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Proposal: Is my code right is already amply covered by Stack Overflow and Code Review.

And what wouldn't be covered thereon, are most likely homework-type questions, which are typically frowned-upon in the "give me teh codez" format.

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Either the code works (post in on Code Review) or it doesn't (post in on Stack Overflow with a description of everything you have tried).

In the first case you know it works, and in the second case you know it doesn't work. In neither case does the question "Is my code right" make sense. If you have code that runs without error, but you are uncertain if the output will always be correct, then you want a question and answer site for testing, and naming it to reflect this will cut down on people referring you to Code Review or Stack Overflow.

If you really want a site for fixing code that doesn't work, that is unlikely to attract followers since Stack Overflow already covers this.

If you want a site for finding out if you have the correct approach to a problem, you can ask general algorithm questions on Programmers.

If you want a site for asking about testing your code to find out if it is functioning correctly, you may attract more followers if the name is clearer. However, you will still face the obstacle that many new sites have had to face - there is already a tag on Stack Overflow for testing. Many of those tagged questions are more generic questions about testing rather than presenting a piece of code to be tested, but that reflects the general attitude on many Stack Exchange sites of "show me how" rather than "do it for me". Emphasising a difference in approach that encourages posting code to be tested by others may distinguish your site from Stack Overflow.

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  • Code Review is for working code. If you post a "Help me with this code, please" question there it will get swiftly downvoted and closed. Stack Overflow is for interesting questions about programming. If you post a "Help me with this code, please" question there it will get swiftly downvoted and closed. – Dale Wilson Jun 18 '14 at 20:10
  • And yet all the lousy questions on SO get answers! There is obviously a need. There are obviously people willing to fill that need. There is obviously a problem now given all the bitchin' about bad questions on SO. Let's give them a home OTHER than SO or CR! – Dale Wilson Jun 18 '14 at 20:11
  • And I propose that it be called "Programmers' Help Desk" – Dale Wilson Jun 18 '14 at 20:11
  • A question and answer site for people who don't have the time to write questions...? – trichoplax Jun 18 '14 at 22:20
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(reiterating what I said in comments as an answer)

There are many questions that do not fit in CR or SO. If someone posts these questions there they are severely punished via down voting, question closing, and even eventually banning.

Yet these questions still show up -- in fact they dominate the current set of questions coming into Stack Overflow! (at least my home page is full of marginal-at-best questions.)

This is a severe problem. Experienced/hi-rep people are complaining and/or just giving up on SO because it's not worth their time to wade through the horses**t looking for the pony. (or they stay and bitch -- secretly pleased that they can be cool and disparage the lesser folk (but that's a different issue)).

On the other hand there seem to be a lot of people who are eager and willing to answer these questions -- the "bad" SO questions still get answers (until they are closed.) The people who answer "bad" questions get scolded. When a question gets closed they lose the rep they gained -- hence losing the time they may have spent researching and responding to the "bad" question.

SO gets the reputation as being "unfriendly to newbies" on one hand, and "swamped with useless questions" on the other.

Providing a place that would WELCOME gimme-teh-codz questions, would give those that want to ask and answer these questions a place to play. That's nice, but the real benefit would be the improvement in SO. Think of all the questions to which you could respond. "This question belongs on the Programmers' Help Desk. Go ask it there!"

Yes, there will be lots of "bad" questions on the Programmers' Help Desk, but you won't have to read them!

It certainly seems like "A Good Thing[TM]" to me.

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  • And who would want to hang out on such a site? I believe there's been some questions on the Stack Exchange Meta about this. Most answers are saying that on a site purely built for "gimme-teh-codez" questions, no experts would hang out there. – Simon Forsberg Jun 23 '14 at 23:13
  • As I already mentioned, there are people (lots, actually) who answer the "Gimme-teh-codez" questions. They seem to enjoy them. Give them a home where they can happily accumulate Programmer Help Desk rep points without clogging up Stack Overflow or Code Review. – Dale Wilson Jun 24 '14 at 19:59
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No, its for debug so you must have code that doesn't work. After you have tried to fix it, done research and cant fix it you may get advanced help from the wider community.

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    Sounds pretty much like the material posted daily at StackOverflow… where exactly does it differ? – e-sushi Apr 24 '14 at 22:09
  • StackOverflow does not allow you to post your code and ask why its not working. If you do you get a bad response with down vote ovensive or non constructive comments/answers and close/on-hold. – Curlip Apr 24 '14 at 22:15
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    @curlip it usually happens when you haven't shown any effort in investigating the origins of the problem. There is a rule that you should first try to study a subject yourself (and then explain how it did/didn't help you fix the problem) so that other users have something more to work with other than simply your code out of context, which is difficult enough on its own. – user1306322 Apr 24 '14 at 22:18
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    Of course you can post your code to StackOverflow and ask why its not working. The only thing is – people will ask what you have tried and where exactly you’re experiencing problems. So, let me get this straight… am I understanding you correctly that you are proposing a site where people just post their non-working code without explaining anything and without showing some minimal effort to solvetheir problem? That would indeed make it different to SO, but personally I doubt that’ll result in a working Q&A site. – e-sushi Apr 24 '14 at 22:21
  • A site were it is specifically code debugging. – Curlip Apr 24 '14 at 22:22
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    @curlip such a site would require enforcing some rules to make it easier for the community to help debug the code by first explaining what it is supposed to do, how it doesn't work and what you have tried to fix it and why you think you failed. Such rules are already in effect on SO and they do accept such questions. Chances are close to zero that a new site would be created to drain audience from an existing site (SO). – user1306322 Apr 24 '14 at 22:27
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    @curlip You say, "After you have tried to fix it, done research and cant fix it". But if you have done this then it would be perfectly on topic at Stack Overflow. – starsplusplus Apr 25 '14 at 8:16
  • Why not call it codefix or something like that? Can you imagine ismycoderight.stackexchange.com? Thats a mouthful! – AwesomeUser Jun 13 '14 at 20:45

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