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I've been an active member of Stack Overflow for three years and four months now. I remember the beginnings of the first Stack Overflow subsite, and how it began to be popular. Back in those days, developers had only forums to discuss their work. And those forums were old, and owned mostly by people who — as in many communities — after some time began to deny entry to new people. As a result of owners exerting too much control, whole forums were dragged to stagnation.

And then came Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood, creating Stack Overflow. It was a place where more professional developers came to discuss many topics relevant to software development, and it was beautiful to learn from them.

At that time, I was very active at Stack Overflow. Then came the idea about making moderators. I remember the whole fuzz who would be a moderator and so on. It was not neccessary, in my opinion, because the whole community used the system in great way to deal with spam and other issues. But moderators came in.

And now, three years after the start, I'm seeing a strange pattern in Stack Overflow's development. First of all, when I ask new questions, I get some silly answers. It's like they were posted by people who hunt for questions to answer just to get kudos or something without reading the question first.

It was a regular thing. But today, my mind was blown by the way my question was handled. I've asked on Stack Overflow about how to handle concentration problems in developer work. Three Stack Overflow users closed my question after 15 minutes or so. It wasn't even migrated to another Stack Exchange property.

Well... it might be not proper for the developer site. So is Stack Overflow now only for coding monkeys? I can only ask questions connected very strongly with languages, like how to cast ints to strings? Where is the whole medium-professional developer place?

So I asked this question on Programmers Stack Exchange. But there, one moderator (Yannis Rizos) made a judgment call and closed my question and didn't move it to the right Stack Exchange site.

So I'm a developer and have a question about a developer issue but it's not good for Stack Overflow or Programmers? Where should I put it? I've now put it in the Productivity site, but I don't know if non-developers will understand my developer problem.

It's sad that Stack Overflow has started to be like forums I quit before. Moderators make calls in cases where they should not do so, and where doing so does not help anyone at all. It's not what I expect from moderators on a website where the community mostly self-moderates.

And the culture of Stack Overflow is also horryfying. In the beginning, the culture here was the #1 priority and everyone knew that users should not be offensive or rude to others. Now it's a regular thing for people to just attack and criticise each other in comments without any particular reason. And where are moderators in these moments?

So, to sum up: the basic Stack Overflow is not for me anymore. Programmers SE is also not for me. I'm a developer and have questions concerning not only "casting to int" issues but also developers' workplaces/surroundings. What platform of Stack Exchange fits my needs best? Where should I ask to not whine any more here?

A similar question was asked on the Programmers Stack Exchange yesterday: How do you maintain focus when a particular aspect of programming takes 10+ seconds to complete? .

It got:

  • 119 upvotes

  • 22 favorites

  • 22 answers

  • 96 upvotes for the first answer

Result? Closed by: Jarrod Roberson, Matthieu, Conrad Frix, Yannis Rizos

Sum up: 100+ members of community decided the question is great by votes, comments and discussion, but four decide it's a bad question. Why is 4 > 100?

