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Jul 11, 2014 at 21:07 comment added Bruno @Servy, "The experts wouldn't go there because there wouldn't be interesting questions [...]". Another downside is that novices could answer with non-optimal or frankly bad advice to questions from other novices (e.g. I remember a question like "I've created my own password hashing scheme, how do I secure it?", 3 or 4 answers from novices, then an expert comes in with proper references and tears the novices' answers apart). The fact that questions and answers from novices can be read, voted and commented on by people who may be more knowledgeable is certainly an essential feature of SO.
Apr 23, 2014 at 21:34 history migrated from meta.stackexchange.com (revisions)
Sep 26, 2013 at 17:16 comment added Servy @PearsonArtPhoto It would not dramatically change all of the fundamental problems with the concept. SO was created, from day one, to be the place with the highest quality content, where the experts would want to come to answer questions, and where people looking for answers would be able to find useful information. Having lots of content that isn't any of those things has hundreds of other sites to be posted on; we don't need/want it here.
Sep 26, 2013 at 16:34 comment added PearsonArtPhoto It seems like it would be much better to create "Professional" sites than "novice" sites. Make the default Stack Overflow be the novice site.
Sep 26, 2013 at 16:23 comment added John Dvorak @Servy I propose experimenting. Closing too much is IMO a much smaller problem than not closing enough.
Sep 26, 2013 at 16:21 comment added Servy @JanDvorak There have been lots of proposals surrounding that over the years. I've yet to see one that looks promising; they generally have pretty big drawbacks or potential abuse mechanisms, but if you can think of something good (after first looking through past discussions on the topic) then by all means, propose something. I'm not fundamentally opposed to that idea, I've just never seen a suggestion that "does it right".
Sep 26, 2013 at 16:19 comment added John Dvorak @Servy there's another problem I've just realised: 90% of all novice questions should actually be closed as duplicates on the main site. Maybe we should just incentivise closing?
Sep 26, 2013 at 16:16 comment added Servy @JanDvorak But nobody would use it. The experts wouldn't go there because there wouldn't be interesting questions, and the novices wouldn't post there because there wouldn't be experts there; they wouldn't get good answers. They'd post on the main site anyway because it's where you go to get answers, and then they'll complain when the question is moved/closed/deleted and they don't get an answer, just like they do now. As it is, users can go to any of hundreds of other sites that have no quality filter; most don't because that system just doesn't work, as decades of experience has shown.
Sep 26, 2013 at 16:14 comment added John Dvorak @Servy at least we would have an excuse to close the bad ones on the main site. What if the novice site was self-deleting (with a migration path for those few questions worth preserving)?
Sep 26, 2013 at 15:04 comment added Servy It's been suggested before, and it won't work. Closing questions is one of the primary mechanisms that separates this site form all of the others out there. Such a site would devolve into everything that this site's founders hated about the sites like these that were out before. They're filled with tons of crap questions that nobody besides the OP is interested in, and as such knowledgeable answerers don't go there to answer questions, so the questions often don't get answered, and when they do, the answers are of poor quality.
Sep 26, 2013 at 11:23 comment added sectus @Stijn, you are right... we need balance.
Sep 26, 2013 at 11:12 comment added user247702 I want to add that I like the idea, I just don't think that everybody will be happy and nobody will be hurt :)
Sep 26, 2013 at 10:56 comment added sectus @Stijn, I have already see angry people with closed questions...
Sep 26, 2013 at 10:53 comment added Your Common Sense @Stijn there are many questions that have the very statement in the first line, like "I am new to the business, please bare with me" - at least these would have no objections.
Sep 26, 2013 at 10:16 comment added user247702 I can already see people getting angry because their question was migrated to the novice site.
Sep 26, 2013 at 9:39 comment added Your Common Sense According to other comments, it is rather going to be php.stackoverflow.com or phpnovice.stackoverflow.com... Anyway, I like the idea. Not sure if the community liked it though.
Sep 26, 2013 at 9:28 history answered sectus CC BY-SA 3.0