I'd much rather those questions be documented in the documentation. I don't know how I'd have learned much of what I know now if StackOverflow had been the top 8 search results instead of various manpages and TLDP references that were deeply useful.
It's also very annoying when the top Google result for a query is a StackOverflow thread that has been closed as a duplicate. They should put up a <link rel="canonical"> or something so Google doesn't lead people to the dirty, dirty duplicate.
While the griping's good, let me throw a jab at discussion forums that lock old, unanswered threads. These old, unanswered threads are very frequently in the top 10 Google results for something I'm trying to learn. It's incredibly frustrating to read through a dozen "me too" posts to find that the last one says, "This thread has been closed. If you want to ask a question, start a new thread." AAAARRRGH! New rule: if you close an unanswered thread, delete it from Google. Better yet, understand the part your forum is playing in the information world and let someone who knows the answer to an ancient question post that answer.
It's also very annoying when the top Google result for a query is a StackOverflow thread that has been closed as a duplicate. They should put up a <link rel="canonical"> or something so Google doesn't lead people to the dirty, dirty duplicate.
While the griping's good, let me throw a jab at discussion forums that lock old, unanswered threads. These old, unanswered threads are very frequently in the top 10 Google results for something I'm trying to learn. It's incredibly frustrating to read through a dozen "me too" posts to find that the last one says, "This thread has been closed. If you want to ask a question, start a new thread." AAAARRRGH! New rule: if you close an unanswered thread, delete it from Google. Better yet, understand the part your forum is playing in the information world and let someone who knows the answer to an ancient question post that answer.