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The people who are dissatisfied invariably ask opinion based questions. That is not what Stack Overflow is for. Sure, there is always more than one way to do it
by codinghorror 9y ago
The people who are dissatisfied invariably ask opinion based questions. That is not what Stack Overflow is for. Sure, there is always more than one way to do it, and any good SO question often has three solid viable answers — but if there are dozens? hundreds? .. it’s no longer a question, but a bikeshed type discussion.
- sideshowb 9y agoPersonally I get dissatisfied when over zealous mods fail to follow stack overflow's own guidelines on subjective questions. It would be a better site if, before closing a question as subjective, a user had to scroll down this and click "agree": https://stackoverflow.blog/2010/09/29/good-subjective-bad-subjective/ https://stackoverflow.blog/2010/09/29/good-subjective-bad-su...
- codinghorror 9y agoWell, sort of, but it is a complex, slippery slope and easiest to just avoid the realm of opinion altogether.
- nix0n 9y agoWhat is the correct place for opinion based questions, when you want a technical opinion to help you solve a specific technical problem?
- codinghorror 9y agoAnywhere but Stack Overflow. It is a great big Internet!
- user5994461 9y ago>>> any good SO question often has three solid viable answers the first viable answer is giving you the solution, except it doesn't work because the API has changed many years ago. the second viable answer is telling you that you don't want to do that and it's certainly wrong to try. the third viable answer is a guy advertising to use another library for just that. (Just because you use C++ doesn't mean you have boost or Qt available but fair enough). The fourth viable answer is a guy advertising for his own library to solve that same problem. It may or may not be shameless advertising. The github link is dead half the time. The topic is closed. It will never be possible to post the right valid answer to that problem. Answers cannot be edited. They will rot forever and mislead an entire new generation.
- erezyehuda 9y agoWhat do you mean by "answers cannot be edited"? They definitely can be, and not just by the person who posted it. I've updated an older answer or two.
- codinghorror 9y agoCompletely incorrect. You can edit answers as an anonymous user and have been able to since.. 2010-ish?
- narag 9y agoThe people who are dissatisfied invariably ask opinion based questions. I never ask questions in SO. To be honest, I'm not dissatisfied either, I just gave up. When I saw a question for which I knew the exact answer, I was unable to answer because... I don't know. I wasn't reputable enough to answer and I couldn't get a reputation because I couldn't answer. Or something like that, I don't remember or I don't care. I just google for answers. So I would reconsider the "invariably". But that's just my two cents.
- posterboy 9y agoyou need rep to comment, so maybe the question you have in mind was in a comment.
- codinghorror 9y agoCompletely incorrect, you can answer any question as a brand new user. As another commenter pointed out, maybe you meant commenting? Which isn’t answering the question, but leaving a post-it note on an existing answer or question.