2704 lines
123 KiB
HTML
2704 lines
123 KiB
HTML
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<span class="post-meta"
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><time datetime="2019-09-12">12 Sep 2019</time>
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</span>
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<h2 class="post-title">
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<a href="/the-rise-of-the-electric-scooter/"
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>The Rise of the Electric Scooter</a
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>
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</h2>
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</header>
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<section class="post-content">
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<div class="kg-card-markdown">
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<p>
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In an electric car, the (enormous) battery is
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<a
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||
href="https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-04-12/electric-vehicle-battery-shrinks-and-so-does-the-total-cost"
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>a major part of the price</a
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||
>. If electric car prices are decreasing, battery costs
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<em>must</em> be decreasing, because it's not like the cost of
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fabricating rubber, aluminum, glass, and steel into car shapes
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can decline that much, right?
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</p>
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<p>
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<img
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src="/content/images/2019/09/ev-battery-costs.png"
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alt="ev-battery-costs"
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||
/>
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</p>
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<p>
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On an <em>electric scooter</em>, though, the effect of battery
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price has to be even more dramatic because scooters are such
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<a
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||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/geek-transportation-systems/"
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||
>lightweight, compact, and simple machines</a
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||
>. They aren't much more than a battery and an electric motor to
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||
begin with. Remember the
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<a
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||
href="https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Sebastopol-s-Zap-Power-Systems-is-banking-on-3067718.php"
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||
>the Zappy electric scooter</a
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||
>
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from twenty years ago?
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</p>
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||
<p>
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<img
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||
src="/content/images/2019/09/zappy-electric-scooter-year-2000.jpg"
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||
alt="zappy-electric-scooter-year-2000"
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||
/>
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||
</p>
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<p>
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What killed the electric scooter back then is the same thing
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||
that
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<a
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||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/electric-geek-transportation-systems/"
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||
>killed the electric car</a
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||
>
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||
of year 2000: terrible lead-acid battery technology. It's too
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||
heavy, it lacks power, it doesn't have enough range, it takes
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||
too long to charge. These are all different ways of saying the
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same thing: <em>the battery sucks</em>. It wasn't until Lithium
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||
Ion batteries matured that both the electric car and the
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electric scooter — and pretty much electric <em>everything</em>,
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if you think about it — became viable.
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</p>
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<p>
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Thus, one way to see if Lithium Ion battery prices are indeed
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generally dropping independent of all other manufacturing
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concerns is to examine the cost of electric scooters over the
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last few years. Let's consider one of the most popular models,
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the Xiaomi Mi M365:
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</p>
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<p>
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<a
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||
href="https://camelcamelcamel.com/Xiaomi-Electric-Long-range-Fold-n-Carry-Ultra-Lightweight/product/B076KKX4BC"
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><img
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||
src="/content/images/2019/09/xiaomi-mi-m365-price-history-2018-2019.png"
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alt="xiaomi-mi-m365-price-history-2018-2019"
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/></a>
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</p>
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<p>
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This graph only shows roughly two years, from January 2018 to
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now; it looks like the original price for the Xiaomi M365 when
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it hit the US market in early 2017 was around $800. So
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<strong
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>the price of a popular, common electric scooter has
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<em>halved</em> in three years.</strong
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>
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Very good news indeed for electric vehicles of all types!
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</p>
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<p>
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This dramatic drop in electric scooter price from 2016 to 2019
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may not be surprising versus the parallel rise of the
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quasi-legal electric scooter smartphone app rental industry over
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roughly the same time period, in the form of Bird, Lime, Skip,
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||
Spin, Scoot, etc.
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||
</p>
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<p>
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<img
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||
src="/content/images/2019/09/electric-scooter-rentals-bird-lime.jpg"
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||
alt="electric-scooter-rentals-bird-lime"
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||
/>
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||
</p>
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<p>
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Early versions of Bird scooters were
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||
<em>actual Xiaomi M365s</em>, slightly modified for rental. Only
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||
by late 2018 had they
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||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_(company)#Vehicles"
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||
>migrated to</a
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>
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custom built, ruggedized scooters optimized for the rental
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market. The rental industries
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||
<a
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||
href="https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-bird-scooters-money-profit-strategy-20190505-story.html"
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||
>have their own challenges</a
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||
>, and ironically have started to pivot to monthly rentals
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rather than the classic 15 cents per minute.
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||
</p>
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||
<blockquote>
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||
<p>
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||
Bird has experimented with its business model in recent
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||
months. In early March, the company altered its repair program
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||
in Los Angeles, which had relied on gig workers to fix broken
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scooters. It moved repairs in-house (though scooters are still
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||
charged each night by an army of gig workers). Later that
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month, the company introduced scooters with locks in some
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markets, in a bid to prevent theft and vandalism.
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</p>
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<p>
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In April, it announced the launch of a more traditional rental
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program in San Francisco and Barcelona, in which users could
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pay $25 per month to rent a Xiaomi m365 from the company
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rather than paying per ride.
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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<p>
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But this isn't meant to be a blog entry about the viability of
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scooter rental company business models.
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</p>
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<p>
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I want to tackle a more fundamental question:
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<strong
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||
>are electric scooters the future of transportation?</strong
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>
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</p>
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<p>
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||
Even Uber, as screwed up of a company as they still are, knows
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cars are overkill for a lot of basic transportation needs:
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||
</p>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
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||
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">
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||
Uber believes their current micro fleet of ebikes and scooters
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can displace trips under 3 miles.<br /><br />46% of Uber's
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rides are under 3 miles 👀
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<a href="https://t.co/OFmb8arZ3j"
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||
>pic.twitter.com/OFmb8arZ3j</a
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>
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</p>
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— Micromobility Industries (@MicromobilityCo)
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<a
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||
href="https://twitter.com/MicromobilityCo/status/1116703423108227072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
|
||
>April 12, 2019</a
|
||
>
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||
</blockquote>
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||
<script
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||
async
|
||
src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"
|
||
charset="utf-8"
|
||
></script>
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<p>
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||
We have plenty of scooters here at my house, and the family and
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||
I enjoy them greatly, but I have never actually ridden or owned
|
||
an electric scooter. So I bought one. It is of course the
|
||
popular, inexpensive, and well reviewed
|
||
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076KKX4BC/?tag=codihorr-20"
|
||
>Xiaomi Mi M365</a
|
||
>.
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</p>
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||
<p>
|
||
<img
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||
src="/content/images/2019/08/m365-scooter.jpg"
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||
alt="m365-scooter"
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||
/>
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||
</p>
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||
<p>
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||
Here's a picture of my electric scooter inside
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||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/electric-geek-transportation-systems/"
|
||
>my electric car</a
|
||
>. (I apologize that I didn't have an electric bicycle to park
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||
next to it for maximum smugness, but you can
|
||
<em>bet your sweet electrons</em> I'll work on that next!)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/09/electric-scooter-in-electric-car.jpg"
|
||
alt="electric-scooter-in-electric-car"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The short version of my review is
|
||
<strong
|
||
>this electric scooter is incredibly fun, works great, and if
|
||
you can get it for a price around $300, practically a
|
||
no-brainer.</strong
|
||
>
|
||
I love it, my kids love it, and as long as you're
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.vox.com/technology/2018/11/2/18053650/elon-musk-electric-scooters-dignity-recode-swisher"
|
||
>conceptually OK with the look, unlike Elon Musk</a
|
||
>
|
||
🛴💨 then you'll probably love it too.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<iframe
|
||
width="560"
|
||
height="315"
|
||
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0JgCn8-aETA"
|
||
frameborder="0"
|
||
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
|
||
allowfullscreen
|
||
></iframe>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I found a neat video covering the "one year later"
|
||
experience of owning the scooter, and what you might eventually
|
||
run into or want to tweak.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<iframe
|
||
width="560"
|
||
height="315"
|
||
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LyzdSktRfVI"
|
||
frameborder="0"
|
||
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
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||
allowfullscreen
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||
></iframe>
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<p>
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(The main thing to take away from this video is that flats
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<em>super suck</em> on tires this small, so be warned. I put
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Slime in my Mi's tires out of an abundance of caution, but you
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could also go with solid tubeless tires – at the cost of some
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||
ride comfort – if you're really worried.)
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||
</p>
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<p>
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That's not to say that the electric scooter experience is
|
||
perfect. There are some challenges with electric scooters,
|
||
starting with the biggest one:
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||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.techradar.com/news/are-electric-scooters-legal-know-the-law-where-you-live"
|
||
>your local government has no idea how to regulate the darn
|
||
things</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Is this regulated like a bicycle? If not, why not?</li>
|
||
<li>Are they allowed on the sidewalk?</li>
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<li>
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Do you have to ride them in the road, with cars … uh,
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||
depending on the speed limit?
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||
</li>
|
||
<li>Do you need a driver's license?</li>
|
||
<li>Do you need a helmet?</li>
|
||
<li>
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Are you even <em>allowed</em> to legally ride them in public
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at all outside of private property?
|
||
</li>
|
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</ul>
|
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<p>
|
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The answers also vary wildly depending on where you live, and
|
||
with no consistency or apparent logic. Here are
|
||
<a href="https://bayareabicyclelaw.com/new-e-scooter-laws-2019/"
|
||
>the current electric scooter laws in California</a
|
||
>, for what it's worth, which
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<em>require the rider to have a valid driver's license</em>
|
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(unlike electric bicycles) and also disallow them from
|
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sidewalks, both of which I feel are onerous and unnecessary
|
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restrictions.
