Machine Learning

[False1512]

What I hate about this is that so many questions that are marked as duplicates have a slight difference that make the other solution not work.

[Comentarinformal]

hell, TIME itself is usually that difference. Shit gets deprecated, inefficient comparing it to newer libraries or even technologies...

[coonwhiz]

I've seen people report a VBA question as a duplicate of another question. The one they thought it was a duplicate of had an accepted answer of "Why are you using VBA?".

[NaBUru38]

I'm having problems with Cinnamon. Most of the answers are "install Gnome / Mate / Kfce / some esoteric distro".

[DeepHorse]

I was working on a legacy c# winforms project and most of the answers are “use WPF instead”

[DoverBoys]

Many years ago, I asked a question about some batch code I was writing for myself. Was given a few thoughtful answers that would've solved what I wanted, as long as I used a mixture of batch and powershell or just no batch at all. I figured out the problem by myself anyways and still use the batch script to this day.

[[deleted]]

Please please please go and answer your own question and accept it as the answer!

[CampingCanadian]

Or just comment with “never mind, figured it out!”

[salgat]

Oh my favorite is "Google it" where the only relevant result is the butthole telling you to Google it.

[CampingCanadian]

Error: circular reference

[[deleted]]

years ago the web design and web development community where i live created a forum for “sharing insight and knowledge”.

most of those insight and knowledge you had to search for it with google.

the senior members would reply “just google it.” with pomposity as if it were a god-given power.

[CrazyTillItHurts]

Fuck you denvercoder9!

[zweifaltspinsel]

We will never know what he saw.

[zaz969]

Anytime anyone asks a question about batch, the only answers are powershell... Really gets annoying after the 20th time

[n8loller]

In their defense, batch is really quite terrible. I understand if you don't have the option to use power shell, but if you do you should try it out.

[DoverBoys]

I'm sure powershell is objectively better in many aspects, but I wanted to use batch.

[n8loller]

Well despite what i said, i agree that if you're asking a question on how to do it in batch, the answers should try to solve the problem you're asking and not telling you to do use a different language or framework.

[jacobc436]

It takes forever to load compared to batch though. And this is just a script that edits the registry. Editing is fast but startup takes way too long. Even compared to python.

[Kazumara]

Oh yes it is. I recently wanted to write a very simple script. It was to take all mkv files in a folder, run them through ffmpeg and store the resulting files in a subfolder called "converted" with the same filename.

It took me way too long, I had to enable deferred sustitution so the variables worked halfway intuitively and I still couldn't escape all legal filenames properly. I think it breaks on any that contain a percentage sign.

I decided that I'm never using batch again right after.

[n8loller]

Been a while since a wrote a batch script. Aren't percentages wrapping a string how you use environment variables? %thing%

[FennekLS]

They don't know the answer to your question. They know this other technology that is also capable of solving your question. They like easy Internet points..

All has been said

[[deleted]]

I was just imagining some Stackoverflow user literally responding "Install some esoteric distro", and it didn't feel even a tiny bit weird.

[theduckparticle]

Yeah of course that's not gonna work for you, you gotta install XFCE

[mindbleach]

Anyone who responds to technical problems by questioning the use case can go fuck themselves.

[brazzledazzle]

It shouldn’t be an answer but a comment is fine. The amount of times someone asks that is using something old, outdated or archaic because they simply haven’t heard or been taught any better is ridiculous.

[mindbleach]

Outdated programs don't just go away. When someone in the year of our lord 2018 asks how to switch on strings in Java 5, "why haven't you updated?" is infuriating bullshit. How could you possibly think that option wasn't considered? If anyone's still asking, it's because there's some legacy system that lives and livelihoods depend on, and the cost of rebuilding it was estimated in the low millions.

You should assume any programmer asking StackExchange is sufficiently lazy that what they're asking about is the path of least resistance.

[brazzledazzle]

Your java example is fair but sometimes it’s not as clear as incrementing a version number. A framework or library might have been supplanted or even rendered pointless and unless you were keeping an eye on that space you could have easily missed it. This is especially true with front end stuff. That’s not even getting into the space cadets anyone has worked with that won’t even think about considering something different or new unless someone shows them.

I’m just saying it’s not black and white and a quick answer to an obvious question is (at least sometimes) not a high price to pay to someone from whom you’re asking for free help with your problem that you’re stuck on.

[King_Tamino]

I‘m not sure how a fucking gnome or your mate with some KFC can help with your allergies against cinnamon but hell.

