I'll grant if it was marked dupe I may end up finding the answer, but honestly the only visits I really remember are those that are marked dupe and link to something sounding similar but completely unrelated

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

#349

Post by scardine »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #295
scardine wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it is not that toxic communities produce better content, it is just the fact that encyclopedic content websites tend to atract borderline autistic people obsessed with some subject who sound like absolute jerks for everybody but themselves.

Can you not use autistic as an insult, please?

Dude, I don't. My 5 year old son is in the spectrum and I probably would be diagnosed as well by todays standard. We are lucky enough to be on the high-functional end of the spectrum but it is still taxing on the family. I can't possibly imagine how worst it is for more severe cases and I'm sorry if I offended you but many of my best friends are also borderline autistic and they are the best people I know.

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

#350

Post by Izkata »

singularity2001 wrote: post #304
legostormtroopr wrote: post #201

What the StackOverflow company fails to get is that their product is assholes and industrial level asshole production. Every question is moderated by volunteers, who have curated every high value question there. From an askers perspective, sure you may have asked 1 slightly off-topic question, but for a reviewer, that’s the 30th off-topic question today - and SO gamifies reviewing so you are encouraged to do so. I us…

Good explanation, but what's the purpose of deleting duplicates and "off-topic" questions other than saving some SO storage space? Edit: IMO closing duplicates makes sense, IFF users are asked 'does the linked duplicate answer you question' and confirm. Deleting only makes sense in case of exact duplicates, otherwise they might be useful variants worth linking.

Closing duplicates has multiple uses:

* Directs the asker to a place where their question has already been answered.

* Trains the user to search for an answer instead of blindly asking.

* Gets new answerers to put their answers all in one place so it's easier for others to find later.

* Not deleting it acts as a signpost for people searching on more variations of the same question.

Closing off-topic questions should be obvious: Prevent scope creep and limit the "broken windows" effect.

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