Anybody else use stackoverflow.com?

Question

I just posted my first question on stack over flow and I didn't format my question perfectly, so I instead of answering or helping they down voted my question and reminded how stupid I am... not a very good first experience. I read the instructions on how to format your posts, but I still managed to make a few mistakes( shame on my noobie ass). I guess if your not an expert level programmer or have someone to look over your shoulder and make sure your post to that website is perfect, just read the posts.

Answer 1

I use Stackoverflow.com all of the time; it's a priceless resource and one of the best Q&A sites out there. I can't even begin to say how much the site has helped me out in my studies, as well as my professional career.

With that being said, as you're very much aware of now, it's also a very strict Q&A and they expect you to follow ALL of the rules/guidelines for posting there. Learn the rules/guidelines inside & out and do your best to follow them. It's not like this website where nearly anything goes; you'll get thrown into the abyss quickly there. However, for a website/traffic like theirs, it's necessary or you end up with all of the non-sense that you see in this discussion area. The site has remained an amazing website because of their strict rules and enforcement of the rules.

Now with all of that being said, 90% of the time people will warn/inform you of what you did wrong prior to your thread being removed or voted into oblivion, so usually you have time to edit the thread/post and correct what you did wrong. Communication is key, so while you're new, make them aware of that also and make edits to your thread/post as required.

Once you get use to their website, and their rules, it'll be a vital resource for you I believe. It took me a little bit to get use to the rules also, but I'm glad I did.

Answer 2

So far, I haven't had a question for which they have not an already existing answer. It is my number one search site for answers, but posting my question there. No thank you, I'd rather not. They are way too strict for me.

Answer 3

Jakob Marley is right, I should be clear the website is invaluable. I just had an unfortunate first time experience. I was having a really hard debugging this piece of Java code so I finally broke down and pasted my question to them. I made the mistake of sending screen shots of the code and the error. On the other hand I provided as much info as I could including, what I knew, what line the problem was in and what I had done up to that point.

Answer 4

I need a help to create a web server in python. Anyone can help me to to do that???? i need a code. but i can't take from internet.

Answer 5

The same has happened to me it was my first and last question and till now I couldn't find any answer
I loved that site before but after that I really hate every thing there because no one try to help me except of some downvoting

Answer 6

Questions get downvotes much more often there. If you have a not great question, it will get a lot of downvotes there.

Revise your questions carefully and make sure it is not a duplicate in any way.

If it is a duplicate but the original isn’t helping, mention it so it is not called a duplicate and explain why it did not help.

Also might help to say you’re new.

Answer 7

Just about everything is asked and answered. The reason they're so useful is the quality of answers. Just compare it to here where people hijack threads to post unrelated code or introduce themselves. Copy your error message and paste it in quotation marks. Then remove specifics and web search it. Eg:
Error: thing not declared at line 22
becomes
"Error: not declared at line"
You'll get an answer with some elbow grease. Good luck.

Answer 8

Hard to tell if your question wasn't good or if they downvoted you for no reason. What was your question?