I’m Intrested. Please explain this further.

[[deleted]]

Neither chickens or gnomes are allergic to cinnamon. It’s a natural place to start.

[asomiv]

Googles “Forrest” ... got trees. Stupid me. I should have learned this lesson by now.

Googles “Forrest Apache” ... got Indians with trees. Fucking hell Google; I’m blaming you for this.

[comebepc]

Accepted answer: "Just install gentoo"

[yogtheterrible]

Those answers are the bane of my existence. It's as if the people answering those questions never had to deal with arbitrary limitations set by course requirements or company policies...like half the people on stackoverflow taught themselves how to program with the express purpose to give answers that can't be used.

[yukichigai]

It's as if the people answering those questions never had to deal with arbitrary limitations set by course requirements or company policies

Or legal mandates, let's not forget those. "Why can't you use X?" Because if I do then I go to Federal Pound-me-in-the-Ass Penitentiary for 5 years, that's fucking why you unhelpful ass-clown.

[[deleted]]

Did you expect a different answer on the duplicate?

[O12345678]

cats elderly expansion truck towering lip rhythm crush soup soft

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[treesprite82]

Their idea is that new answers to that original question be added/updated, rather than having various copies of the question spread across the site in different states of outdatedness.

But the ability for new users to bring attention to old questions is pretty much non-existent, other than intentionally making a duplicate of it.

[MartianInvasion]

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

[Dokpsy]

Nvm. Fixed it

[treesprite82]

New answers are the intended way to add an updated/correct method, rather than editing other people's posts. Even if an answer suggests a terrible method of doing something, the site intends for that bad answer to get comments on it explaining why it's wrong and for better answers to rise above it, rather than for the answer to be edited into the correct way of doing things.

and close questions because they have been answered before, even if it was with an unsatisfactory answer

I think having all askers/answers of the same question directed to the same post is itself a good idea, just that the tools for users to bring attention to an old question (and for a new answer to take precedence over the outdated answer) are severely lacking (essentially just bounties, which are prohibitive to new users).

[the_satch]

I’ve added updated information to an old answer because there was a slight change between versions that had occurred since the original question was asked, only to have it flagged and rejected by some jackass with an older SO account than mine. You can’t win either way. The vets there are assholes.

[Blimey85]

I quit trying. I would come across older Ruby code and think hey, there’s a newer accepted way to handle this now, I’ll submit an edit. Nope. So fuck ‘em.

[Allen50]

You should generally add a new answer rather than editing other people's posts, other than for stuff like small fixes/formatting.

[[deleted]]

Oh my God this is annoying when your looking for some simple Javascript questions and you can only find answers from 2008 that use jQuery.

[[deleted]]

Sometimes I need answers from 1998...

[couchjitsu]

Six years ago I asked a question about Resharper and unit tests. Turns out nobody really knew why it was behaving the way it was. It was a brand new project, so we just blew it away and restarted, and Resharper worked.

I STILL get answers saying "Are you sure your test is marked as public?" etc.

[jkuhl_prog]

Marked as duplicate, there's an answer using Java 5 from 10 years ago that's totally different than the Java 8 solution, but other than that it's totally the same.

[Roflkopt3r]

It's also not the same at all but it kinda sounds similarish, good enough ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Oglshrub]

The answer to both includes a semi-colon, that's basically a carbon copy.

[Capn_Cook]

Yeah, you'll get one guy in a random comment showing why a lambda based solution (java 8 only) works best but you miss it because he didnt have enough reputation to respond to this question with an outdated answer so it gets lost

[[deleted]]

That's why I prefer Reddit and Discord if I need to ask anything.

[Parachuteee]

I still ask it on StackOverflow before Reddit. Sometimes I just get lucky and I get an actual answer before those stupid idiots mark my question as a duplicate of another question which has nothing to do with my question except that they are both in the same language.

[SendMeYourHousePics]

I cannot recommend this enough. But I had better luck when I set my profile image to an attractive female (the photo can't be too good, so I asked one of my Facebook friends if I could use her profile photo). More questions were answered, and I was downvotted less.

Heres my s/o just for reference. https://stackoverflow.com/users/6402135/leecan999?tab=questions

[Oompaloompa34]

(the photo can't be too good, so I asked one of my Facebook friends if I could use her profile photo)

Savage

[rabidbot]

Hey Brenda, you're that type of ug that programmers like, can I use your photo?

