• The current search engine is far from good (at least IMHO which is shared with other users directing new users to Google rather than SO search; some others (see below) disagree). It would either need rebuilding or, for example, one could try contacting Google about whether they'd like to support StackOverflow with 'Google Search for Enterprises'. This discussion is out of scope for this feature request/proposal and there are other questions discussing various aspects of the search engine and presentation. However even with the current engine and system a redesign like this could be extremely valuable.

• Changing the homepage only makes real sense for SE sites after they reach a certain amount of content, which is hard to define. SO definitely has enough content to make this a worthwhile change and the same is true for some of the other sites on the network. There are however also sites that will never reach this point, either because they strongly deviate from the SE formula (codereview.SE, codegolf.SE, puzzling.SE) or because the number of theoretical questions that can be asked on a topic is just too ridicilously big (e.g. patents.SE). Either way, this can be easily be determined by looking up what percentage of questions get closed as duplicates per site. The issue however is that implementing this would make SO (and possibly other sites) deviate from the rest of the SE sites. This could be seen as reaching the next level of maturity, but it will be on odds with the current homogeneity.

• The current search engine is far from good (at least IMHO which is shared with other users directing new users to Google rather than SO search; some others (see below) disagree). It would either need rebuilding or, for example, one could try contacting Google about whether they'd like to support StackOverflow with 'Google Search for Enterprises'. This discussion is out of scope for this feature request/proposal and there are other questions discussing various aspects of the search engine and presentation. However even with the current engine and system a redesign like this could be extremely valuable.

• Changing the homepage only makes real sense for SE sites after they reach a certain amount of content, which is hard to define. SO definitely has enough content to make this a worthwhile change and the same is true for some of the other sites on the network. There are however also sites that will never reach this point, either because they strongly deviate from the SE formula (codereview.SE, codegolf.SE, puzzling.SE) or because the number of theoretical questions that can be asked on a topic is just too ridicilously big (e.g. patents.SE). Either way, this can be easily be determined by looking up what percentage of questions get closed as duplicates per site. The issue however is that implementing this would make SO (and possibly other sites) deviate from the rest of the SE sites. This could be seen as reaching the next level of maturity, but it will be on odds with the current homogeneity.

TL;DR: We are more than just another Yahoo Answers or forum, but we are presenting ourselves in exactly the same way; just another Q&A site. Although technically correct, due to our rules and organization we're a lot more than that. Right now it's possible to find answers to most, if not all, beginner questions. We've become one of the best, if not the best, programmer's resource. The problem is that by giving the 'Ask Question'-flow dominant care and placement we're actually motivating new users to ask their questions rather than search for answers. This is a direct consequence of the structure and setup of the site, not of "lazy newcomers" or "help vampires" and can be solved by giving the search flow far more dominant placement and care (see mockups below) specifically for very low rep and guest users.

Another point that has been raised is that a lot of new users don't access the SO page through the homepage (though those who come from Google are probably already a smaller "problem"), so a redesign like this could be considered:

Disadvantage

• The current search engine is far from good (at least IMHO which is shared with other users directing new users to Google rather than SO search; some others (see below) disagree). It would either need rebuilding or, for example, one could try contacting Google about whether they'd like to support StackOverflow with 'Google Search for Enterprises'. This discussion is out of scope for this feature request/proposal and there are other questions discussing various aspects of the search engine and presentation. However even with the current engine and system a redesign like this could be extremely valuable.

• Making this change only makes sense for SE sites after they reach a certain amount of content, which is hard to define. SO definitely has enough content to make this a worthwhile change, for some other sites, however, it's questionable whether that point will ever be reached at all due to the very topic the site covers (e.g. it will never make sense for puzzling.SE or codereview.SE as they aren't SE-like Q&A sites). In other words, implementing this will make SO (and possibly other sites) deviate from the rest of the SE sites. This could be seen as reaching the next level of maturity, but it will be on odds with the current homogeneity.

• Sites I think this would definitely work with (limiting myself only to the subsites I know):

  • Stack Overflow
  • Ask Ubuntu
  • English L&U
  • TeX - LaTeX
  • Meta Stack Exchange
  • Mathematics (think so, not entirely sure)
  • Super User (think so, not entirely sure)
  • Server Fault (think so, not entirely sure)
  • And sites like unix.SE, android.SE, apple.SE or even for a small community like cooking.SE it might also work. The underlying question is: Out of all questions people could have asked until this day, how many already were asked? Or put differently: What's the current rate of duplicates compared to the rate of questions.

  So all considered that's actually quite a number of them. The more I think about it, the more I think this makes sense for the majority of communities.

TL;DR: We are more than just another Yahoo Answers or forum, but we are presenting ourselves in exactly the same way; just another Q&A site. Although technically correct, due to our rules and organization we're a lot more than that. Right now it's possible to find answers to most, if not all, beginner questions on SO. We've have become one of the best, if not the best, programmer's resource and the same is true for some of the other network sites. The problem is that by giving the 'Ask Question'-flow dominant care and placement we're actually motivating new users to ask their questions rather than search for answers. This is a direct consequence of the structure and setup of the site, not of "lazy newcomers" or "help vampires" and can be solved by giving the search flow far more dominant placement and care (see mockups below) specifically for very low rep and guest users.