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</p>
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<p>
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One aspect of those laws I <em>definitely</em> agree with,
|
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however, is the
|
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<strong>15 mile per hour speed restriction</strong>. That's a
|
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plenty brisk top speed for a standing adult with no special
|
||
safety equipment. Anything faster starts to get decidedly …
|
||
uncomfortable. Consider
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.ewheels.com/product/new-turbowheel-lightning-957wh-battery-2x-1000w-3600w-motors/"
|
||
>this monster of a 1165KWh electric scooter</a
|
||
>, with dual motors and dual suspension that goes up to
|
||
<em>forty freakin' miles per hour</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<iframe
|
||
width="560"
|
||
height="315"
|
||
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z6O7KmJQbJE"
|
||
frameborder="0"
|
||
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
|
||
allowfullscreen
|
||
></iframe>
|
||
<p>
|
||
That … is … terrifying. Even the reviewer, in full motorcycle
|
||
safety gear, wasn't willing to push it all the way to 40 MPH.
|
||
And I don't blame him! But now that I've shown you the
|
||
undisputed Honda Civic everyman budget model of electric scooter
|
||
in the M365, hopefully this gives you a taste of the wider
|
||
emerging diversity in these kinds of minimalistic electric
|
||
vehicles. If you want a
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.unagiscooters.com/products/the-scooter?variant=15012683448435"
|
||
>luxury</a
|
||
>
|
||
electric scooter, an
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://fluidfreeride.com/products/mosquito-lightweight-foldable-electric-scooter"
|
||
>ultralight</a
|
||
>
|
||
electric scooter, a
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://electrek.co/2019/06/10/widewheel-electric-scooter-off-road-test/"
|
||
>rugged offroad</a
|
||
>
|
||
electric scooter … all things are possible, for a price.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Another reason the M365 is available for so cheap is that is
|
||
successor, the
|
||
<a href="https://www.mi.com/global/mi-electric-scooter-pro/"
|
||
>Xiaomi M365 Pro</a
|
||
>, was recently released, although it is not quite possible to
|
||
obtain in the US at the moment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<iframe
|
||
width="560"
|
||
height="315"
|
||
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1i6g-la23HE"
|
||
frameborder="0"
|
||
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
|
||
allowfullscreen
|
||
></iframe>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Having ridden my M365 a fair bit, I can confirm all the Pro
|
||
improvements are welcome, if incremental: bigger battery and
|
||
disc brake, more power, better display, improved latch
|
||
mechanism, etc.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/09/xiaomi-mi-m365-vs-pro.jpg"
|
||
alt="xiaomi-mi-m365-vs-pro"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
None of those Pro improvements, however, are worth a 2× increase
|
||
in price so I'd recommend sticking with the M365 for now because
|
||
its value proposition is off the charts. Did I mention there's a
|
||
bluetooth connection, and an app, and it is possible to
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.gearbest.com/blog/how-to/how-to-install-xiaomi-m365-electric-scooter-firmware-mod-6635"
|
||
>hack the M365 firmware</a
|
||
>? Pretty cool how electric vehicles are inherently digital,
|
||
isn't it?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Here are a few other observations after riding my M365 around a
|
||
fair bit:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>Please be respectful around pedestrians.</strong>
|
||
Most of the sidewalks around here are not busy at all, but
|
||
the pedestrians I encountered on the electric scooter were
|
||
definitely more freaked out than I’ve seen before when using
|
||
regular kick scooters (or skateboards) on the sidewalk,
|
||
which did surprise me. An electric scooter has more heft to
|
||
it, both physically at 26 pounds, and in the 15 mile per
|
||
hour speed it can reach – but also mentally in terms of how
|
||
it looks and how people approach it. I recommend slowing
|
||
down to just above walking speed when encountering
|
||
pedestrians, and if there is a bike lane available, I'd
|
||
definitely recommend using that.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>Hills work great.</strong> The kryptonite of
|
||
traditional kick scooters is hills, and I'm pleased to
|
||
report that even with a <small>cough</small> sizable adult
|
||
such as myself riding, I was able to sustain a respectable
|
||
above-walking speed on most <em>reasonable</em> hills. Where
|
||
I looked at a hill and thought "this probably should
|
||
work", it did. That's impressive, considering this
|
||
<em>isn't</em> the upgraded Pro model with bigger battery
|
||
and more powerful motor. On flats and downhills the
|
||
performance is superb, as you'd expect. That said, if you
|
||
are a really big or tall adult, or live in a particularly
|
||
hilly area, wait for the Pro model or an equivalent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>Portability is good, but borderline.</strong> At ~26
|
||
pounds, the electric scooter is reasonably portable, but
|
||
it's not something you a) could really get away with taking
|
||
inside a restaurant / store with you to prevent theft or b)
|
||
want to be carrying around on your person for any
|
||
significant length of time. It's not nearly as nimble or
|
||
portable as a kick scooter, but that's a high bar. You'll
|
||
need to carry a bike lock and think about how to lock your
|
||
scooter on bike racks, which turned out to be … more
|
||
geometrically challenging than I anticipated due to the
|
||
small tires, disc brakes, and the engine in the front wheel.
|
||
They need more obvious locking points on the chassis.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
To be honest with you I'm still bitter about the whole
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway_Inc.">Segway</a>
|
||
debacle. There was so much hype back in the day. That ridiculous
|
||
thing was
|
||
<a href="https://www.wired.com/2009/12/1203segway-unveiled/"
|
||
>supposed to change the world</a
|
||
>. Instead, we got … <em>Paul Blart Mall Cop</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/09/paul-blart-segway.jpeg"
|
||
alt="paul-blart-segway"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
A Segway was $5,000 at launch in 2001, which is a whopping
|
||
$7,248 in inflation adjusted dollars. Here in 2019, cheap $200
|
||
to $300 electric scooters are basically the transformational
|
||
technology the Segway was <em>supposed</em> to be, aren't they?
|
||
Are electric scooters the future of (most) transportation? I'm
|
||
not sure, but I do like where we're headed, even if it took us
|
||
twenty years to get there.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<b
|
||
><a
|
||
href="//blog.codinghorror.com/the-rise-of-the-electric-scooter/#discourse-comments"
|
||
>Discussion</a
|
||
></b
|
||
>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</article>
|
||
|
||
<article class="post">
|
||
<header class="post-header">
|
||
<span class="post-meta"
|
||
><time datetime="2019-08-20">20 Aug 2019</time>
|
||
</span>
|
||
<h2 class="post-title">
|
||
<a href="/electric-geek-transportation-systems/"
|
||
>Electric Geek Transportation Systems</a
|
||
>
|
||
</h2>
|
||
</header>
|
||
<section class="post-content">
|
||
<div class="kg-card-markdown">
|
||
<p>
|
||
I've never thought of myself as a "car person". The
|
||
last new car I bought (and in fact, now that I think about it,
|
||
the <em>first</em> new car I ever bought) was the
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/04/12/cult-of-the-ford-svt-contour"
|
||
>quirky 1998 Ford Contour SVT</a
|
||
>. Since then we bought a VW station wagon in 2011 and a Honda
|
||
minivan in 2012 for family transportation duties. That's it. Not
|
||
exactly the stuff
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stig">The Stig's</a>
|
||
dreams are made of.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The station wagon made sense for a family of three, but became
|
||
something of a disappointment because it was purchased before —
|
||
surprise! —
|
||
<a href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/on-parenthood/"
|
||
>we had twins</a
|
||
>. As
|
||
<a href="http://www.online-literature.com/twain/3274/"
|
||
>Mark Twain once said</a
|
||
>:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Sufficient unto the day is one baby. As long as you are in
|
||
your right mind don't you ever pray for twins. Twins amount to
|
||
a permanent riot. And there ain't any real difference between
|
||
triplets and an insurrection.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I'm here to tell you that a station wagon doesn't
|
||
<em>quite</em> cut it as a permanent riot abatement tool. For
|
||
that you need a full sized minivan.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I'm
|
||
<a href="https://philip.greenspun.com/materialism/cars/sienna"
|
||
>with Philip Greenspun</a
|
||
>. Like black socks and sandals, minivans are actually …
|
||
<em>kind of awesome?</em> Don't believe all the SUV propaganda.
|
||
Minivans are flat out superior vehicle command centers.
|
||
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUG3Z8Hxa5I"
|
||
>Swagger wagons</a
|
||
>, really.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/08/a-team-van.jpg"
|
||
alt="a-team-van"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The A-Team
|
||
<a href="https://starcars.fandom.com/wiki/The_A-Team_Van"
|
||
>drove a <em>van</em></a
|
||
>, not a freakin' SUV. I rest my case.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
After 7 years, the station wagon had to go. We initially looked
|
||
at hybrids because, well,
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Oh-so-pious-Prius-drivers-Smugness-drifts-2581016.php"
|
||
>isn't that required in California at this point?</a
|
||
>
|
||
But if you know me at all, you know I'm a boil the sea kinda guy
|
||
at heart. I figure if you're going to flirt with partially
|
||
electric cars, why not put aside these half measures and go all
|
||
the way?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Do you remember that
|
||
<a href="https://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla_model_s"
|
||
>rapturous 2014 Oatmeal comic about the Tesla Model S</a
|
||
>? Even for a person who has basically zero interest in
|
||
automobiles, it did sound <em>really cool</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a href="https://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla_model_s"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/08/oatmeal-tesla-s-spaceboat.jpg"
|
||
alt="oatmeal-tesla-s-spaceboat"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
It's been 5 years, but from time to time I'd see some electric
|
||
vehicle on the road and I'd think about that
|
||
<strong>Intergalactic SpaceBoat of Light and Wonder</strong>.
|
||
Maybe it's time for our family to jump on the electric car
|
||
trend, too, and just late enough that we can avoid the bleeding
|
||
edge and end up merely on the … <em>leading</em> edge?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
That's why we're now the proud owners of a
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a26144426/2019-kia-niro-ev-driven/"
|
||
>fully electric 2019 Kia Niro</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a26144426/2019-kia-niro-ev-driven/"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/08/kia-niro-2019.jpg"
|
||
alt="kia-niro-2019"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I've somehow gone from being a person who basically doesn't care
|
||
about cars at all … to being
|
||
<strong
|
||
>one of those insufferable electric car people who won't shut
|
||
up about them</strong
|
||
>. I apologize in advance. If you suddenly feel an overwhelming
|
||
urge to close this browser tab, I don't blame you.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I was expecting another car, like the three we bought before.
|
||
What I got, instead, was a transformation:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Yes, yes, electric cars are clean, but it's a revelation how
|
||
clean <em>everything</em> is in an electric. You take for
|
||
granted how dirty and noisy gas based cars are in daily
|
||
operation – the engine noise, the exhaust fumes, the brake
|
||
dust on the rims, the oily residues and thin black film that
|
||
descends on everything, the way you have to wash your hands
|
||
every time you use the gas station pumps. You don't fully
|
||
appreciate how oppressive those little dirty details were
|
||
until they're gone.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Electric cars are (almost) completely silent. I guess
|
||
technically in 2019 electric cars require artificial
|
||
soundmakers at low speed for safety, and this car has one.
|
||
But The Oatmeal was right. Electric cars <em>feel</em> like
|
||
spacecraft because they move so effortlessly. There's
|
||
virtually no delay from action to reaction, near immediate
|
||
acceleration and deceleration … with almost no sound or
|
||
vibration at all, like you're in freakin' space! It's so
|
||
immensely satisfying!
