> This comes after an astonishing amount of 71,839 answers (and 0 questions!). He only joined in 2012, so that's an average of ~22.8 answers per day, every day, for the last 3144 days.To put perspective on the numbers, the second answerer on the site is Jon Skeet (our first millionaire) with 35K answers and then several others with 20k+
Gordon is amazing, and it's almost impossible to beat him to an answer for certain types of questions :) I had the chance to meet him a few years back to talk through some new SQL features coming to BigQuery (I'm at Snowflake now). He had a lot of great insights into what could make the product better, and what he thought was missing relative to other OLAP databases.
I like to answer sql questions too and it's like being in a quick draw match with Linoff around. he once blogged about how he's able to find all the new unanswered sql questions so quickly, iirc he made his own search
Heh, I had to go back through some of my old questions and sure enough Gordon has helped me before. I had to laugh because my comment below his answer was that he figured out my problem so fast that StackOverflow wouldn't even let me accept his answer as it was too soon after posting the question.
I've not seen Gordon Linoff, but usually when I have some sort of question about PostgreSQL minutia, I find that Erwin Brandstetter (https://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/939860/erwin-brandstett...) usually has posted very detailed and solid answers when it comes to Stack Overflow.
I have to say, I'm usually not searching Stack Overflow specifically when I'm looking for information, I'm usually in a general search engine that happens to show me StackOverflow answers. But the high frequency that I see and am in fact aided by Erwin Brandstetter's posting of good answers is certainly worthy of a call out here. My thanks to Erwin!
Couldn't agree more! Erwin's SO answers are incredible source of knowledge on Postgresql usage, especially things like plpgsql. I benefited from his answers a lot, thanks to Erwin.
This is insane. They must be super-efficient because I can't give an SO-quality answer to a question in under an hour.
I can see the appeal though. I used to spend my spare time in uni answering questions on SO. I actually learned a ton about how to conduct research, which is probably one the most useful skills I have in my toolbox.
I've noticed a trend, some people answer with what should be a comment and then progressively edit their answer while hogging the attention of the questioner and anyone coming to view the page. For some reason people are loath to downvote an early answer without competition, even if it's rubbish.
You can do it faster if you restrict yourself to questions that you already have researched. That is, to questions about bugs like ones you've fixed in your own code, or features you've found out how to use.
I didn't read the article but this must be Gordon, the guy who answered every SQL question I asked, within very short period of time. This guy is a legend. Love him.
What kind of setup do you need to have in order to answer questions on StackOverflow?
From time to time I think it would be a useful exercise, but it's really hard to find questions that haven't already been answered. I'm thinking you probably need some form of alerting system to notify you as soon as a question comes in.
I have knowledge about an area of computing that very few people in the world know about, and very few people need to learn about it. Very rarely a questions gets asked, but when it does it's guaranteed the question may sit for months without an appropriate answer. When I joined SO in 2012 I went through all the unanswered questions on that topic and was able to give good answers to like 60% of them. Got a bunch of medals. But then never did it again.
Most of the questions that get asked are homework questions that were poorly asked and lack much research. "What have you tried?" is a common first comment.
You can create saved searches, like sorting by new for a tag you're interested in. I don't have email notifications setup, but from time to time I visit my saved search for pytest questions -- which is a subject less inundated with homework questions and more with people trying to do their work, unsure of how to integrate their ideas with a testing framework.
Though, some of my most popular answers have come from digging a little deeper on an older question and adding a better write-up, or simply answering a question for a newer version of the technology at hand.
When it's a technology you use (or had used) everyday, it's easier to get a sense of the answers you would appreciate if you'd stumbled there from Google
However, it also mean that during that time this individual might not be working or spending time with his/her family, etc. Extreme performance like what he is achieving always come to the expense of something else.
When I worked for a small television station I would pass the time answering questions about Linux, routers and other misc categories. Like building long haul 2.4ghz networks. Then I moved out of the control room and forgot I had an account.
It's funny I knew it was Gordon without even opening the article - quite the mad lad - there should be a special of honor for beating him to the draw on SO .. ! (I think I've got 3?)
He also has to be in the top 10 in terms of comments on questions and answers, he's everywhere :)
[+] [-] EForEndeavour|4 years ago|reply
> This comes after an astonishing amount of 71,839 answers (and 0 questions!). He only joined in 2012, so that's an average of ~22.8 answers per day, every day, for the last 3144 days.To put perspective on the numbers, the second answerer on the site is Jon Skeet (our first millionaire) with 35K answers and then several others with 20k+
[+] [-] jchw|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] MuffinFlavored|4 years ago|reply
I wonder if his employer is on board + supportive with this use of his time.
[+] [-] anonu|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] darthvoldemort|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] deltree7|4 years ago|reply
Also an eye-opener about how much time an average person spends on message boards typing shit when they can be creating volumes of artifacts
[+] [-] havermeyer|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gfody|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TheCapn|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rasengan|4 years ago|reply
Impressive isn't even strong enough to describe what this is.
Thank you, Mr. Gordon Linoff for advancing humanity.
[+] [-] sbuttgereit|4 years ago|reply
I have to say, I'm usually not searching Stack Overflow specifically when I'm looking for information, I'm usually in a general search engine that happens to show me StackOverflow answers. But the high frequency that I see and am in fact aided by Erwin Brandstetter's posting of good answers is certainly worthy of a call out here. My thanks to Erwin!
[+] [-] fuy|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zxlk21e|4 years ago|reply
Gordon Linoff has written a series of books on data mining and sql as well: http://www.data-miners.com/bookstore.htm
[+] [-] tra3|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mywittyname|4 years ago|reply
I can see the appeal though. I used to spend my spare time in uni answering questions on SO. I actually learned a ton about how to conduct research, which is probably one the most useful skills I have in my toolbox.
[+] [-] brigandish|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Arnt|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jmartrican|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oceanswave|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jalbertoni|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jordemort|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] markus_zhang|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] weavie|4 years ago|reply
From time to time I think it would be a useful exercise, but it's really hard to find questions that haven't already been answered. I'm thinking you probably need some form of alerting system to notify you as soon as a question comes in.
[+] [-] dyingkneepad|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dehrmann|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ggregoire|4 years ago|reply
On the home page you can manage a list of "Watched Tags". If you add SQL it gives you a bookmark to the page I linked above.
[+] [-] they4kman|4 years ago|reply
Though, some of my most popular answers have come from digging a little deeper on an older question and adding a better write-up, or simply answering a question for a newer version of the technology at hand.
When it's a technology you use (or had used) everyday, it's easier to get a sense of the answers you would appreciate if you'd stumbled there from Google
[+] [-] alpineidyll3|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cjbprime|4 years ago|reply
TFW you forget to add the WHERE clause.
[+] [-] audiometry|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] maleldil|4 years ago|reply
jezrael: https://stackoverflow.com/users/2901002/jezrael
[+] [-] gadders|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Traubenfuchs|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] giarc|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Causality1|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] daok|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BikiniPrince|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] OJFord|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] caturopath|4 years ago|reply
It seems like only all of the answers NOT tagged sql https://stackoverflow.com/search?q=user%3A1144035+-%5Bsql%5D... are sql-related.
[+] [-] Ronsenshi|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kthejoker2|4 years ago|reply
He also has to be in the top 10 in terms of comments on questions and answers, he's everywhere :)
[+] [-] faizshah|4 years ago|reply