4 ms·

sounds like you wanted someone to debug your code for free and were then surprised they wouldn't

detaro 8y ago
OP "wrote up [a] code example" as is generally asked on SO, and that's somehow now bad asking "someone to debug your code for free"?
mark-r 8y ago
I had to chew a guy out the other day. He freely admitted that he wasn't a Python programmer and was looking for working code that he could run without modification. He tried to justify it by saying he was only asking for someone to "share their expertise".
- misterman0 8y ago
  Good of you too chew him out. Gatekeepers are what we need to keep those who do not belong from entering into our domains.
- bluedino 8y ago
  "pls send the codes" or homework questions But for every response of, "What code have YOU tried?", there's someone who posts the answer to the question, and the user gets their one-time answer and never comes back
  - misterman0 8y ago
    So what? Someone earned money off of a snippet of code. What's the big deal?
    - mark-r 8y ago
      It's a question of motivation. Being used as a source of free labor is very demotivating. That's not why I contribute to the site.
      - misterman0 8y ago
        I didn't know it was that kind of a setup. Then you were right to tell him off. Remember JavaScript.com? SO is that but for every language and with snippets of code that have been validated by names that are so well recognized for being brilliant that would I start to mention one then I would have to name everyone and they are too many. So we shouldn't frown upon people who take those snippets of code to try to make a buck. Is all I'm saying.
        mark-r 8y ago
        That's the thing, he wasn't looking for a snippet - he wanted a fully operational application. I don't mind providing useful tidbits of code, even if they get quite large.
chimprich 8y ago
That is pretty much the reason for Stack Overflow's existence isn't it? Requests for debugging whatever problem you have (for free), and offers to do the same for others. You make it sound like a bad thing.
- hashhar 8y ago
  This is the biggest reason why people fault Stack Overflow. As Joel and Jeff have always said, it's about making a repository of knowledge to questions that are helpful for everyone. So you still see questions which are about "I was trying this but get this error" since they are useful when the error is something general and a lot of people might run into. OTOH questions like I am trying to do this very specific thing that interacts with multitudes of other systems and cannot get it to work are therefore not considered StackOverflow worthy.
- everfree 8y ago
  Stack Overflow is about creating a wiki of knowledge for future visitors. If you have a question that is only relevant to your specific implementation, and that will never help anyone else in the future, then it doesn't add value to Stack Overflow.
  - chimprich 8y ago
    It's sometimes hard to know in advance whether your situation is unique or going to be of use to someone in the future however. If it is completely unique and is of no use to anyone else, then it still of use to one person and still worth answering. Maybe SO just needs a flag for questions as 'unique situation' so it doesn't appear by default in future searches. Also, SO isn't really a wiki. It's not designed that way. It's built around "this is my problem; what is the best solution?" interactions.

OP "wrote up [a] code example" as is generally asked on SO, and that's somehow now bad asking "someone to debug your code for free"?

mark-r 8y ago

I had to chew a guy out the other day. He freely admitted that he wasn't a Python programmer and was looking for working code that he could run without modification. He tried to justify it by saying he was only asking for someone to "share their expertise".

misterman0 8y ago
Good of you too chew him out. Gatekeepers are what we need to keep those who do not belong from entering into our domains.
bluedino 8y ago
"pls send the codes" or homework questions But for every response of, "What code have YOU tried?", there's someone who posts the answer to the question, and the user gets their one-time answer and never comes back
- misterman0 8y ago
  So what? Someone earned money off of a snippet of code. What's the big deal?
  - mark-r 8y ago
    It's a question of motivation. Being used as a source of free labor is very demotivating. That's not why I contribute to the site.
    - misterman0 8y ago
      I didn't know it was that kind of a setup. Then you were right to tell him off. Remember JavaScript.com? SO is that but for every language and with snippets of code that have been validated by names that are so well recognized for being brilliant that would I start to mention one then I would have to name everyone and they are too many. So we shouldn't frown upon people who take those snippets of code to try to make a buck. Is all I'm saying.
      - mark-r 8y ago
        That's the thing, he wasn't looking for a snippet - he wanted a fully operational application. I don't mind providing useful tidbits of code, even if they get quite large.

chimprich 8y ago

That is pretty much the reason for Stack Overflow's existence isn't it? Requests for debugging whatever problem you have (for free), and offers to do the same for others. You make it sound like a bad thing.

hashhar 8y ago
This is the biggest reason why people fault Stack Overflow. As Joel and Jeff have always said, it's about making a repository of knowledge to questions that are helpful for everyone. So you still see questions which are about "I was trying this but get this error" since they are useful when the error is something general and a lot of people might run into. OTOH questions like I am trying to do this very specific thing that interacts with multitudes of other systems and cannot get it to work are therefore not considered StackOverflow worthy.
everfree 8y ago
Stack Overflow is about creating a wiki of knowledge for future visitors. If you have a question that is only relevant to your specific implementation, and that will never help anyone else in the future, then it doesn't add value to Stack Overflow.
- chimprich 8y ago
  It's sometimes hard to know in advance whether your situation is unique or going to be of use to someone in the future however. If it is completely unique and is of no use to anyone else, then it still of use to one person and still worth answering. Maybe SO just needs a flag for questions as 'unique situation' so it doesn't appear by default in future searches. Also, SO isn't really a wiki. It's not designed that way. It's built around "this is my problem; what is the best solution?" interactions.