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Electric cars aren't just <em>electric</em>, they're utterly
|
||
digital to their very core. Gas cars always felt like the
|
||
classic 1950s Pixar Cars world of grease monkeys and machine
|
||
shop guys, maybe with a few digital bobbins added here and
|
||
there as an afterthought. This electric car, on the other
|
||
hand, is squarely in the post-iPhone world of everyday
|
||
digital gadgets. It feels more like a giant smartphone than
|
||
a car. I am a programmer, I'm a digital guy, I love digital
|
||
stuff. And electric cars are part of <em>my</em> world,
|
||
rather than the other way around. It feels good.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Electric cars are mechanically much simpler than gasoline
|
||
cars, which means they are inherently more reliable and
|
||
cheaper to maintain. An internal combustion engine has
|
||
hundreds of moving parts, many of which require regular
|
||
maintenance, fluids, filters, and tune ups. It also has a
|
||
complex transmission to translate the narrow power band of a
|
||
gas powered engine. None of this is necessary on an electric
|
||
vehicle, whose electric motor is basically one moving part
|
||
with simple 100% direct drive from the motor to the wheels.
|
||
This newfound simplicity is deeply appealing to a guy who
|
||
always saw cars as incredibly complicated (but computers,
|
||
not so much).
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Being able to charge at home overnight is perhaps the most
|
||
radical transformation of all. Your house is now a "gas
|
||
station". Our Kia Niro has a range of about
|
||
<strong>250 miles</strong> on a full battery. With any
|
||
modern electric car, provided you drive less than 200 miles
|
||
a day round trip (who even drives this much?), it's very
|
||
unlikely you'll ever need to "fill the tank"
|
||
anywhere but at home. Ever. It's so strange to think that in
|
||
50 years, gas stations
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/As-EVs-threaten-gas-stations-owners-turn-to-14291843.php"
|
||
>may eventually be as odd to see in public as telephone
|
||
booths now are</a
|
||
>. Our charger is, conveniently enough, right next to the
|
||
driveway since that's where the power breaker box was. With
|
||
the level 2 charger installed, it literally
|
||
<em>looks</em> like a gas pump on the side of the house,
|
||
except this one "pumps" … electrons.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/08/level-2-ev-charger.jpg"
|
||
alt="level-2-ev-charger"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
This electric car is such a great experience. It's so much
|
||
better than our gas powered station wagon that I swear, if there
|
||
was a fully electric minivan (there isn't) I would literally
|
||
sell our Honda minivan <em>tomorrow</em> and switch over.
|
||
Without question. And believe me, I had no plans to sell that
|
||
vehicle two months ago. The electric car is
|
||
<em>that much better</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I was expecting "yet another car", but what I got
|
||
instead was a new, radical worldview. Driving a car powered by
|
||
barely controlled liquid fuel detonations used to be normal. But
|
||
in an world of more and more viable electric vehicles this
|
||
status quo increasingly starts to feel … deeply unnatural.
|
||
Electric is so much better of an overall experience that you
|
||
begin to wonder: why did we <em>ever</em> do it that way?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Gas cars seem, for lack of a better word,
|
||
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-ev-oil-crisis/"
|
||
><em>obsolete</em>.</a
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-ev-oil-crisis/"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/08/ev-sales.jpg"
|
||
alt="ev-sales"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
How did this transformation happen, from my perspective, so
|
||
suddenly? When exactly did electric cars go from
|
||
"expensive, experimental thing for crazy people" to
|
||
"By God, I'll never buy another old fashioned gasoline
|
||
based car if I can help it"?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I was vaguely aware of the early electric cars. I even remember
|
||
one coworker circa 2001 who owned a bright neon green Honda
|
||
Insight. I ignored it all because, like I said,
|
||
<em>I'm not a car guy</em>. I needed to do the research to
|
||
understand the history, and I started with the often recommended
|
||
documentary
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car%3F"
|
||
>Who Killed the Electric Car?</a
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<iframe
|
||
width="560"
|
||
height="315"
|
||
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-sc-NxP6mmI"
|
||
frameborder="0"
|
||
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
|
||
allowfullscreen
|
||
></iframe>
|
||
<p>
|
||
This is mostly about the original highly experimental
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1"
|
||
>General Motors EV1</a
|
||
>
|
||
from 1996 to 1999. It's so early the first models had lead-acid
|
||
batteries! 😱 There's a number of conspiracy theories floated in
|
||
the video, but I think the simple answer to the implied question
|
||
in the title is straight up <em>price</em>. The battery tech was
|
||
nowhere near ready, and per the Wikipedia article the estimated
|
||
actual cost of the car was somewhere between $100,000 and
|
||
$250,000 though I suspect it was much closer to the latter. It
|
||
is interesting to note how much the owners (well, leasers) loved
|
||
their EV1s. Having gone through that same conversion myself, I
|
||
empathize!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I then watched the sequel,
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenge_of_the_Electric_Car"
|
||
>Revenge of the Electric Car</a
|
||
>. This one is essential, because it covers the dawn of the
|
||
modern electric car we have today.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<iframe
|
||
width="560"
|
||
height="315"
|
||
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jkRIu5a6Sb0"
|
||
frameborder="0"
|
||
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
|
||
allowfullscreen
|
||
></iframe>
|
||
<p>
|
||
This chronicles the creation of three very influential early
|
||
electric cars — the
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Leaf"
|
||
>Nissan Leaf</a
|
||
>, the
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt"
|
||
>Chevy Volt</a
|
||
>, and of course the
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_Roadster_(2008)"
|
||
>Tesla Roadster</a
|
||
>
|
||
from 2005 - 2008. The precise moment that Lithium-Ion batteries
|
||
were in play – that's when electric cars started to become
|
||
viable. Every one of these three electric cars was well
|
||
conceived and made it to market in volume, though not without
|
||
significant challenges, both internal and external. None of them
|
||
were perfect electric vehicles by any means: the Roadster was
|
||
$100k, the Leaf had limited range, and the Volt was still
|
||
technically a hybrid, albeit only using the gasoline engine to
|
||
charge the battery.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Ten years later, Tesla has the model 3 at $38,000 and we bought
|
||
our Kia Niro for about the same price. After national and state
|
||
tax incentives and rebates, that puts the price at around
|
||
$30,000. It's not as cheap as it needs to be … yet. But it's
|
||
getting there. And it's
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.corporateknights.com/channels/clean-technology/faceoff-electric-vs-gas-cars-on-cost-15555966/"
|
||
>already competitive with gasoline vehicles in 2019</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/08/2019-civic-vs-leaf-1.jpg"
|
||
alt="2019-civic-vs-leaf-1"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
It's still early, but the trend lines are clear. And I'm here to
|
||
tell you that right now, today, I'd buy <em>any</em> modern
|
||
electric car over a gasoline powered car.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<iframe
|
||
width="560"
|
||
height="315"
|
||
src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kk7ZTn9g7bY"
|
||
frameborder="0"
|
||
allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
|
||
allowfullscreen
|
||
></iframe>
|
||
<p>
|
||
If you too are intrigued by the idea of owning an electric car,
|
||
<em>you should be</em>. It's freaking awesome! Bring your
|
||
skepticism, as always; I highly recommend the above Matt Ferrell
|
||
explainer video on electric vehicle myths.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
As for me, I have seen the future, and it is absolutely,
|
||
inexorably, and unavoidably … electric. ⚡
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<b
|
||
><a
|
||
href="//blog.codinghorror.com/electric-geek-transportation-systems/#discourse-comments"
|
||
>Discussion</a
|
||
></b
|
||
>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</article>
|
||
|
||
<article class="post">
|
||
<header class="post-header">
|
||
<span class="post-meta"
|
||
><time datetime="2019-05-30">30 May 2019</time>
|
||
</span>
|
||
<h2 class="post-title">
|
||
<a href="/an-exercise-program-for-the-fat-web/"
|
||
>An Exercise Program for the Fat Web</a
|
||
>
|
||
</h2>
|
||
</header>
|
||
<section class="post-content">
|
||
<div class="kg-card-markdown">
|
||
<p>
|
||
When I wrote about
|
||
<a href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/app-pocalypse-now/"
|
||
>App-pocalypse Now</a
|
||
>
|
||
in 2014, I implied the future still belonged to the web. And it
|
||
does. But it's also true that the web has changed a lot in the
|
||
last 10 years, much less the last 20 or 30.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2017/05/fat-city-apple-ii.png"
|
||
alt="fat city"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>Websites have gotten a lot … <em>fatter</em>.</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
While I think it's irrational to pine for the bad old days of
|
||
<a href="http://info.cern.ch/">HTML 1.0 websites</a>, there are
|
||
some legitimate concerns here. The best summary is Maciej
|
||
Cegłowski's
|
||
<a href="http://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm"
|
||
>The Website Obesity Crisis</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
To channel a famous motivational speaker, I could go out there
|
||
tonight, with the materials you’ve got, and rewrite the sites
|
||
I showed you at the start of this talk to make them load in
|
||
under a second. In two hours.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>Can you? Can you?</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Of course you can! It’s not hard! We knew how to make small
|
||
websites in 2002. It’s not like the secret has been lost to
|
||
history, like Greek fire or Damascus steel.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>But we face pressure to make these sites bloated.</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I bet if you went to a client and presented a 200 kilobyte
|
||
site template, you’d be fired. Even if it looked great and
|
||
somehow included all the tracking and ads and social media
|
||
crap they insisted on putting in. It’s just so far out of the
|
||
realm of the imaginable at this point.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The
|
||
<a href="http://idlewords.com/talks/website_obesity.htm"
|
||
>whole article is essential</a
|
||
>; you should stop what you're doing and read it now if you
|
||
haven't already. But if you don't have time, here's the key
|
||
point:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
This is a screenshot from an NPR article discussing the rising
|
||
use of ad blockers. The page is 12 megabytes in size in a
|
||
stock web browser.
