-2

I would like to know who is following my questions. Voting, I know could create problems with this, but I don't see how it could be bad to see who's following you.

Improve this question
1

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

Again: SO is not a social network, it's a Q&A engine, that focuses on Questions and Answers, not Users

Improve this answer
3
  • @Downvoter, see my comments to Ether. It's useful to see who's interested in similar stuff as you, not so you can PM them or anything, but so you can check up on their questions from time to time. Like minds grow on each other.
    – orokusaki
    Commented Feb 19, 2010 at 19:23
  • @Downvoter What value does it add to show me who closed my question? I'm not an administrator and therefore don't have any privileges to do anything to them in return, so why show my who voted to close? This proves you completely wrong. SO is a social network, for programmers.
    – orokusaki
    Commented Mar 5, 2010 at 4:43
  • hmm... no, it doesn't prove me wrong, your logic is flawed
    – juan
    Commented Mar 5, 2010 at 13:06
3

"I don't see how it could be bad to see who's following you."

I guess you've never had a stalker then!

I don't see how this would be useful. Stack Overflow is all about the ideas and information exchange in the questions and answers, not about the people themselves. If we took away everyone's account and transferred everything to the Community user, there should be little loss of value in the site. Stack Overflow is not a social networking site.

Improve this answer
4
  • 2
    @Ether if that's the case, then why doesn't SO do exactly that. Remove all accounts, and make everything anonymous? If it's for spam, then fine, take all usernames away and take all pictures, website links and other stuff away, and only use a persons email and login info to ensure they are not a spammer. If it's not about the person, then why is there reputation? And, why does it put a link back to somebody's profile where they typically have a website link? It's very useful to see who's following you. One reason is that they may have similar projects and their questions can help you too.
    – orokusaki
    Commented Feb 19, 2010 at 19:19
  • 2
    @Ether One more thing: Stalker? If anything somebody following you would be the stalker and transparency would eliminate that. The website link on a profile page is plenty to be a stalker if stalking is somebody's MO.
    – orokusaki
    Commented Feb 19, 2010 at 19:21
  • @orokusaki: okay, I overstated my case. Separate user accounts and awarding reputation encourages us to keep contributing, but how would identifying people who favourite your posts do that? It's the same as me not really caring who answers my question as long as I give a good answer, and I don't care who asks a question as long as it's a good question.
    – Ether
    Commented Feb 20, 2010 at 1:59
  • Again though, the value comes from them seeing who else cares about the same things, because then you can surf through their questions and learn things. If this case wasn't valid, other people's profiles and list of questions wouldn't be public.
    – orokusaki
    Commented Mar 5, 2010 at 4:40

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