January 23, 2014 at 5:44 am
So I'm googling for tools to do a schema compare and Google provides me all sorts of wonderful links. One of the first is a topic in the StackOverflow forums that asks essentially the same question "Can someone point me to the best tool to do table schema and data comparisons?". After a minimum of replies, one of the moderators closes the thread with this:
closed as not constructive by Kev Feb 25 '13 at 21:01
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Mind you, there was no debate on this thread, no arguments about merits of this or that. Just a moderator making a unilaterial decision that because the OP's question didn't fit his definition of a proper question that the OP's post was irrelevent. From a customer service perspective, that kind of attitude is ridiculous. And yet, SO.com probably isn't in this for the money and the moderators are probably volunteers, so customer service isn't exactly their primary business model.
And yet... It's things like this that make me grateful for SSC and the willingness of our community to accept that new people come into the industry all the time and invariably end up asking the same questions. This place is practically warm and fuzzy when it comes to helping each other out.
January 23, 2014 at 5:49 am
Everything you mentioned is exactly why i try to donate some time here and help people.
I've sometimes put in a lot of time creating a solution on a topic that interests me; i kinda get excited when someone posts a different solution to the same question, as it expands my own boundaries as well.
oh, and we are not afraid to pat ourselves on the back, of course, because we are so modest.
Lowell
January 23, 2014 at 6:11 am
It's a great way to put newbies off.
January 23, 2014 at 6:27 am
My general opinion on the SO moderators is that they are a bunch of twats.
It's probably just a few rotten apples with a big ego, but they ruin it for the rest.
I will never ever participate on the SO sites, I only go there to look for answers (which by the way are usually of a high quality).
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
January 23, 2014 at 7:30 am
But, SO has a very firm idea in mind, questions and answers, period. Because of this focus, they get a lot of attention, additional links from blogs, etc., which leads to lots and lots of hits when you search the web. And that's exactly what they want. They, the guys running it, absolutely count on the admins over there being twats to weed out the kind of posts lead to blather rather than precise question/answer style posts that they can get hits for. I may or may not agree with the approach, you can't argue it's not successful though. One can argue that it scares people off, and I think it does. You can also argue that it doesn't provide the help that people really need, and I'd agree with you. But, that's not what they're trying to do.
Plus, we can be pretty off-putting over here if you're a newbie. Someone posts an ill-formed or ill-informed question and three people jump on it to either ask 20 clarifying questions or point them to posts on how to ask questions. That freaks people out too.
It's hard though. How do you both help people out AND get enough information out of them so that you are providing meaningful help rather than just responding to the question asked (which doesn't necessarily really relate to the problem they're experiencing).
I prefer our model, but I see the need for the other too. I just think the people at SO could be kinder about the approach.
----------------------------------------------------The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood... Theodore RooseveltThe Scary DBAAuthor of: SQL Server 2017 Query Performance Tuning, 5th Edition and SQL Server Execution Plans, 3rd EditionProduct Evangelist for Red Gate Software
January 23, 2014 at 7:35 am
Grant Fritchey (1/23/2014)
I prefer our model, but I see the need for the other too. I just think the people at SO could be kinder about the approach.
I get the point and the site really has some quality answers. Many times I stumble upon SO looking for answers on SQL Server, C#, ...
The problem is that a lot of those moderators are childish *ssholes. Who vote down or close topics at their will.
"You don't agree with us? Let's vote down all your answers you have ever given" > actually happend.
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
January 23, 2014 at 7:54 am
Like others I've found some good answers on SO. But I prefer the forum here on SSC. A question can't always be answered in one single way. Everybody knows the answer "it depends"... Different people offer different approaches and the discussions and debates about the pro's and cons of these different answers can lead to more insight and knowledge for all readers.
I'm also very glad all attributers on this forum are willing to help and (sometimes need to) take their time to get the to real question. Especially when I was a newbe I've learned a lot because the attributers were very patient with me. That's why I try to return the favor to the current newbe's on this forum. On other forums you'll be bashed around if you don't know the basics.
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