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Being quite new to Stack Exchange, I don't know what the general opinion is about asking a question, based on a blog post of yourself.

For Stack Overflow, where only non-subjective questions are allowed, the 'need' for this is low. On Programmers.SE however, it's tempting to attract a wider audience on a certain opinion you wrote about.

Of course I feel that the six guidelines for good subjective questions should still apply, as the point would be to get more constructive feedback which is hard to get just by google traffic.

Shouldn't there be any formulated guidelines? Is it allowed to just pose the question with a brief summary of the blog post, and link to it for further detail?

Finally I have a concrete example. ;p The link to the blog post was removed by a moderator.

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    Wouldn't it be better to ask the question first, and then compile a blog post?
    – back2dos
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 15:51
  • @back2dos: As the matter of fact, that's what I am doing at the moment, and it I believe it does help me write a better blog post. The question then is, am I allowed to link to it afterwards. You could argue instead you should be updating the question on SE instead. Perhaps what is missing from SE is the 'feeling' you get from having a blog comprised with all of your ideas. E.g. a way to manage displaying your profile questions/answers.
    – Steven Jeuris
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 18:11
  • I explain this in more detail in an answer on a relevant post on SO meta.
    – Steven Jeuris
    Commented Jun 7, 2011 at 20:57

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I think this is fine so long as

  1. It actually answers the question (obviously.. right?)

  2. You quote your blog and elaborate a tiny bit, don't make it one giant quote with a link, give us some additional explanation to go with it.

  3. Your posts aren't all of this form, that is, if you are only here to post links to your blog.. that's weird. And would be discouraged.

Beyond that, go for it.

edit: oops you meant for questions. Well that's even better actually, and les risky, since you're using the blog post as a platform to start with a well formulated question.

Just make sure you check https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/faq#dontask first to be sure you aren't running into the common pitfalls of discouraged subjectivity.

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Yes

This would most likely be considered spam and self promotion.

If the question is answered in the blog post, what is the point of the question? If not, then there is little reason to link to the post itself when asking the question. The best way to get constructive feedback on a blog post would be to write good content and attract more readers.

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  • The question isn't answered in the blog post. A constructive opinion is given in the blog post, of which counter arguments or expansions are welcomed. That's why I stated the difference with Stack Overflow. So instead of just asking a subjective question here, you ask it with additionally your opinion, including arguments.
    – Steven Jeuris
    Commented Feb 8, 2011 at 17:31
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This is definitely an "it depends."

For answers, Jeff's answer is great.

For questions, though, the danger is treading to close to this guideline:

Avoid asking subjective questions where …
...
* it is a rant disguised as a question: “______ sucks, am I right?”

If you have posted a blog on the subject, there's a good chance the blog post already drew some conclusions. And, there's also a good chance you feel passionately about it, since no one blogs about things they don't care about.

If you've already drawn conclusions, possibly passionately, it's really hard to turn that into a real question that isn't just a rant you want people to respond to. But, if you can, then by all means, post it up and get opinions.

My sense is that most posters and voters can tell the difference between someone who is really asking and those who are just looking for validation or a pat-on-the-back. The value (and amount) of the responses you get will probably go down if users feel that you already know the answer. (Unless it's a hot-button issue, in which case you may get a ton of votes and answers anyway.)

P.S. do you have a blog article for this question? :)

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  • No I don't. :) Now I'm more afraid about “I would like to participate in a discussion about ______”, but doesn't that almost categorize every subjective question including a personal opinion, good and bad?
    – Steven Jeuris
    Commented Feb 9, 2011 at 1:26

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