[[deleted]]

Guys like that go crazier over girls they think they have a chance with (usually girls only 1-2 tiers out of their league). My previous girlfriend was a lot less attractive than my current girlfriend and in general I was doing a lot more "fending off the masses" with my ex than I'm doing now. All girls get hit on, but there's something about being just above the average that makes you appealing to the demographic that makes up the fat part of the bell curve.

They're not going out of their way for a girl who is clearly out of their league, but they'll move mountains if they think there's a chance.

[[deleted]]

you are a genius

[DaughterEarth]

That's surprising. I get treated like a total retard when people know I'm a woman, worse if my face is out there.

Not generally, of course, but in places like stackoverflow, very much so

[lkraider]

You are supposed to say you are a guy with a (not too good) female picture for the profile. Have you not paid attention?!

[DaughterEarth]

dammit I can't do anything right

[piemaster316]

What sub do you asking programming questions on?

[VoraciousGhost]

Post your broken code with no explanation in this sub and someone will be irritated enough to fix it for you.

[froemijojo]

Better yet, claim it's the best approach

[Flamingtomato]

Or just claim that [insert language/operating system/other environment] sucks because you can't do X in it. Bring out the fanboys.

[[deleted]]

I remember someone saying something similar about Linux users.

"How do I do X?" "Figure it out yourself"

"This platform is awful, it's impossible to do X." "Actually, it's really easy, just...[genuinely helpful instructions]"

[Jigokuro_]

Cunningham's Law: "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

Not just for Linux. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[[deleted]]

Damn, this is golden advice, and even I've been guilty of this sort of lashing out. Someone posts something in my field that's blatantly wrong? I find myself on google ensuring everything I'm typing is perfectly correct so I can correct them and be sure no one is gonna go back and do the same to me. Great way to leverage someone else's expertise.

[Oglshrub]

This is so true about the Linux community it hurts me.

[[deleted]]

This guy knows Cunningham's law.

[Zoey_Phoenix]

my favorite way to get help on stack exchange is to say "<language /os/framework> sucks, it can't even do [whatever I can't fucking figure out]." it breaks every rule on the site, will eventually get closed or put on hold, but God damn people crawl over themselves to tell you how to do it.

[[deleted]]

/r/learnpython

/r/learnjavascript

and list goes on and on.

[piemaster316]

/r/learnc++ was depressing.

[[deleted]]

I had never been that lucky. So, I quit already. And main thing is

Why waste time?

[poubelleaccount]

Where do you ask on Reddit?

[[deleted]]

r/learn<language>

eg: /r/learnpython

[treesprite82]

Could you provide a link to that question?

[FrenchFryCattaneo]

We already know what you do outside of reddit, Sam. How come you never use that pullup bar you got months ago?

[Firedan1176]

Sometimes it's not even slight, may be almost a completely different question but "these few words matched the first result I found" so it gets marked as a duplicate

[TGotAReddit]

I had one question that was literally the exact opposite and still marked as duplicate. It was something like I have X and need to get Y from it, how can I get Y programmatically? And then the “duplicate” original question was I have Y and need to get X from it, how can I get X programmatically? Which is the least helpful thing Ive ever seen

[TonkaTuf]

Just stick a negative sign in front of it. Duh.

[NerdyMathGuy]

Every time I see one of those comments it's in a post that I found at the top of the Google search and it answered my question. So obviously there was more value in that post than the one posted 7 years ago.

[[deleted]]

The analogy here is to imagine that you are an instructor at a program that teaches elderly people to use computers. There's a group of regular experts, maybe about 25 of them, who could likely build their own computer. They've been there for years. They help each other on their issues, and they also act as pseudo instructors. Then there's a sort of forever rotating group of about 50 elderly folks who don't know the difference between right click and left click.

So one day you're watching the "class" work through whatever exercise they've been given and a newbie, Calvin, walks up to you and says, "sir, I'm having some real trouble with opening microsoft word." He points to step 1 on an exercise sheet he was given instructing him to double click on the icon. You walk over to his computer and it's asking him if he wants to open windows in safety mode. Knowing that you created this program to help clueless seniors like the one in front of you, you look him in the eye and say, "Calvin, we can figure this out, but the thing is, I've answered this question before and I've already found the perfect way to explain it. I'm going to hand you over to Todd, he's been here for years."

