When people are asking questions about their python code, IF the question is ambiguous and understandable to other users who do python, but don't use the Python API, do you think those questions are better off in StackOverflow, or do you think it is better to keep those questions in an environment where the API is fully understood by the community?
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$\begingroup$ Your question is a little ambiguous. What type of code/ questions are you talking about? $\endgroup$– DavidCommented May 28, 2015 at 17:37
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2 Answers
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I think the general sentiment (and my opinion) it that all coding questions should be related to blender.
If you have a python question that does not have anything to do with blender, such as this one, then it would be better suited to SO (and probably would get closed as off topic on BSE).
The other case, is questions that do in fact have a direct connection to blender. Such questions have a huge diversity, and as so it is hard to name a few good examples.
As a base line if you have a question about blender's API, BSE is probably a good place for your question.
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The avid contributors here on b.se are quite able to distinguish between the three scenarios:
- bpy oriented
- borderline bpy / python
- straight up python
I think we condone borderline questions because more often than not we understand the problem better than they know how to ask the question. It's little effort to help as far as possible with the bpy stuff, and beyond that point link to the relative python docs. We're not here to teach python, but we can give them enough information to spark a train of thought (and if nothing sparks, no amount of matches will help....they need to think harder and show more effort)
For straight up python questions, these have a lifespan of maybe a day and are rarely tolerated, they don't get much attention. (like someone asking for a NLP algorithm, or how to delete a Pickle file). If the usage of Blender is incidental to the question, I'll cast a close vote and expect others to see the question for what it is. (But always, always leave some useful comment about where to get help ..because if I do know..why not extend that courtesy anyway).
As for bpy specific stuff, often the people who have internalized Blender and Python don't need help, or rarely. It's a fairly consistent API. These bpy questions often come from people who are not in that group: Either new to Blender or new to Python (or worse, both!) and therefore have a weaker grasp of the whole system. Those questions are hard, do we tell them to go off learn Blender better.. or learn Python better?...
