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StackOverflow is being killed by its overzealous moderation, as was Wikipedia a year or so ago before they backed off a bit. Let's sample a random question from

by MrDOS 13y ago

StackOverflow is being killed by its overzealous moderation, as was Wikipedia a year or so ago before they backed off a bit. Let's sample a random question from the `php` tag: [1]. The question is not particularly well-asked, but I think it's fairly obvious that the answer is a union of the three tables. And yet, because he phrased his question as a requirement (it's the last sentence) and not an absolute question, it's been closed – even though I understand the question and possess the ability to give an answer (and maybe even edit the original question to improve its readability), I've been rendered unable to do so. I think the big problem I have with quickly-closed questions is that they get just as thoroughly indexed on Google as answered questions. This becomes a particular problem with niche topics; last summer, I was tasked with some Salesforce development and the number of unanswered, closed APEX questions I found was astonishing. [1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17237166/sql-query-query-from-3-tables http://stackoverflow.com/questions/17237166/sql-query-query-...

jackmaney 13y ago
Stack Overflow is not a bargain-basement alternative to Elance, Odesk, or rent-a-coder.com, whereby people can get code snippets vomited at them for free. As was made evident in the comments, the OP of the question needed to show what he tried. Also, closed questions can be edited. That's the main point of closing a question: to send a signal to the OP that the question needs to be edited and improved.
- jeremyt 13y ago
  A result of the new close reasons re-factor is that closed questions will be called "on hold" for five days before they become finally closed to encourage the OP to improve the question.
gnaritas 13y ago
Closing that question was appropriate. Moderation is good, it keeps the signal to noise ratio in check. It is not being killed, it's being helped; the site would be far less useful without the moderation as would Wikipedia.
teh_klev 13y ago
That's a plz-send-teh-codez question. OP demonstrated no effort at all in solving his problem and couldn't be bothered learning how to format his question. If the OP had provided a snippet of SQL or suggested a theory on how this might be solved, even if it was completely wrong, then the question would have remained open, gotten a few answers and perhaps even upvoted.

by MrDOS 13y ago

jackmaney 13y ago

Stack Overflow is not a bargain-basement alternative to Elance, Odesk, or rent-a-coder.com, whereby people can get code snippets vomited at them for free. As was made evident in the comments, the OP of the question needed to show what he tried. Also, closed questions can be edited. That's the main point of closing a question: to send a signal to the OP that the question needs to be edited and improved.

jeremyt 13y ago
A result of the new close reasons re-factor is that closed questions will be called "on hold" for five days before they become finally closed to encourage the OP to improve the question.

gnaritas 13y ago

Closing that question was appropriate. Moderation is good, it keeps the signal to noise ratio in check. It is not being killed, it's being helped; the site would be far less useful without the moderation as would Wikipedia.

teh_klev 13y ago

That's a plz-send-teh-codez question. OP demonstrated no effort at all in solving his problem and couldn't be bothered learning how to format his question. If the OP had provided a snippet of SQL or suggested a theory on how this might be solved, even if it was completely wrong, then the question would have remained open, gotten a few answers and perhaps even upvoted.