|
||
<strong
|
||
>The same article with basic ad blocking turned on is 1
|
||
megabyte.</strong
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
That's right, through the simple act of running an ad blocker,
|
||
you've reduced that website's payload by twelve times. Twelve!
|
||
That's like the most effective exercise program <em>ever!</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Even the traditional advice to
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://hackernoon.com/10-things-i-learned-making-the-fastest-site-in-the-world-18a0e1cdf4a7"
|
||
>keep websites lean and mean for mobile</a
|
||
>
|
||
no longer applies because new mobile devices, at least on the
|
||
Apple side, are
|
||
<em>faster than most existing desktops and laptops.</em>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
|
||
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">
|
||
The iPhone XS is faster than an iMac Pro on the Speedometer
|
||
2.0 JavaScript benchmark. It's the fastest device I've
|
||
ever tested. Insane 45% jump over the iPhone 8/X chip. How
|
||
does Apple do it?! ✨
|
||
<a href="https://t.co/5nCKZUCAYK"
|
||
>pic.twitter.com/5nCKZUCAYK</a
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— DHH (@dhh)
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://twitter.com/dhh/status/1043277162676072449?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
|
||
>September 21, 2018</a
|
||
>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<script
|
||
async
|
||
src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"
|
||
charset="utf-8"
|
||
></script>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Despite
|
||
<a href="https://danluu.com/web-bloat/"
|
||
>claims to the contrary</a
|
||
>, the bad guy isn't web bloat, per se.
|
||
<strong>The bad guy is <em>advertising</em></strong
|
||
>. Unlimited, unfettered ad "tech" has creeped into
|
||
everything and subsumed the web.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Personally I don't even want to run ad blockers, and I didn't
|
||
for a long time – but it's increasingly difficult to avoid
|
||
running an ad blocker unless you want a clunky, substandard web
|
||
experience. There's a <em>reason</em> the most popular browser
|
||
plugins are inevitably ad blockers, isn't there? Just ask
|
||
Google:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/05/chrome-best-extensions-google-search.png"
|
||
alt="chrome-best-extensions-google-search"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
So it's all the more surprising to learn that Google is
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://9to5google.com/2019/05/29/chrome-ad-blocking-enterprise-manifest-v3/"
|
||
>suddenly clamping down hard on adblockers in Chrome</a
|
||
>. Here's what the author of uBlock Origin, an ad blocking
|
||
plugin for Chrome,
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/338#issuecomment-496009417"
|
||
>has to say</a
|
||
>
|
||
about today's announcement:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
In order for Google Chrome to reach its current user base, it
|
||
had to support content blockers — these are the top most
|
||
popular extensions for any browser. Google strategy has been
|
||
to find the optimal point between the two goals of growing the
|
||
user base of Google Chrome and preventing content blockers
|
||
from harming its business.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The blocking ability of the webRequest API caused Google to
|
||
yield control of content blocking to content blockers. Now
|
||
that Google Chrome is the dominant browser, it is in a better
|
||
position to shift the optimal point between the two goals
|
||
which benefits Google's primary business.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The deprecation of the blocking ability of the webRequest API
|
||
is to gain back this control, and to further instrument and
|
||
report how web pages are filtered, since the exact filters
|
||
which are applied to web pages are useful information which
|
||
will be collectable by Google Chrome.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The ad blockers themselves are arguably just as complicit. Eye/o
|
||
GmbH owns <a href="https://adblockplus.org/">AdBlock</a> and
|
||
<a href="https://www.ublock.org/">uBlock</a>, employs 150
|
||
people, and in 2016 they had 50 million euros in revenue, of
|
||
which about 50% was profit. Google's
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://help.getadblock.com/support/solutions/articles/6000092027-why-does-adblock-allow-non-intrusive-ads-"
|
||
>paid "Acceptable Ads" program</a
|
||
>
|
||
is a way to funnel money into adblockers to, uh,
|
||
<em>encourage</em> them to display certain ads. With money. Lots
|
||
… and lots … of money. 🤑
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
We simultaneously have a very real web obesity crisis, and a
|
||
looming crackdown on ad blockers, seemingly the only viable
|
||
weight loss program for websites. What's a poor web citizen to
|
||
do? Well, there is one thing you can do to escape the need for
|
||
browser-based adblockers, at least on your home network. Install
|
||
and configure <a href="https://pi-hole.net/">Pi-Hole</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/05/pi-hole-screenshot.png"
|
||
alt="pi-hole-screenshot"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I've talked about the amazing Raspberry Pi before
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-raspberry-pi-has-revolutionized-emulation/"
|
||
>in the context of classic game emulation</a
|
||
>, but this is another brilliant use for a Pi.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Here's why it's so cool. If you disable the DHCP server on your
|
||
router, and let the Pi-Hole become your primary DHCP server,
|
||
<strong
|
||
>you get automatic DNS based blocking of ads for every single
|
||
device on your network</strong
|
||
>. It's kind of scary how powerful DNS can be, isn't it?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/05/pi-hole-action-shot.jpg"
|
||
alt="pi-hole-action-shot"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
My Pi-Hole took me about 1 hour to set up, start to finish. All
|
||
you need is
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>
|
||
a
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BC7BMHY/?tag=codihorr-20"
|
||
>Raspberry Pi 3b+ kit</a
|
||
>
|
||
$59
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
a quality
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WR4IJBE/?tag=codihorr-20"
|
||
>32GB SD card</a
|
||
>
|
||
$9
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>an ethernet cable</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I do recommend the 3b+ because it has
|
||
<a href="https://www.pidramble.com/wiki/benchmarks/networking"
|
||
>native gigabit ethernet</a
|
||
>
|
||
and a bit more muscle. But
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/what-model-raspberry-pi-should-i-use-for-pi-hole/9635"
|
||
>literally any Raspberry Pi</a
|
||
>
|
||
you can find laying around will work, though I'd
|
||
<em>strongly</em> advise you to pick one with a wired ethernet
|
||
port since it'll be your DNS server.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I'm not going to write a whole Pi-Hole installation guide,
|
||
because there are
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.smarthomebeginner.com/pi-hole-tutorial-whole-home-ad-blocking/"
|
||
>lots of great ones</a
|
||
>
|
||
out there already. It's not difficult, and there's a slick web
|
||
GUI waiting for you once you complete initial setup. For your
|
||
initial testing, pick any IP address you like on your network
|
||
that won't conflict with anything active. Once you're happy with
|
||
the basic setup and web interface:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>
|
||
Turn OFF your router's DHCP server – existing leases will
|
||
continue to work, so nothing will be immediately broken.
