[yt-dev] Asking questions on StackOverflow

Nathan Goldbaum nathan12343 at gmail.com
Mon Nov 18 11:48:10 PST 2013


It looks like we need someone with high (> 1500 reputation) to create the
new [yt] tag on StackOverflow.

I'll try asking and then immediately answer a few yt questions next weekend
and just tag it with [python], [visualization], and [scientific-computing].

-Nathan


On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 10:46 AM, Britton Smith <brittonsmith at gmail.com>wrote:

> This all sounds fine to me.  I'm cool with giving SO a try.  It would
> definitely be nice to have stock answers to common questions in a more
> easily searchable place.
>
> If this starts happening, someone please report back here and let others
> know what we have to do to get involved.
>
> Britton
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 18, 2013 at 3:49 AM, Sam Skillman <samskillman at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Okay so I think I've switched my opinion on using scicomp here, primarily
>> based on the discussion here:
>> http://meta.scicomp.stackexchange.com/questions/338/can-scicomp-stackexchange-be-used-for-project-specific-questions/339#339
>>
>> The main point is -- if the questions are general in nature, i.e. "what
>> would be a good way to visualize/analyze this data in this way" would be
>> great, but questions of "i'm having a problem using feature X in frontend
>> Y" would not be appropriate. Personally, I can imagine many more very
>> yt-specific questions being asked as opposed to big picture, but maybe i'm
>> wrong.  I'd say we just start using stack overflow and see how it shakes
>> out.
>>
>> If we're game, I'd say we ask a few planted questions and answer them
>> ourselves, and if a question comes up on a mailing list that is answered on
>> SO, then point to it.
>>
>> Sam
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 12:27 PM, Matthew Turk <matthewturk at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Alright, so I guess we're in sort-of agreement?  What's next?  Do we
>>> want to just skip the main site, try for SciComp, encourage people
>>> (and even ask/answer questions ourselves) and start following the tag?
>>>
>>> On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 12:17 PM, Sam Skillman <samskillman at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > I'd be happy to reach out to the sci comp folks. They field questions
>>> for a
>>> > few other codes so it may be a good fit.
>>> >
>>> > I'm a +1 on trying it out. It also has the added benefit of a rewards
>>> > structure.
>>> >
>>> > Sam
>>> >
>>> > On Nov 17, 2013 11:11 AM, "Nathan Goldbaum" <nathan12343 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> >>
>>> >> Didn't realize one needs very high reputation to create a new tag - I
>>> >> guess that makes sense though.
>>> >>
>>> >> While fragmentation is bad, I'd argue that StackOverflow's high google
>>> >> ranking negates that somewhat.
>>> >>
>>> >> Are there any SO users with high reputations who might be interested
>>> in
>>> >> creating the tag?
>>> >>
>>> >> Barring that, the scicomp beta exchange is also probably a good fit.
>>> >>
>>> >> On Sunday, November 17, 2013, Matthew Turk wrote:
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Hi Nathan,
>>> >>>
>>> >>> On Sun, Nov 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM, Nathan Goldbaum <
>>> nathan12343 at gmail.com>
>>> >>> wrote:
>>> >>> > Hi all,
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> > I recently subscribed to the [yt] tag on StackExchange.  Now,
>>> whenever
>>> >>> > a
>>> >>> > question is asked using this tag on any StackExchange site, I will
>>> get
>>> >>> > an
>>> >>> > e-mail about it, just like if a question is asked on the users or
>>> dev
>>> >>> > list.
>>> >>> > Currently (as far as I can tell) zero questions have been asked
>>> using
>>> >>> > this
>>> >>> > tag...
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> > If there are a few others who are interested in subscribing to the
>>> tag,
>>> >>> > I
>>> >>> > think it might be worthwhile to add StackOverflow to the website
>>> and
>>> >>> > docs
>>> >>> > where we describe how to get help and also announce on the user’s
>>> list
>>> >>> > that
>>> >>> > StackOverflow is an alternate place to ask questions.
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> > While this might split the community somewhat - not everyone will
>>> be
>>> >>> > subscribed to StackOverflow and thus might miss useful info - I
>>> think
>>> >>> > moving
>>> >>> > some helpful suggestions to StackOverflow will massively improve
>>> >>> > googleability of common yt issues, allowing us to avoid answering
>>> the
>>> >>> > same
>>> >>> > questions over and over again.
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> > It might also be worthwhile to ask and answer some common yt
>>> questions.
>>> >>> > Off
>>> >>> > the top of my head, I think we could at least answer how to load
>>> >>> > various
>>> >>> > types of datasets into yt.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> In principle, I'm okay with this.  But I have a few concerns --
>>> >>>
>>> >>> 1) I don't think the tag "yt" can be created unless someone with high
>>> >>> reputation does so.  (
>>> >>> http://stackoverflow.com/help/privileges/create-tags )
>>> >>> 2) We have well-defined usage metrics that we can quantify based on
>>> >>> mailing list activity, so this may fragment that.
>>> >>> 3) Many of the existing contributors and users don't want another
>>> inbox.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> *However*.  SO is really quite good for evolving questions and for an
>>> >>> updateable reference.  I do really like that aspect.  But I think we
>>> >>> may find ourselves getting a bit fragmented -- in fact, what I see as
>>> >>> being a possible outcome is that if yt does end up growing into an
>>> >>> interdisciplinary space, we'd see people from non-Astro disciplines
>>> >>> using it, but retaining our original core audience here.  All your
>>> >>> points really are good ones.
>>> >>>
>>> >>> I don't know.  Could be awesome.  And, I'd like to see us embrace
>>> more
>>> >>> modern and useful methods of communication and outreach.  So ... I
>>> >>> guess the experiment could be a good one!
>>> >>>
>>> >>> -Matt
>>> >>>
>>> >>> >
>>> >>> > -Nathan
>>> >>> >
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