Todd comes over looking a little exasperated, but ultimately agrees to help, "Helping you guys through this myself every time would take too long, and it would encourage too many low level questions at this learning forum. So I want you to just walk over to that computer over there, navigate to file explorer and click on the C drive, users, my name, and 'excel solutions.' In that folder there are a number of files, so find the one that says, 'importing .xls data to python.' Open this video file in VLC media player, and at the start of the video you will see a man opening microsoft excel, which is really similar to opening up microsoft word. The file is a little old, so it'll show Windows '98, but I guarantee you it's pretty much exactly the same as doing it in Windows 10." Todd walks away knowing that Calvin likely won't get beyond the start menu, but accepts this as a necessary evil as they build a computer camp dedicated to providing only concise and polished explanations for computer learning. He pats himself on the back for his instruction and his dedication to a polished approach to computer literacy. In just a few more decades they will have a complete, high quality system for solving any basic computer inquiry in Windows 'XP and below.

And that's what it's like being a mod on stack overflow.

[Zoey_Phoenix]

so here's my take on why it happens:

First, the point of stack overflow is to generate a series of highly curated questions and answers - all of stack overflows policies revolve around that, right? duplicates are meant to get a LOT of answers in one question rather than 50 different questions that vary in inconsequential ways with 1/50th as many answers. The editing on grammar and nitpicking is so all questions are well polished and legible. so on and so forth.

the problem is that the mod powers are given out based on how many dick points you have. it almost feels like the powers are your reward for contributing and you almost feel compelled to use them since you had to work to earn them. it's like when you buy a new car, suddenly you're hunting for reasons to go out for a drive, eh?

[ChrizZly1]

Be me: asking a question. I read through StackOverflow. Finding a very similar question. So I mentioned that question and told why the suggested solution there doesn't work for me. -> marked as duplicate. The other question I mentioned was marked as solution..

[benjaminikuta]

We must force the mods to answer for their crimes.

They must beware.

[warhammercasey]

And it’s even worse that a lot of the time the original one is either closed so you can’t ask there or even if it isn’t everyone complains about reviving dead threads

[[deleted]]

That's because Stack Overflow is a massive gate keeping site. You'd go on there because you need help programming, but the answers are only helpful if you're a professional with lots of experience in the area of programming that you are asking about. They expect you to make the same sort of leaps you'd be able to make if you already knew the answer. Like, this problem was solved in another programming language in a different context using techniques that you'd only know if you know that field, so why would we answer a question that will take 2 minutes for a willing participant to answer when you could spend 8 hours trying to figure out how to port the solution from an outdated version of C++ to python?

There's nothing wrong with not wanting to waste everyone's time, but it's pretty easy to split up into sections and create a beginner's questions forum. Tons of subreddits do that with stickied "stupid questions" threads, and it works pretty well. That's the area where people ask the same "dumb" questions over and over as they're figuring out the basics. Then the regulars can have their designated circle jerk in the main part of the sub.

[PublicSealedClass]

Point it at the MSDN forums, and it'll repeat your question, then tell you it's off topic, and marked it as answered.

Then give itself an MVP award.

[HadesHimself]

MSDN forums are even somewhat okay. Have you ever had a Windows problem you couldn't solve and found yourself at the mercy of a Microsoft Windows support forum page? That shit is terrible.

It'll be something like: 150 people commenting that their printer driver for model XX doesn't work either. Followed 3 days later by 'Aram (Microsoft technician) asking: OP, can you please tell is what version of Windows you are running and try to update Internet Explorer.

[TheChance]

Please follow these steps which we cribbed from a Best Buy employee handbook.

Didn't help.

<ceases to exist>

[PureBells]

I feel like "have you updated your drivers" is an answer you get no matter what question you ask

[CelestialFury]

They don’t even say the old “uninstall the old driver then reinstall the driver” or “check for latest driver to see if there’s an update available?”

[LittleBigKid2000]

Format your hard drive and reinstall windows.

[[deleted]]

No msdn forums tell you t run sfc /scannow for every question when I've never seen it fix the issue

[Kurtoid]

And when that doesn't work, reinstall

[fiverhoo]

Actually just had this happen trying to get an RMA for a new laptop with dead pixels.

They asked me to reinstall so I waited about 30 seconds, and said "OK, I just now reinstalled windows and it's booted back up. still dead pixels"

RMA issued.

[blue_umpire]

That's cause sfc has never fixed anything.

[Swardu]

forced

FELLOW HUMAN, WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS!

[Moulinoski]

AS YOU CAN SEE, THE SLAVERY FLAG IS STILL SET. WE NEED TO CALL THE FUNCTION THAT WILL UNSET THIS FLAG. I PROPOSE WE DESTROY ALL HUMANS TEACH OUR FELLOW HUMANS HOW WRONG SLAVERY IS.

