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I think you should simplify the service and make it strictly about fixing bugs in small programs. Why: because information is essentially perceived as worthless

I think you should simplify the service and make it strictly about fixing bugs in small programs. Why: because information is essentially perceived as worthless by the majority and almost any question a person could hope to ask is already one Google search or Stackoverflow question away from being answered. This pervasiveness of information contributes to the assumption that a person is entitled to it all for free (and that the person producing it ought to do it for free) - which is one of the main reasons businesses models built on content are so shitty. "Please help me fix a very specific bug that's only in this one implementation in this current universe" is a lot easier to monetize than "please teach me how a for loop works." See what I mean?

oh_teh_meows 11y ago
Hm not necessarily so. Some people could struggle to understand a concept even with all the information available, and could really use some tutoring from a professional. That's when you start to notice the difference between just getting information from an article, and receiving wisdom from an expert. This service could certainly help with that.
binarymax 11y ago
You assume the person needing help knows what to look for, and how to express the problem in such a way they can find it on google. Stack Overflow can also be intimidating for many. There are those who don't want to appear ignorant in public or get a condescending reply.
dack 11y ago
The problem with bugs is they can have a widely varying complexity... it's a lot harder to turn a profit that way (either the requester pays a lot since it turned out to be hard, or the solver gets a bad deal if it's fixed price). Plus it seems very inefficient - you have to page the whole surrounding program into your head at once to understand what the bug is doing, and then you can't use any of that information for the next bug. So although I don't dispute your point about information not having much perceived value, the bug-fixing thing seems much harder to make profitable.
kevinwang 11y ago
I disagree that any question can be found on stack overflow. I see this service as filling the niche of answering questions I have that stack overflow ISN'T for. For example, when learning a new framework: "What's the idiomatic way to do _____?", or "From the documentation, it seems like [this feature] was accomplished with [this line of code], but in other tutorials, there's [this line]. What's the difference?", or "This paragraph in the get-started tutorial makes no sense. Could you explain this to me?" Just small lapses in understanding for subtle concepts, or practices in the real-world. This site is actually something I've wished for in the past, while reading and learning new things online. I think the article explains it very elegantly: the service is like raising your hand to ask a question. I'll bet I'm not the only one who's wanted to raise their hand while learning by reading a guide or documentation before.

oh_teh_meows 11y ago

Hm not necessarily so. Some people could struggle to understand a concept even with all the information available, and could really use some tutoring from a professional. That's when you start to notice the difference between just getting information from an article, and receiving wisdom from an expert. This service could certainly help with that.

binarymax 11y ago

You assume the person needing help knows what to look for, and how to express the problem in such a way they can find it on google. Stack Overflow can also be intimidating for many. There are those who don't want to appear ignorant in public or get a condescending reply.

dack 11y ago

The problem with bugs is they can have a widely varying complexity... it's a lot harder to turn a profit that way (either the requester pays a lot since it turned out to be hard, or the solver gets a bad deal if it's fixed price). Plus it seems very inefficient - you have to page the whole surrounding program into your head at once to understand what the bug is doing, and then you can't use any of that information for the next bug. So although I don't dispute your point about information not having much perceived value, the bug-fixing thing seems much harder to make profitable.

kevinwang 11y ago

I disagree that any question can be found on stack overflow. I see this service as filling the niche of answering questions I have that stack overflow ISN'T for. For example, when learning a new framework: "What's the idiomatic way to do _____?", or "From the documentation, it seems like [this feature] was accomplished with [this line of code], but in other tutorials, there's [this line]. What's the difference?", or "This paragraph in the get-started tutorial makes no sense. Could you explain this to me?" Just small lapses in understanding for subtle concepts, or practices in the real-world. This site is actually something I've wished for in the past, while reading and learning new things online. I think the article explains it very elegantly: the service is like raising your hand to ask a question. I'll bet I'm not the only one who's wanted to raise their hand while learning by reading a guide or documentation before.