Barriers to Entry, Database Weekly (Oct 27 2008)

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Barriers to Entry, Database Weekly (Oct 27 2008)

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Tony Davis

Posted Friday, October 24, 2008 7:00 AM

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Barriers to Entry, Database Weekly (Oct 27 2008)

Post #591164

timothyawiseman

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 2:24 AM

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In certain cases, creating barriers to entry can help preserve a community and keep it active without being overactive. There can be a value to it.

However, I do not think SQLServerCentral.com needs those in particular. Its relatively specialized nature by itself will keep the crowds small and limited to the fairly intelligent people. I have yet to see a great deal of flaming or impoliteness happening on these forums.

Post #591660

Infonote

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 3:00 AM

Grasshopper

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Digg is a general site. However sites like DZone http://www.dzone.com (Digg-like site for developers only) is good. It does not contain SPAM on the homepage, and the articles cater for a targeted user segment.

Social sites IMHO are a good complement to forums, articles. I think it will be a good idea to implement a Digg-like site specialized in SQL Server.

Visit:
http://www.kaizenlog.com
http://www.autocar-live.com
http://www.yachting-live.com

Post #591663

Grant Fritchey

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 3:34 AM

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I'd say keep the playing field level. A lot of posts doesn't translate into actual knowledge or special priveleges. I muck up at least as many times as I get stuff right. If you kept people off based on the mistakes, they wouldn't get the opportunity to learn and grow too.

That said, I do wish a few more people were able to find the Books Online and type a word into the index or the search screen, once, before they post their questions here.

I know the kind of snobbery and attack posts you're talking about because I've seen them at other sites. I have yet to see serious infractions here at SSC. I'm not sure why, but there it is.

----------------------------------------------------
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood..." Theodore Roosevelt
The Scary DBA
Author of SQL Server 2008 Query Performance Tuning Distilled

For better & quicker help read:
How to Post Performance Problems

Post #591670

Aaron Axvig

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 5:24 AM

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This is certainly an interesting idea, but is there a danger that the scoring system might unfairly mark down contributions that are hampered more by language difficulties than quality of content?

No, if something is hampered by language difficulties it has a lack of quality. The best explanation in the world is useless if I can't understand it.

Post #591680

GilaMonster

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 6:00 AM

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Grant Fritchey (10/25/2008)

I know the kind of snobbery and attack posts you're talking about because I've seen them at other sites. I have yet to see serious infractions here at SSC. I'm not sure why, but there it is.

I've seen a couple over the years. I've been the target of one or two. They are though memorable because they're the minority.

It would make life a lot easier if people would google/read BoL before posting. There are some questions that I can copy-paste replies to because they come up so often.

Gail Shaw

We walk in the dark places no others will enter
We stand on the bridge and none may pass

Post #591683

Tony Oliver

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 6:59 AM

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I am a lurker on this site as I know little about SQL databases but I am the best our small office has for support. Keeping a forum on track is very important to people like me as I learn a lot just by reading. I think restricting posting rights is a good idea; using a trusted method seems most practical. A fee is probably meaningless; if it is too low, it deters no one and if too high, no one will join. I think banning people is a reasonable action but gmail/hotmail address can be a problem as people simply create another

Tony Oliver

Post #591688

Steve Jones - Editor

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 8:56 AM

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We like to think we have a good signal/noise ratio here and most people are professional, but I definitely need to clean things up on a regular basis.

I try to help people professionally, and that sometimes means that you have to get them to do some work on their own. We definitely don't want to do the work for you. Doesn't help anyone when that happens. It's a fine line and a balance that the moderators and people that support the board have to find.

Stackoverflow is interesting and I like some things they do. I don't think adding barriers to entry is the solution for everyone, but it works in places. I definitely use the Microsoft MVP forums at times because it's a very closed group and it allows a different type of discussion that I have here. It's a much smaller group and there's some value in that. Also the NDAs allow for a very focused, private discussion of things that I can't have elsewhere.

Post #591698

Abbs

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 9:12 AM

Right there with Babe

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I, too, am a lurker - I find that most answers are freely available either by using a search engine (google), MSDN, a good book, or sufficient head-butting of the keyboard. I've seen ratings sytems on other sites, but based on number of posts is meaningless (they could all be spam), and based on feedback is difficult to enforce as if you're trying a number of different solutions, you don't take too much notice of where you found them. I think the key is to have clearly defined technical forums and threads, to have them suitably moderated and subtly encourage more buy-in from the lurkers.

www.abbstract.info - my blog
www.sqlsimon.com - my experiences with SQL Server 2008

Post #591700

Andy Leonard

Posted Saturday, October 25, 2008 9:28 AM

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Technically, I grew up here (at SSC).

I worked with SQL Server while a developer from the mid-90s until early this decade. My job responsibilities then changed from application to database developer. When that happened, I started lurking here and similar forums regularly. Usually my goal was to fix something that threatened my current project. Occasionally it was to preserve my job.

I learned a bunch online. While I understand the frustration of forum contributors, I still remember the RTFM answers I saw to questions for which I also sought answers.

In short, it's a balance (like everything else).

When I answer an email or forum post, I try to help. I could care less about the stars under or by my name, where I appear on Top-Answerers list, or veen whether the question has already been (or ever will be) marked as Answered.

Someone has an issue. They need help. I'm going to try to help.

:{> Andy

Andy Leonard
Blog / Twitter

Post #591702

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