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StackOverflow is good if you come there via a search. Otherwise, in my experience, it is utterly worthless for getting actual answers. For instance, I've aske
by juliangoldsmith 8y ago
StackOverflow is good if you come there via a search.
Otherwise, in my experience, it is utterly worthless for getting actual answers.
For instance, I've asked a total of 4 questions on the DBA Stack Exchange. Almost all of them were specific but easily generalized, weren't answered anywhere else. Three of them would have been easily answered by someone with good knowledge of the relevant products. (The other was only answered by significant trial and error.) On three of them, I was the only person to answer. Each of those took hours of research. On the fourth, someone else answered, but didn't appear to actually understand the question.
On StackOverflow itself, I've asked a single question. A moderator told me to do what I explicitly stated in the question I didn't want to do, and closed it as a duplicate.
The bounties are equally useless: earlier today I sacrificed 90% of my DBA reputation to get around 6 more views on my question. I'm pretty sure most of the views I got are from me refreshing the question.
- ctack 8y agoAgreed. Great if your question has already been answered, but it's less than useless if you have a question - it's actually counter productive and a waste of time. I'd given up on questions until seeing this post featured today, so I decided to ask my 3rd question in 7 years (SO). It was down voted within 5 minutes and no idea why. I'll just roll my own solution based on my own suggestion.
- ruirr 8y agoHave you wondered why there are questions being upvoted just for a minute?
- juliangoldsmith 8y agoEDIT: A moderator helped me out on that last question, and refunded my reputation to let me ask a new, better-worded, question with a bounty. Thanks to that moderator.