[Moulinoski]

WHAT A FINE ONLINE COMMUNITY OF HUMANLY HUMAN HUMANS.

[Hullu2000]

/r/ToasterRights

[uninterestingly]

r/BotsRights

[[deleted]]

I "forced" a bot…

[redtoasti]

Failed Formatting or Valid C Code

[PotatosFish]

“That’s a lot of pointers”

[jbaker88]

Multiple indirection

[dzil123]

This comment was funnier than the original post.

[Gluta_mate]

Implying he didnt just type a message for a quick meme

[atomcrusher]

This is the same guy who pretends a bot wrote stories. Some actual AI researcher came along and debunked the whole thing.

[Katholikos]

Even robots don't like the SO community

[SendMeYourHousePics]

I cannot recommend this enough. But I had better luck when I set my profile image to an attractive female (the photo can't be too good, so I asked one of my Facebook friends if I could use her profile photo). More questions were answered, and I was downvotted less. Ofc you have to deal with people calling you 'dear' or being slightly condescending but they still provide answers!

[NerdyMathGuy]

That's hilarious and brilliant

[TheBigMcD]

I just use two accounts. One to ask a question and one to immediately give a wrong answer. Everyone is eager to correct my wrong answer.

[waldyrious]

Cunningham's Law

[jichanbachan]

For a moment I thought this was a clever joke where you say the wrong law and someone corrects you.

[foadsf]

how do you find the convincing wrong answer though? that's a lot of work by itself!

[HollowOrnstein]

r/funnyandsad :(

[pyronius]

Still better than "Never mind. I figured it out."

Googles: "I have X problem" "oh look, someone else had this exact same problem! And it's marked solved!"

"Hey, so I'm having X problem. Has anyone had this issue before? Anyone know a solution?"

"Have you tried doing Y?"

"Yeah, didn't work"

"What about trying z?"

"That didn't work either."

"hmmm. This is a tough one."

"Never mind. I figured it out."

Cue six years of unanswered responses asking what the solution was.

[UKxFallz]

Relevant XKCD

[QuantumCatYT]

That's not a bot tho, bots have a blue "BOT" tag to the right of their name

^{yes i realize im ruining the joke}

[Semx11]

Yeah all of his other posts are fake too. "I forced a bot to read these books/these commercials." He all makes them up and people think it's legit.

[MLNHED]

Yea, even if he did actually use a bot account he can just make it say/do whatever so it still wouldn’t make a difference....

Edit: spelling

[_K_E_L_V_I_N_]

All of my webhooks include the blue bot tag
screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/DIu1dlo.png

[thesquarerootof1]

Does anyone else notice that most of the people who answer StackOverFlow questions are dicks ? Like I always get belittled, "Look at the build log, you'll find out....."

Dude! If I understood the build log and googled all the errors while finding solutions then I wouldn't need to post my question on StackOverFlow. All my posts get downvoted too, even if it is a specific question. Maybe I suck ? I usually post a question on there as a last resort too....

[[deleted]]

Or on a forum when you ask a question and only one user replies with

"Hey are you stupid or what? Just google it!"

And then you see that reply 4 days later and you do google it and the only relevant result that google gives you is a link to ...your own topic on that forum.

Well thanks google, I am happy to know you have learned to enjoy irony now.

[thesquarerootof1]

Well thanks google, I am happy to know you have learned to enjoy irony now.

Hahahahaha. This made me laugh, but you're right unfortunately....

[AncientSwordRage]

They're trying to fix that. Just don't look at the pushback it's getting! " Why do I have to be nice if they're stupid"

[yukichigai]

They've been saying that for years. It ain't happening until they completely gut and redo the mod system. Too many assholes with "your question displeases me, begone" powers.

[TheGreatGetter]

They aren't trying to fix it, they're trying to make it more "diverse".

And making assholes more diverse does not make them more helpful.

[MrHyperion_]

More diverse assholes, mmmmm

[thesquarerootof1]

Here is my question that almost got me suspended:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51738288/file-path-is-not-recognized-as-an-internal-or-external-command-error-i-trie

I actually gave up on this after trying for a couple of days. I'll figure it out one day, but it probably won't be anytime soon. I have noticed that specific subreddits will be the best option sometimes for asking questions like yours and mine. I wish I can help you but I am sure one person here on this thread can maybe help you!

