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The invitation E-Mail included the following text:

The first questions set the tone for the site. If you ask high quality, expert-level questions, you'll build a site that attracts the experts and pros who will make it really successful. But if you ask beginner questions, survey questions, or social-conversation questions, experts and pros will not be interested.

We don't have many questions yet - we're just one day in yet - but it seems like we're falling into the "beginner question trap". To me the exchange kinda feels like the Joomla forum with many beginner questions, chatty questions and short answers.

I'll admit I'm employing a bit of a double standard here, having not asked a single question myself. (I've just not been working enough with Joomla lately) I think it would be helpful to see more questions like this one Method for creating a subquery using JDatabase (however this one might work better if it was posted as question + answer) instead of questions covered dozens of times in blog posts.

So in essence, please post about the most difficult think you've encountered at work today. Already solved the problem? Great, add the answer too!

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    I myself am afraid of contributing in such a way as many others are much more advanced than myself. Furthermore I started to dive into FOF for my development which felt very different. I would really like to see this as a success for Joomla! Having only one - two weeks feels short in my experience of encountering an abundance of critical or high quality questions for content. Some quick questions that come to mind sound vague and/or often answer themselves in the process of development.
    – poproar
    Commented Apr 24, 2014 at 8:21
  • Think you mean: too low quality
    – sovainfo
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 13:06
  • Of course, thank you
    – Rouven Weßling
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 13:09
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    @poproar: We don't have to solve everything or make this site awesome in a week. We are just planting the seeds and getting things growing. The site will be awesome as more and more people use it over the next months and years!
    – David Fritsch
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 21:25
  • Don't agree the "post about the most difficult think you've encountered today" but what is written in the email made the point, definitely.
    – MattAllegro
    Commented May 18, 2014 at 19:33

3 Answers 3

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I would be much more worried about the quality of the answers than the quality of the questions. Simple questions, or questions that are fairly open ended, are not necessarily bad, since I think that lots of people new to Joomla would have them. Also, the fact that they have been answered elsewhere (on blogs and things) is not enough to rule out asking them again, since I think the answer will be much more apparent in the Stack Exchange format than it would be in any other place.

I am concerned by the quality of the answers. These early questions are somewhat simple, but they will likely continue to be referenced and discovered in search results for years! By providing a simple, couple-sentence answer that makes sense to other experts is happening too much right now. I would encourage everyone to take some time and leave longer answers that reference other materials and can be a good reference moving forward.

I have been commenting on some answers trying to get them to edit it with more information. I will likely also respond with my own answers that more fully answer the question as I have time.

To make this work, I recommend everyone do three things:

  1. Don't be afraid to add an answer to a questions that is like another answer, as long as you plan to go in to more detail
  2. Visit questions that you have already visited if you see that they have activity, especially somewhat general questions. If you see new answers that provide more detail, vote them up!
  3. If you have answered questions, take a minute to go back and provide more details, edit for clarity, and work comments back into your answer. It isn't just a race to answer quickly; it is also the option to leave a nugget of wisdom out there that can help people that have that same question next week, month, or year.
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When you look at http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/58842/joomla we are not doing bad, after 2 days. Only users and visits need to be improved:

  • 28 question/day target:15
  • 91% answered target:90%
  • 21 avid users, 197 total target:
    • 200+rep:21 target 150,
    • 2000+rep:0 target 10,
    • 3000+rep:0 target 5
  • 2.8 answer ratio target:2.5
  • 401 visits/day target:1500, 500 needs work.
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    To be fair, the stats there are based more on public beta than private beta - in private beta, your job is to set the stage for everyone. Which you want to do with good quality questions and answers, naturally. Main thing though is, let's not focus on numbers - let's focus on the content itself.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 14:28
  • Looked at your reputation, don't doubt your statement. The message about being in private beta, public beta starting soon is kind of misleading. Starting to regret my decision to support this initiative!
    – sovainfo
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 15:08
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    Regarding the progress of this into public, I've got high hopes for the site at the moment. At worst it'd take one additional week - private betas generally take either one week or two weeks depending on whether they pass with flying colors or if they are basically on the way but need more time. You shouldn't feel discouraged - I think we look to be on the road to a 1-week public debut.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 16:37
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You are reading my mind. I certainly feel like we are in the J forum. The answers are very low quality except from few. And those few seem to be from PLT which explains the devotion.

Here is one question I had. It tends to test the users Joomla knowledge.

Should I use JResponse::setBody or onContentPrepare for strings replacements?

But the answers are more of a users opinions on how things should be done in Joomla instead of actual answer.

Getting answers like "test what you asked and tell us" is not what stack is about.

I see people accepting answers just because someone has answered a question. On stack you accept an answer when someone helped you out, and not because he/she is talking to you.

I hope this will change.

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    But unlike the J forum, votes can bring the good answers to the top of the page and relegate simple, opinionated answers to the bottom. So I think the focus is not to stop people from giving simple answers but to only upvote good answers. The average user won't scroll past the first answer or two, so as long as the good answers get to the top, this site will be an awesome resource.
    – David Fritsch
    Commented Apr 25, 2014 at 21:27

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