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From: Ar Rakin <rakinar2@onesoftnet.eu.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: =?utf-8?Q?=E2=80=9CThe?= Pulse #134: Stack overflow is almost
 =?utf-8?Q?dead=E2=80=9D?=
Date: Tue, 27 May 2025 22:27:40 +0600
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Sam <sam@email-scan.com> writes:

> Lynn McGuire writes:
>
>> “The Pulse #134: Stack overflow is almost dead
>>    https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-pulse-134
>>
>> “Four months ago, we asked Are LLMs making Stack Overflow
>> irrelevant? Data  at the time suggested that the answer is likely
>> “yes:”
>>
>> “June 2021: Stack Overflow sold for $1.8B to private equity
>> investor,  Prosus. In hindsight, the founders – Jeff Atwood and Joel
>> Spolsky – sold  with near-perfect timing, before terminal decline.
>>
>> Unreal.
>
> It's not the LLM or AI that made Stackoverflow jump the shark. They
> simply failed to achieve sufficient mind share to be able to withstand
> the natural factors that work to collapse every social media platform
> that employs content moderation. Stackoverflow's content moderation
> policies pissed off their most productive contributors, so they all
> left, and there wasn't enough garbage left to support what's left
> behind.
>
> If SO grew big enough before their loss of mindshare they might've had
> a chance to carry on by inertia, as a steaming pile of flaming
> crap. Case in point: Facebook. But they didn't. Goodbye.
>

Absolutely.  I have had painful experience with StackOverflow every time
I asked a question.  I understand they have to moderate it to make sure
the questions are not garbage, but they kinda went too far.  Their
aggressive moderation often kills the enthusiasm of newbie programmers.
It is easier to either just ask an LLM, a person you know, or just shut
up about it.

I had a feeling someday people *will* move away from StackOverflow.
And, here we are.  Most of the answers that are on StackOverflow are
years old, often not even relevant anymore.  I usually just ignore
search results from StackOverflow for this reason.

-- 
Rakin