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While I agree that very often interesting topics get closed, they DO HAVE a good reason for doing so. The intent of all the stack-exchange sites is to provide

by angdis 14y ago

While I agree that very often interesting topics get closed, they DO HAVE a good reason for doing so. The intent of all the stack-exchange sites is to provide a high-quality resource of _answers_ for specific _questions_. If "the answer" to a question ends up being a divergent discussion, then not closing responses invites more of these types of questions. Over time that will subvert the intent of stack-exchange. The POV of the stack-exchange folks is that there are plenty of forums for discussion, and that is NOT what they want to do. Hacker-news, however, is more free-form and definitely much better for "need advice" type questions with highly subjective answers. That said, it is true that moderators sometimes get persnickety about what they close. I wish that at least they would be less smug and judgmental about how they do that. But oh well, it is still an awesome resource.

antidoh 14y ago
"Hacker-news, however, is more free-form and definitely much better for "need advice" type questions with highly subjective answers." Assuming the question doesn't drop past the second page or so before someone who is interested in the question sees it. But yeah, is it is seen and kept alive for a few minutes, the discussion is potentially very useful.
wpietri 14y ago
Honestly, the original intent of a startup almost doesn't mater. What a business does is always an intersection of what the producers and the consumers want. If users want something divergent but reasonable, the answer shouldn't be, "Well, fuck you then." The right response is, "Boy, that's a a great opportunity." As proof, look at Friendster. They owned the social networking space before Facebook even existed. But it had started out as a dating site, and the founder stubbornly insisted that it stay a dating site no matter what the users wanted. At this point they're not even a punchline; MySpace has now taken over the spot of best-known failure. I've stopped contributing to StackOverflow because I'm tired of them killing good discussions. Why take the risk that yet another good answer will get eaten?
- LnxPrgr3 14y ago
  The original intent of a startup doesn't matter much if your real goal is just to get a lot of users and sell them to advertisers. Then, who cares what you build, as long as it attracts users? The original intent matters a lot more if your goal is to build something you want to see exist. I, for one, am glad Stack Overflow is the site that it is today. There are plenty of other places on the Web for more open discussion… like here, for instance.
  - wpietri 14y ago
    How you make money is irrelevant for this. Original intent doesn't really matter if you intend to serve your users. What you want to do matters, and what they want to do matters. Startups are a learning process where you explore the intersection. If you hold on too tightly to original intent, exploration is impossible. You either end up frustrated that the people won't do what you want, or you end up trying to force them to do what you want. Both suck.
    - LnxPrgr3 14y ago
      Nothing will satisfy everyone. Stack Exchange is great at serving people who want to ask and answer well-formed questions with specific answers. It doesn't even pretend to be good at serving people who want to have long, open-ended discussions about fuzzier topics. What's wrong with that? Judging by the activity on the sites, they're serving plenty of users pretty well.
      - wpietri 14y ago
        What's wrong with Friendster? It has millions of users and makes money, after all. Personally, I think Friendster could have been something more if they had been less arrogant, more willing to listen to their users. They only had to give up the belief that the users were Doing It Wrong. The problem I have with what Stack Overflow is similar. By your very metrics, these questions get plenty of activity, and many users feel very well served by them. What's wrong with that?
- 14y ago

by angdis 14y ago

antidoh 14y ago

"Hacker-news, however, is more free-form and definitely much better for "need advice" type questions with highly subjective answers." Assuming the question doesn't drop past the second page or so before someone who is interested in the question sees it. But yeah, is it is seen and kept alive for a few minutes, the discussion is potentially very useful.

wpietri 14y ago

Honestly, the original intent of a startup almost doesn't mater. What a business does is always an intersection of what the producers and the consumers want. If users want something divergent but reasonable, the answer shouldn't be, "Well, fuck you then." The right response is, "Boy, that's a a great opportunity." As proof, look at Friendster. They owned the social networking space before Facebook even existed. But it had started out as a dating site, and the founder stubbornly insisted that it stay a dating site no matter what the users wanted. At this point they're not even a punchline; MySpace has now taken over the spot of best-known failure. I've stopped contributing to StackOverflow because I'm tired of them killing good discussions. Why take the risk that yet another good answer will get eaten?

LnxPrgr3 14y ago
The original intent of a startup doesn't matter much if your real goal is just to get a lot of users and sell them to advertisers. Then, who cares what you build, as long as it attracts users? The original intent matters a lot more if your goal is to build something you want to see exist. I, for one, am glad Stack Overflow is the site that it is today. There are plenty of other places on the Web for more open discussion… like here, for instance.
- wpietri 14y ago
  How you make money is irrelevant for this. Original intent doesn't really matter if you intend to serve your users. What you want to do matters, and what they want to do matters. Startups are a learning process where you explore the intersection. If you hold on too tightly to original intent, exploration is impossible. You either end up frustrated that the people won't do what you want, or you end up trying to force them to do what you want. Both suck.
  - LnxPrgr3 14y ago
    Nothing will satisfy everyone. Stack Exchange is great at serving people who want to ask and answer well-formed questions with specific answers. It doesn't even pretend to be good at serving people who want to have long, open-ended discussions about fuzzier topics. What's wrong with that? Judging by the activity on the sites, they're serving plenty of users pretty well.
    - wpietri 14y ago
      What's wrong with Friendster? It has millions of users and makes money, after all. Personally, I think Friendster could have been something more if they had been less arrogant, more willing to listen to their users. They only had to give up the belief that the users were Doing It Wrong. The problem I have with what Stack Overflow is similar. By your very metrics, these questions get plenty of activity, and many users feel very well served by them. What's wrong with that?
14y ago