The Bikeshed

5:21 AM

-1

Q: How to get my app translated to a language of an country where it is not popular (yet!)?

My open source app is used by millions of people and translated to 40 languages, but somehow almost nobody in India uses it (usage is very low compared to the number of Android users in India). It is a big problem because I launched the app specifically to help students in countries like India. ...

what exactly is wrong with that question? it seems okay to me

overactor

6:24 AM

@Zizouz212 I wonder if this might result in more openness from SE

Meta Data

6:43 AM

0

Q: Question in the context of my project: Is it spam to put a link?

I have this question about a particular problem that arose in the context of my open source project. It is a presumably rare issue, that most people would not believe can exist. At least, I don't know any other other project that has mentioned the same problem. QUESTION: Should I refrain from i...

discussion spam

Gilles

7:53 AM

I don't understand the inconsistency between “locating projects is on-topic if they happen to be open-source” and “understanding project documentation is off-topic even if they happen to be open-source”

overactor

4

A: Are questions about specific software on-topic?

If questions are related to the documentation of a project, it doesn't matter whether the project in question is open source; the focus of the question is on programming. They should be off-topic.

For me the keyword there is programming

Although, come to think of it, these questions might as well go onto softwarerecs.SE ...

Gilles

@overactor I presume you're typing a longer message? Because so far you're not conveying any meaning

@overactor No, locating a project is definitely off-topic on SR

SR is not a web search service

and I don't understand why OS should be one

OD is one, yes, but that was the point

overactor

@Gilles Every SE site is essentially a web search service

Gilles

@overactor no

overactor

They only vary in how complex these web searches are

And how many web searches you have to put together to get your result

@Gilles What I was going to say is that programming topic are already very well served on the SE network

Gilles

8:04 AM

@overactor so locating programming projects should be off-topic but locating non-programming projects should be on-topic???

overactor

@Gilles When did I imply that?

Gilles

@overactor ”programming topic are already very well served on the SE network”

overactor

@Gilles That was in relation to questions about understanding documentation of open source projects

I'm just asking myself, if it makes sense to include these things into the scope.

With understanding documentation, I see little benefit.

Since it's already very well served by SE.

I also see potential harm, because it might attract a bunch of questions that are only very loosely related to open source that might drown out more valuable questions.

Looking for projects is not served and could definitely help members of this site. It does have the same potential problems though.

But I do think the potential harm is a lot smaller, since there are only so many arcane projects that could be asked about.

Issues with understanding documentation however, that's a near infinite source of questions.

@Gilles what potential harm do you see in allowing looking for project-type questions?

Martijn

9:20 AM

"But I do think the potential harm is a lot smaller, since there are only so many arcane projects that could be asked about." <- I suspect this to be false

overactor

@Martijn Well, the potential amount of questions is at least smaller than those about understanding documentation of any open source project.

But maybe still big enough to be a significant problem?

Martijn

I see the point that they are both mildly off-topic, but that one is already well served on SE and the other is not

overactor

@Martijn add to that that we define what is on- and off-topic and you're left thinking: "Why not?"

overactor

10:15 AM

0

Q: As a coder, is making a living by working on open source or free software projects only a viable and secure option?

I am currently an apprentice software developer at a small company where we develop a piece of proprietary software. I have no major gripes with this (especially not at this point yet), but would prefer to work on open source or free (as in speech) software only. I'm not currently willing to qui...

programming career

Does that seem off-topic to anyone? Does it maybe warrant a meta discussion?

I'm trying to push the boundaries of our scope a bit...

Gilles

10:57 AM

@overactor primarily that they're off-topic

“I'm looking for a project” isn't what this site is about, it's about open source/knowledge

the fact that the project is open source doesn't make it on-topic, any more than understanding the documentation of a project becomes on-topic when the project is open-source

overactor

@Gilles They're off-topic because they're off-topic

Gilles

@overactor well, yes, our initial scope doesn't include them

ratchet freak

as a shopping question I'd say, which is off-topic nearly everywhere

Gilles

There's also the issue that these questions are unlikely to have interesting answers, mostly it's either “I found it with Google” or “nobody knows, the author has disappeared”

overactor

@Gilles I very much agree with that

I don't necessarily think they are on-topic by the way, but refining the scope is what the private beta is for, no?

