About Stack Exchange
[Due to some limitations on SE, the following is an excerpt from the full version which can be found on Medium (bare URL: https://medium.com/@laterofstackexchange/about-stack-exchange-4ef7a662d910) or on Substack (bare URL: https://laterofstackexchange.substack.com/p/about-stack-exchange).]
TL;DR: If your main purpose of visiting Stack Exchange is knowledge exchange and you do not want to experience disturbance and disappointment on this platform, come to this platform ONLY for knowledge exchange and nothing else.
If I had to visit just one place on the web, Stack Exchange (SE) would certainly be my only choice. Why? The answer has nothing to do with the SE platform's facilities and functionality. What drives me to this platform is in fact the knowledge exchange and repository (the "main" part of SE) resulting from many people's contribution to SE over more than a decade.
On the other hand, the "meta" part of SE has a whole different story. By "meta" I mean the set of any activity on SE except the knowledge exchange, including moderation, policies, norms, post voting, closure, deletion, editing, etc.. Not making this writing tedious, I will not provide details and evidence. However, I want to share my many years' experience with SE so that those whose main concern is only to exchange knowledge will unlikely encounter disturbing situations during their activity on SE (Although the following points are based upon interaction with two specific SE communities, Math Stack Exchange and Meta Stack Exchange, their application can be extended to other SE communities due to the essential common features SE communities have validating these points):
- Freedom of speech is not a granted right to SE users. ...
- Do not care about meta actions on posts. ...
- Stay away from meta sites as far as possible. ...
- Stay away from moderators as far as possible. ...
- Stay away from the SE community managers as far as possible. ...
- Obligatory norms of a community can be very different from the written guidelines. ...
- SE is not the only means of knowledge exchange. ...
About Later
Later is nothing but a being seeking the truth in the the realms of Mathematics and Physics, an autodidact and a lifelong learner not affiliated with any educational institute.
Notice: My inactivity on the Stack Exchange platform for more than 14 days would signal my death. Until then please tolerate me.
Updated May 27, 2023