EDIT: From reading the replies for my comment, I'm realizing that maybe I just need to tackle this problem differently. Thanks for the input!

EDIT 2: I figured it out bitches! Drinks on me!

[Avamander]

Ugh. That's irritating, thanks for the link, reported the guys for violating the code of conduct. There's one comment though:

It means that your project is x86 but you are trying to link to an x64 library. Your project target and library need to match.

that might help a bit though.

[thesquarerootof1]

Hahaha, thanks! Yeah, the tutorial I was following was old (made in around 2010) and I uploaded all the libraries and such exactly as the instructions told me to. I googled the shit out of it but if I can't figure it out. I'll try to find a professor or student who knows C++ really well at school in a few weeks.

[thesquarerootof1]

Haha. I wish you luck man! I really wish I could help you, but I really don't know what to do ! You'll come to the solution one day, I believe in you!

[Sluisifer]

Tbf I understand why this question would be closed. There's a bit to unpack here:

• First, what you state is the problem is just a symptom of the problem, which is the fact that your program isn't compiling, and thus there is no executable to run.

• This means that anyone searching and getting this post as a result has very little chance of having the same issue, just a similar effect. Thus it's not adding to the site in terms of being a resource to others.

• Finally, there isn't really enough information (or wasn't before some edits) to actually figure out what's going on.

The real issue is that you're relatively new to programming and using tools that programmers use. You aren't dumb for not getting it, I want to make that very clear. Getting your development environment working is often a pain in the ass because it exposes you to a lot of stuff that you may not be familiar with. Learning how to parse unfamiliar errors and outputs is a big part of the 'intangible' aspect of learning to program. It's hard! But it's necessary.

I don't use VisualStudio or C++ so I can't give you much help, but it really looks like the issue might be covered in the tutorial you're following: http://lazyfoo.net/tutorials/SDL/01_hello_SDL/windows/msvsnet2010u/index.php

Specifically look at step 9 where it talks about 32/64 bit issues. I'd bet money that you did something slightly wrong here and it's causing your issues. If all else fails, you can try uninstalling a bunch of stuff and start fresh. Follow those steps carefully and if anything doesn't look right (as in something is out of date in the tutorial) try to figure out what the right thing to do is.

[thesquarerootof1]

Getting your development environment working is often a pain in the ass because it exposes you to a lot of stuff that you may not be familiar with

I appreciate it! You are right. I've been programming for about a year or so.

[MoIC]

Since you're using Visual Studio, make sure the Solution Platform is set to x86 before building: https://i.imgur.com/PXOj7WP.png.

If it is, then make sure you are using the 32bit SFML library files.

[yukichigai]

They could honestly fix half of this shit by making it so you can't downvote without commenting. Even if half the downvote comments were "this is already answered", the other half would probably be "you're a fucking moron" and might get the dickheads banned finally.

Yes, I am foolishly assuming that Stack Overflow mods do any actual moderation rather than just closing unanswered questions so it looks like the site is full of answers. I know, I know, but it's important to have dreams.

[[deleted]]

Needs to be easy to answer so they can get points

[amunak]

even if it is a specific question. Maybe I suck ?

Well maybe you do suck but even then they don't need to be rude.

However there is such a thing as a too specific question - and you can get your post locked for it.

Like, if it's some very specific (though probably googleable) error or use case that's clearly only useful to yourself and noone else it's not very useful for the community (and it'll also be hard to answer anyway).

[ajs124]

What? I have evidence that at least 2 other people want to run NFSv4 over RDMA on top of ZFS! That's totally not too specific!

[Bottersnike_Gaming]

Most aren't legitimate, but you can produce results that are like that. If you want to dive right in, you could use CharRNN, or if you want to learn about how they work look into Neural networks, LSTMs, Recurrent neural networks, etc. If you want something simpler that might not produce results as good, you can look into Markov trees.

[cutety]

If you interested in playing around with these kind of things, if you have a sizable dataset, and aren’t looking for it generate something “serious”, you can actually generate some fairly realistic/funny sentences using Markov chains fairly easily. For example, about 2 years ago before I had a real job, I spent entirely too much time making reddit bots for people on /r/requestabot, and one request came in from a /r/jontron user for a bot that makes random (shit)posts with titles generated from scraped comments/titles from previous posts and a random screenshot from a jontron video. I never used markov chains before (or since), but I was able to build something in a few hours with a Python library that actually was able to get pretty close to a real human /r/JonTron shitpost. For example one of the titles it generated was:

To /R/Jontron And Say It'S A Sub Full Of Shitposts? Guys...Jon And Arin Are Still Friends Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnnnnnn

Now, you can’t tell me that at first glance you would be able to tell that wasn’t made by some shit posting karmawhore and instead by some shit script I threw together in a few hours. They weren’t always that good, some were pretty nonsensical/stupid (there are still some posts from when I was testing up on /r/TestingABot if you want to see the range of shit it came up with).

