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Possible Duplicate:
How can I keep from getting addicted to SO?

Looking up answers to questions on Stack Overflow obviously is benefical for your employer, but it's very, very tempting, to keep asking questions, submitting answers to random questions just to to earn points, and get familiar with Stack Overflow (and Stack Exchange). I guess it's OK if you do that for questions/answers that are relevant for the company you work for.

So maybe a possibility is to determine whether it is relevant or not, and wait if you get home and still want to post/answer in your free time.

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    I can quite anytime I want! #denial
    – Marc Gravell
    May 17, 2011 at 8:48
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    Many people believe there is nothing wrong with reading/answering random questions during your work hours because "you're learning". I think this is just a cheap excuse; you are paid to work not to learn by reading random questions which may or may not be useful in the future. You can learn in your free time.
    – Andreas Bonini
    May 17, 2011 at 9:10
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    Just start spending time in tags where low-quality questions are the norm. You'll burn out in no time flat!
    – Charles
    May 17, 2011 at 16:14
  • @Kop sounds very reasonable. reading answering questions should be done in free time if you are paid to deliver some working solution. I guess it may be a different story for consultants
    – HCP
    May 18, 2011 at 21:44
  • @Charles which tags are that ?
    – HCP
    May 18, 2011 at 21:49
  • @HCP, I burned out pretty bad in the PHP tag. I understand that the Android tag is also pretty horrible.
    – Charles
    May 18, 2011 at 22:41
  • I also feel this really
    – Mr.Javed Multani
    Mar 21, 2018 at 10:36
  • Also: How addicted to Stack Overflow are you? (deleted now, only visible to 10k+ reputation points users).
    – This_is_NOT_a_forum
    Sep 15, 2018 at 18:43

2 Answers 2

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This question is a bit like Schrodinger's cat (or something like that).

The very act of answering proves that I'm not qualified to answer :)

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    Schrodinger's cat wasn't very good at answering questions.
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    May 17, 2011 at 11:08
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    The cat is/was either very good at answering questions or not very good at answering questions.
    – Chris Walton
    May 17, 2011 at 15:41
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Yes, there is a way to determine the relevance of a post and wait to answer it in your free time. It makes use of a pretty powerful tool, the one located between your ears.

If you're afraid that you won't remember the question you wanted to check back in on by the time that you get home, you can mark the question as a favorite so that it will be added to a list in your profile:

Marking a question as a "favorite"

If you're just looking for general tips on managing your addiction, see these questions:

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    Did you take that screenshot on April 1, or do you have a userscript that replicates the unicorns that I cannot find?
    – adamjford
    May 17, 2011 at 16:05
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    @adamjford: I only have MS Paint. The images of the unicorns are posted on here somewhere.
    – Cody Gray - on strike
    May 17, 2011 at 23:19
  • Damn. :)
    – adamjford
    May 18, 2011 at 14:20

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