I agree with all the points raised, especially about the rampant authoritarianism that crushes earnest, well-intentioned questions by new users (as well as regulars).
Still, Stackoverflow is pretty damn good at what it does: provide answers to answerable questions. It still is a really good source of information with a high signal to noise ratio. Compared to the junk that used to come up on google searches before stackoverflow, we are all in a much better position than we were before.
I do think, however, that if stackoverflow had started with the pendantic, persnickety moderators they have now, it never would have become the resource that it is today.
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[ 2.6 ms ] story [ 16.3 ms ] threadBetter to go to IRC if it's a technical question, but again that might not get a response.
Btw, for Rails there's a free phone hotline staffed by volunteers: http://rails.pockethotline.com/
Still, Stackoverflow is pretty damn good at what it does: provide answers to answerable questions. It still is a really good source of information with a high signal to noise ratio. Compared to the junk that used to come up on google searches before stackoverflow, we are all in a much better position than we were before.
I do think, however, that if stackoverflow had started with the pendantic, persnickety moderators they have now, it never would have become the resource that it is today.