> I don't get how the narrative has turned against SO
We win friends by being compassionate, empathetic, supportive, and nurturing; by applying gentle correction. Leading by example. Helping each other up. Leading from the front.
I was a manager of a high-performance team; made up of people that knew a lot more than I did, and I kept us together, working as a tightly-coupled unit, for decades. I have some prior art in carrots over sticks.
One of the big problems, these days, is that documentation is just awful. People think that "more is good." That's not true at all. It just means that the SNR is much lower, and we waste time, reading irrelevance. We are also under a lot of pressure to get results fast. No time to look stuff up. Start coding.
Finding answers, in an efficient manner, is a real pain.
SO is a marvelous idea, and I totally support it. Ironically, I suspect that the "gamification" that has made it so successful, is also contributing to the issues it is facing. I do not have the answer. I think removing the gamification would also destroy the utility of the site.
I love SO. It is a big "go to" for me, and I have also asked twice as many questions than I have provided answers. I think that I ask very good questions. Sometimes, I'm wrong, and I don't mind finding that out. I become right by being wrong, and learning differently.
But people seem to be terrified to ask questions. I have no idea why. I am constantly asking questions; even "stupid" ones.
Reading some of the meta conversations, and seeing so many high-score members with single-digit question counts, says a lot. Whenever there is an election, my principal coefficient is the candidates' question count. I don't want to vote for people that think asking questions is something to be ashamed of.
I have over 35 years of shipping software. I have a great deal of knowledge and experience; far more than many folks on SO, but I also am constantly trying out new stuff that I don't know how to do. That makes me a n00b, all the time (I write about that, here: https://medium.com/chrismarshallny/thats-not-what-ships-are-...). I don't always know the best places to look for answers, and appreciate RTFM responses.
What I don't appreciate, is some person telling me that the fact I didn't watch some well-known (to them) video, or read some well-known (to them) article, makes me a "lesser person," or (an SO fave), "lazy" (anyone that actually knows me, knows that "lazy" is not a word that can be applied to me). I appreciate being directed to the video or article, but the nasty sauce is not a condiment that I prefer.
UPDATE: I removed some stuff from this response that was probably not necessary to the conversation, and would not be constructive. I hope someone was taking notes. That's how we do it.
Comments
> I don't get how the narrative has turned against SO
We win friends by being compassionate, empathetic, supportive, and nurturing; by applying gentle correction. Leading by example. Helping each other up. Leading from the front.
I was a manager of a high-performance team; made up of people that knew a lot more than I did, and I kept us together, working as a tightly-coupled unit, for decades. I have some prior art in carrots over sticks.
One of the big problems, these days, is that documentation is just awful. People think that "more is good." That's not true at all. It just means that the SNR is much lower, and we waste time, reading irrelevance. We are also under a lot of pressure to get results fast. No time to look stuff up. Start coding.
Finding answers, in an efficient manner, is a real pain.
SO is a marvelous idea, and I totally support it. Ironically, I suspect that the "gamification" that has made it so successful, is also contributing to the issues it is facing. I do not have the answer. I think removing the gamification would also destroy the utility of the site.
I like the idea of the SO Story. Here's mine: https://stackoverflow.com/story/chrismarshall
I love SO. It is a big "go to" for me, and I have also asked twice as many questions than I have provided answers. I think that I ask very good questions. Sometimes, I'm wrong, and I don't mind finding that out. I become right by being wrong, and learning differently.
But people seem to be terrified to ask questions. I have no idea why. I am constantly asking questions; even "stupid" ones.
Reading some of the meta conversations, and seeing so many high-score members with single-digit question counts, says a lot. Whenever there is an election, my principal coefficient is the candidates' question count. I don't want to vote for people that think asking questions is something to be ashamed of.
I have over 35 years of shipping software. I have a great deal of knowledge and experience; far more than many folks on SO, but I also am constantly trying out new stuff that I don't know how to do. That makes me a n00b, all the time (I write about that, here: https://medium.com/chrismarshallny/thats-not-what-ships-are-...). I don't always know the best places to look for answers, and appreciate RTFM responses.
What I don't appreciate, is some person telling me that the fact I didn't watch some well-known (to them) video, or read some well-known (to them) article, makes me a "lesser person," or (an SO fave), "lazy" (anyone that actually knows me, knows that "lazy" is not a word that can be applied to me). I appreciate being directed to the video or article, but the nasty sauce is not a condiment that I prefer.
UPDATE: I removed some stuff from this response that was probably not necessary to the conversation, and would not be constructive. I hope someone was taking notes. That's how we do it.