Ever since taking ICS 111 asynchronously over the summer at the beginning of my computer science degree, StackOverflow has been a site I could 100 percent list under my “Most Visited Websites”. While I have never personally posted a question, or answered one, it has become like a more specific and programming tailored version of Google towards me. Hell, I search up a coding question on Google and the usually the first website to pop up is StackOverflow.
Getting a little further into this degree though, I am preparing for, and simultaneously dreading, the day I myself will have to venture into the forums of StackOverflow, get knee deep into the nitty gritty, and have to ask a unique question of my own.
Eric Raymond’s essay on the smart and respectful way to ask computer science related questions on forums like StackOverflow gives a concise but quite helpful review on the conduct expected of users on these types of platforms. From being respectful to doing your own due diligence before pestering others with your questions, overall the essay does its best to prepare users for real world of computer scientists interacting online.
Here is the link to the smart question.
In this exchange one user is asking a question about programming in Haskell and starting their learning journey. While this is a topic I know nothing about, the way they go about it follows the guidelines of asking smart questions the right way. The user starts off by saying they have watched tutorials and screencasts, showing that they have put in their own time and effort to try and make progress. They then explain that since Haskell is new to them they don’t really know where to start and ask for advice, but also what “broke the ice” for other users, what I am interpreting as when it got easier or what got them interested.
The first answer that pops up is long, really long, but at the same time gives detailed advice and explanations all while not having a super condescending and arrogant tone. They list different resources for people that are total newbies all the way to people who are already experts and looking to freshen up their skills a bit.
Here is a link to the not so smart question.
So the first thing that indicates this being a not so good question is the fact that the user asking the question states TWICE in one sentence that their code doesn’t work. They then provide their source code, explaining that it works on one computer but not another, but that’s about it. Personally, I think this falls under the RTFM and STFW category, and it seems like one user who responded thought the same.
Basically, the response this user got was bluntly, that they did something wrong and can’t use a certain multicast. But it was in the tone you know? Saying, “You can’t use it.” has a pretty harsh tonation to it that makes it seem like this answering user was pretty fed up with the question. This is also followed by the original user saying they changed something and it didn’t work, prompting another response pretty much telling them to STFW. While the question may have gotten a partial answer it was still not the most cordial exchange.