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Isn't it advantageous for a company to use StackOverflow instead of a forum?
6 points by elchief on June 9, 2013 | hide | past | favorite | 5 comments
I'm a coder, and there's still a lot of companies using crappy web forum software.

Why run a forum when you could point customers to StackOverflow, and have your tech support guys lurk there to help them?

Reasons I see it would be advantageous:

- don't need to host a forum (less bandwidth, server usage)

- better answers as there's less duplication, and bounties for unanswered questions

- but most importantly, people like me look at the number of questions/answers on StackOverflow to see if a new product is worth pursuing or not.

Full disclosure: I am not affiliated w SO, but I am a fan and regular user.



The Android team has already done this: http://android-developers.blogspot.co.uk/2009/12/hello-stack...

As has Facebook: https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/545/

And perhaps others; these are not one-offs, StackOverflow has a policy of setting up these kinds of relationships.


Because Stackoverfow is not a place where you can't ask for help or open questions. There are restrictive rules for the type of question one may ask. So I don't think Stackoverflow is what a company should use.


It seems like what you're describing is close to what GetSatisfaction provides.

The obvious advantage of running your own is integration with your CRM system and moderation powers.


Perhaps http://moot.it answers your needs?


Something like moot kind of kills off-site collaboration (like email and chat) when you cannot right click + copy and save a link. If there's a way to get a link to individual threads, it's not intuitive at all, unfortunately.




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