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>Turn ON the pi-hole DHCP server, in the web GUI.</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/05/pi-hole-dhcp-server.png"
|
||
alt="pi-hole-dhcp-server"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Once you do this, all your network devices will start to grab
|
||
their DHCP leases from your Pi-Hole, which will
|
||
<em>also</em> tell them to route all their DNS requests through
|
||
the Pi-Hole, and that's when the ✨ magic ✨ happens!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/05/pi-hole-blacklists.png"
|
||
alt="pi-hole-blacklists"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
All those DNS requests from all the devices on your network will
|
||
be checked against the ad blacklists; anything matching is
|
||
quickly and silently discarded
|
||
<strong>before it ever reaches your browser.</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/05/pi-hole-dashboard-stats.png"
|
||
alt="pi-hole-dashboard-stats"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
(The Pi-Hole also acts as a
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://discourse.pi-hole.net/t/will-pi-hole-slow-down-my-network/2048"
|
||
>caching DNS server</a
|
||
>, so repeated DNS requests will be serviced rapidly from your
|
||
local network, too.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
If you're worried about stability or reliability, you can easily
|
||
add a cheap battery backed USB plug, or even a second backup
|
||
Pi-Hole as your secondary DNS provider if you prefer belt and
|
||
suspenders protection. Switching back to plain boring old
|
||
vanilla DNS is as easy as unplugging the Pi and flicking the
|
||
DHCP server setting in your router back on.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
At this point if you're interested (and you should be!), just
|
||
give it a try. If you're looking for more information, the
|
||
project has an
|
||
<a href="https://discourse.pi-hole.net">excellent forum</a> full
|
||
of FAQs and roadmaps.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a href="https://discourse.pi-hole.net"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/05/pi-hole-forums.png"
|
||
alt="pi-hole-forums"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
You can even
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://discourse.pi-hole.net/c/feature-requests?order=votes"
|
||
>vote for your favorite upcoming features!</a
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I avoided the Pi-Hole project for a while because I didn't need
|
||
it, and I'd honestly rather jump in later when things are more
|
||
mature.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/05/pi-hole-pin.jpg"
|
||
alt="pi-hole-pin"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
With the latest Chrome crackdown on ad blockers, now is the
|
||
time, and I'm impressed how simple and easy
|
||
<a href="https://pi-hole.net/">Pi-Hole</a> is to run. Just find
|
||
a quiet place to plug it in, spend an hour configuring it, and
|
||
promptly proceed to forget about it forever as you enjoy a
|
||
lifetime subscription to
|
||
<em
|
||
>a glorious web ad instant weight loss program across every
|
||
single device on your network with (almost) zero effort!</em
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>Finally, an exercise program I can believe in.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<b
|
||
><a
|
||
href="//blog.codinghorror.com/an-exercise-program-for-the-fat-web/#discourse-comments"
|
||
>Discussion</a
|
||
></b
|
||
>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</article>
|
||
|
||
<article class="post">
|
||
<header class="post-header">
|
||
<span class="post-meta"
|
||
><time datetime="2019-02-17">17 Feb 2019</time>
|
||
</span>
|
||
<h2 class="post-title">
|
||
<a href="/the-cloud-is-just-someone-elses-computer/"
|
||
>The Cloud Is Just Someone Else's Computer</a
|
||
>
|
||
</h2>
|
||
</header>
|
||
<section class="post-content">
|
||
<div class="kg-card-markdown">
|
||
<p>
|
||
When we started <a href="https://discourse.org">Discourse</a> in
|
||
2013, our server requirements were high:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>1GB RAM</li>
|
||
<li>modern, fast dual core CPU</li>
|
||
<li>speedy solid state drive with 20+ GB</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I'm not talking about a cheapo shared cpanel server, either, I
|
||
mean a <em>dedicated</em> virtual private server with those
|
||
specifications.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
We were OK with that, because we were
|
||
<a href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/why-ruby/"
|
||
>building in Ruby</a
|
||
>
|
||
for the next decade of the Internet. I predicted early on that
|
||
the cost of renting a suitable VPS would drop to $5 per month,
|
||
and courtesy of Digital Ocean that indeed
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-digital-ocean-pricing-spoiler-5-for-a-1gb-droplet/78230"
|
||
>happened in January 2018</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The cloud got cheaper, and faster. Not really a surprise, since
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/when-hardware-is-free-power-is-expensive/"
|
||
>the price of hardware trends to zero over time</a
|
||
>. But it's still the cloud, and that means it isn't exactly
|
||
<em>cheap</em>. It is, after all, someone else's computer that
|
||
you pay for the privilege of renting.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/there-is-no-cloud.png"
|
||
alt="there-is-no-cloud"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
But wait …
|
||
<strong
|
||
>what if you could put your <em>own</em> computer "in the
|
||
cloud"?</strong
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds? Reliable connectivity,
|
||
plus a nice low monthly price for extremely fast hardware? If
|
||
this sounds crazy, it shouldn't – Mac users have been doing this
|
||
<a href="https://www.macstadium.com/pricing/colo"
|
||
>for years now</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/mac-colocation-2019-1.png"
|
||
alt="mac-colocation-2019-1"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I suppose it's understandable that Mac users would be on the
|
||
cutting edge here since Apple
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xserve#Intel_Xserve"
|
||
>barely makes server hardware</a
|
||
>, whereas the PC world has always been
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/building-a-computer-the-google-way/"
|
||
>the literal de-facto standard for server hardware</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/mac-stadium-colocation.jpg"
|
||
alt="mac-stadium-colocation"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Given the prevalence and maturity of cloud providers, it's even
|
||
a <em>little</em> controversial these days to
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/building-servers-for-fun-and-prof-ok-maybe-just-for-fun/"
|
||
>colocate actual servers</a
|
||
>. We've also experimented with
|
||
<a href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-scooter-computer/"
|
||
>colocating mini-pcs</a
|
||
>
|
||
in various hosting roles. I'm still curious why there isn't more
|
||
of a cottage industry for colocating mini PCs. Because …
|
||
<em>I think there should be</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I originally wrote about
|
||
<a href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-scooter-computer/"
|
||
>the scooter computers</a
|
||
>
|
||
we added to our Discourse infrastructure in 2016, plus my own
|
||
colocation experiment that ran concurrently.
|
||
<strong
|
||
>Over the last three years of both experiments, I've concluded
|
||
that these little boxes are plenty reliable</strong
|
||
>, with one role specific caveat that I'll explain in the
|
||
comments. I remain an unabashed fan of mini-PC colocation. I
|
||
like it so much I put together a new 2019 iteration:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<table style="border-spacing:8px">
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><b>2017 — $670</b></td>
|
||
<td><b>2019 — $820</b></td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://ark.intel.com/products/95451/Intel-Core-i7-7500U-Processor-4M-Cache-up-to-3_50-GHz-"
|
||
>i7-7500u</a
|
||
><br />2.7-3.5 Ghz, 2c / 4t
|
||
</td>
|
||
<td>
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://ark.intel.com/products/134906/Intel-Core-i7-8750H-Processor-9M-Cache-up-to-4-10-GHz-"
|
||
>i7-8750h</a
|
||
><br />2.2-4.1 Ghz, 6c / 12t
|
||
</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>16GB DDR3 RAM</td>
|
||
<td>32GB DDR4 RAM</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>500GB SATA SSD</td>
|
||
<td>500GB NVMe SSD</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
This year's scooter computer offers
|
||
<strong>3× the cores, 2× the memory, and 3× faster drive</strong
|
||
>. It is, as the kids say … an <em>absolute unit</em>. 😱
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/2019-scooter-computer-top-interior-1.jpeg"
|
||
alt="2019-scooter-computer-top-interior-1"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/2019-scooter-computer-bottom-interior.jpeg"
|
||
alt="2019-scooter-computer-bottom-interior"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/2019-scooter-computer-front-and-back.jpg"
|
||
alt="2019-scooter-computer-front-and-back"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
It also has a rather elegant dual-sided internal layout. There
|
||
is a slot for an old-school 2.5" drive, plus built in
|
||
wi-fi, but you won't see it in my pictures because I physically
|
||
removed both.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I vetted each box via my
|
||
<a href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/is-your-computer-stable/"
|
||
>recommended burn in and stability testing</a
|
||
>
|
||
and they all passed with flying colors, though I did have to RMA
|
||
one set of bodgy RAM sticks in the process. The benchmarks tell
|
||
the story, as compared to the average Digital Ocean droplet:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>Per-core performance</strong><br />
|
||
<code>sysbench cpu --cpu-max-prime=20000 run</code>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<table style="border-spacing:8px">
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>DO Droplet</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">2,988</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>2017 Mini-PC</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">4,800</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>2019 Mini-PC</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">5,671</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>Multi-core performance</strong><br />
|
||
<code
|
||
>sysbench cpu --cpu-max-prime=40000 --num-threads=8 run</code
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<table style="border-spacing:8px">
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>DO Droplet</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">2,200</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>2017 Mini-PC</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">5,588</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>2019 Mini-PC</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">14,604</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>Disk performance</strong><br />
|
||
<code
|
||
>dd bs=1M count=512 if=/dev/zero of=test conv=fdatasync</code
|
||
><br />
|
||
<code>hdparm -Tt /dev/sda</code>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<table style="border-spacing:8px">
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>DO Droplet</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">701 / 8818 / 471 MB/sec</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>2017 Mini-PC</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">444 / 12564 / 505 MB/sec</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>2019 Mini-PC</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">1200 / 17919 / 3115 MB/sec</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>Discourse rebuild</strong><br />
|
||
<code>time ./launcher rebuild app</code>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<table style="border-spacing:8px">
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>DO Droplet</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">6:59</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>2017 Mini-PC</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">3:41</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>2019 Mini-PC</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">3:24</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
Power consumption could be a concern, as the 2017 version had a
|
||
much lower 15 watt TDP, compared to the 45 watts of this
|
||
version. That 3× increase in core count ain't free! So I tested
|
||
that, too, with a combination of <code>i7z</code>,
|
||
<code>stress</code>, and my handy dandy
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/why-estimate-when-you-can-measure/"
|
||
>watt meter</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/2019-mini-pc-i7z-testing.png"
|
||
alt="2019-mini-pc-i7z-testing"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<table style="border-spacing:4px">
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td>(idle login)</td>
|
||
<td>800 Mhz</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">10w</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><code>stress --cpu 1</code></td>
|
||
<td>4.1 GHz</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">30w</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><code>stress --cpu 2</code></td>
|
||
<td>4.1 GHz</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">42w</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><code>stress --cpu 3</code></td>
|
||
<td>4.0 GHz</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">53w</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><code>stress --cpu 4</code></td>
|
||
<td>3.9 GHz</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">65w</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><code>stress --cpu 5</code></td>
|
||
<td>3.7 GHz</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">65w</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><code>stress --cpu 6</code></td>
|
||
<td>3.5 GHz</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">65w</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td><code>stress --cpu 12</code></td>
|
||
<td>3.3 Ghz</td>
|
||
<td style="text-align:right">65w</td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
|
||
<p>
|
||
I'd expect around 10 - 20 watts doing typical low-load stuff
|
||
that isn't super CPU intensive. Note that running current-ish
|
||
versions of <code>mprime</code> jacks power consumption up to
|
||
75w 🔥 and the overall clock scales down to 3.1 Ghz … let me
|
||
tell you, I've learned to be
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.cloudflare.com/on-the-dangers-of-intels-frequency-scaling/"
|
||
>very, <em>very</em> afraid of AVX2 extensions</a
|
||
>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
(If you're worried about noise, don't be. This active cooling
|
||
solution is clearly overkill for a 65w load, because it barely
|
||
spun up at all even under full core load. It was
|
||
<em>extremely</em> quiet.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
So we're happy that this machine is a slammin' deal for $820,
|
||
it's super fast, and plenty reliable. But how about colocation
|
||
costs? My colocation provider is
|
||
<a href="https://endoffice.com/">EndOffice</a> out of Boston,
|
||
and they offer very competitive rates to colocate a Mini-PC:
|
||
$29/month.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a href="https://endoffice.com/minicolo.html"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/endoffice-mini-pc-colocation.png"
|
||
alt="endoffice-mini-pc-colocation"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I personally colocate three Mini-PCs for redundancy and
|
||
just-in-case; there are discounts for colocating more than one.
