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I disagree. The old sites while sometimes had wildly varying answers, so does SO, especially in newer technologies that change frequently (React, etc...) you'l
by ProAm 8y ago
I disagree. The old sites while sometimes had wildly varying answers, so does SO, especially in newer technologies that change frequently (React, etc...) you'll find answers that are 6 months old but out of date and new questions get closed pointing to the old ones. And the culture on the old sites was never as vile as SO is.
I won't be sad when the next gen Q&A comes around to fix the problems SO introduced, just like when SO came around to fix the issues of the other sites.
- jessriedel 8y agoYour opinion that the quality of programming answers available was roughly as good before StackOverflow as after is very uncommon.
- ProAm 8y agoTo be fair how people learn on the internet has changed too and I fully admit that. Prior to SO you had to read quite a bit of answers that were close but not quite what you were looking for, but by going through that process of reading you learned quite a bit more as to how things worked, what the language/software/hardware was trying to do and I feel as a result grasped a deeper understanding to the problem and technology you were using. Now, questions and answers are much more specific and thus create a much more of a copy and paste environment where people just get stuff in and hope it works without really learning the how and why. Part of that is because the need for programmers over the past 20 years has grown to such an extent people really don't care as much about the quality of work as long as it sort of works. They needed a programmer with a pulse and will fix poor quality work later because they need to ship now. Hardware also vastly outpaced the programs in performance so doing things in a less than best manner wasn't as evident. Just a generational/era thing. SO definitely tried to reinvent the 'manual' for many years, which was silly when there was already a manual to read.
- scott_s 8y agoI feel the opposite: SO posts are often the launching-off point for me to find the even more detailed stuff. Your feeling that things were somehow better when they were worse, is I feel, misguided. Developers learning answers to specific questions allows them to be better faster.
- ProAm 8y agoI guess to each their own, I can see both sides but more often I see developers stopping after a copy/paste from SO, and still have no better understanding to how things work.
- tedmiston 8y agoSO already offers a solution to this problem. You can edit the popular / accepted answers or add your own new answer to any open question. This approach has worked well for me.
- ProAm 8y agoIm just not a huge fan of participating in toxic communities. Editing often changes answers and perspectives of the original questions and answers, you often run into a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' scenario. And doesn't solve the "This question has been closed" issues.
- tedmiston 8y agoPerhaps it would be more fruitful to discuss if you have a concrete example in mind. I haven't personally seen or closed new questions as dupes if answers on the existing questions have been noted as being not up-to-date. The goal of editing an existing answer is definitely not to change the original answerer's intent. The tools to solve the problems you identified are available. As you've alluded to, it's up to each user whether they choose to make use of them.
- ProAm 8y agoI'll be honest Ive just stopped using the site unless I absolutely have to. It's definitely a to each their own scenario and YMMV depending.