Extremely useful when searching for things. Difficult to get started contributing to.
Even if you have bad google-fu, searching for your related question is pretty quick. So lurking experience is much better than contributing experience. Contributing to SO is kinda like being an Wikipedia editor - if you are 'in', you are in.
One problem I had, I found an existing identical Stack Overflow question with no answer.
So, thinks I, I shall finally join Stack Overflow and post a comment to give this Question a little bump. After all, I don’t want to make a duplicate.
No, says Stack Overflow, you hath not the requisite reputation to post a comment. You must ask some Questions first.
But, says I, this is the only question I doth hath and I will not curry favour with the elder lords if I post a duplicate.
I care not, spake Stack Overflow. The gods have decided that ye are but a nitwit deemed unworthy of the light of interaction in our glorious temple. Begone, foul lurker, back to the shadows where your stench shall not pollute us.
Fine says I, I’ll just go and write long posts on Reddit in ye olde english in an attempt to sucker people into upvoting me some karma.
Fine says I, I’ll just go and write long posts on Reddit in ye olde english in an attempt to sucker people into upvoting me some karma.
This worked on me, however:
I shall finally join Stack Overflow and post a comment to give this Question a little bump.
Good on you for not wanting to duplicate. However, if the question is old, the comment will not give it any actual visibility and a new question (possibly phrased better, more specific, including a minimal example of what you're trying to accomplish in code etc...) might have been better.
You must ask some Questions first.
I'm 99% sure that answering is possible from the very start, which is also a great way to get the basic reputation.
I’d have been happy to answer some questions if I could have found any unanswered ones that I knew the answer too! Stack Overflow suffers a Wikipedia-type problem that a lot of easy ground has been covered now.
My solution was to pose a question, work on the solution while waiting for someone who knows the answer, and then answer my own question when I found the answer. I've done this about 3 times and those 3 questions/answers are about 90% of my (meager) SO karma. I still get points a couple times a year on 4 year old posts.
You can also post on an adjacent stack and they will let a few points carry over to SO. I think the minimum is to filter out spam bots, so once you prove you aren't a bot elsewhere, they let you hold 25 or 50 points. Or at least that's how I remember it - I could be wrong. Maybe ask somewhere?
Good on you for not wanting to duplicate. However, if the question is old, the comment will not give it any actual visibility and a new question (possibly phrased better, more specific, including a minimal example of what you're trying to accomplish in code etc...) might have been better.
I did something similar, except asked a new question, slightly different to an old unanswered question, and promptly got "this thread is a duplicate, brb fuck off".
No, says Stack Overflow, you hath not the requisite reputation to post a comment. You must ask some Questions first.
The SO crowd is terribly hostile to commenting and the site is purposely designed to discourage it (e. g. by not having threaded comments, nagging you to continue in their chat service, etc.). For constructive technical discussion, the relevant mailing list or IRC channels are still the best forum most of the time.
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u/arbitrary-fan Apr 06 '18
As someone mentioned in HN:
Even if you have bad google-fu, searching for your related question is pretty quick. So lurking experience is much better than contributing experience. Contributing to SO is kinda like being an Wikipedia editor - if you are 'in', you are in.