Hacker News Reader

Comment by justherefortart | Hacker News Reader

SO was great 8 or so years ago. Now it's mostly "you're doing it wrong" answers as the top shit I see when I search on google.

Wading through that nonsense takes longer than finding and implementing a helpful solution. Sad really.

View on HN

Don't forget about the comments that read, basically, "why haven't you googled this, peon?" usually found in the first hit, often the first several hits, in Google.

What's better than SO?

SO is, if it ever gets around to listening to the recent outcry, and stops doubling down on the narrative they have going, which is something like, "Actually, the problem is you are a n00b, and we haven't communicated our godly ethos in a n00b-friendly way. So we'll solve the problem by explaining ourselves. And have we mentioned that only n00bs have this problem with us?"

I find personal blogs covering the topic I'm looking for are typically much better.

I've had more luck with IRC in recent years. It's less crowded so it's more like the early years of SO. There's a billion channels so you can be as broad or specific as you want.

I'm in one channel where it'd be fine to say "I think I want a UI control that's sort of like ..., except more ... -- any suggestions?", and I'm in another channel where anything that isn't about compiler internals is strictly off-topic.

They're both useful channels, and have knowledgeable and helpful people, but both positions are much more extreme than are allowed on SO.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com