I don't know if I'd call these folks "trolls," because the goal of a troll is to intentionally anger someone else. These folks are just douches and, honestly, are the reason why I've never contributed (only lurked) SO when I needed programming help.
I completely agree with this article. Not so much with the headline. I dont' think StackOverflow is going anywhere, but it has a lot of problems as mentioned.
it's frustrating to look up a specific question and 3/4 of the responses are people complaining it wasn't asked 'properly' or people complaining about other answers.
I very much agree on people complaining about other answers. I hate in when questions get marked as duplicates, and the linked "duplicate" is 3-5 years old. New patterns and best practices emerge, new language features are implemented; the programming environment is always changing. The right answer for 3-5 years ago isn't necessarily the right answer for now. Old questions should occasionally be revisited.
I'd argue that old questions shouldn't just occasionally be revisited, but often if you can. My team at work is looking at code we were super proud of 6 months ago and now we are ripping it out to replace it with something much better. Getting different eyes on a problem along with that new tech or new ideas can make us all much better programmers and engineers.
Nowadays I'd be a better choice to submit something like a question or asking of critique to a site like CSS-Tricks (they do JS too, don't let the name fool you :P)
The number one thing I hate is when the first comment is "read the documentation". I noticed "Oracle people" do this A LOT. Questions related to .NET or other MS technology seems to be a lot friendly in my experience. It could be bias.
Never had a problem using the site. But I do have nearly 400 answered questions. I really think it down to a few people who monitor specific tags that think they own them. But as a programmer you will need to learn to search for answers before posting your questions. SO is not a place to begin when you want a tutorial, SO is a place to get an answer to specific problems you might face while doing XYZ.
If you want a tutorial there are numerous other sites you can use. However, if you want an answer to a problem you're facing while lets say programming a FPGA, someone on SO probably had the same problem in the past and has already solved it for you. This is why contributing to SO is so important.
10 comments
8 u/Brozekial 07 Jul 2015 00:35
I don't know if I'd call these folks "trolls," because the goal of a troll is to intentionally anger someone else. These folks are just douches and, honestly, are the reason why I've never contributed (only lurked) SO when I needed programming help.
3 u/asdf23 07 Jul 2015 02:52
I completely agree with this article. Not so much with the headline. I dont' think StackOverflow is going anywhere, but it has a lot of problems as mentioned.
4 u/80sProduct 07 Jul 2015 04:12
it's frustrating to look up a specific question and 3/4 of the responses are people complaining it wasn't asked 'properly' or people complaining about other answers.
3 u/solroot 07 Jul 2015 05:04
I very much agree on people complaining about other answers. I hate in when questions get marked as duplicates, and the linked "duplicate" is 3-5 years old. New patterns and best practices emerge, new language features are implemented; the programming environment is always changing. The right answer for 3-5 years ago isn't necessarily the right answer for now. Old questions should occasionally be revisited.
1 u/Hsahj 07 Jul 2015 06:56
I'd argue that old questions shouldn't just occasionally be revisited, but often if you can. My team at work is looking at code we were super proud of 6 months ago and now we are ripping it out to replace it with something much better. Getting different eyes on a problem along with that new tech or new ideas can make us all much better programmers and engineers.
1 u/skeeto 06 Jul 2015 17:47
Seems to mirror reddit in some ways, particularly the authoritarian moderatorship.
1 u/ChrisHazFun 07 Jul 2015 14:34
Nowadays I'd be a better choice to submit something like a question or asking of critique to a site like CSS-Tricks (they do JS too, don't let the name fool you :P)
1 u/ITW 07 Jul 2015 06:29
The number one thing I hate is when the first comment is "read the documentation". I noticed "Oracle people" do this A LOT. Questions related to .NET or other MS technology seems to be a lot friendly in my experience. It could be bias.
-1 u/duannguyen 07 Jul 2015 04:42
Never had a problem using the site. But I do have nearly 400 answered questions. I really think it down to a few people who monitor specific tags that think they own them. But as a programmer you will need to learn to search for answers before posting your questions. SO is not a place to begin when you want a tutorial, SO is a place to get an answer to specific problems you might face while doing XYZ.
If you want a tutorial there are numerous other sites you can use. However, if you want an answer to a problem you're facing while lets say programming a FPGA, someone on SO probably had the same problem in the past and has already solved it for you. This is why contributing to SO is so important.