I think all of this is really useful. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a
lot of great ideas and results from StackOverflow.

However, I've been burned quite a bit as well - deprecated code, inaccurate
results, or just the wrong answer gets accepted. There seems to be such a
push to 'accept as answer' that no one gives a second thought to
alternative solutions. Because one size doesn't fit all - I think we all
know that.

I guess I'm trying to advocate not to rely on this type of resource
completely when resolving your coding challenges.  While it can certainly
be a tremendous learning tool, keep an objective mind for what tool best
fits your institution's purpose.

.m





On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 10:00 AM, Craig Boman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I agree with Joshua Welker. Being able to choose between either a listserv
> or a Q&A site have benefits for end users.
>
> Thanks,
> Craig
>
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 11:47 AM, Owen Stephens <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Thanks for that Mark. That's running on 'question2answer' which looks to
> > have a reasonable amount of development going on around it
> > https://github.com/q2a/question2answer/graphs/contributors (given
> Becky's
> > comments about OSQA which still hold true)
> >
> > Owen
> >
> > Owen Stephens
> > Owen Stephens Consulting
> > Web: http://www.ostephens.com
> > Email: [log in to unmask]
> > Telephone: 0121 288 6936
> >
> > > On 4 Nov 2014, at 16:05, Mark A. Matienzo <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 11:00 AM, Owen Stephens <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > >> Another option would be a 'code4lib Q&A' site. Becky Yoose set up one
> > for
> > >> Coding/Cataloguing and so can comment on how much effort its been. In
> > terms
> > >> of asking/answering questions the use is clearly low but I think the
> > >> content that is there is (generally) good quality and useful.
> > >>
> > >> I guess the hard part of any project like this is going to be building
> > the
> > >> community around it. The first things that occur to me is how you
> > encourage
> > >> people to ask the question on this new site, rather than via existing
> > >> methods and how do you build enough community activity around
> > housekeeping
> > >> such as noting duplicate questions and merging/closing. The latter
> > might be
> > >> a nice problem to have, but the former is where both the Library / LIS
> > SE
> > >> and the Digital Preservation SE fell down, and libcatcode suffers the
> > same
> > >> problem - just not enough activity to be a go-to destination.
> > >
> > >
> > > I would add that the Digital Preservation SE has been reinstantiated as
> > > Digital Preservation Q&A <http://qanda.digipres.org/>, which is
> > organized
> > > and supported by the Open Planets Foundation and the National Digital
> > > Stewardship Alliance.
> > >
> > > Mark A. Matienzo <[log in to unmask]>
> > > Director of Technology, Digital Public Library of America
> >
>