Discuss StackOverflow as option to give support

[vsund]

Some big open source projects (citation needed) use StackOverflow to give developers support. Recently a question on StackOverflow got tagged with blockstack which raised the question how we would like to give support.

This issue is meant to discuss the pros and cons of letting people post on StackOverflow for support. I'll start with some things I have in mind:

Pros:

• many people there (who possibly answer too)
• common site for developers (low friction)
• high google ranks / easily visible
• more open way to give support (in terms of an open source community)
• platform is designed for giving support (topic based, nothing gets lost in a linear chat room, etc)

Cons:

• another place to scatter information
• another place which needs care and activity
• external site / another dependency
• might be confusing for non-developers (how bad are two places for requesting support?)

[pstan26]

@vsund Generally think this is a positive idea. Had a conversation with someone today the need for this -- he was puzzled we weren't on it. Think this could strengthen and grow the community + gain critical exposure. cc @shea256 @jackzampolin @muneeb-ali @guylepage3

[jackzampolin]

I think this needs to be a broader question about how we see support moving forward: a more hands off OSS approach, or do we want to continue to offer email support? I think there is some value (need to weigh with cost) in continuing to offer email support. It gives us a great channel for capturing user feedback and gives users a touch point with Blockstack.

If we keep the email channel I don't think spreading the support effort over more channels is going to be a way to more effectively reach users having issues. Also StackOverflow is primarily for devs. Is that the support experience we want to point them to?

I can start checking for new questions about Blockstack, but would push back against us directing folks there.

[brettdewoody]

I chimed in on the related Slack conversation earlier so I'll leave my input here too:

In the Slack conversation I asked about using Stackoverflow as a main support channel. I failed to realize the range of support required - it's more than developers with programming issues.

So, I agree with @jackzampolin that directing folks to Stackoverflow would be confusing and complicate providing support. I am against directing users (even devs) to Stackoverflow.

However, it's likely more blockstack questions will be posted to Stackoverflow, and preventing them will be difficult. But the Stackoverflow community should help here.

Since Stackoverflow is a developer community most growth in the blockstack tag is likely to be from developers working with the Blockstack Core API, BlockstackJS library and Blockstack related programming questions. Also, the Stackoverflow community is really good about closing 'off-topic' questions - questions not about programming.

Meaning it's unlikely Stackoverflow will become a confusing 2nd support option for non-devs. The topics on Stackoverflow should stay focused on Blockstack-related programming questions and issues. And many of these questions will be answered by the Stackoverflow/Blockstack community before we're even aware they were posted.

In summary - I anticipate we'll inevitably see more activity in the blockstack tag on Stackoverflow (providing exposure to devs), the topics will stay focused on Blockstack programming issues, and the community will help provide solutions. Win, win.

[vsund]

After thinking some more about this, I think we should not switch to StackOverflow for support.

Although greater exposure is a really good point (@pstan26), I think we should let this grow organically and at some point the natural interest for posting things on StackOverflow will be there (and then it's important to be right there to help, so we need to check regularly).

For support right now we should try to divide in two categories: Developers and users.

• Developers should post their problems/issues/questions on the respective GitHub repository, then someone adds useful tags and answers it (it's important here to check very often and try to get back as quick as possible).
  • This is especially useful because you have all problems directly in your workspace. Issues can get marked as resolved (handy when searching for solutions) and you can subscribe to and track them (and assign, ...).
  • GitHub issues are one of the first places where developers look anyway :)
• Users should write their problems per mail to some general support mail address.
  • Someone can pick the issue up and can individually help to resolve it (more helpful / better support).
  • We can easily ask for feedback while communicating directly with the user (and feedback will be much more targeted on specific things).

And once we agreed on a specific model how to handle these cases, we probably want to write this down and add this somewhere to this repository :) (For us to lookup how we decided how to give support but also for people to point to (e.g. a list of repositories where one should open which kind of issues).)

[jackzampolin]

Closing per @vsund's change of mind and our decision not to use SO for support