| I think the issues with Stack Overflow are: 1. People don't search properly before posting 2. There are a lot of "low quality" questions that could be answered by reading documentation (also see 1) 3. Most of the questions that apply to 1 & 2 have already been answered on StackOverflow. 4. It's overwhelmingly (US) English, so people who are not fluent pendants are down-voted. 5. The people who need the most help are those who are least suited to post, as they rarely give enough detail ([example][1] - where to start?), ask very generic questions ([how to build a website][2]), or ask questions that have been answered before When StackOverflow started, I spent a great deal of time on it as it felt like a good way to help and share knowledge (or just show off). Nowadays, I'll vote when I find an answer (usually via Duck Duck Go), but [the last question I asked][3] is still unanswered (allowing Facebook to use this as a support forum is a joke). I feel that it's become a victim of its own success, and is getting to the point where it's as bad as the sites it tried to replace. [1] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9395670/dataset-getting-m... [2] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/87305/how-to-build-a-webs... [3] http://stackoverflow.com/questions/8077747/what-are-facebook... |
This is a problem that plagues virtually all discussion media. All new discussion systems that are focused on Q&A trend toward what can only be called a knowledge base.
What the citizens of these forums overlook is that the very design[^1] of these sites attracts individuals who are either unwilling or incapable of finding the answers on their own. Thus begins the vicious cycle toward user hostility that results in a closed community.
1 - Design as in structure and purpose, not design as in color, layout, etc