@rchern Yeh, personally I really liked NTI, and think they're making a mistake trying to brand to the engine. Though I agree with most that the important part was the way they did it.
@LanceRoberts I disagree. Maybe my eye is just trained to like bright SO/SU contrast -- even though I spend all my time on MSO -- but NTI looks really... gray to me. Nothing on that page attracts my eye, it's just a lot of content that all blends together into one big blob.
@PopularDemand I personally like it, but as I think you said earlier, the fact that there's no separation between the "top bar" and the stuff below it seems a bit weird, probably due to the clear separation on SOFU
Hi all. I'm Jin and I'll be working on the designs for the Stack Exchange sites as they graduate from the beta phase. Each site will have its own unique theme that will reflects its topic. However, all sites will share quite a bit of common elements so they feel like they're part of the Stack Exc...
Hi all. I'm Jin and I'll be working on the designs for the Stack Exchange sites as they graduate from the beta phase. Each site will have its own unique theme that will reflects its topic. However, all sites will share quite a bit of common elements so they feel like they're part of the Stack Exc...
I recently asked this question on Super User, and a big discussion arose on appropriate questions. The issue came down to the new verbiage in the FAQ:
I had figured that the websites line was just about social networking software (which a case could be made for closing the question I asked), ...
The gaming thing I remember - AFAIK, TheTXI (a SU moderator at the time) got locked out of the site when at work because WebSense or some crap tagged it as a gaming site.
But gaming I could see anyway - I mean, it's a huge sub-category that doesn't necessarily limit itself to usage questions
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1451694/is-there-a-way-to-diff-files-from-c/1472965#1472965
How is it possible? It also looks like the user has awarded a bounty himself. Is it because two accounts were merged?
Given the recent change of policy about domain naming, finally explained here after much turmoil and even some very heated opinions elsewhere, I want to propose that SO Inc commits to the following
Big policy changes should be announced beforehand, letting the community at least have a voice be...
Stack Overflow has been wildly successful. And maybe in some ways too successful.
I am concerned that Stack Overflow is being inundated by a stream of low-quality questions from users who are accidentally poisoning our well -- by turning off and turning away the core answerers who do all the rea...
It seems that so many new questioners ask poorly worded questions, or tag their questions incorrectly or misleadingly. Since there is a sidebar describing how to format, how to ask, and how to tag, would it be worthwhile to mention certain oft-seen problems? For example, "please tag this as hom...
Please note that I am not referring to explaining what Stack Exchange is. New users are figuring that out pretty well. This question is about using the site's features.
People who are new to this whole system of Stack Exchange sites often require several of the less obvious features to be expl...
It seems that I wasn't clear about what I'm asking:
I've noticed that new users might not always post the best questions and subsequently have their questions closed. Usually the users with low reputation end up writing questions that get closed, so is there a way which SO can make them take an ...
@devinb There have been others, but I can't find them now. AFAIK, they've never gotten a lot of traction, because the general assumption is that users don't read
We have considered adding an interstitial page, for < 100 rep users, that they will see after clicking the "Ask Your Question" button on the /ask page.
This post-ask interstitial page would contain a more comprehensive search for duplicate questions based on the title, body, and tags. The new...
@Shog9 Woo hoo! This may mark the first time I wasn't upended by @GraceNote. Ignore the fact that he wasn't, strictly speaking, participating in the chat at all when the request was made.
We generally like to make changes, gauge the feedback, and then blog about it -- so we can incorporate the community's feedback with perhaps even more changes.
You'll notice this is a standard pattern in a lot of stuff we do. Consider the /questions/ask-advice change as an example. That was talk...
That is, you change, and then rollback based on backlash.
Well, nor would I expect it of facebook. But he says that they made changes to incorporate the feedback, but this is only after the fact, and only when they recieve a HUGE amount of negative feedback.
I realized that I, like our friend Cletus before me, was spending time and energy and (most importantly) I was actively caring about a community where the one in charge simply didn't care about those who were trying to engage.
True or not, that was my perception, and despite the fact that I loved hanging out with you guys on Chat, I could only rationalize the procrastination with the fact that I was helping out StackOverflow which I DID use frequently for work.
@Shog, I considered it. But then again, the point of a dramatic speech like that is to make a point. And if my point is that no one is listening, then I've put myself into a lose-lose situation.
I came to that realization back in Dec. of '08, but hung around with the idea that even if I was at most just a tiny annoyance, even a cloud of gnats can accomplish something in the right place at the right time
But chat is a great example, because of the fact that both Marc and Balpha are consistently on it and able to make changes at the drop of a hat. Or they used to. I suspect that's not the case anymore.
@devinb It's an easy trap to fall into. But I learned a long time ago that caring about something skews your judgement. It's hard to make good decisions WRT things you care deeply about. So now when I see that happening, I try to step back, make fun of them a bit, let myself gain some perspective.
@devinb Two of my brothers just moved there. Apparently, property is dirt cheap.
@Shog9 Well, I pride myself on maintaining perspective, but it's because I can examine an issue from many (as many as possible) angles, then roll up my sleeves and get to work.
But that takes time, and therefore requires some form of impulsion. In this case it WAS my will to improve the site.
@PavelShved As I said earlier, I like caring about things. I like helping people, I like encouraging positive change. My goal is to learn as much as I can, and be there if others want to do the same.
