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As is discussed regularly in the heap, there seems to be a steady decline in the overall quality of questions on StackOverflow.

I am nervous that this symptom will bleed into our site, and to prevent StackOverflow folks from thinking, "oh, I see, all database-related questions belong on dba.SE," I'd like to make a two-part proposal:

  1. We be very careful about the quality of questions that we intentionally bring over to our site from SO. (I think we're already doing a good job of this, but repetition can't hurt.)

  2. When we do VtC a question to migrate to our site, at least one of us adds a comment with some kind of indication that it is being migrated because it is a good and/or complex database-related question, not just because it is database-related (which is what they might think if the question just gets moved with a simplistic "better fit" comment or no comment at all).

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Related:

Should our FAQ draw a line for "DBA" SQL questions and "SO" SQL questions? Is there one?

This question identifies the need to clarify which questions belong and which don't. As per 1. I think we are already doing a good job of this. I just think we need to make our clarification clearer to those that aren't as familiar with our site...

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  • Apparently a lot of us find this interesting...but no one has suggestions? Anyone? Bueller?
    – Chris Aldrich
    Jun 27, 2013 at 13:02
  • @ChrisAldrich well, one person thought it was a bad idea. Not sure why. shrug
    – Aaron Bertrand Staff
    Jun 27, 2013 at 13:04
  • Maybe that should be a feature too. Require a comment for a vote down on either questions or answers. ?
    – Chris Aldrich
    Jun 27, 2013 at 15:36
  • @Chris that will never happen.
    – Aaron Bertrand Staff
    Jun 27, 2013 at 15:43
  • makes sense. Was just a thought. But I can see both sides and how it would also make some things messier.
    – Chris Aldrich
    Jun 27, 2013 at 15:52

1 Answer 1

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to be a steady decline in the overall quality of questions on StackOverflow.

In line with this decline, and perhaps causing it, is a trend to treat new people more and more poorly. A good developer does not respond well to being treated poorly, so what is left is, well, the not-so good Questioners. StackOverflow is becoming an Answerer's Club.

If that is a correct thesis, then one should treat good Questioners as well as possible. For example, take a question from an SQL beginner. On the DBA site, he'll get answers optimizing for sargeability, or lock order, or even index hints. Those answers will be beyond his skill level, and he's supposed to pick the accepted answer :)

Migrate not the questions that you'd like to answer, but the questions that the OP should have preferred to ask on DBA, had he known about DBA.

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    "StackOverflow is becoming an Answerer's Club." That is a very serious problem. As the user-base for any community grows beyond a certain point (e.g. SO, reddit, the Internet), there is usually a notable decline in quality. Following this decline is a negative reaction by experienced users. We want to channel that reaction towards maintaining quality without putting off the new users that we want to stick around.
    – Nick Chammas
    Jul 3, 2013 at 6:11

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