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  • 10
    Wayback machine
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:00
  • 12
    @casperOne It's rude
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:01
  • 9
    I'm a newbie, but I think the short answer is that SO has grown much, much too large to support the kinds of casual, forum-like content it used to support.
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:02
  • 12
    @casperOne I thought it was a funny lighthearted joke, but if you're only being snarky for snarkiness's sake, that is kind of rude.
    – Pops
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:04
  • 6
    @casperOne Well... i'm not here to take punches. It's not school so please stop this.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:05
  • 19
    Your premise that there is "the right Stack Exchange" site for your question is false.
    – slhck
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:06
  • 8
    @casper's original comment seems like a fairly standard, lighthearted joke for Meta; I think he deserves the benefit of the doubt on this one.
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:07
  • 8
    I don't know what you're talking about, I wasn't even being snarky or anything. Today, there is no SE site for your question. Well, maybe [Productivity.SE], but I don't know their FAQ by heart.
    – slhck
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:08
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    @AdamRackis I was happy to give him the benefit of the doubt until his second comment.
    – Pops
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:22
  • 11
    I understand you're upset, but your comment to the mod at Programmers was very rude: I see you removed comments. You should not be a moderator of Stack Overflow. It's not your property and you do much harm to this place thinking you are judge to make call what is good for stack overflow and what not. I was here much longer than you so i know what i mean and what is work of moderator and what not. Closing questions on your own is not your duty and removing comments also. It's disgrace this place is killed by such people like u. – tomaszs 50 mins ago
    – simchona
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:28
  • 15
    That "Yannis Rizos" character is seriously getting on my nerves lately...
    – yannis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:34
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    @tomaszs: You seem to misunderstand, though. You said, "It's not your property and you do much harm to this place thinking you are judge to make call what is good for stack overflow and what not". But the questions on Stack Overflow belong to the community and actually, yes, Mods are judges of what is on- and off-topic. If you don't like that, then, Stack Exchange is not the place for you. Also note that it has always been like that. This is not new.
    – The Unhandled Exception
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:35
  • 7
    @toma SO is not a forum
    – simchona
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:44
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    Yes. I do think I need to explain it to you because your view seems incorrect to me. We've both been members for three years... but one of us has a lot more experience with Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange than the other. I consider myself a very good judge of what Stack Overflow is. If you don't agree, I'm sorry, but there's clearly nothing I can say to convince you otherwise. If you prefer forums maybe you should be on forums. Stack Overflow is not a forum.
    – The Unhandled Exception
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:45
  • 10
    @tomas dont tell others not to be rude when you're also rude
    – simchona
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:02

6 Answers 6

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19

I assume this is the question in question:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10043958/how-to-handle-interruptions-in-developer-work-without-losing-concentration

This question doesn't have anything to do with development at all. Rephrased another way:

"How to handle interruptions at work without losing concentration?"

With the removal of the word "developer", you have the same exact question.

The point is, as per the section of the FAQ titled "What kind of questions can I ask here?":

We feel the best Stack Overflow questions have a bit of source code in them, but if your question generally covers …

  • a specific programming problem
  • a software algorithm
  • software tools commonly used by programmers
  • practical, answerable problems that are unique to the programming profession

… then you’re in the right place to ask your question!

Your question fails on all of the points above. Simply adding "as a developer" to a question doesn't make the question suitable for Stack Overflow.

Granted, there was a point in time where this question was on-topic (or rather, there was a greater tolerance for these questions), but that's no longer the case.

With the growth of the specialized sites in the Stack Exchange network, there are now specific communities for many types of questions that Stack Overflow used to be open to (but are now no longer). Additionally, with Area 51, you can now propose a site for the community you want to build.

That said, the most likely place that this question would be well-received is "The Workplace", which is 100% committed, as of the time of this post.