|
||
Here they are racked up and in action. Of course I labelled the
|
||
front and rear before shipping because that's how I roll.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/endoffice-colocated-2019-mini-pcs.jpg"
|
||
alt="endoffice-colocated-2019-mini-pcs"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Let's break this down and see what the actual costs of
|
||
colocating a Mini-PC are versus the cloud. Given the plateauing
|
||
of CPU speeds, I think five years of useful life for these boxes
|
||
is realistic, but let's assume a conservative three year
|
||
lifespan to be safe.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>$880 mini-pc 32GB RAM, 6 CPUs, 500GB SSD</li>
|
||
<li>$120 taxes / shipping / misc</li>
|
||
<li>$29 × 12 × 3 = $1,044</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
That's <strong>$2,044 for three years of hosting</strong>. How
|
||
can we do on Digital Ocean? Per
|
||
<a href="https://www.digitalocean.com/pricing/"
|
||
>their current pricing page</a
|
||
>:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>32GB RAM, 8 vCPUs, 640GB SSD</li>
|
||
<li>$160/month</li>
|
||
<li>$160 × 12 × 3 = <strong>$5,760</strong></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
This isn't <em>quite</em> apples to apples, as we are getting an
|
||
extra 140GB of disk and 2 bonus CPUs, but those CPUs are both
|
||
slower and partially consumed by multi-tenancy compared to our
|
||
brand new dedicated, isolated CPUs. (I was curious about this,
|
||
so I just spun up a new $160/month DO instance for a quick test.
|
||
The <code>sysbench</code> results are 4086 and 11760
|
||
respectively, considerably below the 2019 Mini-PC results,
|
||
above.) As you can see,
|
||
<strong
|
||
>you pay almost three times as much for a cloud
|
||
server.</strong
|
||
>
|
||
🤑
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I'm not saying this is for everyone. If you just need to spin up
|
||
a quick server or two for testing and experimentation, there's
|
||
absolutely no way you need to go to the trouble and up-front
|
||
cost of building and then racking colocated mini-pcs. There's no
|
||
denying that spinning servers up in the cloud offers
|
||
unparalleled flexibility and redundancy. But if you do have need
|
||
for
|
||
<strong
|
||
>dedicated computing resources over a period of years</strong
|
||
>, then building your own small personal cloud, with machines
|
||
<em>you actually own</em>, is not only one third the cost but
|
||
also … kinda cool?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2019/02/your-own-personal-cloud.jpg"
|
||
alt="your-own-personal-cloud"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
If you'd also like to embark upon this project, you can get
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.amazon.com/Partaker-Coffee-Graphics-Barebone-System/dp/B07L4KJXWL?tag=codihorr-20"
|
||
>the same Partaker B18 box I did for $490 from Amazon</a
|
||
>, or
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Partaker-B18-DDR4-Coffee-Lake-8th-Gen-Mini-PC-Intel-Core-i7-8750H-32GB-RAM-Intel/32948461273.html"
|
||
>$460 direct from China via AliExpress</a
|
||
>. Add memory and drive to taste, build it up, then check out
|
||
<a href="https://endoffice.com/">endoffice.com</a> who I can
|
||
enthusiastically recommend for colocation, or the colocation
|
||
provider of your choice.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Get something cool hosted out there; let's do our part to keep
|
||
the internet
|
||
<a href="https://jarredsumner.com/codeblog/">fun and weird!</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<b
|
||
><a
|
||
href="//blog.codinghorror.com/the-cloud-is-just-someone-elses-computer/#discourse-comments"
|
||
>Discussion</a
|
||
></b
|
||
>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</article>
|
||
|
||
<article class="post">
|
||
<header class="post-header">
|
||
<span class="post-meta"
|
||
><time datetime="2018-10-22">22 Oct 2018</time>
|
||
</span>
|
||
<h2 class="post-title">
|
||
<a href="/what-does-stack-overflow-want-to-be-when-it-grows-up/"
|
||
>What does Stack Overflow want to be when it grows up?</a
|
||
>
|
||
</h2>
|
||
</header>
|
||
<section class="post-content">
|
||
<div class="kg-card-markdown">
|
||
<p>
|
||
I sometimes get asked by regular people in the actual real world
|
||
what it is that I do for a living, and here's my 15 second
|
||
answer:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
We built a sort of Wikipedia website for computer programmers
|
||
to post questions and answers. It's called
|
||
<a href="https://stackoverflow.com">Stack Overflow</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
As of last month, it's been 10 years since Joel Spolsky and I
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/stack-overflow-none-of-us-is-as-dumb-as-all-of-us/"
|
||
>started Stack Overflow</a
|
||
>. I currently do
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/civilized-discourse-construction-kit/"
|
||
>other stuff now</a
|
||
>, and I have since 2012, but if I will be known for anything
|
||
when I'm dead, clearly it is going to be good old Stack
|
||
Overflow.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Here's where I'd normally segue into a bunch of rah-rah stuff
|
||
about how great Stack Overflow is, and thus how implicitly great
|
||
I am by association for being a founder, and all.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a href="http://www.poorlydrawnlines.com/comic/bragging/"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/bragging.png"
|
||
alt="bragging"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>I do not care about any of that.</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
What I do care about, though, is
|
||
<em>whether Stack Overflow is useful to working programmers</em
|
||
>. Let's check in with
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/you-dont-need-millions-of-dollars/"
|
||
>one of my idols</a
|
||
>, John Carmack. How useful is Stack Overflow, from the
|
||
perspective of what I consider to be one of the greatest living
|
||
programmers?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote
|
||
class="twitter-tweet"
|
||
data-conversation="none"
|
||
data-lang="en"
|
||
>
|
||
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://twitter.com/StackExchange?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
|
||
>@StackExchange</a
|
||
>
|
||
<a href="https://twitter.com/codinghorror?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
|
||
>@codinghorror</a
|
||
>
|
||
SO has probably added billions of dollars of value to the
|
||
world in increased programmer productivity.
|
||
</p>
|
||
— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack)
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/380018564792455168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
|
||
>September 17, 2013</a
|
||
>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<script
|
||
async
|
||
src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"
|
||
charset="utf-8"
|
||
></script>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I won't lie, September 17th, 2013 was a
|
||
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_05qJTeNNI"
|
||
>pretty good day</a
|
||
>. I literally got chills when I read that, and not just because
|
||
I always read the word "billions" in Carl Sagan's
|
||
voice. It was also pleasantly the opposite of pretty much every
|
||
<em>other</em> day I'm on Twitter, scrolling through an
|
||
oppressive, endless litany of shared human suffering and people
|
||
screaming at each other. Which reminds me, I should
|
||
<a href="https://twitter.com/codinghorror">check my Twitter</a>
|
||
and see who else is wrong on the Internet today.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I am honored and humbled by the public utility that Stack
|
||
Overflow has unlocked for a whole generation of programmers. But
|
||
<em>I didn't do that</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<em>You</em> did, when you contributed a well researched
|
||
question to Stack Overflow.
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<em>You</em> did, when you contributed a succinct and clear
|
||
answer to Stack Overflow.
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<em>You</em> did, when you edited a question or answer on
|
||
Stack Overflow to make it better.
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
All those "fun size" units of Q&A collectively
|
||
contributed by working programmers from all around the world
|
||
ended up building a
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Case_Studies/StackOverflow.com"
|
||
>Creative Commons resource</a
|
||
>
|
||
that truly rivals Wikipedia within our field. That's ...
|
||
incredible, actually.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stack-overflow-homepage-oct-2018.png"
|
||
alt="stack-overflow-homepage-oct-2018"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
But success stories are boring. The world is filled with people
|
||
that
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-role-of-luck-in-life-success-is-far-greater-than-we-realized/"
|
||
>basically got lucky</a
|
||
>, and subsequently can't stop telling people how it was all of
|
||
their hard work and moxie that made it happen. I find failure
|
||
much more instructive, and when building a business and planning
|
||
for the future, I take on the role of Abyss Domain Expert™ and
|
||
begin a staring contest. It's just a little something I like to
|
||
do, you know ... <em>for me</em>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.reddit.com/r/comics/comments/8a4c2h/abyss_oc/"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/abyss-oc.jpg"
|
||
alt="abyss-oc"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Thus, what I'd like to do right now is peer into that glorious
|
||
abyss for a bit and introspect about
|
||
<strong
|
||
>the challenges I see facing Stack Overflow for the next 10
|
||
years.</strong
|
||
>
|
||
Before I begin, I do want to be absolutely crystal clear about a
|
||
few things:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I have not worked at Stack Overflow in any capacity
|
||
whatsoever
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/farewell-stack-exchange/"
|
||
>since February 2012</a
|
||
>
|
||
and I've had zero day to day operational input since that
|
||
date, more or less by choice. Do I have opinions about how
|
||
things should be done? Uh, have you <em>met me?</em> Do I
|
||
email people every now and then about said opinions? I
|
||
might, but I honestly do try to keep it to an absolute
|
||
minimum, and I think my email archive track record here is
|
||
reasonable.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The people working at Stack are amazing and most of them
|
||
(including much of the Stack Overflow community, while I'm
|
||
at it) could articulate the mission better — and perhaps a
|
||
tad less crankily — than I could by the time I left. Would I
|
||
trust them with my life? No. But I'd trust them with Joel's
|
||
life!
