I'm always confounded at how a site that tries to be as inclusive and easy to use as the Stack Exchange network, can be so unintuitive in something as simple as explaining the basic purpose of a community...
I followed This Question from the Google, and the question had received some downvotes for apparently not being clear enough for the purpose of this community... I had obviously joined this community sometime in the past, but not having ever posted, I thought I should refresh myself on what this community is about.
I thought, no problem, I'll just goto the front page...
Hmm, nope don't see anything here that explains the purpose of Web Applications...
Maybe I'll click "Ask Question", surely that'll give me some details about what I should be asking...
Ok, something is still missing here... I"m being told I should Ask a Good Question... But again, about what?
The best help I can get is a vague statement that
The community is here to help you with questions about web applications
What is a web application? I write web applications, and I ask my questions on StackOverflow or Database Administrators. Is it for people who "use" web applications?
I'll give it one more try and click how to ask a good question here
Nope, nothing useful here... But wait, let's give it one more click before I give up...
Could the What topics can I ask about here? save the day?! Yes, yes after 4 clicks I can finally tell what this site is about!
Come on StackExchange.... I see post after post in meta complaining about low quality first user questions. And there's always suggestions about how to tweak the question wizard... Have you thought that maybe you're inviting bad post by being a little more difficult to use than you should?
