Stackexchange is a name well known to those who work in tech, specifically those who have ever beat their head against the wall over an error message that seems to mock your every attempt at fixing it. It’s a place where people without expertise in a certain area go to seek the knowledge of the crowd in the hopes that their collective knowledge will provide a suitable answer, and more often than not it works out great. Stackexchange has a good track record with database and programming related Q&A forums, but will this new site turn out to be a resource for new shooters or will the answer to every question be “buy a Deagle?” Only time will tell, but it looks pretty good right now.
I just added 3 answers and a question of my own. Seems as if most users are genuinely helpful and give thought-out answers. The only problem I foresee is that the quality of questions is rather uneven and my get worse if not corrected early on.
I disagree about the “quality of the questions”. I think a good forum would allow ALL questions, stupid or not. Some people legitimately don’t know what most of us would consider “basic” things, so why be a jerk and tell them that they’re not allowed to ask that question? I worry that the site will fall into the trap that I see so often with gun clubs where people just getting into shooting are treated with open hostility.
To clarify, I have nothing against asking a basic question, everyone had to start somewhere when learning about any topic or subject. I meant that I noticed a trend for questions having to be changed several times after being posted because the question was too broad or lacked details.
OK, that makes sense. I’d just noticed a few sort of “beginners questions” that the mods shut down because they considered them “too basic”.
Since I spend my working life on stackoverflow.com, I was happy to hear that a stackexchange has opened for firearms – what a great idea – thanks for passing this on, Nick.
I can only speak for stackoverflow, but the community is amazingly helpful and self-regulating – there are checks and balances in place to prevent flaming, artificially boosting/downgrading questions/answers, etc.
In stackoverflow, users tend to hang out (via subscribing to questions with appropriate “tags”) where their expertise lies (e.g. Java, Objective-C, Android, iOS, etc.). If the same happens at firearms.stackexchange, then most will eventually gravitate towards asking/answering questions on specific topics in which they have expertise/interest (e.g. Glocks, AR’s, CCW, scopes, ammo, hunting, etc – and all the infinite sub-areas within those).
The big difference I can foresee is the more subjective nature of firearms vs computer-related questions. This could impact newbies the most – who are also the ones the firearms community most needs to welcome with open arms. In stackoverflow, even experts can agree on “What computer language should I learn first?” based on what the person intends to do. However, “What gun should I get for a first gun?” may get a lot of widely varying responses. Questions with a lot of responses are typical on stackoverflow and will be a good thing on firearms.stackexchange, as well – more food for thought.
There is also the question of what topics should be allowed. For example, is “Fast and Furious” appropriate? 2A? Legal questions? Questions about politicians? Etc.
I believe and hope that the voting system and moderators will keep it focused, civil and helpful for everyone. Over time, I hope to see it turn into a fantastic library of Q&A’s.
This is a nice site. I don’t see how it differs significantly from say PAFOA, SIG Forum or many other well moderated firearm websites with a dedicated, knowledgeable membership.
That being said, I did add this to my group of forums for regular viewing. We’ll see how it compares to the other established forums over time. Not that my opinion is worth a shit… 😉
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