9

Update:

I've 'averaged' the few answers and comments and included the respective result below each question (all results are executed accordingly for some time already in most dev-tip posts). The empirical base here is obviously quite low, but so is the activity on Stack Apps in general still, hence this should do for now and can be updated/adjusted as needed.


I really like the approach code poet has taken with his dev-tip series and would like to see this evolve into a developer recipe like cookbook kinda thing/HOWTO/FAQ. However, if I look at the list of questions tagged dev-tip several questions pop up immediately. So I'd like to open a short discussion on the following early on, assuming this is a good time to refine the format without triggering to many change requirements; please consider each question as a separate topic in principle:

  1. Shouldn't we drop the prefix 'Dev-Tip'?
    => YES

    • I know prefixes like this are a very subjective matter of personal preference, but repeating the tag in the title seems not to be considered good practice elsewhere in the Stack Exchange network - I think it adds more noise than value, especially since all questions do start with an equally noticeable 'How to' right now ;)
  2. Shouldn't we revert to the question/answer format?
    => YES

    • Given the intended purpose might be getting several solutions more often than not (e.g. per language) I'd personally prefer if the questioner would state the problem/topic only in the question and add his own tip as an answer immediately.

    • This would allow the question to develop more easily into the information hub for the topic at hand, e.g. link to those different implementations per language etc.

  3. Should we adopt the following tags from SO?
    => see below

  4. Should we drop the 'dev-tip' tag? [added from code poets answer]
    => NO

    • I agree with code poets reasoning here to keep it because this communicates the initial intent of the post being guidance, see his answer for details.
  5. Should posts be community wiki immediately? [added from Kevin Montroses comment]
    => NOT JUST YET
    [nobody except Kevin seems to see this issue at the moment and he didn't provide any further reference or explanation for why he is suggesting this in particular]

    • I'm aware and in favor of the community wiki concept in general and think this would make sense for the question immediately indeed. However, this would turn all answers into cwiki automatically too, which wouldn't properly honor/motivate the effort put into posting a code snippet for another programming language for example. So this is a bit difficult - I'm not into the respective meta discussions, couldn't this get sorted over time, i.e. use cwiki automatically/voluntarily for the moment and see how it evolves?

Most of this is pretty subjective and I think there is no need to argue about it other than exchanging opinions to see whether an easy agreement can be reached here or there - the dev-tip category can continue unchanged as well and will still be highly useful!

6
  • Ya... they are nice, but could use some formatting adjustments. +1 for "Shouldn't we revert to the question/answer format?" - 'cuz we should. Jul 6, 2010 at 18:38
  • +1, I like the dev-tip series, too, and as I hinted in my comment here, they should be in a question and answer format consistent with the SE scheme. However, it just occurred to me that precedent has been set for deviating from Q&A by having app announcements. SA, as it seems, is both meta and not-meta. Jul 6, 2010 at 19:26
  • The one thing I would suggest is to cwiki all of them, there's an air of rep farming that could really get out of control as more people start using StackApps. Jul 7, 2010 at 0:12
  • @Kevin Montrose - interesting point, I've added it as question 5. I don't see right now how adding valuable information as @code poet and others did e.g. for How to format reputation numbers similar to Stack Exchange sites. could be misread as reputation farming one day? But as mentioned I'm not into the respective meta discussions and couldn't find a good description of the issue immediately, so could you please elaborate a little or reference a good post regarding this? Thanks! Jul 7, 2010 at 10:57
  • @kevin, do you mean the questions or the answers? Jul 26, 2010 at 13:12
  • @code poet - both. Jul 26, 2010 at 18:34

3 Answers 3

3

As I said, I like it. As usual, Steffen presents a well considered opinion and one that I agree with.

The dev-tip is just something I started doing without much thought except 'hey, for those trying to do [insert common api related task], here is a way to do it'.

  1. Shouldn't we drop the prefix 'Dev-Tip'? - Yes
  2. Shouldn't we revert to the question/answer format? - Yes
  3. Should we adopt the following tags from SO? - Maybe?
    • obviously we cannot add a tag for every language implementation of a use case, so it should be assumed that unless otherwise noted that the post is language-agnostic. It would take a clearly specific use case to warrant a language tag.
  4. Should we drop the 'dev-tip' tag?
    • I kinda like it as it makes it clear that the initial intent of the post is guidance. Other questions that originate as RFI and garner clear code samples could evolve into a dev-tip.

I will edit my posts as soon as we get a larger sample of opinions.

1
  • +1 - You have a point regarding number 3, language-agnostic would indeed be implied if nothing else is specified. Your tag removal following CMS' answer motivated me thinking about how to address the tag limit issue, but for that we'd need a/the cross-language tag only, if at all. PS: I integrated your number 4 into the question. Jul 6, 2010 at 19:54
3
  1. Shouldn't we drop the prefix 'Dev-Tip'? - Asap!
  2. Shouldn't we revert to the question/answer format? - Yes, i would like to see questions title like "How to.."
  3. Should we adopt the following tags from SO? Uhm, i would find cross-language useful
  4. Should we drop the 'dev-tip' tag? Nope, i like it.

EDIT:
what should i do with a question like this one How to format an url-friendly slug for question urls that at first, was not intended as a dev-tip question but after two answers with php and javascript solutions it has became a valid candidate?

Should i change the title, rephrase my question and add dev-tip tag ?

4
  • sure. 'how to format an url-friendly slug for question urls' or some such title with a dev-tip tag should do the trick. Jul 7, 2010 at 5:22
  • @code ok, changed..let me know if it sounds good. Jul 7, 2010 at 6:31
  • 1
    sounds good to me (+1 over there). And thanks for pointing me there as I just had a ROTFLMAO moment concerning Igors Attribution is a double-edged sword, isn't it? comment ;) Jul 7, 2010 at 11:07
  • if it sounds good to you, it sounds good to me. Jul 7, 2010 at 23:39
2

I think we also need a consistent tagging style. I propose [dev-tip] + [support].

Of all the required tags, support is the best fit.

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