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Problem is all the pragmatic people you want answering your questions are too pragmatic to spend time reading and leaving comments on the internet Never say ne

Problem is all the pragmatic people you want answering your questions are too pragmatic to spend time reading and leaving comments on the internet Never say never but I don't think it's very easy to build a broad and helpful community where the factors you listed aren't at play in people's motivations. I find better help going into very specific communities for the technologies I'm having issues with. Discord servers are a great example

ocdtrekkie 4y ago
> I find better help going into very specific communities for the technologies I'm having issues with. Probably true for some sites and not others. I would definitely say the more niche you go in subreddits, the more helpful people are, but that's not really true of Stack Overflow communities.
- miohtama 4y ago
  The same effect can be accomplished on StackOverflow by more narrowly tagging questions to specific technology niches, so that it does not show up on the watch lists of generic moderators.
crayboff 4y ago
Technology specific IRCs are still great resources as well!
- doix 4y ago
  I really wish IRC was still the defecto choice for open source projects. Now days all I see is gitter/slack/discord/matrix which I find all have a significantly worse experience than IRC.
  - warrenm 4y ago
    If IRC was stateful (ie, it would "remember"/deliver offline messages when I sign-on again (at least buffer them for some configurable period)), I'd be onboard with using it for almost everything But it's not That's what made Slack so appealing early on - IRC-like communication with history
    - oddly 4y ago
      Maybe you know already, but you can use an IRC relay to act as pseudo client, connect to that and then read back on messages. You’ll have to find a place to host it though. For example, “The Lounge”. Edit: typo
      - warrenm 4y ago
        Yeah, you can ... but that's a bolt-on/additional service that, quite frankly, IRC ought to Just Do™ at this point It's 2022, not 1988 :)
    - Gud 4y ago
      I just keep my irssi running on a Vultr VM.
      - warrenm 4y ago
        I used to do that Too much hassle, imo
- hombre_fatal 4y ago
  IRC has OP’s problem taken to the next level. The people clinging onto IRC in this age are increasingly insufferable.
  - crayboff 4y ago
    That's the opposite of my experience even to this day. As long as you follow question asking etiquette (do research before you ask, don't ask to ask, explain what you've tried so far, etc), people are usually good at answering questions when they can.
    - ceejayoz 4y ago
      You may both be right. Chances are this varies wildly from IRC channel to IRC channel.
    - hombre_fatal 4y ago
      Funnily enough your comment describes SO just the same. How many people complaining about SO here have really just asked poor questions, hadn't explained what they tried, didn't do enough research first to ask a good question, etc.
TheAceOfHearts 4y ago
A lot of really smart and talented developers participate in mailing lists as well. As someone who used to frequently help out online in the past, the problem is that the questions never stop coming and most are usually from people who refuse to do the bare minimum amount of research or reading. This would be fine were it not typically bundled with a lack of respect for your time and a strong sense of entitlement.
- throwaway288862 4y ago
  - jxf 4y ago
    > I put up a free lemonade stand, and now people think they are entitled to free lemonade, and the customers never stop coming. Well don't do it then? I don't think that's a correct or fair analogy. It's more like: > I published a lemonade recipe, described where to get the ingredients, and how to make it yourself. Now people are complaining to me that lemons and sugar are too hard to make from scratch, and I should just grow it myself and give it to them for free.
    - throwaway288862 4y ago
      - jxf 4y ago
        > You published free recipes to begin with, why? This is an implication that you are offering free work and free time to other people, and give them a way to contact you directly, so why get surprised when they ask you for more favours? This is a truly mind-boggling response to me. If someone publishes a recipe on the Internet, you're saying that they owe you even more than what they already did? This is like saying that if a coworker gives you helpful advice, it's fine to start sleeping on their couch. Just because someone is sharing their knowledge does not mean you're entitled to something more, and in many social contexts this would be seen as (at the very least) extremely rude.
avgcorrection 4y ago
OP should consider listening to this answer. It’s been 17 days since this poster commented on HN last so they pass the unpragmatic smell test.
webmobdev 4y ago
And there's the factor that communicating through writing is hard as the lack of non-verbal cues means that you have to seek clarifications to be sure that you actually understood what the other person was trying to say. More so if they are strangers.
manicdee 4y ago
The pragmatic people solve their problems by asking for help and part of that involves stumbling upon questions they have answers for.

ocdtrekkie 4y ago

> I find better help going into very specific communities for the technologies I'm having issues with. Probably true for some sites and not others. I would definitely say the more niche you go in subreddits, the more helpful people are, but that's not really true of Stack Overflow communities.

miohtama 4y ago
The same effect can be accomplished on StackOverflow by more narrowly tagging questions to specific technology niches, so that it does not show up on the watch lists of generic moderators.

crayboff 4y ago

Technology specific IRCs are still great resources as well!

doix 4y ago
I really wish IRC was still the defecto choice for open source projects. Now days all I see is gitter/slack/discord/matrix which I find all have a significantly worse experience than IRC.
- warrenm 4y ago
  If IRC was stateful (ie, it would "remember"/deliver offline messages when I sign-on again (at least buffer them for some configurable period)), I'd be onboard with using it for almost everything But it's not That's what made Slack so appealing early on - IRC-like communication with history
  - oddly 4y ago
    Maybe you know already, but you can use an IRC relay to act as pseudo client, connect to that and then read back on messages. You’ll have to find a place to host it though. For example, “The Lounge”. Edit: typo
    - warrenm 4y ago
      Yeah, you can ... but that's a bolt-on/additional service that, quite frankly, IRC ought to Just Do™ at this point It's 2022, not 1988 :)
  - Gud 4y ago
    I just keep my irssi running on a Vultr VM.
    - warrenm 4y ago
      I used to do that Too much hassle, imo
hombre_fatal 4y ago
IRC has OP’s problem taken to the next level. The people clinging onto IRC in this age are increasingly insufferable.
- crayboff 4y ago
  That's the opposite of my experience even to this day. As long as you follow question asking etiquette (do research before you ask, don't ask to ask, explain what you've tried so far, etc), people are usually good at answering questions when they can.
  - ceejayoz 4y ago
    You may both be right. Chances are this varies wildly from IRC channel to IRC channel.
  - hombre_fatal 4y ago
    Funnily enough your comment describes SO just the same. How many people complaining about SO here have really just asked poor questions, hadn't explained what they tried, didn't do enough research first to ask a good question, etc.

TheAceOfHearts 4y ago

A lot of really smart and talented developers participate in mailing lists as well. As someone who used to frequently help out online in the past, the problem is that the questions never stop coming and most are usually from people who refuse to do the bare minimum amount of research or reading. This would be fine were it not typically bundled with a lack of respect for your time and a strong sense of entitlement.

throwaway288862 4y ago
- jxf 4y ago
  > I put up a free lemonade stand, and now people think they are entitled to free lemonade, and the customers never stop coming. Well don't do it then? I don't think that's a correct or fair analogy. It's more like: > I published a lemonade recipe, described where to get the ingredients, and how to make it yourself. Now people are complaining to me that lemons and sugar are too hard to make from scratch, and I should just grow it myself and give it to them for free.
  - throwaway288862 4y ago
    - jxf 4y ago
      > You published free recipes to begin with, why? This is an implication that you are offering free work and free time to other people, and give them a way to contact you directly, so why get surprised when they ask you for more favours? This is a truly mind-boggling response to me. If someone publishes a recipe on the Internet, you're saying that they owe you even more than what they already did? This is like saying that if a coworker gives you helpful advice, it's fine to start sleeping on their couch. Just because someone is sharing their knowledge does not mean you're entitled to something more, and in many social contexts this would be seen as (at the very least) extremely rude.

avgcorrection 4y ago

OP should consider listening to this answer. It’s been 17 days since this poster commented on HN last so they pass the unpragmatic smell test.

webmobdev 4y ago

And there's the factor that communicating through writing is hard as the lack of non-verbal cues means that you have to seek clarifications to be sure that you actually understood what the other person was trying to say. More so if they are strangers.

manicdee 4y ago

The pragmatic people solve their problems by asking for help and part of that involves stumbling upon questions they have answers for.