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Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

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Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#11

Post by untilHellbanned »

cheald wrote: post #10
untilHellbanned wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so it's not ideal if the solution set is actually so comprehensive that it raises the bar for getting involved. This is precisely what I'm concerned about. I also love SE MASSIVELY. But it does seem like there is a natural ceiling on the service which doesn't afflict others like wikipedia or facebook where content can be generated endlessly. > But I'm not too worried. SO still gets over ten thousand questions per d…

> it does seem like there is a natural ceiling on the service which doesn't afflict others like wikipedia or facebook where content can be generated endlessly. Software development, languages, toolkits, libraries, and frameworks are constantly evolving; there will always be new questions to answer, but they will require you to develop knowledge of those systems ahead of those asking the questions. The really good que…

> The really good questions are usually few and far between, but that's generally because the sorts of people who ask really good questions tend to be the kinds of people who are able to discover the solution without resorting to SO.

Yes, this is the ceiling i'm concerned about.

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#12

Post by zackmorris »

jaydles wrote: post #3

It sounds like what you're mainly describing is that it's hard to ask a question that isn't already answered on the site. (You can't close as a dupe unless the duplicate has answers.) From a "helping the most people learn" perspective, this sounds like a champagne problem: There's so many answers that it's hard to find something to ask that's not already covered. From a community perspective, we do want all devs to b…

As someone who works at SE, would you consider giving a bonus to unanswered questions? Anymore, I've noticed that many of my questions don't receive responses, or if they do, I'm unable to award an answer because they often don't solve the problem. I'm either pushing the envelope too hard, or I'm too fringe and people have trouble seeing what I'm getting at. But just because a question doesn't have an answer doesn't mean it's not important. Quite the contrary, I actually find the unanswered questions the most interesting. I’ve discovered some of the solutions myself days/weeks/months later and posted my own solution, which seems like something that should also have merit.

I feel that my low success rate is hurting my reputation on the site and preventing users from posting answers (I had someone say that my low solution rate deterred him/her from answering but can't find the comment).

The other thing that hurts is that I simply get distracted and never go back to review my questions/award answers. It would be nice if other users could confirm that something works and award the answer for me so I'm not penalized (perhaps by users with a certain rep level, or if a solution gets enough points, or enough time has passed).

I love SE/SO, but maybe someone could confirm that I'm not the only one having these troubles.

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#13

Post by toomuchtodo »

zackmorris wrote: post #12
jaydles wrote: post #3

It sounds like what you're mainly describing is that it's hard to ask a question that isn't already answered on the site. (You can't close as a dupe unless the duplicate has answers.) From a "helping the most people learn" perspective, this sounds like a champagne problem: There's so many answers that it's hard to find something to ask that's not already covered. From a community perspective, we do want all devs to b…

As someone who works at SE, would you consider giving a bonus to unanswered questions? Anymore, I've noticed that many of my questions don't receive responses, or if they do, I'm unable to award an answer because they often don't solve the problem. I'm either pushing the envelope too hard, or I'm too fringe and people have trouble seeing what I'm getting at. But just because a question doesn't have an answer doesn't…

> As someone who works at SE, would you consider giving a bonus to unanswered questions?

Would integrating with BountySource [1] be a possibility?

[1] https://www.bountysource.com/

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#14

Post by toomuchtodo »

cheald wrote: post #8
Someone1234 wrote: post #4

It is fun when you google stuff, get SO results, and then see that it was "closed due to duplication." Particularly when it is the top Google result with no clarification what it is a "duplication" of or similar.

If a SO question is closed as a duplicate, there's a big banner at the top of it saying what it's a duplicate of. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27002661/c-sorting-arrays for example - that grey box at the top shows the answer it was marked as a duplicate of.

Your link you posted appears dead now: https://i.imgur.com/39ymlzy.png

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#15

Post by cheald »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #14
cheald wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a SO question is closed as a duplicate, there's a big banner at the top of it saying what it's a duplicate of. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/27002661/c-sorting-arrays for example - that grey box at the top shows the answer it was marked as a duplicate of.

