3

It is currently not possible to comment on a query on the Data Explorer, although it has been a request for a while. Furthermore, it is not possible to contact the creator of a query. A workaround would be to identify the creator and send them a message on another site, but that is not even possible unless they they have the exact same name on another site. In summary, there is no possible way of notify or ask about a query (e.g. to point out fixes to flawed queries) unless you are lucky enough that its creator is hovering around on the meta site you choose to ask about it.

Therefore, I request to add data.stackexchange.com to the Data Explorer. I realize that its table design likely is different from all other sites, but just adding the Posts and Users tables would make it possible to identify the creator based on their AccountId. I believe this would make it easier to give attention to a problem/improvement of a query to the person that truly cares about it created it, and properly give credit where due on other sites. It would also be allow people to query through their many unfiltered queries.

This should not be too difficult. In fact, the Data.StackExchange database seems to already be in the Data Explorer. However, it is not accessible. If you try something like select * from [Data.StackExchange]..[Users] on Data Explorer, all you receive is the error:

The server principal "STACKEXCHANGE\svc_sede" is not able to access the database 
"Data.StackExchange" under the current security context.
Improve this question
0

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

Well, this is a meta request if I ever heard one. :)

There is no link between Q&A accounts and SEDE accounts. The AccountId would be useless. The only connection is people's login credentials (though not always), and we cannot expose that publicly.

Also... just no. we don't have any plans to make it easier to contact people. The data explorer is a (sometimes) convenient way to take a peek into the data that powers individual Q&A sites, but it's not meant to be a robust, social query-building/query-sharing platform. If you want to improve a query, you can always fork it.

Setting aside the fact that the Data Explorer is an open source project, so anyone can contribute, I'm fully on board with bribing Tim Stone to put some work into improving the UI, query filtering/handling, etc. However, putting in the time to try to bring the schema and data into a somewhat usable format to fit in with the existing system just isn't going to happen.

Improve this answer
3
  • 2
    Wow your avatar is very... bright! I do miss the cat though. That said, what about hiring a full time employee to work on SEDE? Is it being discussed?
    – Shadow Wizard Is Sad And Angry
    Aug 23, 2014 at 19:50
  • 1
    @ShadowWizard Not that I know of. Again, SEDE is a convenience. A side project that ended up seeing a fair amount of use, but still a "nice to have". All these decisions are above my pay grade, but I would be very surprised if we devoted full-time anybody to SEDE at this stage, nevermind hiring someone to do nothing but. Developers aren't free (or, usually, cheap).
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Aug 23, 2014 at 19:55
  • 4
    And to be clear, those things have been on my todo list for a while, I've just been a bit busy the last several weeks. I totally accept bribes though.
    – Tim Stone
    Aug 23, 2014 at 22:22

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .