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Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

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Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#151

Post by Trufa »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #103

Am I the only one that still finds SO to be quite useful? If I paste an error message into Google, it's still quite likely that the SO answer is the best one. And if it doesn't, I contribute an answer if/when I eventually find it because I still think I get more out of SO than I put in. I've received 21 necromancer badges doing that.

Every time SO comes up on HN, I’m wondering what universe I live in where it’s such a useful site with strict guidelines that actually make it useful.

Maybe it’s the bias of being there since the early days and really getting how to ask and answer questions.

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#152

Post by latchkey »

jf22 wrote: post #16

I'm not surprised. These days, I use SO a lot less often. Github issues, first party documentation, Discords, and Copilot are much better ways to get help.

What I'd love to see is ChatGPT trained on GH issues/prs for a project and then use that to summarize things into something that looks like SO output.

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#153

Post by gunapologist99 »

matkoniecz wrote: post #107
AlbertCory wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

also called schadenfreude . while I agree about SO culture, it's probably the case that most of the laid-off staff took no part in that behavior. The Great Reset 2.0 which might save SO: Everyone whose downvotes exceed a certain threshold has their reputation points reduced to zero. And since "sentiment" is measurable nowadays, the same would be done for anyone whose hostile comments exceed some threshold. Probably o…

> Everyone whose downvotes exceed a certain threshold has their reputation points reduced to zero. Why it would help? While closing random questions as duplicates of similar but different question is obnoxious, downvoting "do my homework for me" questions is very useful.

> While closing random questions as duplicates of similar but different question is obnoxious, downvoting "do my homework for me" questions is very useful.

In what way? Who really cares if it's homework or a newbie question? Are you such an expert in everything that you never ask newbie questions?

This arrogant attitude is toxic, spreads quickly, and poisons far too many communities. I'm grateful to dang et al that HN hasn't become like this.

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#154

Post by lokar »

ggregoire wrote: post #148
bryanlarsen wrote: post #103

Am I the only one that still finds SO to be quite useful? If I paste an error message into Google, it's still quite likely that the SO answer is the best one. And if it doesn't, I contribute an answer if/when I eventually find it because I still think I get more out of SO than I put in. I've received 21 necromancer badges doing that.

Same here. I look for answers about 10 times a day I'd say and in 90% of the cases I found what I was looking for, in a few seconds, for free. I also post answers when I found old questions and the answers are outdated or not complete. I know it helps other people cause I usually get 1-10 upvotes / year for those answers on old questions. Mostly about python, sql, postgres, js, react, aws and docker, so popular topic…

I’m curious what you are doing that leads you to lookup stuff 10 times a day.

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#155

Post by GordonS »

jasonlotito wrote: post #144
passthejoe wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I had a nickel for every SO thread that came up in my Google searches that could have answered my question if only the SO moderators had allowed it to be answered, I'd be able to buy a few steak dinners.

This is how it works for me, usually. Q: I have this problem. Mod: This is a dup of this. Me: Goes to read the other ticket. It's from 8 years ago, and the answer was "This is solved in version X." Me, on something many versions after X, and having the hindsight of knowing that no, it was not solved in X, shakes my head. I find the solution someplace else. I do not go back to SO because I can't be bothered to fight a…

Same experience here, except half the time I visit the "duplicate" question, only to find it isn't a duplicate at all! In the last I've had several of my own questions closed as "duplicates", where it's quite obvious the moderator didn't read either my question, or the one they point to.

I haven't asked a question on SO for over 2 years now, mainly because I just got sick of the hostile environment that the mods created.

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#156

Post by crakhamster01 »

antimora wrote: post #137
bryanlarsen wrote: post #103

Am I the only one that still finds SO to be quite useful? If I paste an error message into Google, it's still quite likely that the SO answer is the best one. And if it doesn't, I contribute an answer if/when I eventually find it because I still think I get more out of SO than I put in. I've received 21 necromancer badges doing that.

For finding answers, Stack Overflow may be useful, but for posting questions, it is not. I ceased posting questions a while ago due to the aggressive moderation, which often labeled my questions as duplicates or too common. I was very upset with the direction Stack Overflow had taken, as it seemed to embody the very criticisms it had once had about forums. The Stack Overflow community has lost its vibrancy and has be…

Is ChatGPT a competitor? I always viewed LLMs in this context as an interface for SO. They're not contributing new answers/code, right?

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#157

Post by charlie0 »

antimora wrote: post #137
bryanlarsen wrote: post #103

Am I the only one that still finds SO to be quite useful? If I paste an error message into Google, it's still quite likely that the SO answer is the best one. And if it doesn't, I contribute an answer if/when I eventually find it because I still think I get more out of SO than I put in. I've received 21 necromancer badges doing that.

For finding answers, Stack Overflow may be useful, but for posting questions, it is not. I ceased posting questions a while ago due to the aggressive moderation, which often labeled my questions as duplicates or too common. I was very upset with the direction Stack Overflow had taken, as it seemed to embody the very criticisms it had once had about forums. The Stack Overflow community has lost its vibrancy and has be…

If they didn't moderate aggressively, they would probably end up with a bunch of duplicate questions. I really like the fact there's not a ton of dups on SO. ie, see other help sites. They also have a high standard for those questions, to the point where it will take 10+ minutes to post a good question. I don't ask questions either, mainly because I don't want to spend 30+ minutes writing a good question AND that's a good thing.

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#158

Post by trenchgun »

crakhamster01 wrote: post #156
antimora wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For finding answers, Stack Overflow may be useful, but for posting questions, it is not. I ceased posting questions a while ago due to the aggressive moderation, which often labeled my questions as duplicates or too common. I was very upset with the direction Stack Overflow had taken, as it seemed to embody the very criticisms it had once had about forums. The Stack Overflow community has lost its vibrancy and has be…

Is ChatGPT a competitor? I always viewed LLMs in this context as an interface for SO. They're not contributing new answers/code, right?

It bootstraps from the internet, including SO, but in fact they do have coders in house teaching it stuff: https://www.semafor.com/article/01/27/2023/openai-has-hired-...

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#159

Post by bdcravens »

owenversteeg wrote: post #126

It feels crazy to say this, but I find StackOverflow useless in 2023. It's crazy because ten years ago or even six years ago StackOverflow was everything. There were all the jokes that you couldn't even code without it or that StackOverflow being down would halt all programmers worldwide or whatever and they were for a large part actually true. If you tried to set up a new library or framework or whatever you would e…

You are probably correct, but that perspective can be skewed by becoming a better developer and learning more about your language's documentation and how to research.

Re: Stack Overflow is laying off another 28%

#160

Post by francisofascii »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #103

Am I the only one that still finds SO to be quite useful? If I paste an error message into Google, it's still quite likely that the SO answer is the best one. And if it doesn't, I contribute an answer if/when I eventually find it because I still think I get more out of SO than I put in. I've received 21 necromancer badges doing that.

Exactly. The biggest issue for me is duplicate questions, which is why mods are tough on new questions. 99.9% of the time the question has been asked. I also racked up a ton of necromancer badges doing what you do.
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