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The whole point of the Stack Overflow exercise is that it's
|
||
not beholden to me, or Joel, or
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_man_theory"
|
||
>any other Great Person</a
|
||
>. Stack Overflow works because it empowers regular everyday
|
||
programmers all over the world, just like you, just like me.
|
||
I guess in my mind it's akin to being a parent. The goal is
|
||
for your children to eventually grow up to be sane,
|
||
practicing adults who don't need (or, really, <em>want</em>)
|
||
you to hang around any more.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Understand that you're reading
|
||
<s>the weak opinions strongly held</s>
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/strong-opinions-weakly-held/"
|
||
>the strong opinions weakly held</a
|
||
>
|
||
of a co-founder who spent prodigious amounts of time working
|
||
with the community in the first four years of Stack
|
||
Overflow's life to shape the rules and norms of the site to
|
||
fit their needs. These are merely my opinions. I like to
|
||
think they are <em>informed</em> opinions, but that doesn't
|
||
necessarily mean I can predict the future, or that I am even
|
||
qualified to try. But I've never let being
|
||
"qualified" stop me from doing anything, and I
|
||
ain't about to start tonight.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
<h3 id="stackoverflowisawikifirst">
|
||
Stack Overflow is a wiki first
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Stack Overflow ultimately has <em>much</em> more in common with
|
||
Wikipedia than a discussion forum. By this I mean questions and
|
||
answers on Stack Overflow are not primarily judged by their
|
||
usefulness to a specific individual, but by
|
||
<strong
|
||
>how many <em>other</em> programmers that question or answer
|
||
can potentially help over time</strong
|
||
>. I tried as hard as I could to emphasize this relationship
|
||
from
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/stack-overflow-none-of-us-is-as-dumb-as-all-of-us/"
|
||
>launch day in 2008</a
|
||
>. Note who has top billing in this venn diagram.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stack-overflow-venn-diagram.png"
|
||
alt="stack-overflow-venn-diagram"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Stack Overflow later added a super neat feature to highlight
|
||
this core value in user profiles, where it shows how many other
|
||
people you have potentially helped with your contributed
|
||
questions and answers so far.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stackoverflow-people-reached-profile-stat-1.png"
|
||
alt="stackoverflow-people-reached-profile-stat-1"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The most common complaints I see about Stack Overflow are
|
||
usually the result of this fundamental misunderstanding about
|
||
who the questions and answers on the site are ultimately
|
||
<em>for</em>, and why there's so much strictness involved in the
|
||
whole process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
|
||
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">
|
||
I wish more people understood that the goal of Stack Overflow
|
||
is not "answer my question" but "let's
|
||
collaboratively build an artifact that will benefit future
|
||
coders". Perhaps SO could be doing more to educate people
|
||
about this.
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Jeff Atwood (@codinghorror)
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://twitter.com/codinghorror/status/991082088689381376?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw"
|
||
>April 30, 2018</a
|
||
>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<script
|
||
async
|
||
src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"
|
||
charset="utf-8"
|
||
></script>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I'm continually amazed at the number of people, even on Hacker
|
||
News today, who don't realize that every single question and
|
||
answer is editable on Stack Overflow, even as a completely
|
||
anonymous user who isn't logged in. Which makes sense, right,
|
||
<em>because Stack Overflow is a wiki</em>, and that's how wikis
|
||
work. Anyone can edit them. Go ahead, try it right now if you
|
||
don't believe me — press the "improve this answer" or
|
||
"improve this question" button on anything that can be
|
||
improved, and make it so.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stack-overflow-edit-question.png"
|
||
alt="stack-overflow-edit-question"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The responsibility for this misunderstanding is all on Stack
|
||
Overflow (and by that I also mean myself, at least up until
|
||
2012). I guess the logic is that "every programmer has
|
||
surely seen, used, and understands Stack Overflow by now, 10
|
||
years in" but ... I think that's a risky assumption. New
|
||
programmers are minted every second of every day. Complicating
|
||
matters further, there are three tiers of usage at Stack
|
||
Overflow, from biggest to smallest, in inverted pyramid style:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>I passively search for programming answers.</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Passively searching and reading highly ranked Stack Overflow
|
||
answers as they appear in web search results is arguably the
|
||
<em>primary goal of Stack Overflow</em>. If Stack Overflow
|
||
is working like it's supposed to, 98% of programmers should
|
||
get all the answers they need from reading search result
|
||
pages and wouldn't need to ask or answer a single question
|
||
in their entire careers. This is a good thing! Great, even!
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong
|
||
>I participate on Stack Overflow when I get stuck on a
|
||
really hairy problem and searching isn't helping.</strong
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Participating only at those times when you are extra stuck
|
||
is completely valid. However, I feel this level is where
|
||
most people tend to run into difficulty on Stack Overflow,
|
||
because it involves someone who may not be new to Stack
|
||
Overflow per se, but is new to asking questions, and also at
|
||
the precise time of stress and tension for them where they
|
||
<em>must</em> get an answer due to a problem they're facing
|
||
… and they don't have the time or inclination to deal with
|
||
Stack Overflow's strict wiki type requirements for research
|
||
effort, formatting, showing previous work, and referencing
|
||
what they found in prior searches.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong
|
||
>I participate on Stack Overflow for professional
|
||
development.</strong
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
At this level you're talking about experienced Stack
|
||
Overflow users who have contributed many answers and thus
|
||
have a pretty good idea of what makes a great question, the
|
||
kind they'd want to answer themselves. As a result, they
|
||
don't tend to ask many questions because they self-medicate
|
||
through exhaustive searching and research, but when they do
|
||
ask one, their questions are exemplary.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
<p>
|
||
(There's technically a fourth tier here, for people who want to
|
||
selflessly contribute creative commons questions and answers to
|
||
move the entire field of software development forward for the
|
||
next generation of software developers. But who has time for
|
||
saints 😇, y'all make the rest of us look bad, so knock it off
|
||
already Skeet.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
It wouldn't shock me at all if people spent
|
||
<em>years</em> happily at tier 1 and then got a big unpleasant
|
||
surprise when reaching tier 2. The primary place to deal with
|
||
this, in my opinion, is a
|
||
<strong>massively revamped and improved ask page</strong>. It's
|
||
also fair to note that maybe people don't understand that
|
||
they're signing up for a sizable chunk of work by implicitly
|
||
committing to the wiki standard of "try to make sure it's
|
||
useful to more people than just yourself" when asking a
|
||
question on Stack Overflow, and are then put off by the negative
|
||
reaction to what others view as an insufficiently researched
|
||
question.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Stack Overflow absorbs so much tension from its adoption of wiki
|
||
standards for content. Even if you know about that requirement
|
||
up front, it is not always clear what "useful" means,
|
||
in the same way it's not always clear what topics, people, and
|
||
places are deserving of a Wikipedia page.
|
||
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrietta_Lacks"
|
||
>Henrietta Lacks</a
|
||
>, absolutely, but what about your cousin Dave in Omaha with his
|
||
weirdo PHP 5.6 issue?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="overtimeduplicatesbecomevastlandminefields">
|
||
Over time, duplicates become vast landmine fields
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Here's one thing
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2009/04/29/handling-duplicate-questions/"
|
||
>I really, really saw coming</a
|
||
>
|
||
and to be honest with you I was kinda glad I left in 2012 before
|
||
I had to deal with it because of the incredible technical
|
||
difficulty involved: <strong>duplicates</strong>. Of all the
|
||
complaints I hear about Stack Overflow, this is the one I am
|
||
most sympathetic to by far.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
If you accept that Stack Overflow is a wiki type system, then
|
||
for the same reasons that you obviously can't have five
|
||
different articles about Italy on Wikipedia,
|
||
<strong
|
||
>Stack Overflow can't allow duplicate questions on the exact
|
||
same programming problem</strong
|
||
>. While there is a fair amount of code to do pre-emptive
|
||
searches as people type in questions, plus
|
||
<em>many</em> exhortations to search before you ask, with an
|
||
inviting search field and button right there on the mandatory
|
||
page you see before asking your first question ...
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/ask/advice"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stack-overflow-how-to-ask.jpg"
|
||
alt="stack-overflow-how-to-ask"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
... locating and identifying duplicate content is an insanely
|
||
difficult problem even for a company like Google that's done
|
||
nothing but specialize in this exact problem for, what, 20 years
|
||
now, with a veritable army of the world's most talented
|
||
engineers.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
When you're asking a question on a site that doesn't allow
|
||
duplicate questions, the problem space of a site with 1 million
|
||
existing questions is rather different from a site with 10
|
||
million existing questions ... or 100 million. Asking a single
|
||
unique question goes from mildly difficult to mission almost
|
||
impossible, because your question needs to thread a narrow path
|
||
through this vast, enormous field of prior art questions without
|
||
stepping on any of the vaguely similar looking landmines in the
|
||
process.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stackoverflow-asking-duplicate-question.png"
|
||
alt="stackoverflow-asking-duplicate-question"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>But wait! <em>It gets harder!</em></p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2010/11/16/dr-strangedupe-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-duplication/"
|
||
>Some variance in similar-ish questions is OK</a
|
||
>, because 10 different people will ask a nearly identical
|
||
question using 10 different sets of completely unrelated
|
||
words with no overlap. I know, it sounds crazy, but trust
|
||
me: humans are amazing at this. We want all those duplicates
|
||
to exist so they can <em>point to</em> the primary question
|
||
they are a duplicate of, while still being valid search
|
||
targets for people who ask questions with unusual or rare
|
||
word choices.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
<p>
|
||
It can be legitimately difficult to determine if your
|
||
question is a true duplicate. How much overlap is enough
|
||
before one programming question is a duplicate of another?
|
||
And by whose definition? Opinions vary. This is subject to
|
||
human interpretation, and humans are.. unreliable. Nobody
|
||
will ever be completely happy with this system, pretty much
|
||
by design. That tension is baked in permanently and forever.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I don't have any real answers on the duplicate problem, which
|
||
only gets worse over time. But I will point out that there is
|
||
plenty of precedent
|
||
<a href="https://stackexchange.com/sites#traffic"
|
||
>on the Stack Exchange network</a
|
||
>
|
||
for splitting sites into "expert" and
|
||
"beginner" areas with slightly different rulesets.
|
||
We've seen this for Math vs. MathOverflow, English vs. English
|
||
Learners, Unix vs. Ubuntu...
|
||
<strong
|
||
>perhaps it's time for a more beginner focused Stack
|
||
Overflow</strong
|
||
>
|
||
where duplicates are less frowned upon, and conversational rules
|
||
are a bit more lenient?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="stackoverflowisacompetitivesystemofpeerreview">
|
||
Stack Overflow is a competitive system of peer review
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Stack Overflow was indeed built to be a fairly explicitly
|
||
competitive system, with the caveat that
|
||
<a href="http://wiki.c2.com/?ThereIsMoreThanOneWayToDoIt"
|
||
>"there's always more than one way to do it."</a
|
||
>
|
||
This design choice was based on my perennial observation that
|
||
the best way to motivate any programmer .. is to subtly
|
||
insinuate that <em>another</em> programmer could have maybe done
|
||
it better.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<a
|
||
href="http://www.geekherocomic.com/2008/11/14/the-best-way-to-improve-code-performance/"
|
||
><img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/geek-hero-motivating-programmers.png"
|
||
alt="geek-hero-motivating-programmers"
|
||
/></a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
This is manifested in the public reputation system on Stack
|
||
Overflow, the
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/for-a-bit-of-colored-ribbon/"
|
||
>incredible power of a number printed next to someone's
|
||
name</a
|
||
>, writ large. All reputation in Stack Overflow comes from the
|
||
recognition of your peers, never the "system".
