Return to Question

Today I had some time and felt like writing a relatively good answer on Stack Overflow; explaining both the underlying mechanisms and good practices, unlike usual declarative answers in a "do that" style.

Update: After all those years I came up with the idea, how to make Stack Overflow a friendly and helpful place .

Today I had some time and felt like writing a relatively good answer on Stack Overflow; explaining both the underlying mechanisms and good practices, unlike usual declarative answers in a "do that" style.

The idea of Stack Overflow is rotten. It was excellent when trees were high and traffic was low. It turned bad now; it is became a honeypot for all the "enthusiast programmers" of the world, eager to share their 2 cents faster than you can say the word "close".

You're killing the great resource. Despite of all the nice words and proper declarations, it discourages the reuse of the knowledge. And encourages fast on-site answers.

The idea of Stack Overflow is rotten. It was excellent when trees were high and traffic was low. It turned bad now; it has become a honeypot for all the "enthusiast programmers" of the world, eager to share their 2 cents faster than you can say the word "close".

You're killing a great resource. Despite all the nice words and proper declarations, it discourages the reuse of the knowledge. And encourages fast on-site answers.

Today I had some time and felt like writing a relatively good answer on Stack Overflow, explaining both the underlying mechanisms and good practices, unlike usual declarative answers in a "do that" style.

It took me like an hour of time. 50ドル if I were free lance. It'll bring me nothing but 3-5 occasional views, and - if I get lucky - some ignorant comments.

Instead of pride for the job that was done, I feel frustrated. I know, this answer may offer help to the OP (if he ever notices it, being already satisfied with other answers). So the only fate the answer will meet is to sink forever, below thousands other questions, falling like snow.

So, being a programmer, I am thinking of efficiency. It's a waste of time to spend so much effort to answer one question, when there is no way to [actually] reuse it. So, I wouldn't do it again but just turn back into short answers mode without explanations.

The current policy is driving knowledgeable and educational users away. Yet it attracts inexperienced ones in numbers. Ones who will tell you to use [some technology] which they never have laid their hands upon. Ones who write answers just because they have learned some "good practice" from other questions, and this "knowledge" becomes an endless source of rep points.

The idea of Stack Overflow is rotten. It was excellent when trees were high and traffic low. It turned bad now, when it became a honeypot for all the "enthusiast programmers" of the world, eager to share their 2 cents faster than you can say the word "close".

I tried to write a tag wiki. You know, it was biggest waste of time in my life. As a matter of fact, it is not a wiki at all: you can't even link to a certain section. Not to mention that nobody ever has the idea to read tag wikis.

Reference questions? Don't make me laugh. There is no good mechanism to store and categorize links. Favorites, although intended for the different purpose, are a chunk of crap when you want to use it as a reference. So, you can't compete with 30-seconds answers: a question will get 5 answers before you can even find appropriate link.

Okay, I can organize links myself. but there are some problems.

Today I had some time and felt like writing a relatively good answer on Stack Overflow; explaining both the underlying mechanisms and good practices, unlike usual declarative answers in a "do that" style.

It took me like an hour of time, 50ドル if I were free lance. It'll bring me nothing but 3-5 occasional views, and - if I get lucky - some ignorant comments.

Instead of pride for the job that was done, I feel frustrated. I know, this answer may offer help to the OP, if he ever notices it (being already satisfied with other answers). So the only fate the answer will meet is to sink forever, below thousands other questions, falling like snow.

So, being a programmer, I am thinking of efficiency. It's a waste of time to spend so much effort to answer one question when there is no way to [actually] reuse it. So, I wouldn't do it again but just turn back into short answers mode without explanations.

The current policy is driving knowledgeable and educational users away, yet it attracts inexperienced ones in numbers. Ones who will tell you to use [some technology] which they never have laid their hands upon. Ones who write answers just because they have learned some "good practice" from other questions, and this "knowledge" becomes an endless source of rep points.

The idea of Stack Overflow is rotten. It was excellent when trees were high and traffic was low. It turned bad now; it is became a honeypot for all the "enthusiast programmers" of the world, eager to share their 2 cents faster than you can say the word "close".

I tried to write a tag wiki. You know, it was biggest waste of time in my life. As a matter of fact, it is not a wiki at all; you can't even link to a certain section. Not to mention that nobody ever has the idea to read tag wikis.

Reference questions? Don't make me laugh. There is no good mechanism to store and categorize links. Favorites, although intended for the different purpose, are a chunk of crap when you want to use it as a reference. So, you can't compete with 30-seconds answers: a question will get 5 answers before you can even find an appropriate link.

Okay, I can organize links myself but, there are some problems: