StackOverflow: Temple of Knowledge (and Badges)

First Impressions:

The very first page I visited on StackOverflow was the “About” page to learn more about the site. I really liked their description of themselves and the tone they used in it. They didn’t brag about who they were. Instead there were quite frank saying things such as,

“What makes us special? Nothing, really.”

To me, it set a message that says there are no egos here (at least from the moderators’ side). There is no need to worry about shame when asking questions. We don’t think of ourselves as tremendously superior guys so you shouldn’t feel inferior to speak up.

Types of Questions:

"Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live." -- Rick Osborne

That’s some incentive to comment and be organized there. Haha. That was a reply to a question asking for everyone’s favorite programming quotes. I liked the fact that not all questions and answers are boring and textbook-like. They also aren’t limited to only debugging. I don't know if that violates their original idea of "programming" type questions. But I enjoyed seeing the different varieties. Some questions I saw involved programming interview questions (useful to prepare yourself). Others involved how to work with "incompetent" group members. All good stuff.

Fast Responses:

StackOverflow looks like a very active environment with a lot of credible members providing answers. Some questions under the hot section received 5 answers and about 50 views in only 30 mins. That’s a pretty fast respond rate. So it would make sense to expect a good number of responses in a one day’s worth. I know I will be back to ask more questions. I already see some questions on TortoiseSVN. I’ll be sure to search and even ask questions on StackOverflow if I come across a problem.

Plus, I need to get me some of those badges! I think the badges were a good idea. It provides some extra motivation to answer questions well. Hopefully, no one is cheating the system and voting up for their buddies though.