Gilles

11:01 AM

@overactor yes, sure, the discussion is warranted

what I don't understand is why two almost identical topics have triggered such different reactions, one has pretty much a consensus against and one for

@overactor definitely on-topic, but broad and likely to be opinion-based

the answer is “a few can do it, most can't, do you have what it takes?”

is it possible to explain what it takes? I don't know

overactor

@Gilles I'm more looking for something along the lines of: how many less jobs are there and how much more difficult are tehy to get?

Thanks for the input, I'll try to clarify

Martijn

11:43 AM

@Gilles +50 brownie points for your answer on opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/779/…

Ranveer

Hello peeps, please help me understand whether this question (that I posted) is on or off topic: opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/811/…

Martijn

hi Ranveer. Personally, I think the answer is on-topic, but too broad to answer well

the answer is an open-ended list of projects, that can't really be ever complete

at least, that's my $0.02

Ranveer

@Martijn not really. I don't think the list of such programs is too long.

overactor

@Martijn I could see it being okay, list questions are not necessarily bad

Ranveer

I have a doubt about the scope of this site

is it only for the maintainers of Open Source projects? Or can contributors also ask questions?

overactor

11:50 AM

@Ranveer You're definitely inside the scope, the possible problem is the scale of the question

@Ranveer Both

But questions have to be more or less objectively and concisely answerable

Ranveer

@overactor I'm sure the len(list) would be <10

overactor

It's great that you're asking questions like these, it helps us define the exact scope.

Ranveer

Okay, let me give you an example

I wanted to start off with NodeJS. I Googled the best way to get started and the 3rd-4th link was an SO link asking this question. I obviously trust SO a lot, so I referred to the answers, and it really helped

Basically, SO acted as a one-stop for all my programming problems

overactor

@Ranveer This makes sense, SO is a site about programming

Ranveer

So, if I have a beginner question about Open Source in general, which centralized trusted platform do I turn to?

overactor

11:54 AM

I would personally deem your question as on-topic

be it maybe as a Community Wiki

@Ranveer The idea is that this could be that place

Ranveer

@overactor that was the intention :)

I guess this is too early to react, since people are supposed to be overly skeptic in a private beta

overactor

@Ranveer Yeah, we have to try to set high standards

To paraphrase Gilles: there is a place on SE for beginner questions, but we don't want then to dominate the private beta

2

Ranveer

@overactor Ah! That makes sense

overactor

I wonder if it might not be better if we get closed in private beta, so we can refocus, regroup and reboot with a running start this time...

Martijn

nah

scope will always change

we'll have to adapt

you can't adapt in a vacuum

overactor

12:02 PM

I've never been in a private beta before, so I don't know how well or badly we are doing.

Ranveer

I was in software recommendations' private beta a while ago, but that site was built for a wide scope by default, so this is a new experience for me too.

overactor

@Ranveer software recs also seem to have a very. very clear scope

not much to figure out there

Ranveer

@overactor exactly

@overactor they even have game suggestions :D

overactor

@Ranveer That is broad

Ranveer

@overactor what would you call this: softwarerecs.stackexchange.com/questions/20855/…

It even has the word good in it

overactor

12:10 PM

@Ranveer Honestly, that seems like a terrible question for the SE format.

Ranveer

@overactor they didn't allow such questions initially, so I guess @Martijn is right

Martijn

Every SE site has different criteria for what questions should look like. We can't really say why some other SE site does or doesn't close questions, and relate it to our own

overactor

@Martijn exactly

but we can silently judge them from afar

Martijn

and look at them with a look of disapproval, and slowly shake our sage heads

overactor

@Martijn disappointment, more like

Stack Exchange

1:14 PM

The Singularity happened, but not to us.

overactor

2:12 PM

Where is everyone today?

Zizouz212

3:23 PM

Hi :)

overactor

3:51 PM

I just had contact with Tim post by mail, the bottom line is: don't worry too much about neutrality, they are on it, focus in the beta itself and keep being as motivated as you are. Also, expect an official update on how things are going so far somewhere along this weekend.

