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People do anything for points on StackOverflow. It's pretty much the same thing

by msoad 11y ago

pmelendez 11y ago
Maybe it's just personal but when I respond a question in SO I feel I am giving back to the community... This feels more like giving it to Google. Google already monetize their service by making me see ads(which is fair). SO monetize their service by showing me employment opportunities (which to me is better). Google model doesn't need the community to work... The entire SO model is a paying forward knowledge transfer. So... At least to they it is not the same thing.
- wodenokoto 11y ago
  But it is not different. They both show ads, and neither would make any money unless the ads had benefit to a significant amount of users. The only thing SO has done different is better branding towards top contributors, and judging from your post they've done it by targeting ads towards the top contributors.
  - cowsandmilk 11y ago
    > But it is not different. Except it is. Most people aren't contributing answers on SO about how to use SO. They are contributing answers about how to use JS or C or PHP or how to solve a particular programming problem. SO did not create JS or C or PHP or any other programming language or framework discussed on SO. Google's program is to get people to support products Google created so that Google doesn't have to support its products itself.
benten10 11y ago
Exactly. Is it me or has there been a noticeable increase in Google gate-brigade posting on HN recently? Things like these, very integral part of the existing internet framework are used for pointless 'big scary Google, Google is the new Microsoft ' imagery. Anyone with data care to do a sentiment analysis/ vote-brigading analysis?
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- rc4algorithm 11y ago
  In this instance, people are angry about the fact that Google makes a ton of money from these services but feels no obligation to provide support for them. More generally, welcome to the new normal. The money-spewing circleparty is fizzling out, thankfully. People increasingly feel safe and confident in challenging the morality and societal value of these corporations. Blasé compliance is no longer expected in tech and many of us (those of us that upvote these things) are working to keep it that way. Google is big, scary, and the new Microsoft, whether or not that's fiscally or professionally convenient for you.
  - ddingus 11y ago
    Why would people expect more support without actually paying for it? Google actually does support the free offerings pretty well. They just don't do it on a case by case basis. Anybody who wants that has the option to pay Google to get it. Otherwise, Google does invest time into making sure it works well for everyone and isn't just letting it all sit out there slowly breaking...
    - rc4algorithm 11y ago
      People pay with their privacy. Google's support is generally considered to be somewhere between dismal and nonexistent for most of its services. Clearly, they're making enough money to be doing better. No one expects intensive 24/7 support for free webmail, but Google's balance of profit and support is off. Free-tier users aren't cattle, especially not when you're tracking them.
      - ddingus 11y ago
        Anyone who feels that value exchange isn't appropriate has a lot of options. If you pay Google, their support is much improved. I don't expect any support for free web mail. And yes, I back mine up, from time to time, or pay for that support. You may well value things differently, but that's not necessarily on Google.
sigsergv 11y ago
Except SO forums contain much more valuable information than official google resources. Also UI of google groups so awful. And google support just a myth, I've never seen any who got any response from them, only a few mentions in internet.
- frozenport 11y ago
  Not sure why you are being downvoted, while I own much of my career to SO for the transfer of esoteric computer knowledge to the public domain, official Google resources haven't done much for me. Indeed, most of the useful information about Google tools come from SO!
NeutronBoy 11y ago
'What do you mean, you posted constructive feedback on that startup idea on HN for free?! You should be getting paid a consulting fee for that service!'
jfoster 11y ago
StackOverflow is an economy, though. You can spend your points (question bounties), the points serve as an indication of your expertise (eg. to potential employers), and having more points leads to "privileges" on the site. (eg. 200 points => reduced ads) For the time being, at least, Google's Top Contributor program doesn't seem to offer any practical benefits.

People do anything for points on StackOverflow. It's pretty much the same thing

by msoad 11y ago

People do anything for points on StackOverflow. It's pretty much the same thing

Maybe it's just personal but when I respond a question in SO I feel I am giving back to the community... This feels more like giving it to Google. Google already monetize their service by making me see ads(which is fair). SO monetize their service by showing me employment opportunities (which to me is better). Google model doesn't need the community to work... The entire SO model is a paying forward knowledge transfer. So... At least to they it is not the same thing.

wodenokoto 11y ago
But it is not different. They both show ads, and neither would make any money unless the ads had benefit to a significant amount of users. The only thing SO has done different is better branding towards top contributors, and judging from your post they've done it by targeting ads towards the top contributors.
- cowsandmilk 11y ago
  > But it is not different. Except it is. Most people aren't contributing answers on SO about how to use SO. They are contributing answers about how to use JS or C or PHP or how to solve a particular programming problem. SO did not create JS or C or PHP or any other programming language or framework discussed on SO. Google's program is to get people to support products Google created so that Google doesn't have to support its products itself.

benten10 11y ago

Exactly. Is it me or has there been a noticeable increase in Google gate-brigade posting on HN recently? Things like these, very integral part of the existing internet framework are used for pointless 'big scary Google, Google is the new Microsoft ' imagery. Anyone with data care to do a sentiment analysis/ vote-brigading analysis?

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
rc4algorithm 11y ago
In this instance, people are angry about the fact that Google makes a ton of money from these services but feels no obligation to provide support for them. More generally, welcome to the new normal. The money-spewing circleparty is fizzling out, thankfully. People increasingly feel safe and confident in challenging the morality and societal value of these corporations. Blasé compliance is no longer expected in tech and many of us (those of us that upvote these things) are working to keep it that way. Google is big, scary, and the new Microsoft, whether or not that's fiscally or professionally convenient for you.
- ddingus 11y ago
  Why would people expect more support without actually paying for it? Google actually does support the free offerings pretty well. They just don't do it on a case by case basis. Anybody who wants that has the option to pay Google to get it. Otherwise, Google does invest time into making sure it works well for everyone and isn't just letting it all sit out there slowly breaking...
  - rc4algorithm 11y ago
    People pay with their privacy. Google's support is generally considered to be somewhere between dismal and nonexistent for most of its services. Clearly, they're making enough money to be doing better. No one expects intensive 24/7 support for free webmail, but Google's balance of profit and support is off. Free-tier users aren't cattle, especially not when you're tracking them.
    - ddingus 11y ago
      Anyone who feels that value exchange isn't appropriate has a lot of options. If you pay Google, their support is much improved. I don't expect any support for free web mail. And yes, I back mine up, from time to time, or pay for that support. You may well value things differently, but that's not necessarily on Google.

sigsergv 11y ago

Except SO forums contain much more valuable information than official google resources. Also UI of google groups so awful. And google support just a myth, I've never seen any who got any response from them, only a few mentions in internet.

frozenport 11y ago
Not sure why you are being downvoted, while I own much of my career to SO for the transfer of esoteric computer knowledge to the public domain, official Google resources haven't done much for me. Indeed, most of the useful information about Google tools come from SO!

NeutronBoy 11y ago

'What do you mean, you posted constructive feedback on that startup idea on HN for free?! You should be getting paid a consulting fee for that service!'

jfoster 11y ago

StackOverflow is an economy, though. You can spend your points (question bounties), the points serve as an indication of your expertise (eg. to potential employers), and having more points leads to "privileges" on the site. (eg. 200 points => reduced ads) For the time being, at least, Google's Top Contributor program doesn't seem to offer any practical benefits.