Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums • Hacker News Board

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#161

Post by EpicEng » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:13 PM UTC

belorn wrote: post #154

EpicEng wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and while I find them very useful to read, I understand why SE do not like them. This is exactly what I don't understand. If a question is borderline, but obviously useful, why not err on the side of allowing it to stand? >Sometimes, I also see threads closed as homework questions, but those tend to have several duplicates which do have the answer in them, so it has so far not bothered me. This doesn't happen anymo…

I can expand why I think SE do not like "what is best ..." questions. 1: There is no definitive answer to it. At best there is best practice, and at worst there is flame wars. If Moderators tried to distinguish what topic could become flame wars, you tend to end up with very biased moderation. 2: Recommendations are much more time-sensitive than purely technical questions. The best framework in 2005 might be abandon…

I think it depends. "What is the best image processing library?" should be closed. However, if that person goes on to detail what exactly they are trying to do and what constraints they are working with, it may not be so open-ended anymore. And this is only an example of one type of question which is routinely closed. There are others.

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#162

Post by sre_ops » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:13 PM UTC

mavelikara wrote: post #146

jordanpg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an ongoing religious war among avid SO users (don't know about the rest of SE) about what kinds of questions should be allowed. Roughly, there are two camps. Those who say that any well-formed, non-dup question of interest should be let in and those who think it's a stop of last-resort after checking all conceivable documentation and scouring the internet. I believe the latter viewpoint is pretty run-of-the-…

I hope that at some point Google starts pruning away closed SO questions from its index. That will give the user a better search experience.

Most importantly, it would delivery such a hit to SO's bottom line that SO would have to figure out how to reign in the "topic closers"

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#163

Post by baddox » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

Kalium wrote: post #105

sanderjd wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This viewpoint only makes sense if you subscribe to the (very silly) ideas that there are a limited number of internet points available and that they matter. Why does it matter to you which people are being rewarded for what?

It matters because people respond to incentives. If what you want to see encouraged is good answers to novel questions, you need a system that rewards that over copy-pasting from documentation. What do you think happens when the two are rewarded equally, but the latter can be done much more frequently per unit of time?

I don't think what the site developers (or most users, for that matter) want to see is good answers to novel questions. I think they want to is good answers to all questions.

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#164

Post by ciupicri » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

mavelikara wrote: post #146

jordanpg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an ongoing religious war among avid SO users (don't know about the rest of SE) about what kinds of questions should be allowed. Roughly, there are two camps. Those who say that any well-formed, non-dup question of interest should be let in and those who think it's a stop of last-resort after checking all conceivable documentation and scouring the internet. I believe the latter viewpoint is pretty run-of-the-…

I hope that at some point Google starts pruning away closed SO questions from its index. That will give the user a better search experience.

As a side note, the closed questions are not deleted from the web site because Stack Exchange takes a conservative approach when it comes to deletion. Nevertheless some questions do get deleted. The Help Center[1] and Meta[2] have more details on this.

[1]: http://stackoverflow.com/help/deleted-questions

[2]: http://meta.stackexchange.com/q/5221/135744

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#165

Post by stevebot » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:14 PM UTC

I use every bit of StackExchange and have for a few years....except for meta

I use multiple stack exchange sites and even chat and have found it all useful...except for meta

In the few times I have posted to meta, I get downvoted into oblivion. So far, the vibe I get from meta, is that there is an in-crowd with a certain philosophy and if it isn't yours get the fuck out or we will downvote you and pick apart your every word.

It makes me wonder...as a help forum what the hell is meta really for?

Also congrats to SE, glad to see them get this funding...but please wtf is meta?