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  • 7
    I wish you would expand on the last sentence in the answer—a lot. THAT seems to be the relevant point here.
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:08
  • yes, it's mainly true. But it's not so simple like the "how to handle interruptions" question because, if you read carefully, i notice that i think about answer concerning the way the developer works and if you can change it to not have to concentrate so much. So it's not the same. I'm sad you simplicise it so much, but i understand that for person who just begins dev tale it's hard to understand that there are some more subtle issues occuring only after some years. And according to the question: the style of development means point 1 is fitting, softwaer algorytm - no, software tools - yes
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:15
  • @AdamRackis Done.
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:15
  • because one person asked about git and testdriven dev - and you have tools that can help in this. Practical- it's very practival. Answerable - i think that person with much experience has answer. Unique - 100%, unique to programming profession - yes, it's 100% connected with programming profession. Nothing other.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:16
  • Cool - +1. But I really wish someone would talk about the "Big City" problem - that, as I understand it, is the true reason why the standards were necessarily raised for SO.
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:17
  • @AdamRackis Dude, it's my day off! I don't have the time to put the entirety of Stack Overflow's history into the one answer which will answer every "why did my question get closed" question on meta. =)
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:19
  • @Adam Rackis If raising standards means SO is now only for beginner devs than i suppose it's right. It's very high standard for beginners.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:19
  • @casperOne Well... it's sad you just get the position of person who thinks needs to show me my place. I didn't write here to take punches again i wrote its not school so please stop this.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:20
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    @tomaszs - rising standards just means that only questions about development are supported. But those questions can be quite simple, or quite hard. Beginners are certainly welcome here. We're just more strict about what types of questions can be asked.
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:24
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    @tomaszs There's nothing offensive in this answer to you. You keep mentioning this is not school, but meta is school, a place to learn about how Stack Overflow operates. This is currently the way it is. I'm sorry that it's not what you want it to be, but that's not what the vast majority of the community believes it should be right now (as evidenced by the downvotes on your question and the upvotes on the answers saying these types of questions are no longer accepted here).
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:26
  • @Adam Rackis So i can ask about programming language and the programming methodology, object oriented, libraries. And where should i ask about the developer profession? Well.. it's basically the question i would like to have answer to. I can handle that StackOverflow is for code monkey question (no offence, i'm also monkey).
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:37
  • 4
    @tomaszs A word of friendly advice, don't lambaste someone for making a comment that you find is offensive and then turn around and make a comment that lambastes the entire community of the site you're speaking about (the code monkey comment).
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:39
  • 9
    @tomaszs You keep pretending that your question is unique to programmers. It's not. Everyone who does deep thinking for their job has this problem. Engineers, architects, mathematicians, theologians, lawyers...in fact everyone who needs to follow a long chain of thought to get anything done.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:40
  • 1
    @casperOne You are still very unpleasant. I'm am a biggest code monkey of all and it's just dissapointing you take the term as a insult. Pls. it's part of dev jargon. You should not this.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:44
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    @tomaszs Each one of your statements is unfounded, which explains some of the responses that you are getting. Unfounded attacks are uncalled for on any of the Stack Exchange sites (see "Be Nice"). That said, I never said your POV should not be considered, I didn't call you a hypocrite (I said you can't take what you shell out), and I didn't say that you were rude (again, pointed out that you can give it, but not take it). You are bordering on trolling now.
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:54
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A quotations (with emphasis added)

...it was a place where more pro developers came also to discuss on so much topics...

No, it was never about discussions. It was always about questions and answers, though in the beginning many discussions were held and they were very popular. You're absolutely right about that, but it doesn't change the facts:

  1. This engine does not work well for discussions. The content is presented in a out-of-time-order manner (in all views once you take into account that things get edited) and there is no provision for threading.
  2. The very popularity of the chatty stuff actually detracts from the usefulness of the Q&A because it sits on the front-page and fills up the highest voted tabs and otherwise gets pushed to the front.

I'm sure the change in culture seems startling if you've been away for a while, but really it happened very slowly, a little bit at a time and with a lot of community involvement (and not a little bit of ranting on both sides).

