Where else do you ask questions?

April 30, 2023 6:28 PM

I used to have a whole catalog of where I'd ask questions for different topics

now it's less than meagre
hobbies - google "hobbyname noobs reddit"
wikipedia refdesk - a very small crowd here, and elderly. Good for finding references and bad takes
straight dope general questions - i haven't been around here for a long time, moderation was no good. This one's also good for "ask old people's opinions" as well as some factual things.
never once used quora because everything on their site is account-locked

the topic i'm interested in right now is tech support. google search has gotten bad. chatgpt helps but has odd approaches sometimes. my topics specifically right now are linux, python, gpt plugins.

posted by Sterros to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Python Discord is pretty active.
posted by staggernation at 6:33 PM on April 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Reddit -- mainly for questions local to my city.
posted by NotLost at 7:53 PM on April 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

stack overflow for programming / tech questions.
posted by oceano at 8:20 PM on April 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

definitely a dedicated subreddit would be helpful. usually they take things seriously-ish
posted by alchemist at 9:33 PM on April 30, 2023 [2 favorites]

Discords and subreddits. Find the ones dedicated to your area of interest. Don't be shy about asking questions.
posted by riddley at 12:13 AM on May 1, 2023

Response by poster: riddley, i think discords are probably a good tip. i don't love discords but i'll give er a shot.
posted by Sterros at 7:57 AM on May 1, 2023

I was working out some issues involving Linux, Python and plugins yesterday. I don't really know what I'm doing. The advice I got from ChatGPT was not very useful... so I tried Bing Chat, and it was a little better. You can give it error messages and it'll explain them. I got one answer I needed from a web search that took me to stackoverflow.com. My problems all seem to come from various installed things that aren't compatible with each other. Good luck!
posted by The Half Language Plant at 8:27 AM on May 1, 2023

FWIW, on the coding front I'm getting good mileage out of telling ChatGPT "that seems like a weird approach, give me a simpler one." (Or a one that uses Package X, or Approach Y, or whatever.)
posted by deludingmyself at 6:04 PM on May 1, 2023

Response by poster: thanks yes, i am using chatgpt and bing. i need these other forums for times when that's a dead end.
posted by Sterros at 1:59 PM on May 4, 2023