Timeline for Where in the (Stack Exchange) world can I initiate a programming-related discussion?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
29 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 12, 2012 at 14:18 | comment | added | Rachel | @CodyGray Here's my FAQ suggestions for Programmers. Go vote for the changes if you agree! | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 20:55 | comment | added | Cody Gray | @Yannis: If "more trouble than they are worth" is the standard, I think that applies to Programmers, too. I haven't seen very many questions that you still endorse as being on-topic for your site that I couldn't ask on Stack Overflow with minimal modifications. Good questions about programming are good questions. Not all questions on SO require code. | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 16:52 | comment | added | Ben Voigt | @Yannis: I suppose the example I mentioned is not precisely unique to software developers, since our IT colleagues would be included, but it is also not a generic question applicable to all career fields. And sorry, I had meant "the test has been whether someone in a dissimilar field could ask an identical question". | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 16:19 | comment | added | Adam Rackis | @YannisRizos - the faq is pretty good, but I'd say your comment, and especially Wont's follow up would make for a great summary. Just a thought :) | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 15:51 | comment | added | yannis | @AdamRackis Well I think my comment is just a summation of the FAQ, and the vast majority of active P.SE users don't seem to think there's anything confusing in there... Give it a read, and if it's still confusing, consider posting a question on P.SE Meta. | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 15:41 | comment | added | Adam Rackis | @Yannis - your comment to me should be the FAQ. It doesn't get any clearer than that. | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 15:24 | comment | added | yannis | @BenVoigt However interesting & useful, these questions proven to be more trouble than they are worth, so unfortunately they aren't welcome on Programmers any more. Your example is a general workplace issue, hopefully the Workplace will grow to become a great site for these questions. Our current test for career related questions is whether they require the unique expertise of software developers, if not then they don't belong on Programmers. | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 15:17 | comment | added | Ben Voigt | @Yannis: The test of a career-related question has always been whether someone in a similar field could ask an identical question. For example, there have been some excellent ethics questions regarding programmers requested by their boss to falsify the version control history or other software logs. Are those no longer welcome? | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 14:30 | comment | added | user1228 | @CodyGray: The way I keep it straight is--When I'm sitting at my keyboard, I'm on StackOverflow. When I'm standing at the whiteboard, I'm on Programmers. | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 12:40 | comment | added | yannis | @AdamRackis If you are still unsure what Programmers is about, we are about exactly the same things as Stack Overflow, from a higher perspective. Think of us as software development Stack Exchange minus implementation & development tools questions. Software development is not limited to coding, for everything else Programmers is where you should be asking. | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 12:39 | comment | added | yannis | @BenVoigt It seems to me that you aren't very far off from what Programmers is actually about. We do welcome questions about programming projects, techniques, and designs, which aren't specific to a particular piece of code, the down votes you are getting are because "best jquery tooltip plugin" is not a question that would be constructive even on jQuery Stack Exchange, if such a site existed. | |
| Mar 8, 2012 at 12:32 | comment | added | yannis | @CodyGray Bad timing. We are cleaning up career related questions, at some points these past few days all our questions in the front page were closed. There are about 100 of them left, out of about 500, so we will be over soon, and our front page won't be such a mess. Needless to say, Programmers is not about career advice... | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 22:31 | comment | added | ChrisF Mod | @CodyGray the point is that without a lot of extra information on what the OP is trying to do it will just get a list of everyone's favourite plugin which is the very definition of not constructive. However, by adding enough qualifiers you'll either make it too localised or find the answer yourself. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 22:23 | history | edited | Ben Voigt | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 314 characters in body
|
| Mar 7, 2012 at 21:11 | comment | added | Cody Gray | @Adam: I suppose that explains why, when I looked at the front page yesterday, over 3/4 of the questions had "[closed]" appended to their titles (I was bored; no new questions on Meta). Maybe eventually that will help clarify things for users; I was, however, quite confused. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 21:09 | comment | added | Rachel | @CodyGray I definitely agree with you. The site name doesn't match the FAQ, so users not familiar with the site think it is about one thing, while those familiar with the site think it's about another. And since the site was originally created to be something other than what it is now, there is a 3rd group that disagrees with the site's direction completely. I plan on posting a meta question about changing the FAQ significantly sometime soon once I find time to finish writing it, and will outline what is unclear in the current FAQ there. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 21:06 | comment | added | Adam Rackis | @Anna - last I saw, the PSE community was really trying to close a lot of broken windows so people like me wouldn't swing by the site and see them active on the front page, and (honestly) get the wrong impression about the site. Completing that process will I think go a long way | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:58 | comment | added | Cody Gray | @Anna: I didn't say it was "bad". I said you must be new here; no one recommends Programmers anymore because it's unclear what the site's scope is and some of its users disagree strongly with what others of its users think the site's scope entails. It's not a problem with the FAQ, it's a problem with the disconnect between the community at large and the moderators (not just those with diamonds). And no, I don't have any recommendations for the FAQ because I don't even understand it myself. I've followed lots of discussions about it and never seen any consensus. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:54 | comment | added | Adam Rackis | @Anna - your wording would have been much different - that's the whole point :) | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:53 | comment | added | Adam Lear StaffMod | @AdamRackis Perhaps. FWIW, I've never seen Mark say anything on the subject that I wouldn't say (even if my wording would at times be different :)). | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:52 | comment | added | Adam Lear StaffMod | @CodyGray Fair enough, but is an answer getting downvotes cause it's making a poor recommendation worth the "Programmers is bad" rhetoric? If you have recommendations for making the FAQ there clearer, I'm sure they'd be quite receptive to that. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:48 | comment | added | Cody Gray | @Anna: Ben's answer says nothing about discussions. As far as I understand the scope of Programmers, everything it says is precisely correct. But that's precisely the problem: I don't seem to understand the scope. This is a much more general problem. No one is arguing that we should have more discussions. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:48 | comment | added | Adam Rackis | @Anna - I think a certain ex-mod over there may have left some people with a bad impression of P.SE | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:46 | comment | added | Adam Lear StaffMod | @CodyGray What parts of the FAQ are confusing? I'm not sure how saying "discussions aren't appropriate on Programmers" (which is normal for SE in general) is equivalent to "Programmers mafia" coming down on you. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:38 | comment | added | Cody Gray | You must be new here, Ben. Any time Programmers is recommended as the place for a question, the Programmers.SE mafia comes out to downvote you into oblivion and leaves angry, fist-shaking comments that their site is not the place for that. It makes everyone a little bit confused about what, exactly, Programmers.SE is for, and their FAQ doesn't help. But no matter, they've successfully deterred anyone from ever recommending their site as the place for questions. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:23 | comment | added | user102937 | @AdamRackis: Not anymore. | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:20 | comment | added | Adam Rackis | Oh dear, I think Mark Trapp is coming for you now.... | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:03 | comment | added | Nicol Bolas | This question is not appropriate for Programmers.SE. "Best" questions are all "bad subjective". | |
| Mar 7, 2012 at 20:00 | history | answered | Ben Voigt | CC BY-SA 3.0 |