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Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

michael.richter.name

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Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#181

Post by georgemcbay »

Somewhat tangential to the OP but as someone who is much more of a consumer than a contributor, I've become increasingly less enamored with Stack Overflow over the years just because of the vast increase in times I'll search for some exact issue, find a link where the question exactly matched the problem I'm having, see that it has an answer with like 10 upvotes, find the answer to be wrong either because it is just straight up incorrect or because it is "correct" but not answering the actual question as asked, and often I'll see a comment to the answer from the original asker mentioning that the answer is wrong, but then no follow-up discussion.

I think this may be in large part a negative side effect of the "gamification" because this rarely happened back when usenet posts (searched via deja or google groups) or dedicated forums for topics would be my source for finding programming answers in subjects I was unfamiliar with (new API, new language, etc). In those places if I found a question that matched mine well, and it was answered, there was a very high percentage chance the answer was correct and not just someone guessing or answering half-assedly and too quickly to get in on the karma train.

These wrongly-answered answers seem to dissuade others from answering (question too old, already sort of answered, nobody will see my correct answer and upvote it), so this wrongly answered question just lingers seemingly forever. If the moderators spent half the time pruning out these wrong answers that they do closing topics that are borderline off-topic, the site would be a far better resource for me.

Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#182

Post by voltagex_ »

caoilte wrote: post #137
jaydles wrote: post #69

DON'T TRUST ME BLINDLY: I work for Stack Exchange, so I'm totally biased. On the other hand, I left a lucrative career in finance for a lot less money here because I believe in what we're doing, so there's that. MOST IMPORTANTLY: I appreciate Michael's feedback, and he worries about a lot of the same things I do. Moreover, we are incredibly grateful for all he's done over the years - my honest belief is that his cont…

Yup, the real wedge was wrapping a free service in a really slick interface. Points are just icing. Another poster made a very good point about voting ring vandals and spammers, but I'm concerned about "expiry dates". An increasing number of the top SO results in google are answers that were correct but are now wrong. Things will trundle along for another few years, but at some point the correct results will become u…

Can you provide some examples of out of date posts?

Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#183

Post by frostmatthew »

insteadof wrote: post #162
shortstuffsushi wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Closed as not a real question. 150 question upvotes.

Asking about the colour of the bikeshed always draws more upvotes and views than a question asking why the screws buckle and eject when the outside temperature reaches 30C but only if the interior is 21C. Popularity does not mean a question is within the scope of the site guidelines.

> Popularity does not mean a question is within the scope of the site guidelines.

True, but it might indicate adequate reason for modifying the guidelines.

Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#184

Post by praveenhm »

shortstuffsushi wrote: post #123
melling wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many good questions do you see that are "CLOSED AS NOT A REAL QUESTION"? The site is fine for what it is, but there's definitely a market for building a better StackOverFlow.

Closed as not a real question. 150 question upvotes.

This is one of the most annoying part of stack overflow,instead of closing the discussion,they should have a provision to move to more opinionated discussion list.

Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#185

Post by m_myers »

frostmatthew wrote: post #183
insteadof wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Asking about the colour of the bikeshed always draws more upvotes and views than a question asking why the screws buckle and eject when the outside temperature reaches 30C but only if the interior is 21C. Popularity does not mean a question is within the scope of the site guidelines.

> Popularity does not mean a question is within the scope of the site guidelines. True, but it might indicate adequate reason for modifying the guidelines.

There is a time and a place for everything. For opinion-based questions about programming, that place is http://www.slant.co/ (not affiliated with Stack Exchange).

Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#187

Post by m_myers »

collyw wrote: post #141
melling wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many good questions do you see that are "CLOSED AS NOT A REAL QUESTION"? The site is fine for what it is, but there's definitely a market for building a better StackOverFlow.

I remember signing up for a news on a site "Not Constructive", here on HN a while back. I really wish it would appear.

http://slant.co is pretty much that.

Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#188

Post by harvestmoon »

egypturnash wrote: post #165
nathan_long wrote: post #10

StackOverflow is a machine designed to do one thing: make it so that, for any given programming question, you will get a search engine hit on their site and find a good answer quickly. And see some ads. That's really it. Everything it does is geared toward that, and it does it quite well. I have lots of SO points. A lot of them have come from answering common, basic questions. If you think points exist to prove merit…

Wasn't the original brief of SO mostly "be a better expertsexchange.com"? Which was... a site designed to be at the top of a search engine result for a programming question, serve you ads, and aggressively try to get you to become a paid member to see results. Everyone hated expertsexchange. Now people are starting to hate SO, for very different reasons. At last! They've become the new expertsexchange in every way.

I am seeing that url as "expert sex change." That said, the word therapist also can be read in multiple ways.

Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#189

Post by m_myers »

collyw wrote: post #148
cjf4 wrote: post #63

This reminds me of an old talk radio adage: don't mistake callers for listeners. The people who call into a radio show represent a fraction of the audience, and are often the most extreme, polemic, loose hinged segment of that audience. And most people don't call. In the SO world, I'm definitely a "listener." I almost always wind up on the site from Google, and it usually does a pretty good job. I don't think I've ev…

I wish there were a site for subjective opinions. I often want to know what is a better library for a specific task.

That would be http://slant.co.

Disclosure: I am not affiliated with slant.co, but I am a Stack Overflow moderator. I like slant.co a lot.

Re: Why I no longer contribute to Stack Overflow

#190

Post by steveklabnik »

corresation wrote: post #71
crntaylor wrote: post #31

The author's main problem stems from his desire to use Stack Overflow as a mechanism for gaining internet points - as is illustrated by his confession that "I saw a simple Java question, hit Google, read briefly, then synthesized an original answer." Why bother? Instead, I use Stack Overflow predominantly for three reasons -- 1. To ask interesting questions that I think will get a better answer there than anywhere el…

While you call out the author, note that the primary motivator StackOverflow offers to users are those very internet points you decry: You can't blame someone for playing to the very mechanics of the site. Would StackOverflow be popular if it didn't have leader boards and reputation points and arrays of expertise-claiming badges? Would people spend their time working on other people's problems if it didn't earn them…

As they say, "what gets measured gets managed." If you build your site around gamification, don't be surprised when your users try to turn it into a game.

(I say this clutching my own HN karma...)

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