Stack Overflow Blog

code-for-a-living June 25, 2020

How does spam protection work on Stack Exchange?

If you put a textbox on the Internet, someone will put spam in it. If you put a textbox on a site that gets millions of hits a day, lots of someones will put lots of spam in it. So Stack Exchange uses multiple layers to block all the spam coming in.

ArtOfCode

code-for-a-living June 23, 2020

Is it time to give Drupal another look?

For many people discussion of content management systems raises unpleasant specters of the early 2000s. But while CMS platforms may not feel like the shiniest new tech on the block, they still have a lot to offer, and they've evolved in ways that might surprise you. Let's talk about Drupal, a 20 year old open source project that still manages to be on the leading edge of the CMS world.

Tim Lehnen

code-for-a-living June 19, 2020

Navigation or forgetfulness? On finding purple links in your search

We found that when you find that the top link is purple—that is, already clicked—52% of you think, “Hello, old friend.” But another 14% see that purple link with irritation and another 16% see it with amusement. There are basically two things going on here: navigational search and memory imperfections. This article will explore some of the research around both of them.

Ryan Donovan

code-for-a-living June 19, 2020

The Overflow #26: The next right thing

June 2020 Welcome to ISSUE #26 of the Overflow! This newsletter is by developers, for developers, written and curated by the Stack Overflow team and Cassidy Williams at Netlify. This week, what we’re doing to fight systemic racism, social distancing’s effect on other diseases, and racial bias in machine learning. From the blog Steps Stack…

Ryan Donovan

community June 17, 2020

Saying thanks: testing a new Reactions feature

We’ve heard from our users that the inability to say “thank you” is frustrating—especially for new users who don’t have enough reputation to upvote or comment. Even when users gain these privileges, they still want to say “thanks.”

Lisa Park Product Designer

Several cupped hands holding sprouts in dirt

community June 17, 2020

The Loop, June 2020: Defining the Stack Community

If you have been active on the Stack Exchange network (especially the Meta sites) or have been a reader of this blog for any significant amount of time, you will see the term Community used quite often. But who is a member of the Community? Why is the Community important? The answer to this will probably depend on who you ask.

Yaakov Ellis Principal Web Developer & Community Advocate

code-for-a-living June 15, 2020

Talking TypeScript with the engineer who leads the team

We wanted to find out what about TypeScript makes it so dang lovable, so we reached out to Ryan Cavanaugh, the principal engineering lead for the TypeScript language at Microsoft. He was generous enough to sit down and answer our questions.

Ryan Donovan

code-for-a-living June 12, 2020

The Overflow #25: New tools for new times

June 2020 Welcome to ISSUE #25 of the Overflow! As Kurt Vonnegut said, “There’s only one rule that I know of, babies. Damn it, you’ve got to be kind.” Today, and everyday, be kind to those around you. Our community is one that is for everyone, everywhere. When one group is hurting, we have to…

Ryan Donovan

June 10, 2020

Steps Stack Overflow is taking to help fight racism

Black lives matter, and Stack Overflow is taking concrete steps to help combat systemic racism.

Prashanth Chandrasekar CEO

code-for-a-living June 10, 2020

The rise of the DevOps mindset

DevOps has become one of those buzzwords with many conflicting definitions. What’s for certain is it’s on the rise. In our 2020 developer Survey, around 80% of the respondents believed that DevOps is at least somewhat important. We take a look at the phenomenon, some definitions, and talk to our engineers about some of the…

Medi Madelen Gwosdz Content Strategist

code-for-a-living June 8, 2020

How an interview code submission that wasn’t even submitted changed our process

In a previous role, I was an engineering manager for a well-known company for a particular tech stack. One way we sorted through all the applications was requiring coding tests for potential candidates. One truly stood out, and it taught me to think about what I am really looking for in these sorts of submissions.

Ben Matthews