I find "what is the state of the art on x" type questions perplexing. Firstly there's the problem that it's pretty much guaranteed to be opinion-based and invites any number of answers which may all be equally correct (so should usually close for that reason), but there's additional issues - what's good in a specific situation is rarely what has been recently published or even what most people are using. It's good to know about recent developments, but benefits are typically situational.

It makes such questions seem extremely shallow.

They're not about understanding anything, they're about buzz for nothing better than the sake of buzz.

I refuse to answer any such question on principle; I think they're utterly counterproductive to good practice.

(Indeed, more broadly, seeking what's 'state of the art' seems like a commitment to mediocrity. It's not about understanding the issues and finding good solutions for the specific circumstances -- whatever their source -- but something that seeks only currency for what seems to be no better reason than someone else says it's good.)

[If you really want to be 'çutting edge', don't do the best thing someone else did two years ago, you make the new best thing now. In attempting to do so, you end up learning enough that you might actually understand the tools well enough to understand when to use which one.]

I posted a poll on a Russian social network site, to ask my friends what they think about the 1969 moon landing. Thus far 30 people have voted, and 60% think US astronauts have never landed on the Moon. Exactly like the results of a poll conducted across Russia last, year, the NO figure was 57%.

I never expected that the results will so closely match the results of a huge official poll.

After all, my friends must be non-representative of the country's population.

@CowperKettle Perhaps those polls use Russian social networks too?

@mkt No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.

@mkt I was shocked to discover that friends whom I considered to be great people with sound minds believe this conspiracy theory.