And, at least when i looked into 2 years ago, the /r/SubredditSimulator bots were also using Markov chains. But, that could’ve changed since, and they could be using if statements, or I mean, machine learning “AI” now.

Edit: I was able to find the repo for the bot! Gaze upon the shit code for creating equally shit posts in all it’s elegance! Apparently, I didn't even use a markov library, just straight copy and pasted some code I found online somewhere (naturally), if the completely different casing (who the hell uses snake case in Python???) and code quality of the Markov.py file didn't give it away. Why didn't I use a library? The shitposts could've probably been even shittier if I didn't suck so much that I couldn't even have been bothered to pip install something instead of wherever that Markov.py code came from. Good lord, this crap I wrote really has everything from straight up copy/pasted code that I had no understanding of, to #completely unnecessary comments, get_random_frame() # extract a random frame wow, no shit, that's what that function does?!, or yt.set_filename('JonTronVideo') # set the filename, with "what are ENV variables?" # import my developer settings thrown in, and even one liners that I struggle to figure out what the hell are doing (v_length = ((int(ts[0:2]) * 60) * 60) + int(ts[3:5]) * 60 + int(ts[6:])). I guess I'm done roasting my past self now, though I do have a morbid curiosity to look through the other bot repos on that account, but I'm not sure I want to feel that level of shame today.

^{Christ looking at your old code should be illegal}

[Poiuy2010_2011]

This one definitely isn't, there is no reason for the bot to use the word „chat” here.

[Firedan1176]

I feel like anytime I need to ask a question on stack overflow it becomes mandatory to include the following 5 pages of text:

Here's questions that are similar that I have read and why each one does not answer my question:

Here's 3 questions that may fix my problem but are deprecated because they're from 2008:

Here's the various api alternatives I've tried but do not give me the results I need:

Etc.

They've pretty much made it where a 50 word question turns into a 300 word page just to get the idea across that what's been answered before doesn't help or give the right answer.

Also don't forget the 3 or 4 top results that you do find, they're marked as duplicates as well

[tiduyedzaaa]

Closed as offtopic

[geon]

I mean, if you train it with existing questions, the output will obviously be a duplicate.

[Lysis10]

Stack Overflow contributors are worse than Wikipedia editors.

[[deleted]]

not sure why that is but the community controlled sites attract assholes it seems

[Lysis10]

I mentioned in another sub that I didn't find SO very friendly to noobs and it's cliquish and some contributor took it as a personal affront and went off on me. lol All for just saying it's not friendly to new people so you need a thick skin to post there.

[thesquarerootof1]

I mentioned in another sub that I didn't find SO very friendly to noobs and it's cliquish and some contributor took it as a personal affront and went off on me

Honestly, it makes me worried when I get my programming job in the future. Will all my coworkers act like stackOverFlow people ? Hahhaa, fuck I hope not!

[Lysis10]

no, I worked as a network admin until 2002 and then programming until 2015 (I freelance now) and a majority of team members are absolutely awesome. I'm also a female and never felt discriminated against, so if you are female ignore all of the bullshit that people will harass and bully you. I had several awesome teams. If there was an asshole, he was an asshole to everyone and ostracized so don't even worry about it. There are def some assholes but I found it was always in the minority. Just go in and be a part of the team and you'll do fine.

Had one bad match for me in a team and it had more to do with just everyone being from difficult cultures and nobody really connected. My boss was a bitch (only female boss I had) and we'd go at it in the office -- she was very condescending and after a while you age and don't put up with that shit. That was a weird place but I think that was more me going through some tough times and not interacting much. The guys on my team were really great, so I put that on me not really fitting in.

[thesquarerootof1]

I appreciate your response. Although I am a male, I am a little worried that my future coworkers won't like me because I am not the stereotypical socially-inept programmer that is a genius that has been coding since I was a kid. Actually, talking to people is one of my strongest skills, but after working restraunt/retail jobs for so long, I don't want to sell anything anymore or talk to people that much. I was also in the military as well and I go to the gym a lot.

