Yes that is what happened to SO. They now get practically zero questions, zero answers, zero page views, and zero ad revenue. It is their own fault because they froze everyone out of the site and then once LLMs became an alternative, everyone started asking their questions to LLMs. They are now trying to somehow pivot to AI to make revenue again, starting with Stack Overflow for Agents, and now with wordy vacuous blog posts to show off how AI they are.
(I can see that you are starting to get downvoted as well. Spread the love.)
Stack overflow was interesting. Its design was the only thing like it at the time, and made it a Schelling point for programming knowledge distribution, but also a welcoming environment for the programming equivalent of grammar nazis.
Some of those programming nazis, of course, had suffered at the hands of previous ones on stack overflow before becoming "enlightened." And thus, the generational hazing began.
It was great if google directed you to exactly the right answer, but god help you if you couldn't figure it out, and posed a question that someone thought didn't contain an MCVE.
Also, a few too many of the high-reputation people would post complete garbage on topics they knew absolutely nothing about.
The term "xxx nazi" has been around for over 70 years to describe people with sticks shoved so far up their asses that they poke out the tops of their heads.
And "grammar nazi" has been around since at least 1990, and the infamous Seinfeld Soup Nazi since 1995.
I'm not sure of the etymology of the "not everybody's a Nazi Nazi" but I'm sure you're not the first.
But in any case:
> You can't just call everyone you don't like a Nazi.
Yes, yes, I can. I don't (because I reserve the appellation for certain particular kinds of attitudes), but I could if I wanted to.
Yes that is what happened to SO. They now get practically zero questions, zero answers, zero page views, and zero ad revenue. It is their own fault because they froze everyone out of the site and then once LLMs became an alternative, everyone started asking their questions to LLMs. They are now trying to somehow pivot to AI to make revenue again, starting with Stack Overflow for Agents, and now with wordy vacuous blog posts to show off how AI they are.
The pains for me were around all the penalties I got for not following formalities, or at least that's what it felt like to me.
Nobody liked SO. They tolerated it as long as it was the best way to get answers to questions.
[flagged]
> Apparently you just deserve a life of pain.
Don't we all?
(I can see that you are starting to get downvoted as well. Spread the love.)
Stack overflow was interesting. Its design was the only thing like it at the time, and made it a Schelling point for programming knowledge distribution, but also a welcoming environment for the programming equivalent of grammar nazis.
Some of those programming nazis, of course, had suffered at the hands of previous ones on stack overflow before becoming "enlightened." And thus, the generational hazing began.
It was great if google directed you to exactly the right answer, but god help you if you couldn't figure it out, and posed a question that someone thought didn't contain an MCVE.
Also, a few too many of the high-reputation people would post complete garbage on topics they knew absolutely nothing about.
You can't just call everyone you don't like a Nazi.
The term "xxx nazi" has been around for over 70 years to describe people with sticks shoved so far up their asses that they poke out the tops of their heads.
And "grammar nazi" has been around since at least 1990, and the infamous Seinfeld Soup Nazi since 1995.
I'm not sure of the etymology of the "not everybody's a Nazi Nazi" but I'm sure you're not the first.
But in any case:
> You can't just call everyone you don't like a Nazi.
Yes, yes, I can. I don't (because I reserve the appellation for certain particular kinds of attitudes), but I could if I wanted to.