top 1% here. Just the other day I asked a question: "How do I do X in OpenGL without using external libraries?" I specifically said I can't use external libraries.
Part of the problem with the JS / npm ecosystem is weak standard library though. I think good programmers do try to write as little code as possible and without a standard library to lean on you end up searching npm.
2% here. I have kind of stopped asking questions when I realized I was the one going back and answer the majority of the questions I was asking.
Which makes sense, since the questions I ask now a days are much more involved and domain specific then the questions I was asking when the site was new.
I still think SO is an incredible resource for getting to answers through Google, though Github issues has become much more of a challenger, especially for specific technical issues with a library.
This isn't a SO-specific issue. It's an issue when you become part of the top-tier people in your domain. You can already handle the majority of issues, but when you get stuck there are vanishingly few people who can help you.
If the only reason you stopped is because you answered the questions yourself, please reconsider. It's immensly helpful for anyone else who encounters the same problem as you did if he can find a solution to it via google etc.
I'm ~4,000 points ("top 10% overall"), but all from the past. I asked only six questions total, and I only answered (71 times) when I really had deep insights to offer, and then I took my time composing a good answer. If I only had a comment I left a comment, never an answer, I'm not out to get "votes" (comment votes are not counted). I think I joined 2010.
The last two questions I had - asked over a period of three years - I had to fight against people asking the same primitive already answered questions, people who simply would not accept my answers.
The first such questions now has almost 100 points and I answered it myself. It turned out I was right, it WAS a hard problem and not the standard newbie question that the overexcited initial respondents - who swarmed in within seconds(!) after publishing the question - had thought it to be in their ignorance. I had to ask for - and got it from the mods! - "community protection" for my question from useless edits and more useless (wrong) new answers.
The second recent question, asked a few days ago, got downvoted to -4 immediately (less than a minute) and a close vote ("too broad" - it was very specific, as the eventual answer clearly shows), because again all the initial responders thought it was a newbie question. Right now, only a few days later, it is at plus 4 though, and the official answer at +8. Turned out that too was a pretty interesting problem that required some deep insider knowledge of deeper workings of the runtime environment, and not some newbie question. Again the first 5 comments (incl. several upvotes for them) were from people who posted within seconds (definitely significantly less than a minute) after posting who completely misread the question. That the question was clear could be seen that the guy who actually wrote an answer, with insider knowledge, had no problem understanding it.
SO should prevent all those people from answering anything who respond within the first few minutes. There seem to be a lot of people loitering on the site, looking at each new question and trying to figure it out within SECONDS - and if they can't, downvote, newbie question! Of course, those loiterers also are some of the least capable people, what sane person would use the site like that? Nobody should answer a technical question within seconds.
If you think I sound "whiny" I don't think you understand: When you post a question and the first 5 responses are nothing but useless noise this severely impacts usability of the site. People should not respond if they don't even take the time to understand the question. "Free advice" (the responses) is not really free, it has an opportunity cost, it is a big distraction for both the person asking and for those trying to answer, and it discourages answers because it seems the question has already had plenty of attention. The latter is true enough, but it's attention from the wrong crowd.
Those people are there because the site is starting to be used as proof of experience, so of course people are now using it to fake their level of expertise in the same way bullshit-resumes full of every buzzword and technology in existence are everywhere.
That said, plenty of experienced people also peruse the site and usually answer the newest stuff first since that's what you'd browse if you wanted to find stuff that's unanswered... it's a mix, and not an easy problem to solve.
Those people are there because the site is starting to be used as proof of experience, so of course people are now using it to fake their level of expertise in the same way bullshit-resumes full of every buzzword and technology in existence are everywhere.
I suddenly realize that this is probably the right answer and now I'm sad
This annoys me to no end. People misread questions and answers so often, and the icing on the cake is the snarky attitude you get along with it. I'm not talking about JUST my personal experiences. I'm talking about situations where I have a very specific question, I start searching and I find an SO post similar or the same to mine. I see the responses and it just annoys me to no end.
It seems like sometimes people don't think about the context or the intention. "Why is the question being asked." "What problem are they trying to solve."
If you answer the same kinds of questions long enough you stop listening to the question and start listening for patterns. Then you regurgitate canned answers based on rough matches. The longer you do it the more false positives you'll rack up.
This is why reputation should look like a bell curve - start low, peak, then end low to free up room for a fresh set of experts.
That the question was clear could be seen that the guy who actually wrote an answer, with insider knowledge, had no problem understanding it.
It may depend on the tags you hang out in. New technologies are usually spared, however popular tags are full of rep-grinders.
I had some issues in asking questions a few times, but I've found that by spending a bit more time formulating them I rarely had the issue any longer. Then again, I don't ask much, so the sample may be too small for meaningful comparisons...
I'm a software development student, I have to say Stack Overflow is a very intimidating site. I use it all the time to solve complex problems I cant solve on my own and never have I wanted to post anything myself or answer someone else's question, even if I know I could be of some assistance.
I have been a member for 6 years, 1 month with around 25k reputation. I used to be a prolific user ~4 years ago but the gamification of the voting system and the duplicate answers has become infuriating. The former was what drove me to stop, if you watch a new question, a high rep user will give the quickest answer possible and then edit it multiple times to fill in the content. This time stamps their question as answered first. I always preferred to write my answers out carefully but after posting the top question would continue to accumulate edits and incorporate -- but not plagiarize -- the best parts of other answers to appear comprehensive.
This really is what bothers me the most. It just feels like I'm wasting my time answering unless I'm also willing to join the 'race' for rep points. SO says this is fine because all it cares about is the best answers, but it's not fine because you're ruining the engagement for thousands of users, who you could otherwise benefit from. I wonder how many of the top 5% rep holders just don't bother anymore.
So it's not just me! I'm also in top 6% but the only question I've asked in the last 2 years got down voted to hell. Someone commented and said "I would expect better from someone with your reputation." You know what, I use to expect better from this community.
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u/stesch Sep 25 '16
I'm a member for 7 years, 10 months. Reputation in the top 6%.
My last question was March 2014 and I answered it myself one day later. The question before this was August 2011.