I find it quite discouraging. So many restrictions. The people are very stern. It helps sometimes but a beginner can't really be a part of the active community. Please give your thoughts.
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Related: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/242536/…– Infinite RecursionOct 25, 2014 at 5:29
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1possible duplicate of Could we please be a bit nicer to new users?– xmojmrOct 25, 2014 at 7:46
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After reading the question, I find your comment a bit ironic.– Daman AroraOct 25, 2014 at 7:48
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@DamanArora if you meant my comment, then SO is beneficial to any programmer, although it is not tutorial site and the linked question gives a lot of thoughts and pros/cons on the subject. And this meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/251758/… question somehow explains why it is not a tutorial site and why members don't want it to become one (at least it is how I read both questions)– xmojmrOct 25, 2014 at 7:56
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4Skill at asking questions or using this site is entirely orthogonal from programming skill. Just because you're new to programming doesn't mean you don't know how to ask a good SO question. Just because you have a lot of programming skill doesn't mean you do know how to ask a good SO question.– ServyDec 5, 2014 at 18:36
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1 Answer
Stack Overflow is not a resource to teach people how to program. It is meant for solving programming problems, not for teaching programming. So as far as that's concerned, no, it's not a good resource for that. But that's also not a problem, because that's the point.
And I disagree that beginners can't be a part of the community. You only need one good question or answer, and you can start joining chat rooms or posting comments.
But regardless of that, you have to remember just how many users we're talking about: millions. If we allowed millions of people unlimited access to anything that happens on the site, well, that'd become a mess. So by limiting by reputation, we're able to hold off on some advanced features and reduce the load on servers for only the users who show active benefit to that system.
It's no secret that some users are occasionally a little...impolite, when it comes to very new users who ask relatively elementary questions, but a majority of users tend not to be that way. I'd go so far as to say that most users on Stack Exchange sites are going to be inherently keen to actually help people, whether those people are the first to comment or not, that's just a matter of waiting.
You might want to review "Why these restrictions are necessary," which discusses some of these same points.
answered Oct 25, 2014 at 5:31