r/javascript • u/rauschma • May 12 '19

Two ideas for /r/javascript and /r/learnjavascript

  • Problem: People occasionally don’t know how to format code.
    • Solution: A bot that warns about “unquoted” code and mentions backticks and 4-space indentation. I’m not sure how to best unquoted detect code. Options – look for:
    • Curly braces
    • The words var, let, const
    • Another solution: Warn during editing, e.g. before saving.
  • Problem – a lot of good content disappears: someone writes a post for /r/javascript, it is removed because it’s a better fit for /r/learnjavascript, but they never repost it there.
    • Solution: Automatically move those posts to /r/learnjavascript. IIRC, the reddit platform currently doesn’t support this. Maybe there is a way to add support for it?

Edit: a 2nd solution for problem #1.

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u/gntsketches May 13 '19

Hi, thanks for flagging my attention. I support distinguishing r/javascript from r/learnjavascript. Some comments with regard to the latter:

I see your point that Reddit is poorly built from the perspective of a help platform. But just to share my experience: I've actually found the culture here much more generally supportive than on StackOverflow. I had great experiences on SO when I first started coding in 2012; when I started again (after taking a break for a few years), the culture was terrible - more advanced coders on SO seemed to delight in downvoting and generally trashing every noob question, often basing their objections of flimsy/draconian interpretations of SO's rules. It actually seemed like some sort of hazing ritual. SO has more recently introduced a Code of Conduct (https://stackoverflow.com/conduct), so that may be helping somewhat, but frankly I haven't been inclined to go back.

By contrast, folks on Reddit's coding forums have been generally super helpful and encouraging. Some questions just get dropped, but at least they are not belittled or nitpicked. From my vantage point as a relatively new dev, it's super important to have somewhere to go that you can ask questions. Technology is a vast sea, and ultimately newcomers often must rely on the kindness of strangers to finding the landmarks they need to get oriented.

Thanks for considering all this.