I Love CodeProject; Hate StackOverFlow

[Dominic Burford]

I have found some useful information on SO, but equally I know exactly what you are talking about. I have seen many replies to questions downvoted simply because they didn't give the de facto industry expected solution. I even saw one reply not long ago where the reply was heavily downvoted (almost bordering on an attack) because the contributor gave some advice that flew in the face of popular convention. I actually found the advice to be very useful. If you buck the trend on SO then you won't get along very well, unless you are already well know and respected throughout the technical community. It can be very cliquey.

"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare Home | LinkedIn | Google+ | Twitter

[CPallini]

I am happy you find Code Project more friendly than Stack Overflow. Even here, posts are sometimes marked as 'not a question' and removed. I think this is a bad habit: the OP deserves help even if the question 'is not properly phrased' :rolleyes:

THESE PEOPLE REALLY BOTHER ME!! How can they know what you should do without knowing what you want done?!?! -- C++ FQA Lite

[Mycroft Holmes]

I think the OP is having trouble getting a question asked let alone answered. I was not aware they nazi'd all over questions (never having asked on SO), answers I can understand. Unless the OP is asking completely idiotic question I would think the would at least be posted. I find SO an excellent resource but not somewhere I would spend any time and not somewhere I would contribute to!

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

[Lost User]

There are several ways to get downvotes asking in SO: 1. Start a question from something like this: "Hi guys, I am new to...", "My teacher told me...", "My friend asked me...", "I need this ASAP..." and similar irrelevant crap. 2. Ask a question without a code "Hi guys, my program crashes, what can I do?" 3. Define all your problems as "not working". 4. Post 1 MB of source code with laconic description "not working" - see also p.3 5. Ask philosophical questions like "What is faster: C or C++?", "How to learn programming?" etc. 6. Ask non-programming questions like "How to install Windows and Ubuntu on the same computer?" Which way you prefer? Currently SO is most valuable WEB resource for solving a programming problems. But it is really unfriendly for a new users - unless you learn to ask (and probably to answer) according to their guidelines.

[Pete OHanlon]

Alex Fr wrote:

Currently SO is most valuable WEB resource for solving a programming problems

On this, I'd have to disagree. Most of the time, I find that the answers to problems on SO, assume so much prior knowledge, or are so outdated as to be virtually useless. At best, an answer oftentimes represents a snapshot of the world as it was at that time.

[Lost User]

Of course, this is my personal opinion. When I an looking for some programming solution making Google search, usually SO answers are on the top of the list, and they are really best. Though I am participating in SO both asking and answering a questions, this opinion is based only on my Google search experience. Since there are lot of programming forums, everyone can decide which is the best, and more friendly sites like CodeProject message boards make a good work.

[Keith Barrow]

Mycroft Holmes wrote:

I was not aware they nazi'd all over questions

Yes - he who must not be named's approach is much closer to the norm in SO than it is here. Whatever you see here in Q&A is magnified through a hive mind on SO. Thoughtful answers often get short shrift too. That said, where I work the prevailing attitude to CP is pretty negative. I've even been told "it's the shortest way to get the wrong answer" (which surprised me, given that I've always found the advice good) and it's too slow to get any kind of answer.

Slacker007 wrote:

[Dalek] Dave would make a fine American.[^]

[Pete OHanlon]

I used to answer questions on SO. I was put off by the arrogance of certain posters. It's one of the reasons I don't answer many questions in QA here either. There's a similar elitist attitude that forgets that we were all newbies at one point.

[Mark_Wallace]

... Isn't registering, damnit! These boards need to be exclusive to people who know something about the technology they're using! So I'll just keep pressing the '1' key on my keyboard until it registers!

I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!

[Rahul Rajat Singh]

+5. Could not have put it in better words. Perfect comment.

[OriginalGriff]

Agreed - I don't answer anything there either for the same reasons. And some of our QA answerers are as bad - but fortunately there are fewer here than there! :laugh:

Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...

