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Proposal: SharePoint Overflow

Is it really desirable to have a site on such a narrow subject? I mean: you can find more than 6000 questions about SharePoint on StackOverflow, and it seems to work just fine.

That's a slippery slope. Will we get a site for each Microsoft technology?

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    If this site is not broad enough, why do not extend the target to other related Microsoft technologies like, for example, Team Foundation Server?
    – Drake
    Commented Feb 28, 2011 at 15:31

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IMHO, the "problem" with SharePoint is that it is a DEV platform, IT PRO platform and end user platform, so you get questions about it on various SE sites like (SO, SF, SU) and then on others like Pro Webasters etc.

We really need a single place for all these questions, and in last year or so SharePoint Overflow 1.0 was great SharePoint Q&A resource.

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    That's a key point - Stack Overflow is for programmers. SharePoint as a programming platform is only one, arguably small, part of the story.
    – Alex Angas
    Commented Feb 21, 2011 at 21:47
  • Every software implies an end user at some point. Development is never only about developers. What makes SharePoint different from any other platform?
    – Alexis Dufrenoy
    Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 21:46
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    SharePoint is a "broad platform", one could say it is similar to Wordpress, and Wordpress does have it's own SE. So I really do not see the problem with SharePoint having one if we can get enough people to sign in. Our global community is very strong we just need a single place for Q&A.
    – Toni Frankola
    Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 22:45
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    @Traroth As Toni mentioned, we could have the same argument about Wordpress, yet it got it's own site. SharePoint is much more then Wordpress and covers a much broader range of topics.
    – BinaryMisfit
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 7:10
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    I was mad as hell when StackOverflow decided to split all SharePoint config, IT PRO / infrastructure questions over to ServerFault. As far as I could see, all it did was to keep StackOverflow as a pure developer Q&A site, and severely splintered the SharePoint knowledge. Consider a question: What are the PROs and CONs of using many site collections vs many sites within a SharePoint application. There are reasons why one is better than another from both IT PRO as well as DEVELOPER's point of view. On both SO and SF you don't get the full picture.
    – John Liu
    Commented Mar 16, 2011 at 5:53
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Since it's a migration proposal and the site already works, I believe it already has the critical mass to be a successful SE 2.0 site. I get answers faster on SharePoint Overflow with regards to SharePoint questions then what I do with the Trilogy.

Also, anyone that deals with SharePoint on a daily basis will tell you that often a problem covers more then just one level of running SharePoint. A development problem can quickly be a server problem etc.

Have a look at the existing site to see for yourself SharePoint Overflow

Some existing stats: The site already has 3500+ questions, and a 49 pages of users. That's more then some of the sites that have graduated has had to date.

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  • SharePoint Overflow doesn't seem to be related to StackExchange. So how it is relevant to kind of bypass the legitimity question of this project just because a foreign project already exists? Risk is here to take the audience from StackOverflow, and I still don't think it's a good idea.
    – Alexis Dufrenoy
    Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 21:53
  • Actually, there are much more SharePoint questions on StackOverflow than on SharePoint Overflow. So the risk to take this happy audience from StackOverflow really exists.
    – Alexis Dufrenoy
    Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 21:57
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    @Taroth SharePoint Overflow is a Stack Exchange 1.0 site being migrated to Stack Exchange 2.0. Those that truly understand SharePoint understands why using the Trilogy is not enough. Not every Microsoft Technology needs it's own site, but there are exceptions.
    – BinaryMisfit
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 5:41
  • @Traroth It depends on your definition of "happy". SharePoint Overflow was created on Stack Exchange 1.0 due to the need from the community.
    – BinaryMisfit
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 7:09
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Just reinterating what has already been said here. 'SharePoint' covers a huge breadth of technology inlcuding:

  • IIS
  • Networking
  • Load balancing (software and hardware)
  • Reverse proxies
  • Protocols (Http/Https)
  • SQL Server
  • ASP.Net
  • Javascript
  • Microsoft Office
  • Business Intelligence (PerformancePoint/SSRS/PowerPivot/Excel Services)
  • Enterprise Content Management
  • Document Management
  • Workflow
  • Connections to legancy systems
  • Enterprise Search
  • PowerShell scripting

And so much more, these are just things that have fallen into my path in the last few months. Each of these produces a huge volume of high quality questions and answers.

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  • And the site should be the exclusive Q&A site for all these technologies? Are you kidding?
    – Alexis Dufrenoy
    Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 21:49
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    @Traroth: I think @Charlie means in the context of SharePoint.
    – Alex Angas
    Commented Feb 23, 2011 at 22:06
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    @Traroth. For example, you can't use IIS the normal way if SharePoint is installed, since it takes over the IIS configuration on the machine. Again. The SharePoint scope is broad since it is a combination of different products and technologies in one place.
    – BinaryMisfit
    Commented Feb 24, 2011 at 7:11
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I personally think an issue here is that it's only us that know the platform inside out know the full scope.

Others see SharePoint has just a single piece of the MS stack, and (worse?) see it only as an application development platform.

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    Agreed. I think SharePoint is most likely the most misunderstood software package out there, and falls in a similiar category to DAX and SAP. It is a tool with various pieces to achieve a goal, not an out of the box solution to everything. SharePoint is like onions... It has layers... Lots and Lots of Layers.
    – BinaryMisfit
    Commented Feb 28, 2011 at 12:16
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    and like onions, it can make you cry.
    – John Liu
    Commented Mar 16, 2011 at 6:00

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