| > No one in their right mind is spending time on the site with the empirical goal of getting points. But isn't that exactly what Michael was doing? He was posting help for two languages he loathed — help he probably wouldn't otherwise give — just because it got him points. In addition, the Java help he was giving was not even his own knowledge. Just a Google search. I like that you believe points aren't the point. That's good to hear. However, my experience on SO is as Michael describes. The most helpful answers I've posted (especially the ones that are obscure workarounds for difficult bugs) have gained very few points. Most of the time I've gotten good answers to very difficult questions is when I either: answer them myself later, or offer a bounty. People strongly react to the points. That's not to say SO isn't helpful. It helps me five to ten times a day — I find code snippets that achieve the effect I'm looking for. I could spend more time and read the documentation, figure out the right APIs, but that's a waste of time when I develop the same understanding by reading someone else's implementation. It would be great if the point system scaled by the complexity of the question and answer. Though that seems impossible to determine. |