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#166

Post by blocktuw » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:15 PM UTC

dustingetz wrote: post #126

jordanpg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is an ongoing religious war among avid SO users (don't know about the rest of SE) about what kinds of questions should be allowed. Roughly, there are two camps. Those who say that any well-formed, non-dup question of interest should be let in and those who think it's a stop of last-resort after checking all conceivable documentation and scouring the internet. I believe the latter viewpoint is pretty run-of-the-…

" Those who say that any well-formed, non-dup question of interest should be let in and those who think it's a stop of last-resort after checking all conceivable documentation and scouring the internet. " This is wrong in multiple dimensions and [edit: the next sentence which i didn't quote is] flamebait. One camp believes in following these guidelines to a fault. The other camp thinks some of the rules are counterpr…

This reminds me of the unhelpful SO answers where they state the answer to a question is already stated as part of a spec and won't be answered with a link to the spec. My preferred answer to these questions will quote applicable parts of the spec along with reference numbers and a link.

I don't understand why I have to click another link to go to another site that doesn't have the same context and awareness of where I just came from.

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#167

Post by baddox » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:16 PM UTC

Kalium wrote: post #134

EpicEng wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I can find the answer I am after more quickly by searching and finding a hit on SO than I would by grepping documentation, how is that not providing value?

Now balance it against the more important questions that are unanswered or even unasked because SO becomes a place where there's no point to that. It's not as simple as that.

I get your argument, but it sounds like a weak version of the claim that there is a strict ordering of priorities in the world and that only the top priority should ever be worked on.

Heck, even if the site was only for "novel" questions, according to your logic, only the most important unanswered question should be visible, until it is answered. Otherwise people might be incentivized to answer the second most important question instead.

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#168

Post by Alupis » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:18 PM UTC

juliangregorian wrote: post #158

Alupis wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stack Exchange is to Jobs postings as Facebook is to Advertising. Both have massive potential audience, but both don't deliver engagement and effectively eat your budget. Facebook isn't largely effective (in part) because the audience isn't there to be advertised to, their busy socializing with friends/family. Stack Exchange isn't effective as a Job Bulletin because the audience isn't there to find a job (they probab…

Seems wrong to me. By that logic there ought to be a place for people to go specifically for viewing advertising; no such place exists.

> there ought to be a place for people to go specifically for viewing advertising; no such place exists.

There are plenty. It's about a captive audience. Take a movie theater for example -- you don't have a choice but to sit there and if not look at it, you hear the ads. Same if you're trying to watch at TV show, you have no choice.

Things like DVR have changed that partially and reduced the effectiveness of TV adverts; a major reason why broadcasting companies have fought hard against being able to fast-forward through commercials, etc. You can always show up late to the movie theater too, but most don't and it's not as convenient.

Other examples would be the newspaper classified's sections (or craigslist being the online version). People go and look there specifically to be sold to.

The point being, if your audience isn't captive, or if they aren't already interested in your product, then your adverts are wasted effort (and money).

When's the last time you were on FB and saw a sidebar ad for Coors Light and decided to run out and buy some? What about a car advert? Vacuum cleaner? Probably never. Maybe you liked their FB page, but it likely didn't result in a conversion (meaning you ran out and bought something from that company).

Now if you were on a forum or doing a search for the best Vacuum or best beer or what car you should buy -- you're already interested in the product and far more receptive to being pitched too at that moment.

If you can't have a captive audience, then the next best thing (or maybe better thing) is to have an audience who is looking to buy already. FB and other social sites don't provide that...

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#169

Post by baddox » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:18 PM UTC

Kalium wrote: post #133

EpicEng wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rewarded with what; internet points? How about rewarding the far larger portion of its userbase, i.e., the sector that doesn't care about upvotes, with information? Yes, I am in the former camp if I have to chose one. SO has become far too heavy handed an "noob hostile". I have been around since the beginning and am in the top 0.16% of users and I can't stand how stringently some adhere to the formal and informal gui…

Ultimately, the site depends utterly on the internet points people. Without them there is only noobs asking questions, and they leave without people answering. So, yes. Internet points.

Some people derive personal enjoyment from answering questions.

Re: Stack Exchange Raises $40M Led by A16Z to Boost Its Programmer Forums

#170

Post by programminggeek » Tue, Jan 20, 2015, 9:20 PM UTC

I have basically zero imagination about big dollar numbers, but I just don't see what they are going to do with $40,000,000 that would generate more than $40,000,000 in value.

Without that context, I have no way of seeing this as anything other than a "bubble" investment, even in a pretty awesome product/team.