3
\$\begingroup\$

Unity has a dedicated Q&A site, and I'm wondering if it is better to ask a question here or there, with "better" meaning more or less "I'll have higher chances of getting quality answers, faster".

This is not about what's in-topic here, I'm just asking your opinion, from your personal experience (no guesses, please: I'm also able to guess, I don't need that).

(obviously posting both here and there would maximise results)

edit: this question might also be interpreted as "does Unity experts usually partecipate in both communities?". I definitely do not take this for granted, hence this question.

\$\endgroup\$
4
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ In my experience the Unity Answers site is like Stack Exchange if it were an unmoderated wasteland with large numbers of duplicated questions, answers that are just comments and unanswered questions. That's just my opinion. \$\endgroup\$
    – House Mod
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 15:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Byte56 I have dual feelings about that. What concerns me is that both Unity Answers and unity here have a very high number of answerless questions. \$\endgroup\$
    – o0'.
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 15:55
  • 3
    \$\begingroup\$ Actually, we have 565 Unity questions with at least one answer and only 88 without an answer. Of those 88 unanswered, only 38 have a score of 1 or greater. Given that many of those unanswered questions look to be very localized or "lack of research" type questions, I'd say we're doing pretty well with a .15 unanswered/answered ratio. From what I can tell, Unity answers has 26,700 unanswered 111,630 questions with answers giving them a .24 ratio. Note that lower ratios are better. Further, given the aforementioned state of the Unity Answers site, the answered question number is likely lower. \$\endgroup\$
    – House Mod
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 16:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Byte56 I appreciate very much finding and giving numbers : ) \$\endgroup\$
    – o0'.
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 16:44

1 Answer 1

2
\$\begingroup\$

Cross-posting within the StackExchange network like that is generally frowned upon, although Unity Answers is not actually part of the StackExchange network (it just uses similar software).

I would still argue, however, that by cross-posting you devalue both communities slightly because you split the answer pool and don't provide that single authoritative answer.

Consequently, I'd apply a similar rule to that which is applied to determine if a question is better here or on SO - would a dedicated Unity developer be able to give you a better answer than a general game developer? If so, post on Unity Answers. Otherwise post here.

This means if you are asking how to do something specific to Unity, I'd say you should put it over there. But if you are asking how to do something that just happens to use Unity but isn't really about twiddling any particular knobs and dials Unity provides, or directly using Unity's APIs, ask it here.

Optimally, any of the Unity experts that hang out here would also be hanging out there, so you aren't going to narrow your audience that much by posting to a single site. (I cannot confirm this hypothesis of course, since I don't have analysis tools at Unity Answers.)

\$\endgroup\$
4
  • \$\begingroup\$ The problem with this approach is that you assume that the average Unity expert partecipates in both communities, while I'm totally unconvinced of that assertion (which is part of this question). (-1 just because I feel this does not address my concern, despite it maybe was my fault I wasn't clear enough - nothing personal of course) \$\endgroup\$
    – o0'.
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 15:48
  • \$\begingroup\$ "would a dedicated Unity developer be able to give you a better answer than a general game developer? If so, post on Unity Answers. Otherwise post here." +1 \$\endgroup\$
    – House Mod
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 16:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Byte56 I'm not following here, though: if you think that Unity Answers is lacking quality in general, wouldn't it be better to post here regardless? \$\endgroup\$
    – o0'.
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 16:45
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @Lohoris When you have two sites of equal quality, I think that ideally it's best to post only to one. If you wanted to choose between the two, I think that quote is the best option for doing so. My comments on the question are prompting you to consider the choice of the Unity Answers site as an equal. \$\endgroup\$
    – House Mod
    Commented Nov 15, 2013 at 16:59

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .