7 ms·

I find StackOverflow interesting because there is (in my opinion) a ginormous gap between how the volunteer moderators feel that the site should operate vs how

I find StackOverflow interesting because there is (in my opinion) a ginormous gap between how the volunteer moderators feel that the site should operate vs how its users actually use it. I think it would be almost impossible for a new user to ask a well-received question these days. Instead of striving to improve the user experience then the moderators spend their time bickering over meta issues. Many haven't asked or answered a question in the last five years.

DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
Out of curiosity, have you seen the new “Staging Ground” feature?
- lawgimenez 2y ago
  I was one of the first testers of Staging Ground back in late 2022, if I remember they stopped it mid-2023. Now, I'm surprised they revived SG. Let's just say I'm not a fan of the idea or implementation.
- dataengineer56 2y ago
  Yes in my opinion it's an absolute disaster that does nothing to help the new user experience. 1. Post a question as a new user 2. It goes into Staging Grounds instead of the main site, so there's no way to get an answer 3. Watch as a handful of powerusers flag it and demand changes, with a combination of user-written and automated comments 4. Make some of the recommended changes 5. It gets closed anyway and never makes it to the main site To me it seems like a forum that effectively sanctions the bullying of new users. I'd like to see Staging Grounds success statistics.
tempaway4575144 2y ago
I have a theory that if the homepage didn't show 'Featured On Meta' the reputation of the site would be much higher because we wouldn't all be getting a window into the bickering and nitpicking. The bickering and nitpicking is far too prominent on the homepage
- blackbrokkoli 2y ago
  That's a good point. I know no site where it takes less clicks to access the current in-group drama. Thinking about it, know I want a "Current Drama" button where the "I'm feeling lucky" button used to be on gSearch :)
  - tempaway4575144 2y ago
    And its gone! 'Hot on Meta' has now disappeared from the homepage
dunghill 2y ago
It’s also possible that the target audience has changed significantly since its inception. The early adopters and moderators were true enthusiasts.
pjc50 2y ago
The long standing tension is "StackOverflow is a Q&A site, not a forum". A key difference is forums allowing the same topics to come up over and over again, while SO was supposed to funnel all discussion back to "canonical" questions. And of course many people come to SO with unformed questions or want a discussion for the social interaction, resulting in them getting hit with the SO hammer. Not quite sure where they've ended up, but the obvious one is Reddit. People keep mentioning Discord, but I've no idea how you'd actually use a programming discord in the same way as you'd use SO, because if you make a post and come back an hour later surely it'll have vanished into the flow?
wvh 2y ago
There are a lot of questions that try to find out if something is still the best way of doing things or the right technical choice at the present time. Those questions feel like duplicates or opinions, but are really not in many cases. Some areas of expertise move a lot faster, answers to questions about for instance Kubernetes or Javascript ecosystems tend to be out of date pretty quickly. At least I feel more often the need to ask if I'm making a sane choice for the next few years rather than literal `1 + 1` questions with clear ever-green answers, which StackOverflow seems to prefer.
- layer8 2y ago
  Maybe there should be a way to “bump” a question after a year or so, adding a comment along those lines. Otherwise, if you explain why you’re asking the question again, link to the previous question, and maybe present arguments why you think the old answers might be outdated, then it’s lesa likely to be closed as a duplicate.

DaiPlusPlus 2y ago

Out of curiosity, have you seen the new “Staging Ground” feature?

lawgimenez 2y ago
I was one of the first testers of Staging Ground back in late 2022, if I remember they stopped it mid-2023. Now, I'm surprised they revived SG. Let's just say I'm not a fan of the idea or implementation.
dataengineer56 2y ago
Yes in my opinion it's an absolute disaster that does nothing to help the new user experience. 1. Post a question as a new user 2. It goes into Staging Grounds instead of the main site, so there's no way to get an answer 3. Watch as a handful of powerusers flag it and demand changes, with a combination of user-written and automated comments 4. Make some of the recommended changes 5. It gets closed anyway and never makes it to the main site To me it seems like a forum that effectively sanctions the bullying of new users. I'd like to see Staging Grounds success statistics.

tempaway4575144 2y ago

I have a theory that if the homepage didn't show 'Featured On Meta' the reputation of the site would be much higher because we wouldn't all be getting a window into the bickering and nitpicking. The bickering and nitpicking is far too prominent on the homepage

blackbrokkoli 2y ago
That's a good point. I know no site where it takes less clicks to access the current in-group drama. Thinking about it, know I want a "Current Drama" button where the "I'm feeling lucky" button used to be on gSearch :)
- tempaway4575144 2y ago
  And its gone! 'Hot on Meta' has now disappeared from the homepage

dunghill 2y ago

It’s also possible that the target audience has changed significantly since its inception. The early adopters and moderators were true enthusiasts.

pjc50 2y ago

The long standing tension is "StackOverflow is a Q&A site, not a forum". A key difference is forums allowing the same topics to come up over and over again, while SO was supposed to funnel all discussion back to "canonical" questions. And of course many people come to SO with unformed questions or want a discussion for the social interaction, resulting in them getting hit with the SO hammer. Not quite sure where they've ended up, but the obvious one is Reddit. People keep mentioning Discord, but I've no idea how you'd actually use a programming discord in the same way as you'd use SO, because if you make a post and come back an hour later surely it'll have vanished into the flow?

wvh 2y ago

There are a lot of questions that try to find out if something is still the best way of doing things or the right technical choice at the present time. Those questions feel like duplicates or opinions, but are really not in many cases. Some areas of expertise move a lot faster, answers to questions about for instance Kubernetes or Javascript ecosystems tend to be out of date pretty quickly. At least I feel more often the need to ask if I'm making a sane choice for the next few years rather than literal `1 + 1` questions with clear ever-green answers, which StackOverflow seems to prefer.

layer8 2y ago
Maybe there should be a way to “bump” a question after a year or so, adding a comment along those lines. Otherwise, if you explain why you’re asking the question again, link to the previous question, and maybe present arguments why you think the old answers might be outdated, then it’s lesa likely to be closed as a duplicate.