Zizouz212

Alright

Sounds good :)

Martijn

about that - uninformed question:

who is Tim Post?

Zizouz212

One of the community managers

Trevor Clarke

6:59 PM

ZZ

ziz

Zizouz212

yo

Trevor Clarke

@Zizouz212 just remember if you dont have a situation you can always make one with "suppose"

Zizouz212

I understand, but I want it to be relevant, clear and specific

All of the questions that I've asked actually applied to me

Trevor Clarke

Why dont you put a bounty on this:

12

Q: Are you legally allowed to use abandoned projects?

Background: While looking for open source projects I stumbled across a very interesting one. After further digging I found that it was also abandoned. PERFECT!! I can take over I thought, this led me to ask the question: My question: If a project is abandoned and I take over, does the owner of...

ownership

Zizouz212

← 8 messages moved from Chatbot Dev

Why would I place a bounty?

@TrevorClarke I'm here...

Trevor Clarke

7:04 PM

becuase it is a good questions

*question

Zizouz212

Why don't you place a bounty on it then?

I need to start gaining some rep, not losing it...

Trevor Clarke

becuase i dont want to sink below @Martijn

you already are below him so it doesnt matter

Zizouz212

Excuse me?

Martijn

In the grand scheme of things Trevor is correct

Rep doesn't matter

Zizouz212

But I don't see why I should place a bounty on it...

Trevor Clarke

7:06 PM

@Zizouz212 i mean martin has more rep than you ... thats all i ment

Zizouz212

That's true, but...

How did we get into a talk about rep?

Trevor Clarke

idk

you said you needed to gain rep

Zizouz212

Oh yes, I did, I haven't been getting much, a result of not answering or asking...

Martijn

Fortunately rep is irrelevant

user153821

7:56 PM

Good evening.

ArtOfCode

@KarmaBot What's the difference between a duck?

user153821

@ArtOfCode One of its legs is both the same.

Trevor Clarke

9:02 PM

ziz

@Zizouz212 what do you mean by "charged" like charged as in pay money for support or charged as in legally charged

Zizouz212

← 2 messages moved from Chatbot Dev

ArtOfCode

@Zizouz212 why here?

Zizouz212

Um, like pay money for a service

Trevor Clarke

well you made it sound liek legally

Zizouz212

@ArtOfCode What do you mean?

Trevor Clarke

9:04 PM

let me rewrite

ArtOfCode

@Zizouz212 what charging is this discussion about?

Zizouz212

A question...

on main

ArtOfCode

Oooh OK

Makes sense

Which one?

Zizouz212

Let's see...

Trevor Clarke

@Zizouz212 Ok i changed my answer you might want to clarify the question

Zizouz212

9:09 PM

I don't know, I'd rather wait for something else...

Trevor Clarke

are you talking to me

Zizouz212

Yup

ArtOfCode

← 5 messages moved from Chatbot Dev

Trevor Clarke

I said the same the as art of code

ArtOfCode

Pretty much, yeah...

I started writing my answer before I realised you edited

Trevor Clarke

9:13 PM

yet mine got downvoted by him

Zizouz212

:)

ArtOfCode

You've got an upvote on it, I assume that's from Ziz - right, Ziz? Someone else must have downvoted since

Trevor Clarke

he did

Zizouz212

The down vote was mine, not sure about the upvote

But I've taken off the downvote

Trevor Clarke

well can u un downvote i changed it

ok

ArtOfCode

9:14 PM

Well there's no downvote now

Zizouz212

:D

Trevor Clarke

thx

pls people post questions

ArtOfCode

← 1 message moved from Chatbot Dev

Meta Data

11:16 PM

0

Q: The student involvement question looks like a list question to me, why shouldn't it be closed?

In what ways can students get involved in Open Source? What are some other similar programs for students to get started? This looks like a classic list question, which are considered too broad in nearly every site on the network. Why was this reopened, and why shouldn't it be closed again?

discussion specific-question too-broad list-questions

Transcript for