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Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the main use I have for browser addins that block sites in search results.
Which add on do you recommend? I’ve often thought, after clicking on some search result that instantly leads me to a full page splash, “I want to never see that domain again”
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ublacklist/pncfbmi...
The current situation... If you're a noob who's learning, then your question will be downvoted to hell and u will be blocked as question is deemed low quality..
If you're a pro, then your question will be about something obscure which the mods don't understand, and also will require a more nuanced answer, so it will be downvoted to hell and u will be blocked.
So it's aimed at mid-level devs to ask things with certain answers, the kind of answer which would most likely be found in documentation. So the people who require help/answers the most are kicked off, whereas people who need answers/help the least are encouraged.
Also, most subreddits accepts posting detailed "Am I doing this wrong?" questions instead of only perfectly asked ones that have never been asked before. I find it a better balance than SO removing a question I spent 30 minutes formatting because someone asked a tangentially related question 5 years ago.
every passing year the platform gets more and more hostile to non-americans. I gave up trying to argue and deleted my account. No regrets, modern-day documentation is more than sufficient
Yes I've switched to chatgpt for all my programming questions nowadays because of many reasons: 1. It understands the versions more clearly, it won't generate the code for Bootstrap 2 when my question is about Bootstrap 5 2. Asking follow up questions is easy. So the code didn't work. I tell it that and instantly it tells me what I need to do to fix it (leave missing config file, etc) or gives me an alternate. 3. Its…
I find it hard to believe that ChatGPT is useful beyond trivial things or giving you a lead that you can follow on Google. It's very frequently just plain wrong.
And yes, often I do follow up google searches for some things - but it has already saved me days of research time compared to Google
In my opinion, this has led to two types of questions being asked on StackOverflow: very basic ones that the asker could have easily found in the documentation, and very advanced ones. Unfortunately, the number of basic questions far outweighs the number of advanced ones. As a result, the platform is losing popularity as users become increasingly less willing to answer questions that could have been easily researched.
It could be argued that the vast majority of questions are deserving of downvotes, but that itself is a problem and a turn-off and the definition of what qualifies as a good or bad question could be adjusted so that the majority aren't downvoted.
"Punishing" people for asking questions that would when the site was new be showered in upvotes feels like kicking out the ladder from under those of us who climbed it.
Not sure about stack overflow, but search result quality feels to be in decline. Lately I deliberately try to rely on official documentation more (i.e. have it bookmarked and browse it for answers) instead of trying to look something up in search engine. Which honestly is a good idea anyway.
I had an interesting conv. with my extended in laws about this last week. Basically everyone 20+ telling the mid teens that there was a golden age of google where it could answer questions "like telepathy". It was interesting to hear a diverse (in occupation) non-tech group lamenting the search decline. I felt so validated!
Personally the only websites I see displacing SO on Google results are sites that reuse SO content and game Google to get ad revenue.
This is the main use I have for browser addins that block sites in search results.