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Tired of Stack Overflow

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Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#291

Post by rocqua »

corobo wrote: post #287
codexon wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is certainly one of my pet peeves about that site. It is also a behavior frequently seen on IRC as well. I got a good amount of points by answering the actual questions. Since hitting moderator status based on the number of points many years ago I've stopped using it though. It gets tiring fighting against people like this who often have >50-100k points. Occasionally I'll land on the website again after googling…

Ever since someone posted an article on “The XY Problem” nerds on all mediums have been assuming it’s always an XY problem

It might even be the XY problem, but even if it is. Answer their question, and explain why maybe they should be considering something else after you answered the question.

At that point, one is being extra helpful by adding context. Which is in stark contrast to 'that is probably the wrong question, and here is why'. Which is hard to distinguish from being willfully obtuse.

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#292

Post by mentat »

eitland wrote: post #273
protomyth wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish SO had the courage of its convictions and stopped all locked pages from being seen by search engines. That way unhelpful links wouldn't waste people's time when searching for answers.

Problem is a good number of helpful pages has ben locked. Removing it would remove thebonly good answer to that question from the Internet.

Which is the OP's point, that they shouldn't be locked.

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#293

Post by rocqua »

krilly wrote: post #262
waisbrot wrote: post #240

Every year I see a post complaining about how unfriendly Stack Overflow is, how their pet question got downvoted so unfairly, and how Stack Overflow is dying. Everyone agrees: Stack Overflow is too mean and is dying. But time and again when I search for a question online if there's an SO version of it it has the best answer. And when I can't find an answer anywhere and I ask on SO I usually get a good answer quickly.…

I agree that when I search for a question online I very often find a SO question with my exact problem. But it seems like almost EVERY SINGLE TIME, the question has been locked for being unconstructive, off-topic, (wrongly) a duplicate, whatever. Despite having hundreds of upvotes and tens of thousands of views. So this page is at the top of the google search results for the query and it can never be updated with new…

I mostly hit this locked question thing with recommendations like 'what graph database should I use'. I've found that for simpler straight up programming questions, there is much less locked questions.

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#294

Post by mLuby »

waisbrot wrote: post #229
aflag wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the problem with being lazy? If you are even lazier, just don't answer. If it's a duplicate, just link it to the delicate question. Having useless questions shouldn't be a problem while searching for answers.

The problem is that just looking through the queue of unanswered questions takes effort. If I have a list of good, honestly-asked questions, I'm willing to look for a few that I know how to answer and answer them. If I have a vast pile of "plz do this homework for me [transcribed question with errors or link to a private PDF]" then I just won't use Stack Overflow.

That's what flagging is for. Why don't people flag more?

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#295

Post by dave1999x »

I joined Stack Overflow on day 1 and I've found it very useful. You could argue that despite its flaws it has successfully achieved its goals. Stack Overflow is a great example of gamification.

The reason for fatigue is not because of downvotes, but because it is no longer "fun". It's done. There is nothing left to add unless you want to jump on new technologies.

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#296

Post by dirtylowprofile »

Was an avid contributor to the site way back (I even won there contest back then with tumbler and shirt swag) but the site is very hostile now. SO took a very long time to address this one but now it is too little too late. Very arrogant of them.

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#297

Post by aloisdg »

bachmeier wrote: post #203
el_cujo wrote: post #16

I really think it's better to just have an up vote arrow and no down vote option, for questions at least. The only reason on a site like that to really vote something down should be if something is off topic or against the rules, in which case you have a report button. If a question just straight up doesn't interest you or you don't want to answer it, then ignoring it rather than voting it down seems like the reasona…

Make downvotes require a comment. Let other users vote on the reasoning. If it's a BS reason like "Duplicate! Duplicate!" that's wrong, let others erase that vandalism from the site. One of the stupidest things on the internet is when someone comments that it's a duplicate question and then posts something that makes it obvious they read neither the question nor the supposed duplicate. Most downvotes are never explai…

http://idownvotedbecau.se/ is handy to have a quick useful comment.

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#298

Post by eitland »

Aperocky wrote: post #228
bachmeier wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Make downvotes require a comment. Let other users vote on the reasoning. If it's a BS reason like "Duplicate! Duplicate!" that's wrong, let others erase that vandalism from the site. One of the stupidest things on the internet is when someone comments that it's a duplicate question and then posts something that makes it obvious they read neither the question nor the supposed duplicate. Most downvotes are never explai…

I agree that we should make downvotes only ok with a comment. But then again there's a fine line that both side seem to constantly walk over. 30% of question consists of "how to do this on my homework, please submit a full solution", while the other 30% that are legitimate question being over zealously patrolled.

> 30% of question consists of "how to do this on my homework, please submit a full solution"

I've suggested a few times already that part of this problem might be that asking questions is the first privilege you get and you get it for free.

If it costs something people would be more careful.

The cost can be anything:

- Classify 5 answers correctly

- Pick answers from a multiple choice

- Pay a dollar

- Wait a few days to activate

- etc

Ideally the user should be able to choose a method that suits them but make the account worth something.

As long as accounts are free, activate instantly and comes with a free right to ask questions, stop being surprised that new accounts pop up to ask silly questions.

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#299

Post by protomyth »

mentat wrote: post #292
eitland wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problem is a good number of helpful pages has ben locked. Removing it would remove thebonly good answer to that question from the Internet.

Which is the OP's point, that they shouldn't be locked.

Yep. If it's locked then it shouldn't be useful. If it's locked and useful then there is a problem.

Re: Tired of Stack Overflow

#300

Post by protomyth »

kelnos wrote: post #274
protomyth wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish SO had the courage of its convictions and stopped all locked pages from being seen by search engines. That way unhelpful links wouldn't waste people's time when searching for answers.

The problem is that I often land on a locked SO question, and it's actually incredibly helpful, leading me to wonder why it was locked in the first place.

As mentat pointed out, it shouldn't be locked.
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