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A good post, and I think what this blogger is feeling is what anyone who has publicly commented on the internet has experienced. It can be discouraging, but the

A good post, and I think what this blogger is feeling is what anyone who has publicly commented on the internet has experienced. It can be discouraging, but the psychology of online communities is such that people view votes of approval as precious but those with an ulterior motive (trolling, promoting their own post, etc.) freely vote negatively. This leads to a tremendous imbalance and perception of a lack of worth. I see this on my site often. Something will catch on a site like this and it will drive thousands (sometimes many thousands) of visitors to the site. However, on the originating site itself, I'll receive positive votes from only a very tiny fraction of visitors. Certainly more than that tiny percentage liked the post, but yet they don't vote. That's just the nature of the beast and it has always been this way. I doubt it'll ever change.

david_a_r_kemp 15y ago
I think the issues with Stack Overflow are: 1. People don't search properly before posting 2. There are a lot of "low quality" questions that could be answered by reading documentation (also see 1) 3. Most of the questions that apply to 1 & 2 have already been answered on StackOverflow. 4. It's overwhelmingly (US) English, so people who are not fluent pendants are down-voted. 5. The people who need the most help are those who are least suited to post, as they rarely give enough detail ([example][1] - where to start?), ask very generic questions ([how to build a website][2]), or ask questions that have been answered before When StackOverflow started, I spent a great deal of time on it as it felt like a good way to help and share knowledge (or just show off). Nowadays, I'll vote when I find an answer (usually via Duck Duck Go), but [the last question I asked][3] is still unanswered (allowing Facebook to use this as a support forum is a joke). I feel that it's become a victim of its own success, and is getting to the point where it's as bad as the sites it tried to replace. [1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9395670/dataset-getting-manupulated-in-betwwen-two-webservice http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9395670/dataset-getting-m... [2] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/87305/how-to-build-a-website-with-a-backend http://stackoverflow.com/questions/87305/how-to-build-a-webs... [3] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8077747/what-are-facebook-ad-group-keyword-stats http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8077747/what-are-facebook...
- bradleyland 15y ago
  > 2. There are a lot of "low quality" questions that could be answered by reading documentation (also see 1) This is a problem that plagues virtually all discussion media. All new discussion systems that are focused on Q&A trend toward what can only be called a knowledge base. What the citizens of these forums overlook is that the very design[^1] of these sites attracts individuals who are either unwilling or incapable of finding the answers on their own. Thus begins the vicious cycle toward user hostility that results in a closed community. 1 - Design as in structure and purpose, not design as in color, layout, etc

david_a_r_kemp 15y ago

I think the issues with Stack Overflow are: 1. People don't search properly before posting 2. There are a lot of "low quality" questions that could be answered by reading documentation (also see 1) 3. Most of the questions that apply to 1 & 2 have already been answered on StackOverflow. 4. It's overwhelmingly (US) English, so people who are not fluent pendants are down-voted. 5. The people who need the most help are those who are least suited to post, as they rarely give enough detail ([example][1] - where to start?), ask very generic questions ([how to build a website][2]), or ask questions that have been answered before When StackOverflow started, I spent a great deal of time on it as it felt like a good way to help and share knowledge (or just show off). Nowadays, I'll vote when I find an answer (usually via Duck Duck Go), but [the last question I asked][3] is still unanswered (allowing Facebook to use this as a support forum is a joke). I feel that it's become a victim of its own success, and is getting to the point where it's as bad as the sites it tried to replace. [1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9395670/dataset-getting-manupulated-in-betwwen-two-webservice http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9395670/dataset-getting-m... [2] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/87305/how-to-build-a-website-with-a-backend http://stackoverflow.com/questions/87305/how-to-build-a-webs... [3] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8077747/what-are-facebook-ad-group-keyword-stats http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8077747/what-are-facebook...

bradleyland 15y ago
> 2. There are a lot of "low quality" questions that could be answered by reading documentation (also see 1) This is a problem that plagues virtually all discussion media. All new discussion systems that are focused on Q&A trend toward what can only be called a knowledge base. What the citizens of these forums overlook is that the very design[^1] of these sites attracts individuals who are either unwilling or incapable of finding the answers on their own. Thus begins the vicious cycle toward user hostility that results in a closed community. 1 - Design as in structure and purpose, not design as in color, layout, etc