The Whiteboard

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11:22 AM

@bertieb The help pages are a good place to start, but the best way to know may well be to either ask in chat whether it's on topic, or just post the question. If it's not the best stack for your question, then it may get flagged for moderators to migrate it to a different stack.

bertieb

@JoelHarmon Aye, when I'm reasonably confident I don't ask-to-ask :) But when it's the first question on a stack and I'm not sure... I guess I'd rather make a good first impression rather than posting something that gets closed!

I guess there's a little bit of a dichotomy or disconnect in the moderation- putting things on hold, migration or downvotes are billed as neutral, quality improvement tools for the poster; as in "let's pop this on hold while we make your post better"

Joel Harmon

If someone asks a well written, reasonably thought out question that happens to be better on another stack, I'd consider that a good first impression.

@bertieb I'm not sure what you mean about a dichotomy in that.

bertieb

But on the other hand, having questions DV'd and closed contributes to Q ban (not a problem for a one off or 99% of users)

Joel Harmon

Hmm, I think I see your point there.

bertieb

I guess as I see it the dichotomy is between the stated purpose and the actual effects of moderation :)

More of a philosophical musing in any case

I guess a Meta Q also has the benefit of creating a future resource if someone else comes with a similar type of question, wondering if that's on-topic

(I also don't have any complaints about how my questions or answers have been handled on any stack, but I can see the frustration on both sides- for new users that don't quite get the intricacies of a stack; and for those who are trying to maintain high quality standards!)

3 hours later…

Feeds

2:43 PM

Why Devs (Should) Like Estimates

Yaakov Ellis on October 23, 2019

As Principal Web Developer at Stack Overflow and a long time Tech Lead, I learnt that accurate estimates were essential in order for a company to be healthy and productive. Over the years I have spent a good deal of time developing my theories for why estimates and breakdowns are so important, and crafting my own methodology for how best to go about doing them.

Below, I attempt to distill the lessons I’ve learned so that others can experiment with and improve upon my techniques. Now, I should be clear, the advice below is what works for me. I’m sure there are different approaches that might work better for others. Feel free to share your favorite approach in the comments. …

3 hours later…