Poor Code

So while I am happy that the asp.net team opened up blogging to everybody (including myself), I'm discouraged by some of the poor code I've seen come out so far. I'm actually starting to question whether it is a good idea to have opened the blogs up, as a lot of people read them, and are going to see this code and think its the right way to do things. What does everybody else think? Does the good code and tips out weight the bad ones?

18 Comments

  • i completely agree, and i'm really glad i'm not the only one with this impression... i've got the asp.net weblogs rss feed in my outlook and i'm pondering about removing it.
    no disrespect to the newcomers but as the ancient saying goes, quantity != quality

    i mean, i've seen a post come by today that were about the differences between abstract classes and interfaces, and another one about the different sql joins. no offense to the authors, but these are the ASP.NET weblogs after all...
    i don't question the new bloggers' good intentions! But please post only quality content.

    (btw, i saw some non-english posts as well, what's up with that?)

  • Darren,

    I think that was a great comment. While I do think some of the code definately is poor and will continue to, others might not see it that way. Heck it might even switch a light bulb in someones mind and they can use that as a basis for what they are trying to accomplish which is what we are all trying to do anyway.

  • +1

    Not for poor code ... but for poor posts. and my feed reader shows me more posts than before (weel it's quite normal) and the attention I give to posts is reduced in order to fullfill the feed. Well perhaps it was better when the Bloggers were few and "certified" :)

    See Ya !

    Gianluca

  • I completely agree. asp.net blogs was a collection of top notch stuff, now it become another "dzone" type blogroll with too much noise.

  • Agreed, whilst I applaud Joe Stagner for keeping the momentum going on this site, a total free-for-all is rapidly reducing the usefulness of this site. I long for a return to the days when it was actually quite difficult to get on here; and the posts were generally of a far better quality as a result. Here's an idea, what about using some sort of post rating system to keep up quality?

  • I agree, the quality of posts has definitely declined. I also noticed that a lot of the writing has as well. Not that I am some great writer, I am not. But i've grown used to reading articles and posts that are well written, thought out, well structured, and very informative.

    Why not separate the original/sponsored blogs and the community blogs? Separate RSS feeds or something.

    Use the community blogger area as a way to screen for sponsored blogs?

  • I am definitely not a big fan of opening up the blogs.

  • I totally agree. I actually unsubscribed from the ASP.NET feed a few months ago because out of the hundred or so updates a day a lot of them were the same thing, i.e. "Silveright 1.0 release", "Silverligh is here" etc, majority of which simply contained alink to download and information that had be told a thousand times before.

    That's the thing that annoy's me the most, as for the code I rarely look at it unless its portraying something revolutionary which I've never really came across - I prefer to create my own solutions and test appropriatley for peace of mind.

    I think Scott's idea should be employed - the ASP.NET feed should only contain posts of a certain calibre.

  • Its always a problem for a community when the gates are thrown open to everyone. I was surprised to it happen.
    Without a barrier to define what the community is, a community usually forgets what it it.

    The Hello World posts are currently annoying because there are so many of them, not because of the content.


    I have noticed that there have been a lot of low quality posts since the gates came down. The post are low quality for a number of different reasons. Some of them are just too basic, some have terrible code examples, some have horrid grammar. Dome people have decided to post storms of mediocrity; we don't need another short description of what an abstract class is.


    I don't have a problem with bad grammar or spelling, but if you are posting in order to make something clear, then you should make some effort to have readable grammar.


  • As a long term poster of dross on here I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned about the addition of 150 blogs to just anyone who asked.

    It's certainly changed the main feed.

  • The quality has definitely taken a nose dive lately (and fills my RSS reader up with noise). To everyone's credit though, it can take some time to acclimate to writing a blog and the quality will surely improve. Posting constructive comments on those blogs could make a big difference.

    As with any group, I think the key is to keep a slow trickle of fresh blood coming in over time, instead of large infusions.

  • I'd rather read a first post of someone introducing themselves than someone pissing on the community they just chose to join.

    I think you could have provide a more tactful entry. After all, it's not like this post is providing anything more useful than a post with bad code.

    That's just my opinion...

  • Hi jstengel,

    While I agree I could have posted this a little more "tactfully", I went the route I did because I wanted to get people to come and give there opinions one way or the other so we got a full round of answers and the best way to do that is to put it all out there. I still feel there are some great posts (yours included about the RSSToolkit), I think that we might want to have some kind of moderation of posts. I shouldn't have to come in and see 30 posts of which 10 are from the same person who just copied someone else's code and posted it (Not saying this happened, just an example). I do realize that putting things out there like this won't win me a lot of fans, I just don't want to see the blogs here to become "low signal to noise" as Ian so eloquently put it.

  • Preferred it without opening them up - geekswithblogs.net or some other site would have been a better place for the new folks blogging.

    I thougth weblogs.asp.net would consist of very highly regarded developers who got an invite to blog here - unfortunately not so we'll just have to see how it goes but I think the great content will now be diluted.

  • I think Scott has hit on something...I like the idea of a scoring system....1 to 5 and you have to get a score of at least 3 with 10 votes before your post shows on the blog roll. The numbers could be tweaked of course, but that would certainly cut down on the 'noise'.

    Or the ability to supress certain authors from your own subscription.

  • I completely agree, just after reading this I checked a piece of code that was using hungarian notation (and not even right!), but is not just that, the main feed is being reduced to recycled pre-release tips from 2005!!
    Hope it gets better since I like(d) this place.

  • I agree. THe floodgates have opened. I don't mind people having a blog here, but please... some guys are posting links to articles from the stone age, small posts with tips that are at page 1 of the manual etc...

    People who are new: don't rehash links to articles which are stone old, and don't post lists of tips which are wrong. Thanks.

  • When I read Joe's announcement on opening registration on this site, I was in doubt "should I move or not" and I decided not to move on asp.net weblogs. Back in 2004 and 2005 it was almost impossible to get a blog on this site,and then was so temptating :) Now, door is completely open and it was not so temptating... On the other hand, in my posting cycle of 1-2 posts per month I cannot guarantee it is worth moving my blog. I aggree that there is now much more worthless content than before.

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