Yup, dev.to is full of trash posts by whatever the diminutive of thought leader is, all tagged for beginner. A lot of these are either long, long lists of things you have to learn to be a software developer, or confused explanations of basic concepts. Or yet another bloody linked list tutorial.
I dearly wish that someone would curate the beginners tag.
I wouldn't mind moderating this. Not all by myself, of course — there's a lot! — but making a group or team of people specifically to moderate the tag could really help beginners.
You can send an email to yo@dev.to if you're interested in moderating a tag. #beginners has a couple of moderators, but people are busy with other things and there's a lot of content to moderate, they might appreciate a bit of extra help.
You can read about tag moderation on dev.to, but it has more to do with maintaining tags and preventing abuse than curating.
I think the best thing you can do is participate: Write the kinds of articles you want to see, and leave constructive comments to help fix the things you don't.
If the #beginner tag is driving you nuts, then maybe it's worth finding (or creating!) some other tags that fit your interests better and leaving #beginner to the beginners.
I've been in IT doing systems and network support since the mid-90s. I've always been interested in coding and development and have recently started to go down that learning path.
I don't think so, but of course you are free to your own opinion on that.
The main point is summed up nicely at the end:
"My main point is, to reiterate, that beginners need to read everything critically; research what you read and/or seek out clarification from other seeming experts."
To put it in my own words:
Authors need to be careful not to spread incorrect information, especially in beginner focused material. Readers need to consume with a healthy level of skepticism, and should validate with reputable sources.
I think this is good advice for everybody, about everything.
However...
I disagree with the notion that dev.to needs gatekeepers deciding what content is appropriate for beginners. Some of the best interactions I've witnessed on dev.to arose because of an inaccuracy or difference in opinions that was hashed out in the comments.
If you're primarily interested in technical accuracy, then you should probably stick to reading source code and official documentation. If you're looking for community and constructive conversation: dev.to
The point I was trying to make with this particular comment was that dev.to already has some features for moderation that reflect the core values of the site. I think it's worth trying to understand the point of this community before trying to "fix" it.
I am not opposed to all improvements to dev.to, but the ones you are suggesting don't jive with my understanding of dev.to's culture. I am not a stakeholder, but I do love this community and I advocate to protect it.
I think dev.to's biggest strength and differentiator is that it has a friendly and enthusiastic culture that provides (particularly beginner) developers a safe and welcoming place to celebrate what they are learning and doing in order learn from each other.
Dev.to have included/excluded features over the years that support this difference, showing a bias toward producers over consumers. Some examples off the top of my head:
Peer review tags seem like a step in a different direction to me. It's not a bad direction, it just doesn't seem to fit well with dev.to's ethos. It provides a way to bypass content, making it harder for new dev authors to find an audience...the kind of audience that would help them learn through their mistakes.
Yup, dev.to is full of trash posts by whatever the diminutive of thought leader is, all tagged for beginner. A lot of these are either long, long lists of things you have to learn to be a software developer, or confused explanations of basic concepts. Or yet another bloody linked list tutorial.
I dearly wish that someone would curate the beginners tag.
I wouldn't mind moderating this. Not all by myself, of course — there's a lot! — but making a group or team of people specifically to moderate the tag could really help beginners.
You can send an email to yo@dev.to if you're interested in moderating a tag.
#beginners
has a couple of moderators, but people are busy with other things and there's a lot of content to moderate, they might appreciate a bit of extra help.Ahhhhh nuts it sounds like I just volunteered... that'll teach me to moan 😂😂😂
You can read about tag moderation on dev.to, but it has more to do with maintaining tags and preventing abuse than curating.
I think the best thing you can do is participate: Write the kinds of articles you want to see, and leave constructive comments to help fix the things you don't.
If the #beginner tag is driving you nuts, then maybe it's worth finding (or creating!) some other tags that fit your interests better and leaving #beginner to the beginners.
Sounds like you missed the point of his post completely.
I don't think so, but of course you are free to your own opinion on that.
The main point is summed up nicely at the end:
To put it in my own words:
Authors need to be careful not to spread incorrect information, especially in beginner focused material. Readers need to consume with a healthy level of skepticism, and should validate with reputable sources.
I think this is good advice for everybody, about everything.
However...
I disagree with the notion that dev.to needs gatekeepers deciding what content is appropriate for beginners. Some of the best interactions I've witnessed on dev.to arose because of an inaccuracy or difference in opinions that was hashed out in the comments.
If you're primarily interested in technical accuracy, then you should probably stick to reading source code and official documentation. If you're looking for community and constructive conversation: dev.to
The point I was trying to make with this particular comment was that dev.to already has some features for moderation that reflect the core values of the site. I think it's worth trying to understand the point of this community before trying to "fix" it.
I am not opposed to all improvements to dev.to, but the ones you are suggesting don't jive with my understanding of dev.to's culture. I am not a stakeholder, but I do love this community and I advocate to protect it.
I think dev.to's biggest strength and differentiator is that it has a friendly and enthusiastic culture that provides (particularly beginner) developers a safe and welcoming place to celebrate what they are learning and doing in order learn from each other.
Dev.to have included/excluded features over the years that support this difference, showing a bias toward producers over consumers. Some examples off the top of my head:
Peer review tags seem like a step in a different direction to me. It's not a bad direction, it just doesn't seem to fit well with dev.to's ethos. It provides a way to bypass content, making it harder for new dev authors to find an audience...the kind of audience that would help them learn through their mistakes.
2021 here, and sadly nothing's changed.