

ServerFault launches - it's StackOverflow for sysadmins - spolsky
http://serverfault.com/

======
patio11
They automatically migrate your information from StackOverflow based on your
OpenID. (It started me with 101 rep, too.)

Find the man responsible for that decision and reward him appropriately,
please. That is the kind of Obvious Usability Win that is anything but
obvious.

Relatedly: My bank until recently required you to log in with a long numeric
string, instead of a memorable ID like everywhere else on the planet. Then
they upgraded to the 21st century and decided to allow people to pick
memorable IDs. So they of course have a form for it. When I went to it, it
said "Hey, we noticed that you use $NAME as your ID at $BROKERAGE, a company
which we own. For your convenience, we're going to set your ID to $NAME. If
you want to change it, click below."

Honestly if there was any way to figure out what person was individually
responsible for the intra-company political hell that went into getting that
approved I would have sent him a cake in the mail on general principles.

~~~
danw
Does it keep your rep consistent between StackOverflow and the new site? Or is
the porting only at signup?

~~~
niyazpk
They just port the user data. Reputation points are seperate (that makes
sense).

------
bradgessler
Probably the greatest "side affect" from StackOverflow and ServerFault is
watching ExpertsExchange slowly wither away into a moldy corpse.

~~~
donniefitz2
I couldn't agree more. Nothing's more annoying than Googling for an answer to
a problem, failing to look at the source of the link and ending up at Experts
Exchange. Instant back button.

~~~
nopassrecover
Scroll down :-) Or use Google cached version.

For it to show to Google bot it has to be visible for you too - if it's not
then they'll get penalised by Google.

~~~
pj
If you "view source" for the web page, you can see the responses in there. I
wish google had a "never show results from website" option, because of that
website.

~~~
der_ketzer
There's a firefox search engine without experts exchange results
<https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/10687>

------
jawngee
This site is the most aggravating thing I've ever f'ing used in my life.

I can't post a link because I'm a new user? Are you f'ing kidding me?

I can only post one answer every three minutes? Are you f'ing kidding me?

Dudes, I'm an expert in a variety of domains and I'm not interested in playing
what appears to be a game to participate in your site. In other words, I have
a lot of value to bring to your site, but am not really all the interested in
making a hobby out of it.

I understand you probably have spam problems, but there are other ways to do
it that aren't frustrating for people with a wealth of knowledge that want to
add value to your site. HINT: Bayesian filtering on new posts might mitigate
some headaches!

So, good job, you just discouraged someone with a lot to offer!

~~~
Quarrelsome
Heh, blame the people that have played with the site thus far. Most of those
measures are a direct response to shameless bot-ing by users who like to play
(and "break" things).

------
sutro
Great job, Joel. Now get to work on these variations:

SnackOverload - StackOverflow for people who like snacks

CrackedTwoByFour - StackOverflow for people who need refunds for defective
building materials

CrackFoSomeHos - StackOverflow for crack whores

StackCoverFlow - this is still StackOverflow, but with a CoverFlow UI

~~~
moe
Also needed:

CashOverflow - Gadget shopping advice for rich people

StuckInARole - Job advice for nerds

StruckByAHole - Software Security

~~~
abalashov
Don't forget MyFaultYourFault - an arbitration/dispute resolution service.

This could actually be wildly successful in the startup community, if not for
the tiny little fact that most significant disputes don't occur between peers
or equals, but rather between sheep (startups) and wolves (BigCo). And any
situation in which the sheep are put into the position of negotiating with
wolves does not lead to good outcomes, as a surgeon pointed out
([http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_...](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande?printable=true)).

------
sdragon
I'd like to take the opportunity to suggest a variation of this for
business/startup related Q&A. The few existing sites I know of, are full of
spam/misinformation/product promotion, so there seems to be a clear market for
ex-geeks/new business owners to freely exchange information.

------
deutronium
Ive noticed a few posts seem to be closed as they are deemed "subjective and
argumentative", personally I think this is a shame, as yeah, although the
answers may be subjective, its still useful to hear different opinions on
something. Cool site though.

------
heresy
Nice work, guys.

Where were you when I was still slaving away in the network admin pits? :)

------
jrockway
So is the "woot" badge an advertisement for woot.com, or did they just steal
the logo?

~~~
Dobbs
See: <http://serverfault.com/badges/66/woot-enthusiast>

Woot was the launch sponsor for Server Fault so it would be an advert.

------
vaksel
makes sense for them to do this

