tags: #rant
Let me be upfront: I hate those 2 sites, and all their ancillary/sidekick sites. They bring new meaning to the word “gatekeeping” – because in this case gatekeeping is an inherent part of the system, explicitly designed to operate aggressively.
In my case, it was a particularly annoying jerk whose name I will disguise as “fpuebrqre”, who basically made it impossible to even ask a question, leave alone get any responses. His responses, not just to me, but many others, made you wonder if he had a dayjob at all, because he was not a part-time jerk, but pretty much a 24x7 jerk :-)
Anyway, after a few attempts, and in utter disgust, I closed my account and never looked back.
This was several years ago, and I had kinda forgotten about all this. But a recent thread on HN reminded me of it, and also made me realise I’m not the only one! In particular, the (current) top comment has this to say:
Even I had internalized the vagaries and neuroses of the SO community but I had heavy reticence to ask questions, knowing I’d have to consider all the ways a bully eager to use their powers might misunderstand me. I can’t imagine asking a question there without having had lurked for longer than a typical Bachelor’s + Masters program.
Pretty strong.
I bear only ill-will to SO/SE. I hope the sites continue to suffer a decline and it’s gatekeepers become more and more frustrated at not having anyone to “bully” with “their powers”.
Hell, I may even start liking this AI thing if that happens :-)