Re: bug#20968: 25.0.50; Be able to specify the output directory for `byte-compile-file'

[Artur Malabarba <bruce.connor.am@gmail.com>]

2015-07-05 19:09 GMT+01:00 Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>:
>> Then we may wish to make our answers better and more usable as well.
>
> No, we can't: we can only reply with additional info, but we can't
> retroactively fix our earlier replies.  That's the difference between
> a curated answer site like SX and a mailing-list like GEH.

To be fair, that's the difference between mailing-lists and any online
forum whatsoever. Being able to edit answers is a basic requirement
for a Q&A system that wants to present quality answers that rank
highly in search engines. Being able to edit the questions themselves
is another one (since a lot of questions are asked very poorly, which
makes them difficult for other people to find).

Then there are the differences that stack-exchange presents, which are
what make them standout so much over all the other bajillion systems
that let you edit answers. Amongst them are the voting system, the
moderation philosophy, the objective-questions-only policy, and maybe
others I can't think off here.

I don't think help-gnu-emacs should strive to achieve all that. I
think it's a fine place for discussions, and an OK place for Q&A, but
trying to be awesome at Q&A (besides being a tremendous task) would
probably imply being bad at discussions (as is the case with
stack-foo).