@devinb You can help without caring. A good thing is cold-headed help to random people in specific situations, without wondering whether the people you helped succeeded later, whether they perceived your advice, whether they made something useful out of it... Isn't it what SO is all about?
@Shog9 Teachers do not simply lead by example, they teach. Doctor's Without Borders, Habitat For Humanity, all of these things are people who have used their leading by example to also TRY to encourage others.
StackOverflow itself was created to foster developers talking to each other.
@devinb that's only a matter of perception. You can write answers because you see these live people, you feel sympathy and you want to help them. Or you can write answers because you see these neat problems, you feel challenged and you want to solve them. First one with caring, the second one—without. It's your choice if you want to care, but when you feel exhausted because you gain no reward for that, remember that there is another path.
I'm a Rockstar Awesome Developer. Who do I email to get my free 200,000 reputation because reputation measures your technical awesomeness. I mean, I must be better than all these people with 50,000 reputation, I'm a freaking Senior Developer! You don't actually expect me to sit and answer questions to show people that I know what I'm talking about? I don't have that time...
No, there are no clear criteria and there are no rules. All efforts to establish them have failed.
You have two choices:
Ask the questions on SO and hope they garner enough popular support to be re-opened. If you try this, marking them CW may help your cause, as CW questions don't collect rep ...
Guys, can you fill me up on why people never touch the issues I feel I've clearly expressed in my questions? For instance, @Nifle comment about democracy is totally unrelated to the question. meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/66617/…
I'm looking for one of a) The guy is nuts or b) You don't express yourself clearly
This is the Tavern of those who've already pounded their heads against the SO wall.
@JohntheSeagull It's been brought up quite a few times before, and users have left SO before because of that methodology (not even really pretending to take community input).
I'll try a large cut-and-paste of a post long ago, that Jeff has deleted and locked, so we can't undelete it:
I agree with Jeff that keeping meta-discussion off sites like SO is important and useful and I guess by that yardstick Meta is a success.
Yet the purpose of a community like this isn't just to keep such distractions away from the majority of the userbase (or at least it shouldn't be). It's to give that community a voice, ask questions and get feedback. But instead I see:
* Feature requests are basically just ignored unless it happens to be what's going to happen anyway (on the same principle that even a broken clock is right twice a day);
I think moderators should have the ability to cast a normal, non binding vote like if they were a normal user (while of course retaining their ability to cast a binding vote where necessary).
This can be used in "grey areas" where a moderator can choose to give his or her opinion but not make a ...
In a few situations, it's nice to be able to get a rep recalc "on demand." In the past, I've simply pinged Marc Gravell about this, but it would be good not to have to bother him.
As an example, this morning I received lots of "dodgy" votes early in the day. They were removed later on, but then ...
Users keep raising the same questions on Meta after a loss in reputation overnight and have no clue as to why. It would be helpful to have a clear mechanism for recalcs and to leave a tersely annotated audit trail to at least indicate where the rep has gone.
Questions like the following:
Why d...
Why don't we have a Tab that shows only questions for our interesting tags, showing recent first? I keep having to scroll down the page to find the questions I'm interested in.
It'd be like the Unanswered Questions -> My Tags tab, but for all questions with my interesting tags.
I have accounts on Stack Overflow, Server Fault, and Super User. Today I asked a question on Super User that was migrated to Server Fault.
I was never notified that my question had been migrated.
When something important happens (a new answer is posted, an answer is voted upon, etc) the enve...
It is a well-known fact that the envelope indicator is not working. See this, this, and even this.
I have experienced all of the problems:
The indicator does not light up directly when a comment or edit is made, but rather quite some time after (maybe many minutes).
If I go to SO and have a ne...
I'm sure they're completely wrapped up in development. But you think they'd have someone working just on the bugs. I wonder what waffles is working on now?
@LanceRoberts He was doing analytics for a little while, and he just finished the abilities wikis a couple days ago; I don't know what he moved on to now
@LanceRoberts There isn't a way to do this? (I'm assuming you've looked at the advanced search syntax.)
@Chacha102 Well, the problem with Wave wasn't wave so much. It was overhyped. Not that it didn't have plenty of issues, but the biggest one was the high expectations.
@GeorgeMarian True, but I'd still rather Google put the time and effort into improving their bread and butter (Accounts) than trying to whip up a quick Souffle...
I recently asked this question on Super User, and a big discussion arose on appropriate questions. The issue came down to the new verbiage in the FAQ:
I had figured that the websites line was just about social networking software (which a case could be made for closing the question I asked), ...
Given the recent change of policy about domain naming, finally explained here after much turmoil and even some very heated opinions elsewhere, I want to propose that SO Inc commits to the following
Big policy changes should be announced beforehand, letting the community at least have a voice be...
No, there are no clear criteria and there are no rules. All efforts to establish them have failed.
You have two choices:
Ask the questions on SO and hope they garner enough popular support to be re-opened. If you try this, marking them CW may help your cause, as CW questions don't collect rep ...
Users keep raising the same questions on Meta after a loss in reputation overnight and have no clue as to why. It would be helpful to have a clear mechanism for recalcs and to leave a tersely annotated audit trail to at least indicate where the rep has gone.
Questions like the following:
Why d...
It is a well-known fact that the envelope indicator is not working. See this, this, and even this.
I have experienced all of the problems:
The indicator does not light up directly when a comment or edit is made, but rather quite some time after (maybe many minutes).
If I go to SO and have a ne...
