I understand your concern, Massimo. However, I think the solution is not to ignore SO, but to try to get more knowledgeable web2py users answering questions there. You will still have general knowledge folks answering web2py questions, but the voting system should leave their answers at the bottom of the page, while the focused answers get voted up.
The biggest problem I currently see with a web2py-centric Stack Exchange site is I don't think it has even a tiny chance of getting through the ridiculous "Area-51" approval process. I remember seeing some posts about somebody working on a web2py-based SO clone. That might be a better option. The other issue I have with a separate site just for web2py, whether it is Google Groups or web2py.stackexchange, is that some problems may not necessarily be web2py specific. Especially for people new to programming and/or python and/or web frameworks it may not be clear what their problem really relates to. You should know that as I'm writing this I'm having quite a lively debate in my own head. So I apologize if this post is disjointed or contradictory. I guess I can't convince myself strongly one way or another of what the best solution is. I'd hate to lose the community and focused knowledge of the Google Group, but I think the very exclusiveness of the group may be stunting the growth of web2py. On Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 1:48 PM, spiffytech <spiffyt...@gmail.com> wrote: > StackExchange is designed such that people who don't know what they're > talking about get voted down, while those who have quality answers get > voted up to the top. When I'm reading StackOverflow, the reading the > highest-voted questions first makes the poor quality of the lower- > voted questions very apparent to me, and I distrust them. > > Also, a web2py-centric StackExchange should only attract people who > know about web2py. This is unlike StackOverflow, which caters to a > general audience and thus gets many people with only general knowledge > and general answers. > > The checks, balances, and filters seem sufficient to me. Do you > disagree? > > > On Sep 17, 12:30 pm, mdipierro <mdipie...@cs.depaul.edu> wrote: >> I oppose and here is why. A few people have asked web2py related >> questions on stack overflow. Almost all of them have at least one >> generic answer by somebody who knows nothing about web2py. On Stack >> overflow there is no sense of community (other than the stack overflow >> community) and people try to answer even when they know nothing about >> the topic. >> >> Massimo >> >> On Sep 17, 10:58 am, mwolfe02 <michael.joseph.wo...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> > My vote: >> > - ask questions on StackOverflow using the existing web2py tag >> > - follow the questions using this RSS feed: >> > http://stackoverflow.com/feeds/tag/web2py >> >> > I like StackOverflow a lot and I think it is a much better interface >> > than Google Groups. I asked my first few questions about web2py on SO >> > and was a bit reluctant to have to join Google Groups just to get >> > answers to my web2py questions. That said, the user community here is >> > second to none. I've been amazed how quickly my questions have not >> > only been answered, but in many cases answered by _core developers_! >> >> > The problem, as I see it, is that like it or not, StackOverflow is >> > quickly becoming a tool not only for getting technical questions >> > answered, but also to gauge the popularity of various programming >> > languages, web frameworks, etc. When I was trying to decide what web >> > framework to use for my most recent project I looked at the most >> > popular questions for Django, ASP.NET, etc. as well as the number of >> > questions, by tag name, for each of those frameworks. >> >> > The relatively low number of questions (compared to Django, for >> > example) and the apparent lack of knowledgeable users (web2py >> > questions are answered almost exclusively by Massimo) was nearly >> > enough to lead me away from web2py. It was not until I finally >> > relented to Massimo referring me to this Google Group that I was truly >> > pleased with my decision to use web2py. >> >> > I think Google Groups remains the proper place to discuss the >> > direction of the web2py project. However, I think we should start >> > making an effort to ask and answer web2py technical questions on SO. >> >> > On Sep 16, 10:40 am, cjrh <caleb.hatti...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> > > On Sep 16, 1:31 pm, Narendran <gunanar...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> > > > What does the community >> > > > think of having a stackexchange page for web2py? >> >> > > Good idea. The StackOverflow model is the future of technical Q&A >> > > forums. I joined and added some good and bad questions. We need >> > > 59 more users to join in support. >> >>
