April 20, 2012 at 1:56 pm
I feel without marking a post as "Answered", it always doubtful whether the answer submitted proved useful or not.
My suggestion is to have a top-level category: Answered. There can be two or more correct answers, so the member should be able to mark:
- Best Answer
- Alternate
or something like that.
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Blog: www.irohitable.com
April 20, 2012 at 2:35 pm
If you search through the suggestion forum, this comes up every 6 months or so.
What is the 'best answer'? One of the first rules about SQL is that there's seldom one best answer for all cases.
Who decides if a solution is correct? The person asking the question can't, if they knew what the correct answer was, they wouldn't be asking the question.
What happens when the OP follows some utterly dangerous advice without realising it, marks that very dangerous advice as 'The Correct Answer' then goes away (because he's happy) and a few hours later some other people come along to correct the advice, but the very dangerous solution remains marked as 'The Correct Answer'
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
April 21, 2012 at 4:01 am
The person asking the question will come to know whether the answer is correct or not by trying out and seeing the output. This is applicable to forums where the answer depends on the output.
I also partially agree with you on who will decide the Best Answer. For this I'd like to say that the top contributors will decide the best answer. You can set a point limit, like Stack Overflow. Only members above certain point level can decide best answer. The person who asked the question can only mark the post as Answered.
At present, the visitors have to watch and read each and every answer. If the question is marked "Answered", the visitor can immediately determine which answer was close enough.
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Blog: www.irohitable.com
April 21, 2012 at 4:16 am
Rohit Khare (4/21/2012)
The person asking the question will come to know whether the answer is correct or not by trying out and seeing the output.
So, let's say there's a question is about handling a full transaction log.
The first reply says to detach the database, delete the log and reattach the database. The OP tries that and it works. Should that be marked as the answer? It'll sometimes do what the question asks. It'll sometimes destroy your database beyond recovery.
Take a dev question. Someone asks for a query that produces a particular output. Someone posts a solution that works, but it not guaranteed to work in all circumstances (depends on behaviour that's not consistent), however the person posting it doesn't say that (may not even know). The OP tries it in a test environment and it works. Should that be marked as the answer (given that it might not work in all cases)
Debate and discussion is one of the things we encourage here. If you want a 'marked as answer', 'top voted post' mechanism, we have stack-overflow site as well for those who prefer that mechanism http://ask.sqlservercentral.com
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
April 21, 2012 at 4:36 am
Each forum has its own plus and minus. Stack Overflow is not dedicated to SQL Server but a common platform to ask any type of questions.
Any forum answer is not guaranteed to work in all scenarios. The scenario may not have been disclosed by the person asking the question.
Anyway, it is just a suggestion. Accepting or rejecting it is up to you.
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Blog: www.irohitable.com
April 21, 2012 at 4:39 am
Rohit Khare (4/21/2012)
Each forum has its own plus and minus. Stack Overflow is not dedicated to SQL Server but a common platform to ask any type of questions.
I didn't suggest stack overflow as an alternative. I said we have a stack overflow-type SQL board here for those who prefer the 'marked as answer', 'top-voted post' style over discussion forums at http://ask.sqlservercentral.com
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
April 21, 2012 at 4:56 am
Ok. That's good.
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Blog: www.irohitable.com
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