Re:The Fall of Stack Overflow
by umanwizard on Tuesday July 25, 2023 @07:48AM
(#36860926)
“You didn’t actually want to do X, here’s how to do Y instead” may indeed be helpful for the beginner who initially asked the question, but it’s very unhelpful for me who finds the page years later actually wanting to do X.
Re:The Fall of Stack Overflow
by waterproof on Tuesday July 25, 2023 @08:52AM
(#36861492)
I disagree- on SO you’ll usually get some literal answers as well as the more high-level, question-the-premise ones. Why not both?
Re:The Fall of Stack Overflow
by umanwizard on Tuesday July 25, 2023 @09:35AM
(#36861987)
Because in many cases people don't bother giving the real answer once a comment already has an answer, especially a highly upvoted one.
I'm fine with indirect, "question-the-premise" comments, but they should be posted as comments, not answers, because they are in fact not answers.
> “You didn’t actually want to do X, here’s how to do Y instead” may indeed be helpful for the beginner who initially asked the question
Stack Overflow isn't a site for beginners, it's for "professionals". At least, that's what all the Stack Overflow defenders tell me every time I criticize the snarkiness, rudeness and patronizing manner of many answers/comments you receive on Stack Overflow.
As mentioned elsewhere, this is an old question and both the kind of question and answer wouldn't be allowed these days.
However, I also fundamentally disagree that questioning the assumptions in a question is unhelpful. You want to solve a problem, find an approach and want help because you have problems with the approach? What if the approach you took _is_ wrong? Its very helpful especially for advanced beginners or at the intermediate level, to be given a different way of solving the problem even if that is not what you asked.
It depends on context if this is just pedantry or genuinely helpful. The best answers I found start with answering the question that was stated, but then proceed in showing how the problem behind the question can also or better be solved.