Your link you posted appears dead now: https://i.imgur.com/39ymlzy.png

Hah. Whoops. Well, search for duplicate:yes and you'll get a list of questions closed as dupes. :)

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#16

Post by panjaro »

jaydles wrote: post #3

It sounds like what you're mainly describing is that it's hard to ask a question that isn't already answered on the site. (You can't close as a dupe unless the duplicate has answers.) From a "helping the most people learn" perspective, this sounds like a champagne problem: There's so many answers that it's hard to find something to ask that's not already covered. From a community perspective, we do want all devs to b…

Hahaahahahahaha !!!

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#17

Post by logn »

cheald wrote: post #10
untilHellbanned wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so it's not ideal if the solution set is actually so comprehensive that it raises the bar for getting involved. This is precisely what I'm concerned about. I also love SE MASSIVELY. But it does seem like there is a natural ceiling on the service which doesn't afflict others like wikipedia or facebook where content can be generated endlessly. > But I'm not too worried. SO still gets over ten thousand questions per d…

> it does seem like there is a natural ceiling on the service which doesn't afflict others like wikipedia or facebook where content can be generated endlessly. Software development, languages, toolkits, libraries, and frameworks are constantly evolving; there will always be new questions to answer, but they will require you to develop knowledge of those systems ahead of those asking the questions. The really good que…

> Software development, languages, toolkits, libraries, and frameworks are constantly evolving

Just make sure to never ask or answer anything related to this on SO. Only copy-pasted stack traces are allowed. Otherwise your thread will be locked and the mods will disperse the crowd.

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#18

Post by uiiuwer8 »

jaydles wrote: post #3

It sounds like what you're mainly describing is that it's hard to ask a question that isn't already answered on the site. (You can't close as a dupe unless the duplicate has answers.) From a "helping the most people learn" perspective, this sounds like a champagne problem: There's so many answers that it's hard to find something to ask that's not already covered. From a community perspective, we do want all devs to b…

stop bullshiting please. Your site is racist as hell. I am from India and just because my name is Indian my questions are downvoted.

Then I created profile with american ( Christan ) name and same question have got 50+ upvotes.

Fact is that many of American scumbags , who in reality do nothing at their jobs and just show up for $$ between 8 to 4 have been dominating site for at least two years.

Another problem is ,every new question which your stupid moderators don't agree with are closed without regard irrespective of value of the question.

Its one thing to occasionally close the question but its another when you call every question poster stupid, opinion-based and especially judge based on nationality.

I have kept proof of how same people and their tone change when I post with american name.

My honest feedback is if you want to maintain the site quality stop judging question posters.

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#19

Post by sharth »

uiiuwer8 wrote: post #18
jaydles wrote: post #3

It sounds like what you're mainly describing is that it's hard to ask a question that isn't already answered on the site. (You can't close as a dupe unless the duplicate has answers.) From a "helping the most people learn" perspective, this sounds like a champagne problem: There's so many answers that it's hard to find something to ask that's not already covered. From a community perspective, we do want all devs to b…

stop bullshiting please. Your site is racist as hell. I am from India and just because my name is Indian my questions are downvoted. Then I created profile with american ( Christan ) name and same question have got 50+ upvotes. Fact is that many of American scumbags , who in reality do nothing at their jobs and just show up for $$ between 8 to 4 have been dominating site for at least two years. Another problem is ,ev…

I've seen comments like this numerous times, but nobody ever links to their high quality questions that have been downvoted.

Could you link to yours?

Re: Ask HN: Is Stackoverflow running out of questions and answers?

#20

Post by cheald »

logn wrote: post #17
cheald wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it does seem like there is a natural ceiling on the service which doesn't afflict others like wikipedia or facebook where content can be generated endlessly. Software development, languages, toolkits, libraries, and frameworks are constantly evolving; there will always be new questions to answer, but they will require you to develop knowledge of those systems ahead of those asking the questions. The really good que…

> Software development, languages, toolkits, libraries, and frameworks are constantly evolving Just make sure to never ask or answer anything related to this on SO. Only copy-pasted stack traces are allowed. Otherwise your thread will be locked and the mods will disperse the crowd.

I assume you're talking about threads which ask for advice on which framework, etc to use? Those are specifically off-topic.
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