

Isn't it advantageous for a company to use StackOverflow instead of a forum? - elchief

I&#x27;m a coder, and there&#x27;s still a lot of companies using crappy web forum software.<p>Why run a forum when you could point customers to StackOverflow, and have your tech support guys lurk there to help them?<p>Reasons I see it would be advantageous:<p>- don&#x27;t need to host a forum (less bandwidth, server usage)<p>- better answers as there&#x27;s less duplication, and bounties for unanswered questions<p>- but most importantly, people like me look at the number of questions&#x2F;answers on StackOverflow to see if a new product is worth pursuing or not.<p>Full disclosure: I am not affiliated w SO, but I am a fan and regular user.
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twic
The Android team has already done this: [http://android-
developers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/hello-stack...](http://android-
developers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/hello-stack-overflow.html)

As has Facebook:
[https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/545/](https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/545/)

And perhaps others; these are not one-offs, StackOverflow has a policy of
setting up these kinds of relationships.

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chmike
Because Stackoverfow is not a place where you can't ask for help or open
questions. There are restrictive rules for the type of question one may ask.
So I don't think Stackoverflow is what a company should use.

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ig1
It seems like what you're describing is close to what GetSatisfaction
provides.

The obvious advantage of running your own is integration with your CRM system
and moderation powers.

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tipiirai
Perhaps [http://moot.it](http://moot.it) answers your needs?

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yareally
Something like moot kind of kills off-site collaboration (like email and chat)
when you cannot right click + copy and save a link. If there's a way to get a
link to individual threads, it's not intuitive at all, unfortunately.