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stack-overflow-top-rep-by-year.png"
|
||
alt="stack-overflow-top-rep-by-year"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Once your question is asked, or your answer is posted, it can
|
||
then be poked, prodded, edited, flagged, closed, opened,
|
||
upvoted, downvoted,
|
||
<a
|
||
href="http://www.cs.mun.ca/~harold/Courses/Old/CS1400.W15/Diary/Lubar1992.pdf"
|
||
>folded and spindled</a
|
||
>
|
||
by your peers. The <em>intent</em> is for Stack Overflow to be a
|
||
system of peer review and friendly competition, like a code
|
||
review from a coworker you've never met at a different division
|
||
of the company. It's also completely fair for a fellow
|
||
programmer to question the premise of your question, as long as
|
||
it's done in a nice way. For example,
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags"
|
||
>do you <em>really</em> want to use that regular expression to
|
||
match HTML?</a
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I fully acknowledge that
|
||
<strong
|
||
>competitive peer review systems aren't for everyone</strong
|
||
>, and thus the overall process of having peers review your
|
||
question may not always feel great, depending on your
|
||
circumstances and background in the field —
|
||
<em>particularly</em> when combined with the substantial
|
||
tensions around utility and duplicates Stack Overflow already
|
||
absorbed from its wiki elements. Kind of a double whammy there.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I've heard people describe the process of asking a question on
|
||
Stack Overflow as anxiety inducing. To me, posting on Stack
|
||
Overflow is <em>supposed</em> to involve a healthy kind of minor
|
||
"let me be sure to show off my best work" anxiety:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>
|
||
the anxiety of giving a presentation to your fellow peers
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>the anxiety of doing well on a test</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
the anxiety of showing up to a new job with talented coworkers
|
||
you admire
|
||
</li>
|
||
<li>
|
||
the anxiety of attending your first day at school with other
|
||
students at your level
|
||
</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I imagine systems where there is zero anxiety involved and I can
|
||
only think of jobs where I had long since stopped caring about
|
||
the work and thus had no anxiety about whether I even showed for
|
||
work on any given day. How can that be good? Let's just say I'm
|
||
not a fan of zero-anxiety systems.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Maybe competition just isn't your jam. Could there be a less
|
||
competitive Q&A system, a system without downvotes, a system
|
||
without close votes, where there was never any anxiety about
|
||
posting anything, just a network of super supportive folks who
|
||
believe in you and want you to succeed no matter what?
|
||
Absolutely! I think many alternative sites <em>should</em> exist
|
||
on the internet so people can choose an experience that matches
|
||
their personal preferences and goals. Should Stack build that
|
||
alternative? Has it already been built? It's an open question;
|
||
feel free to point out examples in the comments.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="stackoverflowisdesignedforpracticingprogrammers">
|
||
Stack Overflow is designed for practicing programmers
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Another point of confusion that comes up a fair bit is who the
|
||
intended audience for Stack Overflow actually is. That one is
|
||
straightforward, and it's been the same from day one:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stackoverflow-for-business-description.png"
|
||
alt="stackoverflow-for-business-description"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Q&A for
|
||
<strong>professional and enthusiast programmers</strong>. By
|
||
that we mean
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
People who either already have a job as a programmer, or could
|
||
potentially be hired as a programmer today if they wanted to
|
||
be.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
Yes, in case you're wondering, part of this was an overt
|
||
business decision. To make money you must have an audience of
|
||
people already on a programmer's salary, or in the job hunt to
|
||
be a programmer. The entire Stack Overflow network may be
|
||
Creative Commons licensed, but it was never a non-profit play.
|
||
It was planned as a sustainable business from the outset, and
|
||
that's why
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/stack-overflow-careers-amplifying-your-awesome/"
|
||
>we launched Stack Overflow Careers</a
|
||
>
|
||
only one year after Stack Overflow itself ... to be honest far
|
||
sooner than we should have, in retrospect. Careers has since
|
||
been smartly subsumed into Stack Overflow proper at
|
||
<a href="https://stackoverflow.com/jobs"
|
||
>stackoverflow.com/jobs</a
|
||
>
|
||
for a more integrated and most assuredly way-better-than-2009
|
||
experience.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The choice of audience wasn't meant to be an exclusionary
|
||
decision in any way, but Stack Overflow was definitely designed
|
||
as a fairly strict system of peer review, which is great
|
||
(IMNSHO, obviously) for already practicing professionals, but
|
||
<strong
|
||
>pretty much everything you would <em>not</em> want as a
|
||
student or beginner</strong
|
||
>. This is why I cringe so hard I practically turn myself inside
|
||
out when people on Twitter mention that they have pointed their
|
||
students at Stack Overflow. What you'd want for a beginner or a
|
||
student in the field of programming is almost
|
||
<em>the exact opposite</em> of what Stack Overflow does at every
|
||
turn:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li>one on one mentoring</li>
|
||
<li>real time collaborative screen sharing</li>
|
||
<li>live chat</li>
|
||
<li>theory and background courses</li>
|
||
<li>starter tasks and exercises</li>
|
||
<li>playgrounds to experiment in</li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<p>
|
||
These are all very fine and good things, but Stack Overflow does
|
||
<em>NONE</em> of them, by design.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<em>Can</em> you use Stack Overflow to learn how to program from
|
||
first principles? Well, technically you can do anything with any
|
||
software. You could try to have actual conversations on Reddit,
|
||
if you're a masochist. But the answer is yes. You could learn
|
||
how to program on Stack Overflow, in theory, if you are a
|
||
prodigy who is comfortable with the light competitive aspects
|
||
(reputation, closing, downvoting) and also perfectly willing to
|
||
define all your contributions to the site in terms of utility to
|
||
others, not just yourself as a student attempting to learn
|
||
things. But I <em>suuuuuuper</em> would not recommend it. There
|
||
are
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/heres-the-programming-game-you-never-asked-for/"
|
||
>far better websites and systems out there for learning to be
|
||
a programmer</a
|
||
>. <em>Could</em> Stack Overflow build beginner and student
|
||
friendly systems like this? I don't know, and it's certainly not
|
||
my call to make. 🤔
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
And that's it. We can now resume our normal non-abyss gazing. Or
|
||
whatever it is that passes for normal in these times.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I hope all of this doesn't come across as negative. Overall I'd
|
||
say the state of the Stack is strong. But does it even matter
|
||
what I think?
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://stackoverflow.blog/2008/11/25/stack-overflow-is-you/"
|
||
>As it was in 2008</a
|
||
>, so it is in 2018.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<strong>Stack Overflow is <em>you</em>.</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
This is the scary part, the great leap of faith that Stack
|
||
Overflow is predicated on: trusting your fellow programmers.
|
||
The programmers who choose to participate in Stack Overflow
|
||
are the “secret sauce” that makes it work. You are the reason
|
||
I continue to believe in developer community as the greatest
|
||
source of learning and growth. You are the reason I continue
|
||
to get so many positive emails and testimonials about Stack
|
||
Overflow. I can’t take credit for that. But you can.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
I learned the collective power of my fellow programmers long
|
||
ago writing on Coding Horror. The community is far, far
|
||
smarter than I will ever be. All I can ask — all any of us can
|
||
ask — is to help each other along the path.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
And if your fellow programmers decide to recognize you for
|
||
that, then I say you’ve well and truly earned it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
<p>
|
||
The strength of Stack Overflow begins, and ends, with the
|
||
<a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/"
|
||
>community of programmers that power the site</a
|
||
>. What should Stack Overflow be when it grows up?
|
||
<strong>Whatever we make it, together.</strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>
|
||
<img
|
||
src="/content/images/2018/10/stackoverflow-none-of-us-is-as-dumb-as-all-of-us.jpg"
|
||
alt="stackoverflow-none-of-us-is-as-dumb-as-all-of-us"
|
||
/>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p>p.s. Happy 10th anniversary Stack Overflow!</p>
|
||
<hr />
|
||
<p>
|
||
<small
|
||
>Also see Joel's take on 10 years of Stack Overflow with
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2018/04/06/the-stack-overflow-age/"
|
||
>The Stack Overflow Age</a
|
||
>,
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2018/04/13/gamification/"
|
||
>A Dusting of Gamification</a
|
||
>, and
|
||
<a
|
||
href="https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2018/04/23/strange-and-maddening-rules/"
|
||
>Strange and Maddening Rules</a
|
||
>.</small
|
||
>
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<b
|
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><a
|
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href="//blog.codinghorror.com/what-does-stack-overflow-want-to-be-when-it-grows-up/#discourse-comments"
|
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>Discussion</a
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></b
|
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>
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