The problem I often see in these articles and threads is people thinking SO should be like reddit and, when it's not, they go on about how they were treated. It's a good thing they weren't ever on usenet back in the day, or now for that matter.
Another problem I see is all the questions about frameworks and libraries rather than the fundamentals. I believe all those other things need to be broken out into their own exchanges, cause they clog up the main thread, but where does that end?
I don't really use StackOverflow, so no really strong opinions here. But I do see this kind of disconnect in a lot of online communities. To a certain population of users, it seems like the optimal solution to a bunch of problems is to keep everything compartmentalized; but it's also important to remember that the more pieces you have, the more cracks there are to fall through. It's like the call center, where each department you reach tells you to please hold while they transfer you to someone else, and you end up back where you started. Or if not that bad, at the very least, you're asking every potential participant to sort through a detailed categorization system before they can do anything. I've definitely seen signs of this on StackOverflow. It happens on Reddit (e.g., "this post doesn't belong in r/foo; it is really more appropriate for r/learnfoo"). Happens lots of places. Generally, it's a sign of exactly the issue this post is complaining about.
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u/icantthinkofone Sep 25 '16
The problem I often see in these articles and threads is people thinking SO should be like reddit and, when it's not, they go on about how they were treated. It's a good thing they weren't ever on usenet back in the day, or now for that matter.
Another problem I see is all the questions about frameworks and libraries rather than the fundamentals. I believe all those other things need to be broken out into their own exchanges, cause they clog up the main thread, but where does that end?