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ShawnT 🐀

@nixCraft

Real Talk: if Stack Overflow dies, we'll all be out of our tech jobs. The most common questions can't be answered by reading manpages.

4 comments
funbaker #AssangeIsNotGuilty

@phaysis Real Talk: People will adapt and start contributing to man pages or build alternatives to ShitOverflow. @nixCraft

kikebenlloch

@funbaker @phaysis @nixCraft I really wish for alternatives to consolidate. Hasn't SO long delayed their better structuring and access to their own hosted stuff? I've the feeling that, besides being indexed by search engines, they haven't been doing much but wait on their asses until AI came along to something new (and wrong) with it all.

drevil

@phaysis @nixCraft while I agree this would hurt a lot of developers, I don't think it's a healthy mindset to have. If your job depends on Stack Overflow answers to be done right, then you probably do need to spend more time reading manuals.

Sure most common questions are not directly answered by manuals (and sure many man pages are not very helpful) but that's because they are not meant for that. Ideally you should arrive at your answers by getting a better understanding of the systems you are trying to work with. It usually takes more time, but it also leads to a more rewarding experience that pays up more in the long term.

Not to say there isn't a place for forums, after all there's times where we don't even know where to start looking, but if your job depends on readily available answers to very specific questions scattered through a site, you might be doing it wrong imho.

@phaysis @nixCraft while I agree this would hurt a lot of developers, I don't think it's a healthy mindset to have. If your job depends on Stack Overflow answers to be done right, then you probably do need to spend more time reading manuals.

Sure most common questions are not directly answered by manuals (and sure many man pages are not very helpful) but that's because they are not meant for that. Ideally you should arrive at your answers by getting a better understanding of the systems you are trying...

Alex Holst

@phaysis The most common questions used to be answered by reading books. Newer generations are really missing out on comprehensive knowledge by not reading the classics.

@nixCraft

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