What are your guys thoughts on Stackoverflow? I feel like no matter what I say on there, whether it be a question, comment, answer, it’s never good enough for someone. Everyone there just seems so rude for no reason. Do you guys have the same experiences? Just curious if it’s only me or it is like this for everyone.

Usually questions get downvoted if the answer to your question can be found with a simple search on Google.

In long-lasting communities of these type, a lot of questions have been asked before and some users are sick of answering the same questions again and again. The reasonable choice would be to stop doing it, instead of being angry.

Criticizing something is always easier than doing it, so obviously you will get more people who post "nah, wrong" to your comment than people posting better comments.

It's not just you. The community is like it is and it will probably not change anytime soon. Having a community stay healthy is not an easy tasks, people do what they see as acceptable, so re-educating an already existing community is even harder.

For that reason i think all "thanks for ++ing me" rants should be deleted to discourage other from spamming.

@JulienZ thanks! I’ll check it out for sure.

@CoffeeAndHate I agree and completely understand. Typically my questions are debugging specific code after I’ve exhausted tons of google searches. But I do see simple questions on there that in my opinion should be common knowledge, but then again I have to think about what skill level that person may be at and where we all started at some point... the person asking that simple question could be brand new to programming and expecting to get helpful advice and instead their post gets plastered with rude comments and degrading opinions on their code or example they provided.

@CWins I agree with the “thanks for the ++” should be hidden, or at least only visible to the original poster and the person who is replying. I think it would help keep the thread cleaner, but then again it does take the personality out of it. Hard to find that middle ground

@CoffeeAndHate ... or by a read of the manual.

@AndSoWeCode rtfm made me put off trying learn to use Linux for years. (Late 90s when Google was not what it is now)

@Silvus well times change.
When I had to learn programming, I had to read manuals. There was no other way. I remember the excitement of finding programming "cookbooks", and the doors they opened.

But now it's all on the internet.

So if you want to connect to a DB in a very specific non-standard way (say on a different port, or other specifics), you just look up the manual of that functionality, and everything's there.

And when someone on Stackoverflow asks that question, and you know that this question is answered by the manual for that function. It's just a page that fits on a screen, and it's all there. Yet that person goes to Stackoverflow and asks that question.

It's irritating that such lazy people even try to make it in the industry. Writing "Read the manual" as a response is not even remotely rude in this sense, and is already a huge favor to the person.

codecademy is the best. People instantly reply to your queries and they help you in solving your doubts very nicely.

@CoffeeAndHate i have seen many good and valid questions getting downvoted and closed because of bs reasons. They will downvote you (for example) if they do not know how to answer you and that is a fact. S.O is one of the most toxic communities in the planet.

@AleCx04 I completely agree! I never thought of it that way... makes sense though. I’ll always see new questions that can be answered (although probably not to the best ability) but there are already comments about how to ask a question correctly, or provide more info but it’s always so rude. It should be a place of encouragement, not arguing and disrespectful. Kind of a shame

@SurabhiM14 I’ll have to try that out

@kylesamps Yes, please do!

I'm curious why people care that much about votes. Just ask the question and wait for answers. If you get a lot of downvotes and no answer maybe it's something wrong with your question.