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just yesterday i wanted to ask a question about average data usage of macbooks on askdifferent (SO sibling in the stackexchange family for mac topics) ... of co

just yesterday i wanted to ask a question about average data usage of macbooks on askdifferent (SO sibling in the stackexchange family for mac topics) ... of course the question was removed within half an hour for being too fuzzy. tried it on the macos subreddit ... couldn't even post it there for too low karma ... posted it on r/apple ... still waiting for moderator approval. it's not the first time that it feels like it's becoming more and more difficult to ask a simple question on the internet. and i have 20k points on SO - was using it a lot many years ago - i know the drill.

sshine 2y ago
The asymmetry between questioners and answerers might be increasing. I get quality answers on IRC. Most other places seem flooded.
- nottorp 2y ago
  Only old farts are on irc :)
  - sshine 2y ago
    I know of one channel with at least two people below the age of 20! (Admittedly, 20! is a big number.)
DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
> average data usage of macbooks With all sincerity, I honestly don’t know what this is supposed to mean.
- 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
  well, i didn't post the full question - right? b/c i'm not expecting an answer here ... but to be a little more clear: data usage refers to up- and download.
  - DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
    > but to be a little more clear: data usage refers to up- and download. Right, that was one possibility… my initial thought was that you meant HDD capacity. But even with that clarification, how is an answerable question? Are you asking people to guess (Feynman Approximation?) how much internet traffic up+down that the average MacBook user has per-day compared to Windows or Linux users? Or did you mean something else? My left eyebrow raised itself uncontrollably as I typed that out, in fact.
    - 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
      alrighty ^
  - nosianu 2y ago
    > well, i didn't post the full question - right? Exactly, you did not. How I see it: The problem with reading such complaints is that we always only hear one side. That's why posting what you actually asked is valuable information to be able to say whether your complaint is justified or not. By default, a lot of people immediately side with and upvote the person writing the complaint, but that's actually bad - as I said, we only hear one side of the story that way, and in cases such as this one what was actually said/asked matters and without that piece of information any opinion one forms and comment votes one gives do not have a good basis to stand on. Furthermore, when people write such complaints but don't see how from the reader's PoV is only biased half-information I wonder if their question showed a similar lack of how it looks like from the PoV of its readers. You want me to side with you, but you withhold information that would let me evaluate if you are actually in the right.
    - 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
      i'm just stating an observation and connect it to a recent experience - that's all - i'm not asking you to be the judge in a court case. if you can't relate to the issue i describe, then just down vote and move on with your life.
      - 2y ago
thousand_nights 2y ago
> becoming more and more difficult to ask a simple question on the internet i know people here like to hate on discord servers, but this is one thing they shine at, it's easy to drop in and just ask a damn simple question to people that are online, in real time
- mhitza 2y ago
  The same can be said about Discourse, and at least then the information is also publicly searchable. Not realtime, sure, but for me most of that time that's perfectly alright.
  - skywal_l 2y ago
    Yes my algorithm is, for basic & general question: Stack Overflow. For specific questions related to a particular technology: look for the specific Discourse (or forum equivalent) site. Otherwise, discord as last resort.
- nottorp 2y ago
  Well one thing to hate about discord is you should use "chat server" instead. Discord is trying to become a monopoly on that (bar the corporate oriented offerings) but it's not the only option. And yes, the usual thing: since it's not a forum it's impossible to search the history (yes they have a search button which is useless for howto type questions). It's also impossible to browse it like a forum to see what problems people have encountered before you have them and possibly avoid them, or get better insight in the stuff you're using.
- layer8 2y ago
  The drawback is that it generally only helps the one question asker, and that answers only reflect who happened to be present synchronously and what they thought at that moment. Discord content is ephemeral and not discoverable, and tends to consist of reflexive rather than well-considered and thought-through answers. The value of public forums is that their content appears in public searches, can be publicly linked to, and that they facilitate asynchronous, longer-form and longer-term discourse.

sshine 2y ago

The asymmetry between questioners and answerers might be increasing. I get quality answers on IRC. Most other places seem flooded.

nottorp 2y ago
Only old farts are on irc :)
- sshine 2y ago
  I know of one channel with at least two people below the age of 20! (Admittedly, 20! is a big number.)

DaiPlusPlus 2y ago

> average data usage of macbooks With all sincerity, I honestly don’t know what this is supposed to mean.

2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
well, i didn't post the full question - right? b/c i'm not expecting an answer here ... but to be a little more clear: data usage refers to up- and download.
- DaiPlusPlus 2y ago
  > but to be a little more clear: data usage refers to up- and download. Right, that was one possibility… my initial thought was that you meant HDD capacity. But even with that clarification, how is an answerable question? Are you asking people to guess (Feynman Approximation?) how much internet traffic up+down that the average MacBook user has per-day compared to Windows or Linux users? Or did you mean something else? My left eyebrow raised itself uncontrollably as I typed that out, in fact.
  - 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
    alrighty ^
- nosianu 2y ago
  > well, i didn't post the full question - right? Exactly, you did not. How I see it: The problem with reading such complaints is that we always only hear one side. That's why posting what you actually asked is valuable information to be able to say whether your complaint is justified or not. By default, a lot of people immediately side with and upvote the person writing the complaint, but that's actually bad - as I said, we only hear one side of the story that way, and in cases such as this one what was actually said/asked matters and without that piece of information any opinion one forms and comment votes one gives do not have a good basis to stand on. Furthermore, when people write such complaints but don't see how from the reader's PoV is only biased half-information I wonder if their question showed a similar lack of how it looks like from the PoV of its readers. You want me to side with you, but you withhold information that would let me evaluate if you are actually in the right.
  - 2-3-7-43-1807 2y ago
    i'm just stating an observation and connect it to a recent experience - that's all - i'm not asking you to be the judge in a court case. if you can't relate to the issue i describe, then just down vote and move on with your life.
    - 2y ago

thousand_nights 2y ago

> becoming more and more difficult to ask a simple question on the internet i know people here like to hate on discord servers, but this is one thing they shine at, it's easy to drop in and just ask a damn simple question to people that are online, in real time

mhitza 2y ago
The same can be said about Discourse, and at least then the information is also publicly searchable. Not realtime, sure, but for me most of that time that's perfectly alright.
- skywal_l 2y ago
  Yes my algorithm is, for basic & general question: Stack Overflow. For specific questions related to a particular technology: look for the specific Discourse (or forum equivalent) site. Otherwise, discord as last resort.
nottorp 2y ago
Well one thing to hate about discord is you should use "chat server" instead. Discord is trying to become a monopoly on that (bar the corporate oriented offerings) but it's not the only option. And yes, the usual thing: since it's not a forum it's impossible to search the history (yes they have a search button which is useless for howto type questions). It's also impossible to browse it like a forum to see what problems people have encountered before you have them and possibly avoid them, or get better insight in the stuff you're using.
layer8 2y ago
The drawback is that it generally only helps the one question asker, and that answers only reflect who happened to be present synchronously and what they thought at that moment. Discord content is ephemeral and not discoverable, and tends to consist of reflexive rather than well-considered and thought-through answers. The value of public forums is that their content appears in public searches, can be publicly linked to, and that they facilitate asynchronous, longer-form and longer-term discourse.