[King Fisher]

Quote:

CodeProject is very patient

that's why lot's of Spam(Ads) post in QA. :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Born To Learn

[Yesudass Moses]

Ohhooo... :omg:

[Lost User]

A true fact indeed..:D

[BillWoodruff]

Of course I accept that you had a negative experience on Stack OverFlow, but, without seeing your posts, and the responses to them, and knowing if your multiple ID's were possibly a factor in your being reported (was it fairly obvious you were using multiple accounts ?), etc., I would never draw any "global" inferences about Stack OverFlow from your experience ... as reported here. I see SO and CP as two different "cultures;" imho, both are characterized by fluctuating dynamics in terms of response to questions. imho, CP has much a much higher "tolerance" for posts which are: hard to interpret; ask for guidance on a very broad-level; don't have tags; contain multiple questions rolled-into-one post; etc. And, of course, comparisons are not in order because SO has no equivalent to CP's wealth of articles, tip/tricks, tech reporting, Lounge, etc. ! Both SO and CP have "dominant individuals," but I perceive the really dominant individuals on SO, like Marc Gravell, Jon Skeet, Eric Lippert, et. al., as playing somewhat different roles than dominant individuals do here on CP. I'll spare you my detailed analysis of that and just comment that I perceive more consistency, and more (implicitly) co-ordination, on SO in terms of behavior of dominant individuals compared to CP where I perceive radical differences in typical behavior per dominant individual. Let me riddle you this: if you were going to cast the role of "Darth Vader" which would you choose from: CP, or SO ? To use the old classic sociological categories, I see the culture of CP as being more "Dionysian," and "Gemeinschaft," and SO being more "Apollonian" and "Gesellschaft." To use more contemporary terms I see CP QA and Forums as being "mosh-pit free-for-all" compared to SO :) I like both, and use both, and respect both. However, I have never felt motivated to participate in SO by answering questions, as I have here. Perceiving CP and SO as two very different "planets" allows me to enjoy both without seeing either one as requiring "judging" the other. However, one area where I think StackOverFlow does excel, and where I wish I could see more of a similar excellence in CP QA and forums, is in "keeping top-level" the highest quality material. Why, I ask, rhetorically, does SO appear to have so many more voting (including down-voting) other than the obvious "demographic weight" of the number of users ? Note by saying "similar excellence" I am not saying that CP needs to become exactly like SO in any particular way; I think with the creati

[W Balboos GHB]

Dominic Burford wrote:

It can be very cliquey.

Think They're Cliquey? Try letting on that you consider Gin for what it rightly is - sub-standard second-hand toilet bowl cleanser. Then see how well you get along at CP.

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein

"As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert

"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010

[Dominic Burford]

I love gin *cough* ;)

"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare Home | LinkedIn | Google+ | Twitter

[Lost User]

CPallini wrote:

I think this is a bad habit: the OP deserves help even if the question 'is not properly phrased'

To a point, but I've seen quite a few requests for help here along the lines of "can anyone tell me how to create software to [insert random aim]". No attempt by the poster to show what (if anything) they've tried, no code snippets, just a general request that to me translates as "I'm too lazy to find out how do this for myself so can someone else do it for me?". Those kind of posts - in my opinion - bring no value to CP and should be deleted. It's the stringent policing of posts on SO (as annoying as it can be :| ) that have made is so valuable as a resource. [Edit] I just went to Q&A out of morbid curiosity and (as if by magic) this was top of the list - how to transfer live video form client machine to server so that it can be streemed online through web[^] ..exactly what I'm talking about :mad:

How do you know so much about swallows? Well, you have to know these things when you're a king, you know.

[Lost User]

I asked many questions in SO. Since SO users don't like a bad questions, it is not a trivial task. Many times I found solution myself writing an SO question. To ask a good question, it is necessary to isolate the problem, post minimal reproducible code fragment and describe exactly what is the failure. Surprisingly, the same steps are needed to solve the problem. By the way, an answers in SO are downvoted aggressively exactly is a questions. SO is a tough place...

[PhilLenoir]

Possibly slow because many of us have stopped answering after being attacked by he who must not be named and having questions deleted after spending effort helping. I just don't need the stress. I've always said that he's more of a liability than an asset and would be more at home on SO. The norm here is clearly more respectful of students and newbs. I'm definitely with the likes of Bill, Mike and Maciej (and countless others) who want to share and not self-promote.

Life is like a s**t sandwich; the more bread you have, the less s**t you eat.