I don't have a particularly strong opinion on this one way or another, but I lean towards the side of less strict moderation, and I think that very metaphor fits my reason why:
For me, one of the biggest advantages of the college classroom over the high school one was that digressions, side topics, and open-ended discussion occured far more frequently in my college classrooms than in my high school classrooms. Think of it as the difference between being taught to a test and just learning things. There still needs to be some moderation so that things stay focused overall, but often those side trails spark some really interesting, useful discussions. Education doesn't have to be narrow.
I think your analogy perfectly fits why I like strict moderation in SO. I hate hearing my CS classmates demonstrate their "intelligence" in the form of questions they already know the answer to, and I hate when the class gets sidetracked by hypothetical situations that will never pertain to me. I want to learn things and move on to the next class. Same with SO: I want my answer so I can get back to the project at hand.
"Same with SO: I want my answer so I can get back to the project at hand."
The problem there is, where does the motivation for people to provide you with "your answer" come from?
Do you really think there's pool of people out there who think "Maybe RegEx has a problem at work today, I'll just go check StackOverflow to see if I can answer todays question for him."?
Or do you think it's more likely there are a bunch of people interested in various coding topics, who enjoy discussing problems and solutions? How long do you supposed that second group of people will hang around if "strict moderation" starts deleting any "interesting discussion", because questioners are complaining "I just want my damned answer!"?
Sure, StackOverflow reputation points are one source of motivation, but if I had the choice between getting my questions answered by people wishing to maximise their StackOverflow reputation, and getting my questions discussed by people who're interested and engaged experts in the field - I'd join the second discussion every time.
Discussion is the operative word. We only tolerate the minimum amount of discussion necessary to generate a better question and better answers (ideally in the form of edits, not an endless stream of back and forth bickering that nobody will ever read), and no more.
If you're looking for a system that is designed to solicit discussion, Stack Exchange is not that. Not by a long shot. It's kind of the ... opposite of that.
Hi Jeff! I really don't understand your posts regarding stack exchange here. Now and in many previous threads, you defend stack exchange by explaining the model, as if we didn't understand it. Everyone here complaining about the stack exchange network understands the model perfectly. We don't buy it! We don't like it! We don't believe in it. We complain about it because we believe stack exchange would be a better place if things were done differently. Reiterating the same old story over and over again accomplishes nothing.
hmm then wouldn't it make sense to create a new stack-exchange site just for programming discussion and these type of questions that don't qualify for stack-overflow and move them there? stack-discussions or something?
That way there would be a place for people to have these discussions while keeping it separate from stack-overflow?
You're far exaggerating the scope of my comment, and you somehow boiled it down to a false dichotomy of "Do you want people motivated by points, or people who are experts?"
Discussions over the best solutions happen frequently on SO. Poor solutions are criticized, good solutions are expanded upon.
> The problem there is, where does the motivation for people to provide you with "your answer" come from?
Easy. Some people just love to educate. I love to educate - I write tutorials frequently. Some people use SO to educate, while others use forums.
Part of the beauty of SO compared to an actual classroom is that the more open-ended discussion going on in a different question wouldn't keep your question from getting its straightforward answer. It would be read just by the people who found it interesting, instead of taking up shared class time.
I don't think the jargon question example from the article here is well suited for even a looser SO, as it's more entertainment than education, but there are lots of productive questions that don't have black and white answers that I've still enjoyed seeing SO discuss.
For me, one of the biggest advantages of the college classroom over the high school one was that digressions, side topics, and open-ended discussion occured far more frequently in my college classrooms than in my high school classrooms. Think of it as the difference between being taught to a test and just learning things. There still needs to be some moderation so that things stay focused overall, but often those side trails spark some really interesting, useful discussions. Education doesn't have to be narrow.