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  • Well... question and answer is a PRINCIPLE of every discussion. You just take word from my writing and understand it so to be able to say i'm not good enought so that my opinion should even be considered. Sad. SO was always as i am here from beginning about question and answer not "forum" discussion - that's true. But it was also about understanding.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:22
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    @tomaszs: Do you think that this is the first time someone has come to meta to argue this point? We've been over this ground countless times, and the community has come to believe that there is a difference between "Q&A" and "discussion" and that the latter is harmful and should be treated differently. And it really has taken a lot of time, and a lot of words typed to happen.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:26
  • @tomaszs There is a difference between having a discussion, and asking/answer questions.
    – apaderno
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:33
  • 3
    Actually, the engine works great for discussions. In fact, I'd say that the very success of early discussions proves that the engine worked just fine for facilitating long-form, broad conversations. The real issue is not that they don't work technically, but they don't work socially. Many other SE sites have developed a culture where, for the moment, discussion thrives.
    – Jon 'links in bio' Ericson
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:34
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    @JonEricson I really disagree about that. Doing discussions with this engine is fun and engaging, but the result isn't a good record, nor does it generate a clear idea of exactly what consensus (if any) was reached or what reasoning held the day.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:38
  • 1
    I've spent the last two years searching for a better solution and haven't found one. (Which isn't to say that it doesn't exist or isn't possible to build.)
    – Jon 'links in bio' Ericson
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:44
  • @dmckee Oh man. You just so into the idea that it's necessary to discuss what is a difference between discussion and Q&A. Hope you enjoy it. Well... for me it's nothing new because i know it and love the Q&A form for years.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:15
  • @Jon Ericson Thanks for you insight.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:16
16

It was a regular thing. But today, my mind was blown by the way my question was handled. I've asked on Stack Overflow about how to handle concentration problems in developer work. Three Stack Overflow users closed my question after 15 minutes or so. It wasn't even migrated to another Stack Exchange property.

Good! The system works. That question has nothing to do with development. Stack Overflow is a place for questions about code. This has nothing to do with "code monkeys". I am a professional developer, and I take offense at being called a "code monkey" just because my job involves writing code. When I have questions about programming I ask on Stack Overflow. Nothing in that question has to do with programming.

No, it wasn't migrated to another site, but that's not Stack Overflow's fault, you asked it on the wrong site.

So I asked this question on Programmers Stack Exchange. But there, one moderator (Yannis Rizos) made a judgment call and closed my question and didn't move it to the right Stack Exchange site.

I can't speak to this, I don't really use Programmers.SE. Have you asked on their meta site?

So I'm a developer and have a question about a developer issue but it's not good for Stack Overflow or Programmers? Where should I put it? I've now put it in the Productivity site, but I don't know if non-developers will understand my developer problem.

No. Your question is not a developer issue. Here's a good rule of thumb for you: If you can't share the code your question is likely off topic for Stack Overflow.

And the culture of Stack Overflow is also horryfying. In the beginning, the culture here was the #1 priority and everyone knew that users should not be offensive or rude to others. Now it's a regular thing for people to just attack and criticise each other in comments without any particular reason. And where are moderators in these moments?

Please show some examples of this. Also, please keep in mind that short and concise responses (like mine) are not "rude". They're short and concise. Rude would be name calling or offensive behavior. As for "where are moderators in these moments", did you flag the offensive posts for attention? There is way too much content for mods to see everything.

PS. I really hope this question is good for this Stack Exchange. But still ... I'm even not sure if it's good to be here... it's crazy.

We're sorry to see you go. But if you don't see the value in how Stack Overflow works like those of us who love the site does then maybe it isn't for you. For me, it's clear that the things you complain about are the things I love. I enjoy knowing that every question on Stack Overflow is (ideally) related to programming and nothing else. I enjoy knowing that there's not extended discussion, that everything is straight to the point. I enjoy knowing that the best answers get voted to the top. And there were the very things which sold me on the site when I first found it three years ago.

