Stack Overflow's forum is dead thanks to AI

https://wiert.me/2026/05/26/stack-overflows-forum-is-dead-thanks-to-ai-but-the-companys-still-kicking-thanks-to-ai-sherwood-news/

Comments

166 points · 29 comments · view on lemmy.world

29 Comments

it_depends_man@lemmy.world · 73 pts · 93d (6 replies)

It is also dead due to how repulsive the place was. Literally.

panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 72 pts · 93d (1 reply)

As a power-whiner that racked up points on low value “acshually” style response comments, I’ve decided to lock your questions and edit the body of your question for you.

Please come back when your question is:

  • Vague enough it no longer describes your issue or context
  • Specific enough that it doesn’t match the 50 other posts you read that failed to help you
  • And I roll a d20 and reach a value greater than 18.
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 93d

10/10 no notes

AyuTsukasa@lemmy.zip · 30 pts · 93d (2 replies)

Literally any question I asked was met by some snide asshole. Like I'm at the stage where I don't know the jargon to explain my issue and that was somehow an affront to God to them. I get it, repeat questions suck, but the answers they'd link to didn't help me because I couldn't understand the jargon in the answers.

RamenJunkie@midwest.social · 14 pts · 93d (1 reply)

"Why are you using PHP instead of Py Go ++ Framework???? Its way betger for use cases of 100,000 people or more."

Nevermind that you may be supporting a legacy system used by 20 people that runs on a literal potato anyway.

RamRabbit@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 93d

If one suspects there is a better answer to 'the question behind the question':

  1. answer the actual question that was asked, then

  2. ask the question behind the question and answer that too.

Infuriating when people only do the latter. Particularly when I come by a question that is my EXACT problem, and none of the answers even attempt to answer the question that was asked.

a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 93d

Sorry, your question was marked as fugly and it was already answered in [picture of a cock covered in poop here].

lvxferre@mander.xyz · 46 pts · 93d (6 replies)
[ removed ]
1984@lemmy.today · 15 pts · 92d (1 reply)

It's just awful moderation. There is a certain kind of moderator who feels that they need to take action all the time to justify their title, even when the best course of action is to do nothing.

You need to be a calm steady person to do nothing and feel fine with it.

lvxferre@mander.xyz · 4 pts · 92d
[ removed ]
cinoreus@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 92d (3 replies)

I love the fact that even for ranting about internet forums you chose alice and bob for the example😭.

lvxferre@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 92d (2 replies)
[ removed ]
Cort@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 92d (1 reply)

It's not used much outside computer science, but there is a list; Alice and Bob are both on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_and_Bob

Scroll down for the full cast of names

lvxferre@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 92d
[ removed ]
FaceDeer@fedia.io · 28 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Looks like it was already on a long-term decline, AI just threw it off a cliff. It was likely ripe for an alternative.

panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 27 pts · 93d

It got pretty toxic

You can tell by the fact that Covid has a massive influx into tech and the platform rapidly collapsed at that time.

If your question was good it would go unanswered because a lot of pros abandoned the platform, if you were new it was too technical, and if you were junior your question was marked as a dupe and you were told to look at a 12 year old question from an ancient version of a library that’s not supported.

Sometimes someone would correct an old post to update it, but because it would never get seen they’d never bubble up to replace the comically old answers.

They burned the candle at both ends by not being good for newbs or experienced devs.

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 23 pts · 93d

Closed. Reason: duplicate.

pr06lefs@lemmy.ml · 15 pts · 93d (1 reply)

just a shitty place to get help. gave up contributing there years ago because of all the gatekeeping. their janky login popup didn't help either.

panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 93d

It was very fun when you answered a few questions and unlocked privileges.

Then we all got a reminder why some people aren’t invited to parties.

auzy1@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 92d (4 replies)

That's not why

You needed to earn the privilege to answer questions or ask them (I think).

It just became too difficult to get help there or help people.

iocase@lemmy.zip · 16 pts · 92d

Rooster326@programming.dev · 9 pts · 92d (1 reply)

This joke is marked duplicate.

This joke has been made before, and already has a laugh track. If those jokes do not fully fulfill your laughter quote, please start a new thread

DaleGribble88@programming.dev · 6 pts · 92d

Is your joke trying to be funny? No one writes funny jokes anymore. You should just use the funny.js library, and also kys if you aren't using JavaScript. Just write an API wrapper for it you fucking noob. Someone ban this idiot!

Taleya@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 92d

Forums where people tell you to go fuck yourself vs sycophantic AI.

Gee wonder which one people turn to

codexarcanum@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 11 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Damn, I hadn't visited the site (according to my profile page) in just over 5 years. I've had an account for little over 17 years, which puts me in the early adopters.

Anyway, yeah, I'm one of those top-end commenters that left the site during Covid because everything went to shit: too many new low quality questions, too many assholes whining about it and overreacting making the problem worse, and the owners had basically already abandoned the site for years after Stack Exchange failed to become the dominant framework for the entire internet.

It's a real shame, there's never been a resource so good for programming and probably never will be again. Now that AI is out there stealing every bit of knowledge, all the experts I know are hoarding up and looking to sell their expertise at premium since it's knowledge and experience that AI can't get or replicate.

scottedwards200@piefed.world · 1 pts · 93d

Where are your friends selling their expertise? A new business opportunity for paid SO? Ala “expert sex change”?

RamenJunkie@midwest.social · 10 pts · 93d

Its dead because its biggest users are useless asshokes.

scottedwards200@piefed.world · 10 pts · 93d (1 reply)

Not sure where to go now though. Codidact.com is growing at least but it’s still really small

nooch@lemmy.vg · 2 pts · 93d

Thanks for sharing!

brucethemoose@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 92d

I think many forums are dying to “attention competition.”

That’s my personal experience.

I kind of want to participate in some forums, but a on-and-off doomscrolling addiction, executive dysfunction and some other stuff sucks up all the time.

And many of my niches have gone to Discord, which is an information black hole yet pings the hell out of me for attention. It’s an abomination. I had to quit it, cold turkey.

Reddit played a role, of course.

cows_are_underrated@feddit.org · 3 pts · 93d

For some reason, they managed to fuck up their login page so much, that it is literally impossible for me to sign up to it. I have tried multiple times in the last year and every single time I could not sign up for some weird reason.

aeronmelon@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 93d

Also, Nazis.

jbrains@sh.itjust.works · -3 pts · 93d

Not because AI replaced SO, but because AI replaced programmers. 🤷