The .Stack is a waste of time
Florian Festi wrote 03/12/2020 at 13:28 • 3 pointsLet me start with that I really like the .Stack. I like the anything goes attitude. I like that there is no structure and not one tells anyone what to put there.
But every second post is a newbie asking a poor question and getting no or only poor answers - mine included. To be clear: I don't blame those newbies. They just don't know better. And while we should teach them I can't really bring myself to do that most of the time.
So what about adding a short link on how to ask good questions? A quick search on site reveals this article: https://hackaday.com/2015/12/08/does-the-internet-make-you-stupid/ with a link to the classic from Eric S. Raymond (http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html) which is great but a bit dated and may be too heavy.
I also found this project log that deals with this issue very well - although it is meant for its own project only: https://hackaday.io/project/21240-exploring-china-made-nvrs-dvrs-cameras/log/57497-have-a-question-or-need-help. We surely can come up with something along these lines and a few lines more on how to briefly but properly describe the project in question.
So in the end I don't mind wasting by time but I mind all those wasted opportunities.
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Good points. The reasons that make the stack great are also part of the issues you describe ;)
Rather than just trying to fix stack, I'm looking at some onboarding changes for new users, some of your suggestions could help there. Part of it is giving new users better direction instead of just leaving them on the feed page.
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this is not just a new user problem as in not knowing how to ask questions. This is also a problem of those that answer the questions. They rush to give out an answer without an explanation, or make a lot of unnecessary assumptions, most often they criticize something unrelated to your question, have an attitude.
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I think part of the reason is the stack is not a full fledged forum. I'm going to leave it at that, but if you compare it to say eevblog you will see where the stack falls short so doesn't get much participation.
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A very good point. Good thought out questions from a newbie stand a better chance of receiving a reply. A big problem on Hack Chat is newbies asking how to crack a password into some others account on FB or Twit. I see that about 90 plus % ask that question. Next up is someone asking help with their school project without even trying to do simple basic study or research.
#So You Want To Be A Hacker? is also a good place to start.
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