Sometimes, when I have 5 minutes of waiting for something to install/compile/run, I peruse the #help section to see if there's anyone that is asking a question I can help with.
People are misusing this tag, and assuming it's for articles that are to help people (I used to do it too), which is going to kill the purpose of it.
If I go to the #help section, and the top 2/3 articles are not people asking for help I usually just stop. Sometimes I'll post a comment trying to educate, but then I see the same person posting an incorrect article under that tag again the next day.
This section really needs some moderation... I've no idea if the mods of dev will see this post but, if you do, please do something.
Top comments (8)
Maybe we also need a reminder when you're creating a post for certain tags... For example if you try and publish something and you use the "help" tag, a popup asks you to confirm if you're asking for help, or giving it. If you're asking, it keeps the tag. If you're offering help, it removes it.
It's a good idea, I think education/moderation should be tried before adding more steps though ๐
Hi Si, #beginners & #python mod here. You can actually send an email to yo@dev.to if you want to moderate the #help tag ๐
Ah I didn't know that, maybe I will ๐
No pressure ๐ We all have our own jobs aside from being a mod at DEV ๐
I've emailed ๐ - It'd be good to make it a place where people can come and ask for help.
Thanks for the heads up!
Maybe making it more like stackoverflow ๐ but thank you that actually help others ๐
The joys of language. Not everyone "gets" the implied difference between "help" (i.e., seeking assistance) and "howto" (i.e., offering assistance โ frequently simplified โ with a topic).