StackOverflow has been a popular community where software developers would help one another. Recently they raised some VC funding, and to make profits they are selling job postings and expanding the model to other areas. Metaoptimize LLC has started a similar website, using the open-source OSQA framework for such as statistics and machine learning. Here’s a description:
You and other data geeks can ask and answer questions on machine learning, natural language processing, artificial intelligence, text analysis, information retrieval, search, data mining, statistical modeling, and data visualization.
Here you can ask and answer questions, comment and vote for the questions of others and their answers. Both questions and answers can be revised and improved. Questions can be tagged with the relevant keywords to simplify future access and organize the accumulated material.
If you work very hard on your questions and answers, you will receive badges like “Guru”, “Student” or “Good answer”. Just like a computer game! In return, well-meaning question answerers will be helping feed Google and numerous other companies with good information they will offer the public along with sponsored information that someone is paying for.
I’ll join the party myself when they introduce the “Rent,” “Mortgage Payment,” “Medical Bill”, and “Grocery” badges. Until then, I’ll be spending time and money, and someone else will be saving time and earning money. For a real community, there has to be some basic fairness.
[9:15pm: Included Ryan Shaw’s correction to my post, pointing out that MetaOptimize is based on OSQA and not on the StackOverflow platform.]
[D+1, 7:30am: Igor Carron points to an initiative that’s actually based on the StackOverflow.]