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  • 7
    ` I enjoy knowing that every question on Stack Overflow is (ideally) related to programming and nothing else. I enjoy knowing that there's not extended discussion, that everything is straight to the point.` - indeed. Well said.
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:34
  • Sorry but i don't have any more time to read it' It's so late. But as i can see you just try hard to prove i'm wrong so i'm not sure if reading it whole will be productive. But i red first line and sorry if you are sad about the code monkey term. I use this term to tell about me and other devs and it's just for me a joke term with no bad inclinations. but i understand dev jargon is not the same in every place.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:19
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    @tomaszs: if you don't read what you think might prove you wrong, why did you ask this question? What's the point of starting a discussion if you're only going to listen to one side?
    – Mat
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:20
  • Well... When you say it like that @tomaszs (you just try hard to prove i'm wrong) you make me sound like a jerk. The way I see it, I was trying to answer your points and prove I was right. Again, no offense was intended. But if you believe you're right and won't be swayed by my arguments then no, there's no need for you to read them.
    – The Unhandled Exception
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:31
  • @Mat Sorry but it's not true. I read all comments and answer for a long time now. I just don't see this answer is constructive to the discussion.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:34
  • @TheUnhandledException Hey, but does it necessary needs to be about who is right and who is wrong? Do you think it's constructive to the SO community you to prove you are right throwing aside the main issue here?
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:35
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So I asked this question on Programmers Stack Exchange. But there, one moderator (Yannis Rizos) made a judgment call and closed my question and didn't move it to the right Stack Exchange site.

Yes, I did all that.

I also pointed out that Personal Productivity was probably a better place for your question, but advised you to read their FAQ and search for similar questions before posting. I've also told you that I didn't migrate exactly because they have quite a few similar questions already. Another reason I didn't migrate was that I personally found it quite difficult to parse your question and find the core question hidden behind all the backstory, and, well, the golden rule of migrations is "don't migrate crap".

So I'm developer and have a question about a developer issue but it's not good for Stack Overflow or Programmers? Where should I put it? I've now put it in the Productivity site, but don't know if non-devs will understand my dev problem.

As I pointed out in comments, your question isn't really specific to our profession, at least not in the way it was presented, as it applies to every creative profession. It's really off topic for Programmers, but I elected to close it as "not constructive" because I thought it better conveyed the message of what was wrong with your question and that it would be easier for you to revise it and make it a bit more specific for Programmers. If you have issues with that, please bring them to Programmers Meta, they are off topic for Meta Stack Overflow.

In any case, closure is a temporary state, and someone who advertising themselves as having been around for three years should know that. As you should have known that since your original question was closed on Stack Overflow, there was probably no better Stack Exchange site for it. Why didn't you flag it and asked for it to be moved to Programmers, instead of cross posting?

Anyways, as I was writing my suggestions on how to salvage the question, two of your comments appeared, one was about my Stack Overflow presence and the other one was about monkeys. At that point I decided that salvaging your questions wasn't worth my time.

Nothing personal, but I have better things to do with my time.

Your comments gathered three offensive flags, and the whole thread was purged by a fellow moderator. Stack Exchange employees can review the deleted comments and the flags and decide for themselves if purging the comments was justified. It was, but obviously you and I, having participated in that discussion are biased, so it's best to leave this for others to decide.

For argument's sake let's assume for a minute that closing the question was a bad call. So what? You've been around long enough to know that it's not a big deal, that questions can be re-opened etc. Your reaction started out as obnoxious and ended up being exceptionally rude. I understand that the whole ordeal was frustrating to you, but by attacking anyone that was even remotely involved in this, you won't get much love around here.

We (the moderators) are not here to help you or any other individual, but to moderate the site. Stack Overflow has 1.1 million users and 12 moderators and Programmers has 45 thousand users and 5 moderators. Granted not all these users are active, but even if 1/100 of them are it would be insane to expect moderators to salvage everyone's crappy question. And your question was crap, I'm sorry, but it was. That's my personal opinion and it might mean nothing to you, but it's also my personal time I'm volunteering and I am the only one that gets to decide how I spent my time.

And I won't spent my time in something I don't enjoy, you seem to think that I am somehow obliged to help you regardless of your behaviour, but I'm not. And neither is anyone else, moderator or regular user. Yet, quite a few of us spend a considerable amount of time trying to calmly explain why the question was closed and you still refuse to even consider the fact that it didn't belong on either site. Somehow everyone else is wrong, but you. Oh, well...

