Screenshot of Stack Overflow as of December 2011 |
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| URL | stackoverflow.com |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Question & Answer |
| Registration | Optional; Uses OpenID |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Stack Exchange, Inc. |
| Created by | Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood |
| Launched | August 2008 |
| Alexa rank | 112[1] |
| Current status | Online |
Stack Overflow is a website, part of the Stack Exchange Network,[2][3] featuring questions and answers on a wide range of topics in computer programming.[4][5][6]
The website features the ability for users to ask and answer questions, and, through membership and active participation, to vote questions and answers up or down and edit questions and answers in a wiki fashion. Users of Stack Overflow can earn reputation points and "badges"; for example, a person is awarded 10 reputation points for receiving an "up" vote on an answer given to a question, and can receive badges for their valued contributions,[7] which represents a kind of gamification of the traditional Q&A site or forum. All user generated content is licensed under a Creative Commons license.[8]
As of August 2011[update], Stack Overflow has about 771,000 registered users,[9] and more than 2,000,000 questions. Based on tags assigned to the questions, the most common topics on the site are C#, Java, PHP, JavaScript, jQuery, and iPhone.[10]
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The website was created by Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky in 2008[11][12] as a more open alternative to earlier forums such as Experts Exchange. The name for the website was chosen by voting in April 2008 by readers of Coding Horror, Atwood's popular programming blog.[13] The design of the Stack Overflow logo was also put to a vote. On July 31, 2008, Jeff Atwood sent out invitations encouraging his subscribers to take part in the private beta of the new website, limiting its use to those willing to test out the new software. On September 15, 2008 it was announced the public beta version was in session and that the general public was now able to use it to seek assistance on programming related issues.
On May 3, 2010 it was announced that Stack Overflow had raised $6 million in venture capital from a group of investors led by Union Square Ventures.[14][15]
Stack Overflow is written in ASP.NET 3.5[16] using the ASP.NET MVC (Model-View-Controller) framework.[17] Unregistered users have access to most of the site's functionality, while users that sign in using the OpenID service can gain access to more functionality, such as establishing a profile and being able to earn reputation to allow functionality like re-tagging questions or voting to close a question.
In April 2009, the owners of Stack Overflow began a private beta for Server Fault, a sister site. The site deals exclusively with questions and answers related to the field of system administration.
Super User, a sister site dedicated to questions from all computer "power users",[18] rather than just programmers or system administrators, entered a "semi-private beta" in July 2009[19] and was launched publicly on August 18, 2009.[20]
Meta Stack Overflow became the site for questions about the sister sites themselves and various other meta-level discussions.[21] Most support, feature-request and bug report entries were moved from stackoverflow.uservoice.com in July 2009.[22]
Area 51 is a "New Site Stage Zone".[23] This is intended for anybody to create their own Q&A site on any topic, using similar software.
Careers, located at careers.stackoverflow.com, is a new undertaking by the Stack Overflow team. The goal of the careers site is to create a job-seeking service aimed at companies that are seeking top quality programmers. Careers allows Stack Overflow members to link their Stack Overflow profile with their online CV created on the careers site, allowing employers to browse their contribution history to Stack Overflow. Initially job-seekers had to pay a fee in order to file their resume, i.e. the resume will be searchable by employers, but now it is free for job-seekers.
The Stack Overflow team has recently begun the creation of an API for accessing the data contained on the other sites. Discussion on Stack Apps centers around the API, although users are encouraged to list apps and libraries developed for the API.
Over the course of a user's experience on Stack Overflow they can earn Reputation. Reputation can be earned from asking questions, providing answers, suggesting edits(capped to a maximum amount of 1000 Rep). The more reputation a user obtains the more trusted they are on the site, and the more privileges they are given. The privileges that are earnable are as followed:
In April, 2009 Stack Exchange implemented a policy of "timed suspension", [24] in order to curtail users who either show "No effort to learn and improve over time" or engage in "Disruptive Behavior" and become a nuisance. Criticism surrounding this new feature has focused on the broad nature of such definitions and claim it is contrary to the open nature of the website.[25] Critics also point to the authoritarian tone and punitive nature set by the new policy and the arbitrary judgement it allows. Any person who is not "a potentially valuable and contributing member of the community" may be suspended for a period of time based on a moderator's judgement. Suspension usually starts with a small time increment, usually 1-7 days. If the user continues to show inappropriate behaviour they could be suspended again with increasing time intervals. The suspension is accompanied by a temporary removal of the user's reputation score and a public announcement on the user's profile page informing the community of the suspension and general reason.