Shog9

#How to ask for a recommendation without going shopping

There's an old cliche about the kid who starts learning to play guitar, learns his first chord, and - head filled with notions of becoming the next Hendrix - jumps into the nearest guitar forum and posts, "WHAT ARE THE BEST STRINGS/PICK/AMP/PEDALS FOR PLAYING ROCK MUSIC???"

It is this attitude of ignorant optimism that four years ago inspired Jeff to write Q&A is Hard, Let’s Go Shopping!, a cautionary tale based on this problem's manifestation on Super User. Over the years, that post has gone on to be used as a warning against questions looking for products and resources far removed from computer hardware, precisely because of how common this problem is: when you don't yet know enough to ask for a solution to a specific problem, it becomes well-nigh impossible for anyone to provide you with one. The inimitable Kate Gregory described them thusly:

The key to a shopping question is

#In praise of editing: new badges and changes to suggested edits

##We rolled out three new badges this week!

These recognize a pattern that sets Stack Exchange apart from the forums and message boards that came before it: answering and editing questions, the ability to not only write an answer that can be useful beyond the immediate asker but also

1 android adb turn on wifi via adb
0 How to check whether a UVM analysis port is connected?
0 Line Break in Html Select Option?
0 How does Java handle integer underflows and overflows and how would you check for it?
0 C# send a simple SSH command
0 Detecting grayscale images with .Net
-1 [c# asp.net how can i change the image url of button (it's type is image ) when i click the button in](http://stackoverflow.

Attempted: +1 of the two answers here I like that this one caches the element references and only traverses the DOM once.
Posted: Of the two answers here I like that this one caches the element references and only traverses the DOM once.
Attempted: +1 for contribution :)
Posted: for contribution +1 :)

Answers scoring >= 20 on questions scoring <= -1 when the answer was posted and now scoring >= 1

75101-1

Question Score	Answer Score	Q Score when answered	Answer Link	Answered	Current Reversal Badge
21	36	-1	Replacing angular with standard web technologies	Nov 7 2014 8:31AM
68	49	-1	Loop with a zero execution time	Nov 6 2014 4:25AM

	<ul>
	<li><a href="http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/190237#comment719288_190241">Yes, 240 LOC takes too long to type into Google.</a> </li>
	<li><a href="http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/4766#comment717452_4789">How would all of that criteria, ie views, score, updated, differ from the <code>activity</code> sort? How is so</a> </li>
	<li><a href="http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/46093#comment716507_46142">honestly i think the only thing of value here is “The interpretation of this would depend on how the</a> </li>
	<li><a href="http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/65423#comment705736_65425">@psubsee2003 oh thanx for the info.</a> </li>
	<li><a href="http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/216491#comment702476_216496">I agree with Tim. This gives a chance for intermediate programmers to build a rep.</a> </li>
	<li><a href="http://meta.stackove

	Comments from users who could only have left them because the rep threshold for leaving comments on MSO is 1 (so, 3rd-party posts, not answers to comment author's own question).

	Ordered by date, most recent first. Deleted comments (or comments on deleted posts) marked with *

	- \* [Is it possible to delete your own comment? ok it is possible!](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/16065#comment721259_16067)
	- [@Shog9 Ah, I see. In that context I misinterpreted as you referring that to Bright Journey. My apolo](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/214315#comment721204_221567)
	- [@Shog9 Who are you referring to with the profanity?](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/214315#comment721198_221567)
	- [@Shog9 I'm not sure why it would have taken this long to just save the gravatars locally and serve t](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/214315#comment721187_221567)
	- [@Shog9 This is

	Criteria: deleted in the past 30 days (as of 3/3/2014), deleted by at least 2 users who are not moderators, deleted within 24 hours of being closed.

	- -2 [C# Where to go from here?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/21640391)
	- -3 [IEEE Papers on network installation of Linux operating systems](http://stackoverflow.com/q/21645646)
	- -3 [user defined function required in object oriented programming](http://stackoverflow.com/q/21647802)
	- -3 [Newbie working in PuTTY/VI](http://stackoverflow.com/q/21648808)
	- -3 [We use update solr based on any feild instead of key feild](http://stackoverflow.com/q/21652886)
	- -3 [how to access page as per role ASP.NET](http://stackoverflow.com/q/21660606)

-##Questions deleted within a day of closure by vote in the 30 days preceding 9/14/2014
- - -2 [Parsing semi formatted lines in python](http://stackoverflow.com/q/25535696)
- - -3 [Need advice on a JS library or similar](http://stackoverflow.com/q/25535113)
- - -3 [Making instances and tests in C#](http://stackoverflow.com/q/25506421)
- - -3 [Where is it more appropriate to store simple User Preferences?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/25470197)
- - -3 [What to download along with python?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/25476240)
- - -3 [OpenGL or High Performance Computing labs with remote access](http://stackoverflow.com/q/25499498)
- - -3 [Pre-Silicon and Post-silicon validation u

	#What is a meta for?

	A guest at my house over the weekend stood puzzled next to my driveway. "What is that for?" she asked, pointing to a framework of 2x4s and hardware cloth, perched on an old tire amid piles of sand. "Sifter." I said. "For what?" "For sifting gravel." "Why?" "To line walking paths, such as the one you're standing on..."

	Spend enough time working with something, and it's easy to forget how strange and unnatural your makeshift tooling can appear to those unfamiliar with it.

	Such is the nature of these meta sites. For 5 years, we've been directing folks to them for discussion and feedback, to commune with their community, hash out misunderstandings, propose changes and document the current state of things. And... We haven't always been good about helping them get past the initial shock and confusion of dealing with this system. This has manifested in several unfortunate behaviors:

	- Downvoting of legitimate support questions - those that are not duplicates and reflect an actual bug