That last edit is off topic for Meta Stack Overflow, if you have issues with the closing of the question you should raise them on Meta Programmers. I really don't appreciate the fact that you call out three users that have little chance of seeing your question and respond to it.

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  • Again thank you you helped me so much. Well... before you wrote my question is not a question. Now it's a question but it's also a crap... I suppose you need to close questions made by beginners to point out they should fix it. i don't discuss with that. I'm not in charge of deciding how high for beginners the bar should be. And when you close a beginner a question it's high So where is place for my "crap"? Is it Meta Programmers? Or is it not? Are you sure? I just don't know. Stack Overflow, Programmers, Productivity, Workplace, Meta Programmers, Meta. Where should i ask my question?
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:04
  • And about the question"why i didn't flag it to move to Programmers". You ask me? You are the moderator. Why you don't ask yourself? Your job is to help here or what? if you only here to close questions and be rude to ppl i think it's just not the way. It does not help. If you write about the offensive flags please provide evidence. Because i don't belive you. But i can belive you or your friend moderator removes just comments of mine. I was not offensive. I just wrote how i feel. So if you throw accusations pls give evidence. It's abuse of your power if you dont. Hope u know that.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:07
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    @tomaszs First of all, Stack Exchange employees can see the deleted comments and the flags, and they can decide for themselves if purging the comments was justified or not. I'm sorry but I don't care at all if you believe me or not and as I've already explained since you've been quite rude from the beginning of this I do not feel obliged to help you. Why should I?
    – yannis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:12
  • 3
    @tomaszs And about the question"why i didn't flag it to move to Programmers". You ask me? You are the moderator. Why you don't ask yourself? Your job is to help here or what? I'm not a moderator on Stack Overflow and the only thing I'm asking you is: If you thought it would be on topic for Programmers, why didn't you flag it and ask for it to be moved instead of cross posting, which someone who advertises themselves as a three year old member must know is discouraged.
    – yannis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:15
  • @Yagoo Answer entu Well... i suppose you don't care about not only if i belive you. I think it's the least problem of carelless. And sorry but it's not true i was rude to you. Please stop telling the lie. Its a abuse of your moderator position you throw false accusations on me. I was upset but was not rude torwards you. So please stop this. I'm also sad you take the position you should defend you by attacking me. it's obvious you as a moderator can tell anything and do me harm here. And i suppose you do if my comments there upset you. Don't turn the cat around. You don't help. It's a fact.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:24
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    @tomaszs Moderators are not here to help you, we are here to moderate the site. Your question wasn't a good fit for Programmers, so I closed it, nothing to discuss there. I'm volunteering my time here and I am in no way obliged to help you or anyone else, I tried to help you at first because I honestly thought we could salvage your question together. But your response was what it was, and I just went on with my day. Just to let you know, I deleted your latest comment on the ProgSE version of the question, if you want to insult me, at least use the @username format so I get notified.
    – yannis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:38
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    If you are not to help the community so what is the purpose of you working here, voluneering, as a moderator? Can you explain me? Maybe i don't understand your (free, but still) work. Till now what you did was not helping at all, but closing question, after my question torwards it you removed my comments, and now you accuse me of being rude and defending your bad call and removed another comment. I still think you don't do the right thing here. Will you remove this comment also? Pls, explain me what do you understand your role in the StackOverflow community.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:41
  • 3
    @tomaszs I can't remove your comments here, I'm not a moderator on Meta Stack Overflow, only on Programmers.
    – yannis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:52
11

While the upvoted answers here are no doubt correct, I think the main issue is what Jeff Atwood called the "Big City Problem."

As I understand the argument, Stack Overflow used to be a small community where lots of things were tolerated: fun questions, polls, career development, etc. Over time though, the community expanded a great deal, and as a result this sort of content was no longer feasible.

With a small community where everyone knows each other, it's easy to tolerate stuff like that without things getting out of hand. But once a community grows to a certain size, it becomes much more difficult to self-regulate.

