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0 pointssystemvoltage4y ago0 comments

I don't see how giving money to Tencent has anything to do with the ability to steer SO.

The best thing would have been the status quo. SO has been running on its feet for many years. This consolidation, while disputably better than Microsoft acquisition, is no worse than large companies buying out small ones usually guaranteing their demise.

If anything else, Microsoft has left Github untouched so far.

I am not convinced that this is "absolutely phenomenal".

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arp2424y ago

> If anything else, Microsoft has left Github untouched so far.

Actually, I think it has gotten better. I don't like the consolidation of independents like GitHub to big corporations like Microsoft, but I can't deny that thus far, it actually worked out pretty well.

Stack Overflow is a difficult company/website to manage though; it's not "just a website with a SaaS product" and really requires a good understanding of the social dynamics and such to run well, much more than e.g. GitHub.

systemvoltageOP4y ago

That's a good point. I wonder why SO is so political? As an outsider it is just like a bunch of people asking questions and getting answers.

arp2424y ago

What do you mean with "so political"?

The hard part is getting the social dynamics right. Askers want to ask any question, answerers want to answer interesting questions. Keeping both groups happy is a hard task.

People complain about questions being closed (technically: "on hold") and marked as duplicated, but it serves a real purpose as no one wants to answer the same question over and over again. How you do it matters a lot though.

I have a number of gripes with Stack Overflow, and there are quite a few things I would do different. But I see a lot of people complaining about it who probably don't realize just how hard of a problem it is.

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stjohnswarts4y ago

It's just a very rigid structure, you have to put your square block in their square hole or you will be ripped a new one and tossed when asking a question. Also mods need to be in a good mood that day.

teh_klev4y ago

> The best thing would have been the status quo. SO has been running on its feet for many years

You forgot that there's a bunch of VC's who now want their investment back plus interest.

B1FF_PSUVM4y ago

That's it, the VC money is strictly for a limited time - when the fund time ends, there must an "exit" - either IPO or sale.

(In case of success, of course; failures are just written off, the losses hopefully paid by the successful exits.)

selfhoster114y ago

To me, it seems that Github has become more proactive (or hair-trigger) in pulling down content via DMCA in the recent years. This could be down to companies finally figuring out that you can DMCA code repos, but I can't help thinking that the Microsoft acquisition was a factor.

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arp2424y ago

> If anything else, Microsoft has left Github untouched so far.

systemvoltageOP4y ago

That's a good point. I wonder why SO is so political? As an outsider it is just like a bunch of people asking questions and getting answers.

arp2424y ago

What do you mean with "so political"?

The hard part is getting the social dynamics right. Askers want to ask any question, answerers want to answer interesting questions. Keeping both groups happy is a hard task.

1 more reply

stjohnswarts4y ago

teh_klev4y ago

> The best thing would have been the status quo. SO has been running on its feet for many years

You forgot that there's a bunch of VC's who now want their investment back plus interest.

B1FF_PSUVM4y ago

That's it, the VC money is strictly for a limited time - when the fund time ends, there must an "exit" - either IPO or sale.

(In case of success, of course; failures are just written off, the losses hopefully paid by the successful exits.)

selfhoster114y ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse