> As someone who came into the industry in college, the problem with SO was simply that it was too hard to ask a question.
That's because you were intended to use the site like GP describes, and not by asking simply because you want to know something.
> They were up your ass about minutia that really didn't matter.
What you consider "minutia" were critically important, because the entire point was to optimize for GP's experience.
and how did that work out? the site is dead now because of it
The site was always going to die. That is completely okay. Things are allowed to exist without chasing a profit motive. Communities are allowed to form on for-profit platforms, and they should not be required to have the platform's commercial interest in mind.
- industry pivots to AI - SO traffic tanks - "lol, they killed themselves with their shitty moderation"
So is wikipedia.