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After Good Subjective, Bad Subjective was posted, the Stack Overflow FAQ was updated with this:


Actually, every site's FAQ was updated with that line. SO is a special case, though. It's already got Programmers SE as a home for its subjective questions. Therefore, allowing subjective posts on SO is unnecessary, and will just cause further confusion among an already-confused audience. And besides, the blog post even says

"Insisting on objectivity is fine for computing..."

I move that we strike the new line from the FAQ and return SO to being an objective-only site.

(Sorry if this is a dupe, but searching for "subjective stack overflow programmers" brings up half the questions ever posted on MSO.)

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"Return SO to being an objective-only site" sounds like a bit of revisionist history to me. I don't ever remember a time when SO was officially designated an "objective only" site. –  Robert Harvey Oct 15 '10 at 17:38
@Robert, in theory, all the original sites were objective-only. In practice.... –  Pops Oct 15 '10 at 17:47
I still hate the idea that there is a separate site. Why can't we keep all the programming related information on one site rather than diversify the audience. The whole reason we ended up with a split is because of these subjective questions causing so many 'should it be wiki or not' arguments. If wiki is dead and subjective questions are allowed maybe we can re-consolidate the sites. –  PaulG Oct 15 '10 at 18:45
I've just scanned down the front page of 'programmers' and I'm even more convinced they need consolidating. There are a good half dozen questions on that site that unquestionably should be on SO. Having the separate site solves nothing, it just moves the argument about 'is this subjective or not' onto two different sites. –  PaulG Oct 15 '10 at 18:51
Sorry if this is a dupe, but searching for - What I'm hearing is "I'm not dedicated enough to find the dupe" :) –  Jared Harley Oct 15 '10 at 22:48
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1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote accepted

The defining difference between Stack Overflow and Programmers.SE is NOT objective vs. subjective. Stack Overflow is about "coding." Programmers.SE is about "programmers." Don't confuse cause and effect. A great, supportable subjective (but not too subjective) question about coding on Stack Overflow is just as valid as any other site… as long as it follows the criteria.

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The difference is so small, deceiving and opinion-based that it will just end in a bloodbath. –  Stefano Borini Oct 30 '10 at 21:40
The programmers.SE FAQ begs to differ: "Programmers - Stack Exchange is for expert programmers who are interested in subjective discussions on software development." –  george Oct 30 '10 at 22:52
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