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I agree with nearly all of what you said but that wasn't the point of the challenge. I completely agree that many individuals experience negative events on Stac

I agree with nearly all of what you said but that wasn't the point of the challenge. I completely agree that many individuals experience negative events on Stack Overflow and would compassionately listen to them. The only thing I am challenging is the notion, that on a whole, SO is a toxic wasteland. That is it. The reason 10% was set as a threshold is that many people actually believe it to be higher than that. 10% is an absurdly high number of toxic posts and the real number is going to be far lower. I value authentic statements with accurate data to the highest degree. I hope that we can get some real research on this topic with more accurate data which can only help to improve outcomes.

kangnkodos 8y ago
On reddit, it looks like someone had some data which calculated that the number of toxic comments on SO is about 1%. That sounds about right to me. But even 1% toxic comments correctly still makes it a toxic wasteland to the people who have been on the receiving end of those toxic comments, and to those who don't enjoy seeing others treated like that.
- kangnkodos 8y ago
  I mean imagine that you had a job where you were constantly having short conversations with people from all over your company. I'm your boss, and I call you into a meeting to let you know that you are on the edge of being fired because of your toxic comments. Some of your conversations have resulted in coworkers crying and going home early. But I'm willing to give you one more chance. In the meeting you tell me, "Hey, relax. It's not true that 10% of my conversations have resulted in coworkers going home early. I can prove that it only happens in 1% of my conversations. And 1% is fine, so get off my back." I would tell you to just pack your desk right now.