Main Area and Open Discussion > Living Room

how to improve DC's usability: the stackOverflow model

(1/6) > >>

urlwolf:

stackOverflow.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWHfY_lvKIQ


* Voting to push the best answer to the top and not having to read a monster thread
* Tagging
* Ignore tags: if I don't want to read about php, I put it in my ignore list
* markdown instead of bbedit (syntax highlighting for code)
* You can edit other's answers if they are incomplete (like a wiki)
* There's a points system for reputation that seems to be addictive
* Badges, Karma
* You can earn Karma not only answering questions, but asking interesting ones that get voted up
* You can burn your Karma, and this prevents you from doing some answers
* You can merge different answers into one comprehensive one, and this would give you Karma. No obsessions about ownership (nice property of wikis)
* etc
* If you have used it, you probably agree that it's highly usable compared to any forum software, mailing list, group, or wiki.
DC has the advantage that there's actual money changing hands, not only Karma. I wonder how much mileage one could get out of it. The regulars know each other's reputation, but not newcomers.
DC could simply display the DC credits each member has earned as a 'badge' of how useful he is on the community.

Also, having tags would help listing the expertise we have here (which is considerable, but not obvious).

So here's the idea: let's get something more like stackOverflow than a forum.
What do you think?

I could start a poll with features that are most important for you guys.

Is this something you'd like to see?

40hz:
Hmmmm....





I think it's an interesting approach for a Q&A or support site. But the DoCo forums cover a lot more ground than just that. IMHO, many of the discussions surrounding the questions are more interesting and valuable than are the answers to the original questions themselves.

DoCo's forums are particularly interesting to me because I get to read what a lot of bright and technically astute people are thinking as opposed to just what they know. There's a process of dialog here that I don't think you'll find in too many places. It's that dialog - and sense of community - that keeps me coming back. I don't think that something like the stackOverflow model gives you that. It's geared for Q&A's rather than the give and take of dialog.

stackOverflow has a certain vibe of its own. It's better adapted to people that want to just go in, get an answer, and then get out.

It also strikes me as being somewhat more... competitive, if that's the right word? From looking at some of the responses at stackOverflow, I get the distinct impression there's a tendency on the part of many of the participants to get in "Fast & First" with an answer. You won't find many long thoughtful posts like we get from some of the regulars at DoCo.

So from my perspective, DonationCoder and stackOverflow are two websites with fundamentally different goals and audiences. In a way, stackOverflow is a subset of what DoCo is about. DoCo is geared towards building a community. stackOverflow is a switchboard.

I think the stackOverflow approach might be ok in something like a "quick answers" section. But not as a general replacement for the present forum setup. I'd probably even consider going with a Wiki model before I did that.

Just my 2¢ :)

Gothi[c]:
I don't think I like the idea of karma and voting or anything that creates 'elitism' or divides members in any way.

urlwolf:
Sorry abt link, try this one:
http://joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/04/29.html

I'm not sure Karma is the driving force of stackOverflow. I never check there or anywhere else (slashdot?) the karma of the commenter.
What I'm saying is that their CMS seems to solve very well some common problems of mailing lists, wikis, and forums, and some design decisions are very good.

40hz:
I don't think I like the idea of karma and voting or anything that creates 'elitism' or divides members in any way.
-Gothi[c] (April 30, 2009, 11:01 AM)
--- End quote ---

Agree. :Thmbsup:

Rankings tend to diminish overall participation - and intimidate newcomers.

Some of our most interesting participants are self-declared 'neophytes' who are the first to admit they don't know everything they'd like to know about a topic. Oddly enough, that same humility is demonstrated by those DoCo members who just might. ;D

 8)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page