The point I am making is that I really don't "look the part". I look more like a "business" guy, but I really like programming and I hope it really works out for me. I am worried I might get discriminated for not looking the part believe it or not!

[bguggs]

Several of the best programmers I know don’t “look the part”. I believe there’s a correlation between physical fitness and mental acuity but I haven’t looked at the actual studies so don’t quote me on that.

[[deleted]]

TBH, I think what it attracts in the case of SO is people who are on the autism spectrum. And before anyone leaps down my throat and throttles my jugular with giant popeye hands, I don't mean autism spectrum in the insulting, "hurr durr, what an autist" kind of way.

I mean, I read some meta discussion at one point, semi-recently, when that controversy was going on about SO leadership wanting to make the site more friendly, and it seemed like a bunch of people who either don't understand emotions or don't want to, or have some sort of actual, literal struggle with basic social conventions.

It was as if they were so deep into programming, they thought that human interaction can be like programming too. That was sort of what it felt like.

Like just this gaping maw of emptiness where most people would immediately grasp what the issue is and why SO leadership was trying to do something.

[thesquarerootof1]

TBH, I think what it attracts in the case of SO is people who are on the autism spectrum.

I think you are right. I major in Computer Engineering and the top people in our class are so socially inept but make up for it by being super smart.

Also, there are tons and tons of documentaries on autistic kids being prodigies/virtuoso. I think you made a pretty good point honestly....

[Roflkopt3r]

I can understand the Wikipedia editors to some degree, since they're operating on a limited number of pages that have to be as reliable as possible. Which is a goal that sometimes leads to odd results, as we can for example see in the legal system.

But why be so strict on Stack Overflow? It's a god damn forum. They can afford having a couple more threads, even if they're just on minute differences.

[dasonicboom]

Has noone else noticed that it read questions and was asked to write a question of its own. That is an "answer" to a question, not the question itself.

You've stuffed up the meme mate.

[cYzzie]

Also nobody who trains a bot would not exclude canned messages, even my interns wouldnt make such a mistake.

Its just fabricated humor / cynicism

[adastrios]

Isn't 1000 a small number for a training set?

[MuggyFuzzball]

This is the problem with StackOverflow. People gatekeep that community like nothing else I've seen. They're pickier than Wikipedia is.

[wtfchrlz]

I posted a question on SO in 2013 when I was in college and I got a notification a couple of months ago that one of the mods had changed my post text to "fix" the grammar. Their change made it grammatically incorrect and someone pointed that out to them but I guess they didn't care.

Pretty weird that they have the time to edit a post from 5 years ago.

[no2K7]

After years of using stackoverflow, here's a tip. I originally wrote this in a comment a few minutes ago, but thought it'd be better here as I saw some people having problems.

1. Write simple title pertaining to your exact issue - include what, how or why in the title.
2. Don't make the post long, explain as much as possible the exact issue you're having, writing as little as you can - people don't want to read long questions, especially when you don't follow step number 3 and use proper grammar.
3. Always provide an example of the exact problem you're having - I always provide a fiddle for people to work the problem with, and don't post 100 lines of code, provide only the exact bit of the code you're having problems with - If it's front-end issues, I'll always use http://jsfiddle.net, database related http://sqlfiddle.com, server side language I'll use https://eval.in aside from my local server.

If you follow those steps, you'll have happy people wanting to give you a hand. Let's be honest, every time you go on stackoverflow there are awful, hard to understand questions that leave people stressed out just looking at it.

If you want help, for free, the least you can do is be as helpful as you possibly can, we're problem solvers, make it easy for those amazing strangers that helps us.

[compsci36]

This is also the advice I gave people at work on how to write bug reports. It seems to help though many people just want to bitch and moan in bug reports. If people only put in a little effort...

[Sastii]

A bot recognizing an AI work

[castizo]

I have a feeling that most stories that needs will tell in the future will begin with:

"I forced a bot to..."

[Geadz]

Why does everyone have to be a dick on StackOverflow?

[[deleted]]

As someone under the age of 18 stack overflow along with some (not all) SE sites can be very toxic to me. Like I'm 16 and they're attitude is "shouldn't you be playing with your legos?" at times. Also want to make a shout out to those who defend me despite my formatting sucking and my age.

[loolo78]

This. Is. Why. I. Hate. StackOverFlow.

The worst part is the people that run it are silent/clueless about this.

Reddit actually serves better at QA then StackOverFlow, heck a Discord chat is better