Should we adjust the format of the dev-tip questions early on?

Question

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

   • language-agnostic - the question isn't related to a particular programming language but rather more a meta information regarding API usage, e.g. How to get the count of a query efficiently.
     => NO

   • cross-language - the question will benefit from answers with code snippets per programming language, e.g. How to format reputation numbers similar to Stack Exchange sites.
     => MAYBE

     • I'm not entirely sure about this one, I'd appreciate the semantics outlined above but for some reason the tag has only been used 13 times on SO so far, maybe there is something better I'm not aware of right now?

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!

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

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 ?

Answer 3

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

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