Another point that has been raised is that a lot of new users don't access the SO page through the homepage (though those who come from Google are probably already a smaller "problem"), so a redesign like this would be in line with changes to the homepage:

Issues to consider

• The current search engine is far from good (at least IMHO which is shared with other users directing new users to Google rather than SO search; some others (see below) disagree). It would either need rebuilding or, for example, one could try contacting Google about whether they'd like to support StackOverflow with 'Google Search for Enterprises'. This discussion is out of scope for this feature request/proposal and there are other questions discussing various aspects of the search engine and presentation. However even with the current engine and system a redesign like this could be extremely valuable.

• Changing the homepage only makes real sense for SE sites after they reach a certain amount of content, which is hard to define. SO definitely has enough content to make this a worthwhile change and the same is true for some of the other sites on the network. There are however also sites that will never reach this point, either because they strongly deviate from the SE formula (codereview.SE, codegolf.SE, puzzling.SE) or because the number of theoretical questions that can be asked on a topic is just too ridicilously big (e.g. patents.SE). Either way, this can be easily be determined by looking up what percentage of questions get closed as duplicates per site. The issue however is that implementing this would make SO (and possibly other sites) deviate from the rest of the SE sites. This could be seen as reaching the next level of maturity, but it will be on odds with the current homogeneity.

Tl;dr: We are more than just another Yahoo Answers or forum, but we are presenting ourselves in exactly the same way; just another Q&A site. Although technically correct, due to our rules and organization we're a lot more than that. Right now it's possible to find answers to most, if not all, beginner questions. We've become one of the best, if not the best, programmer's resource. The problem is that by giving the 'Ask Question'-flow dominant care and placement we're actually motivating new users to ask their questions rather than search for answers. This is a direct consequence of the structure and setup of the site, not of "lazy newcomers" or "help vampires" and can be solved by giving the search flow far more dominant placement and care (see mockups below) specifically for very low rep and guest users.

• The current search engine is far from good (at least IMHO which is shared with other users directing new users to Google rather than SO search; some others (see below) disagree). It would either need rebuilding or, for example, one could try contacting Google about whether they'd like to support StackOverflow with 'Google Search for Enterprises'. This discussion is out of scope for this feature request/proposal and there are other questions discussing various aspects of the search engine and presentation. However even with the current engine and system a redesign like this could be extremely valuable.

• Making this change only makes sense for SE sites after they reach a certain amount of content, which is hard to define. SO definitely has enough content to make this a worthwhile change, for other sites, however, it's questionable whether that point will ever be reached at all due to the very topic the site covers. In other words, implementing this will make SO (and possibly other sites) deviate from the rest of the SE sites. This could be seen as reaching the next level of maturity, but it will be on odds with the current homogeneity.

TL;DR: We are more than just another Yahoo Answers or forum, but we are presenting ourselves in exactly the same way; just another Q&A site. Although technically correct, due to our rules and organization we're a lot more than that. Right now it's possible to find answers to most, if not all, beginner questions. We've become one of the best, if not the best, programmer's resource. The problem is that by giving the 'Ask Question'-flow dominant care and placement we're actually motivating new users to ask their questions rather than search for answers. This is a direct consequence of the structure and setup of the site, not of "lazy newcomers" or "help vampires" and can be solved by giving the search flow far more dominant placement and care (see mockups below) specifically for very low rep and guest users.

• The current search engine is far from good (at least IMHO which is shared with other users directing new users to Google rather than SO search; some others (see below) disagree). It would either need rebuilding or, for example, one could try contacting Google about whether they'd like to support StackOverflow with 'Google Search for Enterprises'. This discussion is out of scope for this feature request/proposal and there are other questions discussing various aspects of the search engine and presentation. However even with the current engine and system a redesign like this could be extremely valuable.

• Making this change only makes sense for SE sites after they reach a certain amount of content, which is hard to define. SO definitely has enough content to make this a worthwhile change, for some other sites, however, it's questionable whether that point will ever be reached at all due to the very topic the site covers (e.g. it will never make sense for puzzling.SE or codereview.SE as they aren't SE-like Q&A sites). In other words, implementing this will make SO (and possibly other sites) deviate from the rest of the SE sites. This could be seen as reaching the next level of maturity, but it will be on odds with the current homogeneity.

• Sites I think this would definitely work with (limiting myself only to the subsites I know):

  • Stack Overflow
  • Ask Ubuntu
  • English L&U
  • TeX - LaTeX
  • Meta Stack Exchange
  • Mathematics (think so, not entirely sure)
  • Super User (think so, not entirely sure)
  • Server Fault (think so, not entirely sure)
  • And sites like unix.SE, android.SE, apple.SE or even for a small community like cooking.SE it might also work. The underlying question is: Out of all questions people could have asked until this day, how many already were asked? Or put differently: What's the current rate of duplicates compared to the rate of questions.

  So all considered that's actually quite a number of them. The more I think about it, the more I think this makes sense for the majority of communities.