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10
  • Does anyone have the relevant link explaining the Big City problem more fully?
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:22
  • I believe you're looking for blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/10/asking-better-questions
    – Pops
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:23
  • Man, what a honeypot this is for me. Oh, and this and this
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:58
  • @casper - who do I call to report diamond abuse???
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:03
  • First, it's "whom do I call for". *sigh* You can get some free points by bringing it up in meta. Those posts calling for a specific moderator's head do very well I'm told.
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:04
  • @casper - you're right, naturally. Whom is for a specific person. I am quite impressed. Glad to hear we in The United States have a grammar heavyweight to compete with TJ Crowder :)
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:05
  • Let alone one from the Bronx. Surprising, right?
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:13
  • @casper - totally. I was expecting something more like "Look at this fuh-king Guy" -- hope that doesn't get flagged ....
    – Adam Rackis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:15
  • I thing it might be the part of issue... thanks for this answer
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:19
  • "fuh" is more for Brooklynites (which is where I'm now, coincidentally) "da" (in place of "the") is a better representation of the Bronx dialect.
    – casperOne
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:26
0

Well, oddly enough, someone else asked essentially the same question -- arguably phrased better, but still pretty much the same -- on Programmers just the other day, right here. There was an extensive discussion, and the asker got hella rep from it.

All I can think is that first, your phrasing wasn't specific enough, and second, maybe you have pissed off some moderators for reasons I am not privy to.

Improve this answer
11
  • 1
    I'd hope that "maybe you have pissed off some moderators for reasons I am not privy to" would never be a reason for a question to be closed =)
    – Rob
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:08
  • Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps a moderator commented, and he replied viciously and negatively (I dare you to delete this), and the moderator then removed both the comments and closed the question. You never know. There seems to be an attitude problem in play, as it is.
    – Ernest Friedman-Hill
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:10
  • 2
    Downvoters, any explanation? I think it's pretty striking how similar in intent these two questions are, and strikingly different their fates were.
    – Ernest Friedman-Hill
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:11
  • @ErnestFriedman-Hill. I agree, these seem to be two very similar questions. While I think I lean to the side that says neither question is a good fit, it should certainly stand that if was was closed, so too should the other. However, the original question you responded to isn't really answered by this.
    – Gaffi
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:22
  • Sorry but i didnt read the other question. I suppose "programmers" is also not the place for the other question right? It's a mess. I don't ask to take kudos. I have them already. Just would like to know what to decide. Because i want to ask fellow medium-pro devs and learn from them so ask basically if here is a place like this still. Ps. I didn't piss off moderators. I'm a rather cool person. I'm not feeling comfortable to taking this issue into light on my own also because i worry spots of anger will concentrate on me :(
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:25
  • @Ernest Friedman-Hill No. On SO question was closed after 3 votes and no comment to me. Also i didn't comment. And on the Programmers question was closed and there was a comment from moderator. I didn't comment also. I just commented the question on Productivity after the moderator wrote. Well.. he removed his and my comments so i don't know if it can be restored. I was upset but i was not trolling just asking like here: where should i ask my question. Well.. maybe i have attitute problem. I would like to know where to be not to go into way people. Is it sound like bad attitute?
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 19:26
  • @ErnestFriedman-Hill The ProgSE question you linked to is already gathering close votes.
    – yannis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:05
  • @tomaszs I didn't delete your comments, a fellow moderator did after they started gathering offensive flags.
    – yannis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:05
  • See, that's what I suspected.
    – Ernest Friedman-Hill
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:18
  • @ErnestFriedman-Hill I've just closed it. It was borderline to begin with, but it started getting low quality answers that tipped the balance to "not constructive" (along with the close votes and flags).
    – yannis
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:22
  • @YahooAnswersenthusiast Than you have someone to shake hands with. You are equal.
    – Tom Smykowski
    Apr 6, 2012 at 20:26

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