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What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?

blog.codinghorror.com

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Re: What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?

#211

Post by Flimm »

codinghorror wrote: post #195
dantiberian wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People definitely stop reading after the first answer, especially if it looks like a reasonable solution. It is a very common experience for me, where I won't realise that there is a much better rated answer below the accepted one, especially if the top answer is long enough so that the second one isn't visible without scrolling. From a UX perspective, you want to put the most relevant information at the top. The vot…

There's zero evidence that people stop reading at the first answer. Otherwise no other answers would have any upvotes, and you can see that's not the case.

What's the value in pinning the OP's selected answer to the top, even if it has -100 votes? Or even if it 100 votes, but the second has 900? Shouldn't the overwhelming will of the community take precedence over OP's selected answer, who may not have bothered to review the answers for years?

Also, I'm sure the claim isn't that everybody stops reading after the first answer, but that the first answer does get a lot more reads than answers further down. I bet it would be possible to prove this with the right analytics.

Re: What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?

#212

Post by Flimm »

foxfired wrote: post #186
mixmastamyk wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't mind the Accepted label, however they are sorted at the top by default. They probably should change that to "sort by votes," so the best answer can change over time.

Accepted answers are not necessary at the top. Here is an example: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6121203/how-to-do-fade-i... The chosen answer was not the best, so my answer ended up reaching the top. But note that after 7 years, my answer, although still correct, is no longer the most efficient way to do things. Better alternatives are rising up.

The only case where an accepted answer is not pinned to the top is when the accepted answer was posted by the same user who asked the question. Your link is an example of that.

Re: What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?

#213

Post by rcxdude »

codinghorror wrote: post #172
Someone1234 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way SO is moderated encourages out of date information. For example, if you find a question from 2015, with all out of date answers, if you ask it again today it will be flagged as duplicate with a link to the 2015 answers and no further discussion is allowed. The older SO gets the worse the content gets. They're trying to make a "Wiki site" but in a Q&A format, it doesn't work and doesn't make sense. Until they…

Per the wiki comparison, there's an edit button on every answer and question -- it works even if you're not logged in. Try it! I'm starting to think that calling the edit button "improve this answer" and "improve this question" was a mistake..

Does this allow you to flag a question in a way which means it shows up in the queue of unanswered questions and is thus likely to attract an answer from someone monitoring the relevant tags? I didn't see an obvious way to do this from a quick experiment.

Re: What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?

#214

Post by rcxdude »

0x445442 wrote: post #39

I think the need for, or at least the level of reliance on, a site like Stack Overflow is an example of how utterly messed up the "profession" is compared to other engineering and non-engineering professions.

I think other engineering professions could be substantially improved by a greater participation of their members in such sites. The amount of public communication and advice availible for profession electronics development, for example, is far lower than that for software (There's a glut of hobby-level stuff, but beyond the basics it gets much worse).

Re: What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?

#215

Post by petraeus »

Pretty obvious answer similar to what google does, show alternative views and account for vote inflation.

e.g. if you get 1000 upvotes in position 1 those are worth less than 750 votes in position 2 because its expected that users will lean towards the first answer presented

Re: What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?

#216

Post by superflyguy »

PunchTornado wrote: post #16
superflyguy wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got bored of scrolling through it. I know it's just someone's blog but I'm always a little surprised when grown-ups use stupid little cartoons and memes.

Memes can convey powerful messages just as much as words.

In theory perhaps, yes. In this case, however, just "I'm a kidult".
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