New answers tagged community
0
It's very likely that I found out about Stack Overflow via googling technical problems, but it was a computer science teacher that introduced me to Mathematics, as he had an account there and occasionally answered questions. Compared to other answerers here, it seems like I started asking questions fairly quickly, about various patterns that I found ...
1
Simple, I'm kind of a learner more than a developer. Since I started learning programming, I started to have questions in programming, while searching, I saw one of the top results: Stack Overflow. What I liked and surprised in the first place that there were many questions that were asked before. As I searched for answers, I started to see simple questions ...
4
I handled all the coding for the small company I worked for and one of those pieces was an infuriating piece of code called the Quickbooks Web Connector (aka QBWC, which, from what I've heard, was cobbled together in a weekend in what we'd now call a code-a-thon). It allowed you to access Quickbooks data... but it was written in SOAP (XML's illegitimate ...
2
I visited Stack Overflow quite a bit while looking for (and finding) answers to very specific coding questions. I don't really participate on SO much because, damn it Phillipe, I'm an electrical engineer, not a developer! :) My coding problems weren't unique enough that they hadn't already been answered, and any question I could answer already had an ...
4
As a mod on a smaller site, may I request you emphasize to staff the importance of voting? If a few staff came to our little corner of SE, browsed around for some interesting questions and answers, and voted a bunch, we would appreciate it!
I don't have data to back this up, but it does seem to me that when we get new users on our site, they stick around ...
4
Same deal as in Yaakov Ellis's answer: I was listening to Joel and Jeff's podcast in Q2/Q3 2008, and I registered a few days before the public beta (Sep. 2008).
That lead to my first two answers, and my very first daily score: -1
(and I do mean -1: even if it was displayed as 0: the rep graph, the old one, always shown a negative axis for the first few ...
4
If we're talking origin stories, in the vein of "how did I get here?" and are my kidneys still here - I think my old answer on MSO probably covers the broader, slightly dramatic origin story.
Its been a long road since then, and the answer kinda focused on SO (or lack thereof), and I've hit (100k) on 2 sites and Mod both of them. And I feel like ...
3
I don't remember how exactly I got to know about Stack Overflow. In the first decade of 2000 I was fairly active on Usenet answering questions about C and C++ and discussing the finer details of those languages. Towards the end of that period, I noticed that the participation on Usenet started to decline and I got wondering where everyone was moving to.
...
7
At some point in 2012 I started learning Python as a hobby, on my own. I assume the first time I stumbled upon Stack Overflow was through some search engine, but can't recall exactly what I might be looking for — I remember one of the first things I tried to do in Python was a hangman game, so I prolly got stuck on something related to that. Once I ...
4
For me it all started while writing my masters thesis. I was doing some data analysis on the difference between potential wheat yields estimated with models, and potential yields estimated with trials.
I began digging around the web to find the data I needed, and ended up with so much data I was completely lost as of what to with it, and how to analyze it. ...
2
I first heard about Stack Overflow as part of my classes, and remember the teacher telling the class that it was a good place to search for answers. At some point, I ended up finding useful stuff often enough to create an account, and vote for it. Only to realize it didn't really work that way: Without enough reputation myself, my votes wouldn't be visible.
...
5
Back in 2008 I was relatively green developer doing cutting edge CRUD apps using ASP.net web forms. I had been an avid fan of the blogs of both Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky basically since they started writing. So when the two started podcasting together, I started listening. In the middle of some long podcast on May 21, 2008, I heard one of them mention ...
16
In 2014 I was playing The Simpsons Tapped Out (TSTO), a city builder game themed on The Simpsons TV show, on my iPad. It was February and there was a Valentine's Day themed event going on. I had questions, apparently. I hadn't stumbled across their EA forum yet, instead, finding questions on Arqade - I don't know what specifically drew me to the site but I ...
7
I first used Stack Overflow in university while learning Java in my first year. I definitely got there after googling some error messages involving strings or for loops. I remember being in the lab with all of the other students and we all were discovering the site for the first time. I remember using it for several different error messages on my first day. �...
1
I don't remember what originally brought me here, that's definitely lost in the mists of time.
Statistically, it was probably searching out an answer on a particular coding problem, I would have found the answer and stayed ever since.
And I'd like to say: it's been great, thanks for having me. Thanks Joel for creating the site. I've enjoyed (and continue to ...
4
I was just learning Windows GUI tweaking five years ago through the registry. An online search 'how do I tweak a system window pop-up?' led me to Superuser.
After browsing ill-fitting Q and A. I asked the question myself and was bombarded with questions that had little to do with an answer, much less be helpful suggestions. Such as "Why do you want to ...
3
I first signed up to SE while participating in a CTF that linked a few resources from SO. Being about cybersecurity (and Python, hence the SO account), I discovered Information Security. InfoSec and SO were pretty helpful in solving the problems in the CTF, and I wanted to give something back to the sites that made things easier for me on more than one, ...
