StackOverflow - like many popular forums - is a place where a lot of <i>inexperienced</i> people end up spending their time. This is almost a tautology: "pop-forums full people that act inexperienced" end up that way because... inexperienced people end to flock towards popular sites full of like-minded people.<p>Given that most people will at least try to helpful, you end up with a lot of people re-distributing the bits of knowledge they've learned. This often starts as cargo-cult behavior, and - if left to grow in isolation - it can turn into groupthink[1].<p>It's easy to jump to the conclusion that some form of moderation or judicial process is needed; if the greater resource is to be saved, the trolls/n00bs/"children" need to restrained so they can't make a mess that pollutes the community. I think this approach fails to address the actual problem: that some people need a lot more <i>education</i> before they can progress past the "inexperienced n00b"/"child" stage.<p>The mechanics in place at StackOverflow - even with its flaws - can be a very useful tool. If enough people who <i>are</i> experienced (in technical or social areas) spent some time there regularly, the extra role models would help this greater social problem a lot. Answer the same n00b questions over and over is annoying, but that's the kind of effort it takes to maintain a community across generations.<p>[1] Regardless of what you think of the language itself (or this well-known rant against it), the article "PHP: a fractal of bad design"[2] is a good case-study of what happens if that groupthink is left in isolation far too long.<p>[2] <a href="http://eev.ee/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/" rel="nofollow">http://eev.ee/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/</a>
I see this on Reddit, StackOverflow, Youtube, and pretty much every other community site. I'm not sure if it's because there are actual kids posting or socially inept and immature adults.<p>Either way, the mob mentality is startling and shows me why we need a proper judicial system.