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Thoughts from Jeff Atwood

Arantor

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Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« on February 10th, 2013, 08:58 PM »
Very occasionally, I'll stop by Jeff's blog. Very occasionally, mind, because it's not something that usually occurs to me to do. Jeff, for those who don't know, is one of the founders of StackOverflow, and perhaps more relevantly to us, Discourse. I am still trying to get my head around the logic of some of the things Discourse is doing, and I'm not convinced that it's quite the 'next generation' of forums that he's pitching it as. I strongly dislike some of the directions taken.[1]

But he has some very interesting thoughts I'd like to add.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/02/listen-to-your-community-but-dont-let-them-tell-you-what-to-do.html

I believe this is something we do, and I believe it's one of the problems SMF has had, and as far as I know still generally does have.

We try to invite all kinds of thoughts and suggestions. I don't promise to implement anything. But I promise we'll look at what's suggested, no matter who suggests it, and if it makes sense to us we'll build it.

And we don't go off and build huge systems for minor features. We won't go building huge major features unless we think the need for it is justified. That doesn't mean we won't build things, it means that if you want to see it implemented, give us a reason to do it. "Because it's cool" isn't really enough.

And yes, we will be honest about things we won't do. There's a lot of things I've made very clear I will not build myself, and that I won't allow into the core, and I'm pretty sure Nao has said the same.


The other nugget I want to share, is http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2012/12/web-discussions-flat-by-design.html

We've had discussions about threaded topics, and putting aside the technical matters, there is a major usability aspect to it, and I believe it's partly why I avoid Reddit because I have no freakin' idea what the hell's going on at any given time >_<

But it's certainly food for thought. I'm going to just leave it here for now and let people have at it before I weigh in with my $0.02 on where I see it going.
 1. For example the reputation aspect as being effectively a sort of power control, because it actually encourages elitism and cliquism than not. It's why I long since gave up on contributing to SO.
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dwc

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Re: Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« Reply #1, on February 12th, 2013, 04:29 AM »
I saw that too.

Stackexchange/stackoverflow is the worst site ever.  I can't believe it's as big as it is.
Re: Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« Reply #2, on August 2nd, 2013, 02:33 AM »
I just looked at their sandbox forum.  In my opinion, it is horrible.  Their *stack.exchange sites are so hard for me to use.  For Discourse, my ADD went into overdrive and I couldn't even use it.  Simplicity is so much better, and wedge is light years better than theirs.

PS - the smileys on my post form are all stacked vertically, fyi...

live627

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A confident man keeps quiet.whereas a frightened man keeps talking, hiding his fear.

Auk

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Re: Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« Reply #4, on August 2nd, 2013, 04:40 AM »
Quote from dwc on February 12th, 2013, 04:29 AM
I saw that too.

Stackexchange/stackoverflow is the worst site ever.  I can't believe it's as big as it is.
Why exactly? I like consulting that website for good practices for doing some codes. I do not start at their homepage, but find a topic of common questions with answers from google search result.

Nothing is more despicable than respect based on fear.

Arantor

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Re: Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« Reply #5, on August 2nd, 2013, 05:25 AM »
The problem with them is that they're actually quite hard to navigate. You'd be surprised how often people write new 'answers' when they meant to reply to a comment. This holds true for anything that clones the format, I see an awful lot on Unity Answers (the Q&A community for Unity 3D)

As far as that specific set of sites, they have one pretty large problem. I know I can be pretty egotistical as a developer, and have a low tolerance for various things but the egomaniacs on StackOverflow make me look completely normal.

Nao

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Arantor

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Re: Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« Reply #7, on August 2nd, 2013, 06:20 PM »
The egomania on SO? It's much the same as on Wikipedia, actually. People vote up what sounds good and blasts down what sounds bad, even if what sounds bad is completely accurate. I know I got downvoted more than once even when the answer I gave was completely correct.

Nao

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Re: Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« Reply #8, on August 2nd, 2013, 06:38 PM »
Oh.. That!
Yeah, I also often find better answers way lower in the page, but I didn't think it had any impact on anyone, except for making these answers harder to find...?

Most of the time, the 'accepted' answer is the best one, and if it works for me, then great. But if it doesn't, I'll go deeper into the thread and eventually find the right one. No worries, then...

Arantor

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Re: Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« Reply #9, on August 2nd, 2013, 06:41 PM »
That's the other problem, the 'best' answer seems to rarely be the best answer for me. The format just doesn't seem geared to promoting the best overall answer.

Nao

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Arantor

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Re: Thoughts from Jeff Atwood
« Reply #11, on August 2nd, 2013, 08:16 PM »
:P

I think I know what it is, actually. I think it's because the majority of the time, the 'best answer' is already one I'd considered before trying to find the answer I'm looking for.

live627

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Nao

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live627

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