6
I think I'm one of the few folks who came in through the broader network, rather than stackoverflow.com. I'm a week away from my 7-year anniversary, so I really ought to remember what specifically dragged me in, but my memory is extremely fuzzy. I know I was just interested in physics and astronomy in high school, and Physics Stack Exchange and Astronomy ...
3
Starting from some time fairly shortly after Stack Overflow began, I occasionally saw it listed in search results and, on several occasions, I found a helpful answer there. However, I already had over 20 years experience as a computer programmer, with much of my work then not involving anything really new to me, so I didn't have many questions to ask, and ...
5
I honestly don't remember when I heard about or used Stack Overflow for the first time (SO was definitely my gateway into the network though)... Long before I joined or used it frequently, I just remember it being around as a useful resource.
When I really started programming as a senior in high school, I definitely started referencing Stack Overflow a lot ...
5
I'm sure I stumbled here a few times looking for quick programming answers; I don't remember anything I was looking for in particular, or how often I found my answer here versus somewhere else. I also found Cross Validated the same way. I never needed an account then, though.
Eventually I had a particular stats question, but there wasn't an existing Q&A ...
5
I'd been using Stack Overflow read-only for years, since I was a student and was told to do so. Along the way, I came to know of the existence of other network sites (probably from HNQ but I don't recall for certain).
One day, after being shoved into the role of Scrum Master, I had a question about it, so I decided to join pmse in order to ask it (I wasn't ...
7
I wasn't brought to Stack Overflow by a question. Long ago when I was younger and still in high school, I had a couple of close friends and we just casually shared personal projects with each other and asked each other questions. One day, one of my friends brought up Stack Overflow in a conversation and asked if I'd ever heard of it. I hadn't, so he told me ...
7
I was a passive reader of the Joel blog and Coding Horror.
From there it was a small step when I needed to refresh my skills back in 2010. And in return I shared some of my knowledge by answering a few questions.
9
It's been a very long time, so my memory is a bit fuzzy. But it wasn't a single question that brought me to SO, I simply ended up often enough here searching for programming topics that I started to notice the place and became interested.
One thing I still remember that I found really interesting was the fact that everybody could edit anything. Simply being ...
7
I'll quote a part of my answer here:
I joined Stack Overflow because I noticed it saved me and my colleagues countless hours of work, more than any of the other programming sites. I wanted to give something back and be part of that awesome community producing high quality solutions.
I don't know what my first visit to Stack Overflow was, and I doubt many ...
4
I found Stack Overflow, I think, because Google Apps Script Help/Support page point me there very likely when I was doing some research related to a question that I found on the Google Products Help Forums. At that time I was trying to answer as many questions as I could, specially those that I found interesting and that I could learn something by ...
5
If you didn't come in as a result of a question, I'd be very curious about how you found us and what brought you here as well.
Before SO went online I subscribed a newsletter from https://www.codeproject.com that said Stack Overflow was about to launch (or had just launched), so I visited in the early days. (By coincidence I was developing in C# and also ...
7
I was a tutor at college who had been roped into privately tutoring someone who was a semi-frequent no-show. After that, the fact that I still showed up in spite of their non-attendance led me to get a job at my college's Accessibility Center for my reliability and dependability, which was a worthwhile experience.
But cutting and scanning books and printing ...
7
I was working on a programming project and I encountered an error. When searching for my error on Google, a Stack Overflow question was the top result and it helped solve my problem.
Later that evening, I decided to explore Stack Overflow more and I got familiar with the Q&A model and how Stack Overflow works.
After exploring for a few days, I ...
5
To quote from my answer on making anonymous edits to this site prior to joining:
First, a little about myself. Back in 2013, I created an account on Stack Overflow, so I could get help for computer programming assignments, as many of my Google searches were directing me there. After signing up, I got interested in the rest of the Stack Exchange network and ...
answered yesterday
Sonic the Anonymous Hedgehog
70.8k15 gold badges127 silver badges298 bronze badges
5
I don't remember what question I searched that landed me on SO for the first time, but I know that was the first site I noticed. For a while I would just run across Stack Overflow when Googling my programming questions, and the answers were largely excellent.
While clicking on random links to see where they led, I landed on my first HNQ.
I lurked around HNQ ...
11
I arrived here after someone over on the jQuery forums (where I was a moderator) posted a link to an SO question as a reference. I particularly liked the Q/A structure compared to the forum thread structure so I decided to begin answering/moderating on SO which quickly lead to me no longer participating on the forum.
-5
An excerpt from Philippe♦'s most recent update (19/7/2021)
“I will keep reading, but I have to shift my focus to writing the quarterly blog / meta post, for instance. So feel free to keep answering, and I'm still reading, but know that the frequency of posts from me here will slow down some (just to set expectations).”
