This is the first time I've read anything on that site without having to scroll all the way down.
Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
41–50 of 141 posts
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#42Jees. Talk about sour grapes... If EE wants to know why they weren't picked for the Q&A site pow-wow while StackExchange and Quora were, they should look no further than themselves. Let's take a look at one of their current top answers: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Virus_and_Spyware/Anti-Virus... 30 day trial?! Subscribe now?! Who do they think they're kidding? Or really: who actually uses this thing? Before the o…
And of course, if you change the Referer header to http://www.google.com/ , you get a different page with the solution at the bottom. I find myself wondering though - why don't they get punished more for feeding different content to the GoogleBot vs what the normal viewer sees? Isn't it basically cloaking - even though clicking on the link in Google search results will still serve up the solution, a normal, organic l…
Google sort of encourages this kind of cloaking. It's called First Click Free.
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en...
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#43One of the big things that makes Experts Exchange unique is a patented system that requires askers to select their best answer. Most Q&A sites (StackExchange included) let the community vote for the best answer, when really the person whose opinion matters most is the one who asked the question. StackOverflow allows for both community voting AND for the original asker to indicate which answer was the best answer. I s…
http://www.google.com/patents?vid=6064978 IANAL, but it appears that simply having a "question and answer" site doesn't apply to this patent. If you read the patent, it's mostly related to the idea of asking a question costs points and giving the best answer, as chosen by the asker, receives points. Any variation on this scheme, such as a general moderator or the public via voting choses the best answer, or not havin…
Merely removing one claim would be sufficient to avoid their patent. It gets tricky if you "change" a claim, because then you have to consider the substantiality of that change. For example, moving the "point escrow" of claim 9 would be sufficient to avoid their entire patent, but you'd likely be staring down the barrel of the dirtbag attorney they hire to drag you through the mud in an expensive federal court case, hoping you'll just opt for a licensing agreement. It is what it is.
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#44These guys tried to recruit me out of CalPoly. One of the most disgusting, slimy companies on the internet, and the people behind the site are every bit the sleezeballs you think they are. I believe this blog post adequately supports my assertion.
(Also, who can resist the old internet joke about their original domain name? expert sex change dot com made for good chuckles in Staley's class.)
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#45Jees. Talk about sour grapes... If EE wants to know why they weren't picked for the Q&A site pow-wow while StackExchange and Quora were, they should look no further than themselves. Let's take a look at one of their current top answers: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Virus_and_Spyware/Anti-Virus... 30 day trial?! Subscribe now?! Who do they think they're kidding? Or really: who actually uses this thing? Before the o…
>...Or really: who actually uses this thing? ... The image I have always had of the userbase of EE is a middle aged vet wearing a vest with a lot of pins and smells of cigarettes who sits in his trailer on The Internet Forums answering computer questions such as "Which is better - a 3 1/2 inch floppy or 5 1/4 inch floppy" and is known to the other folks in the park as "The Computer Guy" His goto answer for anything b…
No offense, but your imagination is pretty elitist.
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
And of course, if you change the Referer header to http://www.google.com/ , you get a different page with the solution at the bottom. I find myself wondering though - why don't they get punished more for feeding different content to the GoogleBot vs what the normal viewer sees? Isn't it basically cloaking - even though clicking on the link in Google search results will still serve up the solution, a normal, organic l…
Google sort of encourages this kind of cloaking. It's called First Click Free. http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en...
Of course, I had forgotten...
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#47"What do YOU think makes this site different from other Q&A sites?"
Why, at one time, I was one of the highest ranked volunteer 'experts' on the site, having amassed the EE equivalent of a zillion karma, or whatever they're called, and then, literally, the first time I go there to ask a question, they're all of a sudden premium? I literally helped build that site's content, and not only got nothing for it, but I have to pay to see the answers that I populated the site with?
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#48Honestly, I'm just shocked to see that there's a real person behind the site. I don't know why, but whenever I stumbled across an EE answer through Google, it's always seemed like a place full of crystallized ancient knowledge.
They are based in San Luis Obispo, CA, and I have met a few people that work there. It's interesting to hear all of the complaints from people who work there right out of college (Cal Poly is near by). Apparently they are not very nice to their developers and many burn out after a year and quit.
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#49"I guess the dangerous thing about dirtbags is that they have no idea they're dirtbags."
This needs to be said again.
Re: Expert Exchange gets narky after snub from Q/A site review
#50I am mostly a coder, but running a small start-up, I encountered a need to configure 3com and HP switches and routers (VLANs, routing, BGP, etc). Those devices have a complex OS, and the documentation is usually cumbersome. To my surprise, the only site where I got exact answers on this was experts-exchange. Google did not help, stackoverflow did not help. I was about to hire an consultant for a few thousand, but discovered that I could do it myself, paying about $30/mo for e-e.