Show HN: StackOverflow.gg – AI-generated answers to every coding question (opens in new tab)

Maybe it's chaotic like you and me, but it cant be non deterministic, it'd mean it doesnt even really answer questions and just spout random tidbits :s

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theory

Source: Ages ago I had a personal domain based on a longstanding nick that happened to partially coincide with the name of a major motion picture studio. That it was a paralegal who called me said they weren't anxious to take it seriously, and all they were really after was just getting me to say it was nothing to do with them so they had me on record in case I later did make it something to do with them. No big deal, but it wasn't like if I had a treatment burning a hole in my pocket I could've parlayed the conversation into a chance to submit it. And even at that, I doubt this will be anything like so simple and nonadversarial.

But you could start a company called Stack Overflow that sells cookies in Austria. They may still try to sue you but then it comes down to an actual argued case and debates and such. This is just complete copy.

If the answer is from 8 years ago, did the API change between then and now? Or was the answer for the same version that you are using?

There is some imagined distinction between a hallucinated answer from a LLM and one from a person posting "try {random code}" that are both equally wrong - but only the LLM is deleted (because deleting the wrong answers are an attempt by a human to answer(?) or would hurt feelings / engagement (?)).

However, even when ignoring all that, if you really ask a "well-researched and well-articulated question" on a complex matter, you will not get an answer in most cases. For those after reputation points, it is far easier to answer simple questions. You are far better off raising it as a GitHub issue if it is an open-source framework.

Visit new questions: https://stackoverflow.com/questions?tab=Newest

Scroll until you find an upvoted question. Count how many downvotes you see on the way. You can often get to page 2 with dozens of downvotes before the first upvote.

Hard mode: Scroll until the net upvotes are more than the net downvotes.

Was your comment intended to be the perfect example of this? replying to a joke about insults in answers... by going on an entire rant about how it's easy not to get your question closed (which was not mentioned at all).

Ask, and ye shall receive.

Here's my SO profile screen[0]. You can tell that it's me, because of my dragon logo, which is actually a refinement of my signature from the days I wanted to be an artist[1]. I actually make an effort to be "non-anonymous," these days. I feel that it helps me to be a better netizen.

The first thing that you may notice about my profile, is that the Answer[2]/Question[3] ratio is about 0.6. That's unusual for many of the more senior members (I've been there for about 15 years. I used to have another account, and nuked it in disgust, many years ago, then decided I was being a big baby, and came crawling back. I've been a member since, but the name was changed, somewhere along the line, as I decided that "non-anonymity" was my lodestar).

That's because I don't go there to answer questions, or prove how smart I am. I go to solve problems, and remove roadblocks, in my day-to-day work.

Here's my latest question[4]. It's a really basic question. One I could have found the answer to, myself, but I would have had to spend a bunch of time in the ugly, chaotic documentation that Apple has for their bundle hashes. Probably would have taken me an hour or so.

I should tell you a bit about myself.

I have been writing software, since my days of 6800 machine code, in 1983. I've been writing Apple software since 1986. I have been shipping software, since 1986/7 (depending on how you define "shipping").

This ain't my first rodeo.

I've also been training and mentoring folks since I was 19. One thing that I learned, very early on, is that the people I'm training, usually (not "sometimes," "usually") have more expertise than I, in matters outside the scope of the class.

I learned to respect my students. I'm not better than they are. I just have a bit of knowledge that can help them, and it's an Honor to be allowed to provide it.

When someone asks me "what I do," I generally respond with "I solve problems."

That's what I do. Every. Single. Day. Every day, I am presented with a "Argh! We're all gonna die!" problem; often multiple times a day[5].

And I solve them. That doesn't make me unique, in the slightest. Lots of people here, can easily say the same, and they probably solve much more difficult issues than I. That's one of the reasons I like coming here. I'm not the smartest person in the room. I have found great comfort in surrounding myself with people that humble me. It can be difficult, at times, but I feel that I need to learn something new, every day, and I don't get that, by staying in my comfort zone.

I also speak Swift without an accent. I've been writing Swift, seven days a week, 52.14 weeks per year, since the day it was announced, in 2014. I've also been shipping apps in Swift, since not too long, afterwards.

Everything I do is geared towards "ship."

That often means that my solutions and workflows are not always optimal, or "academically pure." Duct tape and baling wire. Make it work. I take a great deal of care in the Quality of my work, but it is not always "exemplary." It needs to work, work well, and be maintainable. I also like to get to the point, where I leave it behind, and move on to the next project[6].

SO helps me to quickly find "correct" solutions. I don't like duct tape and baling wire. I'd like to do it right, the first time. That's pretty much exactly the spirit behind my latest question [4].

Note that the question got almost immediate downvotes and close votes. That happened within seconds of it being posted.

But it was answered. It was answered in a rather condescending way, but I got what I needed. I then took that answer, and configured it into something that I could ship[7], and, eventually, into something that I could share[8].

Now, that was a productive interaction for me. It gave me the answer I needed, I was able to greencheck someone for answering it, even if they did so, looking down on me, and I was able to repackage their response into something that can be quite useful, in the future.

When I ask well-researched, well-documented, windy questions, they are usually ignored, like so[9], and I end up answering my own question. Sometimes, these self-answered questions get fairly popular[10], or even unanswered ones[11].

It's fairly plain that the SO folks think of people that ask questions as "supplicants," and to be looked down upon. Look at all the folks with massive scores, and single-digit question counts (the digit is frequently "0").

Here's an exercise: Go to Meta, and suggest that people applying for positions of authority have at least a 10% question-to-answer ratio.

Why would you want a general that doesn't know what it's like to be pinned down in a shellhole?

Enjoy your downvotes and attacks.

Happy now?

[0] https://stackoverflow.com/users/879365/chris-marshall

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34654770

[2] https://stackoverflow.com/users/879365/chris-marshall?tab=an...

[3] https://stackoverflow.com/users/879365/chris-marshall?tab=qu...

[4] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/75361518/accessing-an-io...

[5] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/thats-not-what-ships...

[6] https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/leaving-a-legacy/

[7] https://stackoverflow.com/a/75364118/879365

[8] https://github.com/RiftValleySoftware/RVS_Generic_Swift_Tool...

[9] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/62697317/strange-link-er...

[10] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/66736704/ibdesignable-ui...

[11] https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26736909/how-do-i-add-th...

I don’t ask questions, because people take a very carefully explained, explicit question and post irrelevant stupid comments on it (“why are you doing this?”) instead of answering the question.

I don’t answer questions, because people upvote wrong answers and vindictively downvote answers to the actual question (which is why everyone posts comments instead of answering, because you can’t down vote them for it).

People care more about karma than actually helping.

The quality issues are real, but really?

I care not at all if 90k+ karma folk leave. Just leave. If you don’t like what it is, go hang out somewhere else. Why are you there if you’re not trying to help people?

What I care about is the people patiently answering questions in a way that is correct, not antagonistic, not ducking off because it took more than 5 minutes and they can get better karma somewhere else.

…almost like, a dedicated support community who care about a topic. That’s a nice idea. You could probably find one of those for your topic of interest and get help there from nice people. That’s what I do now. The folk there are generally quite lovely, because they actually care.

The people on stack overflow, by and large, are not nice, do not care and won’t help you if you have any really hard problems to solve.

An AI would be just as good, if it had decently accurate answers.

But that doesn't get you the sweet sweet ad money I guess. Quick Stack Overflow, make another blog post no one gives a shit about, and continue banning 90k rep users over rollback wars.