First, I want to tell you I know exactly what you mean.
When I learnt programming, SO was not around. I mostly learnt by reading source codes, their authors' blog posts, and asking them questions. I started to use SO mostly by answering questions, since the languages and tools I used were already well known for me, and I had my previous ways to learn new things.
And then, I started learning golang. At some point, I said to myself : "why not start asking questions instead of learning everything by myself the hard way, like I usually do?". I asked a question on SO and was immediately downvoted. This came to a surprise to me, because my question was concrete, detailed and was wondering about something that wasn't explained in any publication. Then I started looking at other questions, and it was alarming : most were downvoted. Actually, I computed an average of questions scores and realized it was negative. That's when I stopped contributing to SO : blaming people for asking questions is not OK. If the question is really bad, suffice not to answer it.
I've been looking for alternatives since then - that is, general programming discussion platform with specialized areas - mainly to contribute, because explaining to juniors how things work is a perfect way to learn to document things, know what they find complicated, and learn to address it before questions arise. I found none. The best I could find was to fall back on mailing lists.
There are two pieces of advice I could give you :
* don't hesitate to mail people you regard as the most experienced to ask for their advice. Worst case scenario, they won't reply
* Choose ways of communication that don't allow downvoting - like email, forums, google+, whatever - because downvoting features do encourage hive mind and condescendent attitude
Also, please keep this experience in mind next time you'll be the one to explain something to someone having less knowledge than you. And remember that downvoting == bullying.
First, I want to tell you I know exactly what you mean.
When I learnt programming, SO was not around. I mostly learnt by reading source codes, their authors' blog posts, and asking them questions. I started to use SO mostly by answering questions, since the languages and tools I used were already well known for me, and I had my previous ways to learn new things.
And then, I started learning golang. At some point, I said to myself : "why not start asking questions instead of learning everything by myself the hard way, like I usually do?". I asked a question on SO and was immediately downvoted. This came to a surprise to me, because my question was concrete, detailed and was wondering about something that wasn't explained in any publication. Then I started looking at other questions, and it was alarming : most were downvoted. Actually, I computed an average of questions scores and realized it was negative. That's when I stopped contributing to SO : blaming people for asking questions is not OK. If the question is really bad, suffice not to answer it.
I've been looking for alternatives since then - that is, general programming discussion platform with specialized areas - mainly to contribute, because explaining to juniors how things work is a perfect way to learn to document things, know what they find complicated, and learn to address it before questions arise. I found none. The best I could find was to fall back on mailing lists.
There are two pieces of advice I could give you :
* don't hesitate to mail people you regard as the most experienced to ask for their advice. Worst case scenario, they won't reply
* Choose ways of communication that don't allow downvoting - like email, forums, google+, whatever - because downvoting features do encourage hive mind and condescendent attitude
Also, please keep this experience in mind next time you'll be the one to explain something to someone having less knowledge than you. And remember that downvoting == bullying.
Hope this helps.
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