.webp?h=8 "Merry Fistmas!")
In response to constant bitching from jannies (unpaid) that new users aren't asking good questions, Stack Overflow have added a new feature called the Staging Ground:
Basically new users aren't even allowed to ask questions directly onto the site anymore and their questions are instead pushed into a separate pipeline where no one can give them answers and their questions are instead disseminated by powerusers. Only if a question passes this multi-stage process does it actually make it onto SO proper. Spoiler: nothing ever passes.
Let's look at what this new user experience looks like...
A new user asks a Python question (now deleted so no link). It's correctly formatted, it explains the question clearly and shows the error. This sounds like a good question, right? WRONG.
They're asked to edit the question (which they do), and then they're told to edit it again. The question is then closed as being "off topic" (it's a Python coding question lol) and to rub salt into the wounds a poweruser asks the Meta (aka poweruser sneed) forum how to punish them further in How should we respond in the Staging Ground when OP ignores feedback, makes a trivial edit and submits for re-evaluation?.
The response? Ask for more changes:
This is exactly what declined re-eval was added for. To elaborate more: we added this feature for this exact scenario, and it is designed to give the reviewer a frictionless way to both tell the author that they still need to address the original feedback (IIRC, banner tells them this). And if the author continues to ignore it, they will be temporarily blocked, with clear explanations why
Of course OP can't actually do this because their question has been closed as off topic.
Congrats Stack Overflow, you're going to die even faster.
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I love gatekeeping but I hate SO jannies. Please help me to work through this contradiction.
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I don't have an account, but it always pisses me off when someone asks a question
and people start bitching because they should've found 
a post on something 
from 5 years ago. Doubly so if it's something 
obscure.
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Gatekeeping should be done by those invested. SO jannies don't actually code and therefore have no business being gatekeepers.
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Maybe you just expect a better
class of gatekeeper. Like, if you're going 
to tell me I'm too fat and ugly to join your sorority, you better 
be hot.
I have zero respect
for any SO jannies 
except for Alex Martelli if he is one (he seems neurodivergent 
enough 
that he might be).
Edit: I just checked and he's not, so I respect
him even a tiny bit more.
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You can resolve the tension by roping
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Well actually, roping without tension is just falling
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Gatekeeping is a means to an end.
It ensures the community stays pure to what it was intended to do.
SO jannies don't do this because “make sure no one can lern2coad” is not what SO was meant to do. qed
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You hate jannies
so can still gatekeep without them, an autoclosing bot would 
do that just fine
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