Our Q&A Site Is Stack Overflow

Two or three times in the past twenty years, we’ve created Forum pages where people can ask their Method R support questions, and then people can both see other people’s answers and contribute their own. It has gone kind of like this:

Me: I’m going to create a new Method R forum. It will become a vibrant community where people come to ask and answer questions about Method R.

The Internet: OMG, you are so adorable…

Each time, we’ve ended up with an ugly, barely searchable, barely-used forum, except by spammers, who use it a hundred times a day.

Then we sit down and try to think of something that would work better. Something clean and nice, where people can contribute, and where they can vet and refine each other’s contributions. Something that people actually visit. Something like Stack Overflow.

The answer is obvious. It’s Stack Overflow.

Stack Overflow is a question and answer site for professional and enthusiast programmers.

• Stack Overflow is all about getting answers. It’s not a discussion forum. There’s no chit-chat.
• Good answers are voted up and rise to the top. The person who asked can mark one answer as “accepted.”
• You should focus on questions about an actual problem you have faced. Include details about what you have tried and exactly what you are trying to do.
• Not all questions work well in our format. Avoid questions that are primarily opinion-based, or that are likely to generate discussion rather than answers.
• All questions are tagged with their subject areas. Each can have up to 5 tags, since a question might be related to several subjects.
• Click any tag to see a list of questions with that tag, or go to the tag list to browse for topics that interest you.
• Your reputation score goes up when others vote up your questions, answers, and edits.
• As you earn reputation, you’ll unlock new privileges like the ability to vote, comment, and even edit other people’s posts.
• The goal is to have the best answers to every question, so if you see questions or answers that can be improved, you can edit them.
• Use comments to ask for more information or clarify a question or answer.
• Remember: we’re all here to learn, so be friendly and helpful!

Stack Overflow is one of the most valuable sites on the web for programmers and DBAs. It is a firmly established ecosystem, and it works really, really well. …As long as you use it properly, which is not that hard to learn how to do.

We believe that using Stack Overflow (SO) instead of hosting our own Q&A site is better for the community and better for Method R. You’ll get great information and earn valuable SO reputation. We’ll learn, too, and earn broader awareness of our work.

To ask a Method R question, first visit https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/oracle to learn whether your question has already been asked and answered. If you have a new question, ask away. Just use the oracle tag.

We’ll be watching for you!