I just want to second what Galen and Shaun have said: 

I've only encountered StackExchange because I was Googling for answers to some issues (technical and non-technical) that I was having. I'm on a myriad of lists, but I feel an obligation to do "due diligence" before I bug y'all with my questions and searching every single one of the lists' archives that I'm on is tedious unless I know ahead of time that the answer to my question is contained in a given list.

The "out of sight out of mind" thing is very true too. This is why forum boards don't work for me unless I'm out seeking answers.

On a related note, hasn't everyone read this: "India does not exist" - http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ital/article/view/4308 about the very issue that some have raised here about SE.


Christina Salazar
Systems Librarian
John Spoor Broome Library
California State University, Channel Islands
805/437-3198

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Shaun Ellis
Sent: Monday, July 08, 2013 6:54 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] StackExchange reboot?

I like the idea of vote to promote as well as having a searchable archive of answers on the web.  For me it comes down to it being "out of sight, out of mind".  It has to come to my "inbox" for me to pay attention, which is one of the nice features of the "Code4Lib Jobs" 
app.  In that vein, StackExchange has an API, which could be used to simply forward a daily digest of questions to the mailing list.  If all we need is an increase in traffic to establish the forum, that might do it.

Questions could be tagged with "code4lib" to make them easy to aggregate.  For example, we can get all the "php" tagged questions posted in the past day:

http://api.stackexchange.com/2.1/questions?fromdate=1373155200&todate=1373241600&order=desc&sort=activity&tagged=php&site=stackoverflow

-Shaun


On 7/7/13 4:46 PM, Galen Charlton wrote:
> The main thing that the SE model adds is the ability to build up a set 
> (in one, search-engine-visible place) of consensus answers to 
> questions over time via the process of commenting and up-voting.  In 
> other words, I view it as a way to maybe achieve a community-built FAQ 
> or best practices database.  Mailing lists and IRC channels provide 
> immediacy, but there are some important library mailing lists whose 
> archives are not (intentionally) accessible to search engines, and 
> there are none that I'm aware of that try to maintain a community-curated set of "best" questions and answers.
>
> Of course, for that model to work, there has to be a sizable number 
> people participating and actually getting answers to their questions 
> (as opposed to caviling about asking their questions "properly").  
> Providing immediate and (hopefully) well-informed answers to questions 
> would have to be priority for the community of users; a goal of 
> building a knowledge base would not be achievable without a 
> recognition that it's necessarily a secondary goal.
>