Reading between the lines it seems ...
1
I am quite new to the community, so I can't comment about:
One thing that you would advise me never to touch.
But there's one thing that I think you should change as quickly as possible.
Please change the words "should" and "shortly" in the response that we get when we contact SE Team using the Contact page to more appropriate ones.
...
55
Today is Tisha b'Av, the date the ancient Jewish temple was destroyed. (I promise this is relevant.) According to our tradition, the second temple was destroyed because of baseless hatred, sinat chinam. Among all the problems of the time, one incident stood out as the precipitating event:
A wealthy man held a party and sent his servant to invite his ...
-5
One thing that you think I should change as quickly as possible.
I'm going to give a little context for this, so please bear with me.
About a year ago, I had a Stack Overflow account. I was not a Stack Overflow power user, at all. I would rarely ask very complex questions which either got a closed for being "off-topic" because someone didn't ...
4
One thing that you think I should change as quickly as possible.
Stop removing questions just because they have a score of 0 and haven't been viewed by an unusually high amount of people: Decrease the required view count to prevent Roomba deletion when score = 0 on smaller sites
. I've personnally had hundreds of questions removed because of that, and this ...
49
One thing that you would advise me (in my role as VP of Community here) never to touch.
Know your limitations: some things are not within your power to change. You can advocate for them, but cannot (usefully) demand them much less promise them.
Be honest about these things. To yourself, to the people here, to your overseers.
Much pain has been wrought by ...
15
One thing that you would advise me (in my role as VP of Community here) never to touch.
Actually two things: the creation of a high quality knowledge base mission and downvotes. Messing with these will result in instant doom.
One thing that you think I should change as quickly as possible.
Keep on doing what you started, i.e. listen to the community, ...
13
One thing that you would advise me (in my role as VP of Community here) never to touch.
Maybe not to never touch, because touching it is critical, but if I interpret that as "never remove/interfere with" it would be history. As the company moves forward in a new operating context post-acquisition, we've already lost a lot of institutional memory ...
21
Never change: Keep the small sites
I'm biased here -- I discovered Sustainability.SE while browsing the network one day, and found it to be a place where I could get involved. I'm now a moderator there. It's my experience that the small sites give users a place to get engaged and learn the network before becoming more involved elsewhere. Even though they may ...
10
I'm coming at this question from the viewpoint of a moderator on a teeny-tiny beta site, so we have different concerns perhaps from other respondents.
The 'famous kerfuffle' was, for this site, a non-event. Nobody who participates on our site has lost trust as a result and/or gone away. And if I drew their attention to it, the reaction would probably be: ...
11
"One thing that you think I should change as quickly as possible."
Communication
, and then especially the timing of it.
I have voiced my concerns about this time and time again. Most recently in this answer regarding the removal of an API endpoint. And also noticeably with regards to the posting of the quarterly roadmap posts, when the quarter is ...
24
One thing that you would advise me (in my role as VP of Community here) never to touch.
Downvotes. Please don't remove or weaken them.
I know people keep ranting how unfair downvotes are, how they are being hurt by it, and how many people leave the sites never to come back only because they got a single downvote.
It's very tempting, as the one who call the ...
answered Jul 16 at 7:57
Shadow Wizard Wearing Mask V2
152k27 gold badges364 silver badges735 bronze badges
9
Welcome to the War Room.
I am not a "power user" of this site, or any other site, or beta site, in the network. I have no significant curation abilities and, therefore, cannot address the efficacy or deficiencies of the tooling for that, though I understand from many other posts here that there are some deficiencies. My views here probably ought to ...
24
One thing that you think I should change as quickly as possible.
In its 'golden' age - I felt that one of the things that worked really well was we had a significant amount of interaction with staff as community, and that our relationship with the company was symbiotic.
At some point, this changed though, and the needs of SE as a business (and well, even ...
12
Something to improve: communication of touchpoints with the mod community.
We have the Teams page, orange diamond messages, pinned messages in TL, maybe email. I find myself frequently missing discussions / town halls / Q&As because I don't see these messages in time (or at all), or I forget them and can't find the message again. I would really like it ...
16
What should be changed
Can something be done to create a process for graduating beta sites or change the process (if it isn’t in progress already). There are a lot of very healthy beta sites that:
cannot crash and burn. The sheer age of some beta sites should speak to this
Have veritable experts. Some beta sites have user(s) over 100k rep, user(s) with ...
23
One thing that you would advise me (in my role as VP of Community here) never to touch.
Stack Exchange…
…without asking the community first.
The core community is tired of radical changes being announced as they happen.
One thing that you think I should change as quickly as possible.
Stop lying to your users.
Of course, you didn't lie, but you can still ...
Top 50 recent answers are included
