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How Stack Overflow's moderation system led to its own downfall [1]

['Ellsworth Toohey']

Date: 2025-06-02

Matthew Tyson's iarticle on InfoWorld, "AI didn't kill Stack Overflow," is a post-mortem on what really happened to the once-thriving software developer Q&A community.

While generative AI delivered a blow to Stack Overflow, the platform had been in decline long before AI came along. The article includes a chart showing a gradual decline in questions beginning in 2014, followed by a catastrophic drop after ChatGPT's launch.

Tyson lays the blame on Stack Overflow's demise to its self-governance model and reputation system, which initially fueled its success but eventually became its undoing.

"What launched Stack Overflow into the stratosphere was human interaction and the vibrant culture that rose up around it," Tyson writes. "But then the experiment in self-moderation took on an oppressive tone, as its leaders systematically dismantled the very quality that made the platform great."

The article compares Stack Overflow to "a kind of Stanford Prison Experiment" where moderators earned reputation by "culling interactions they deemed irrelevant," destroying the welcoming atmosphere that once defined the platform.

Stack Overflow became notorious for its hostile, condescending responses to newcomers. Questions would be met with snarky comments without helpful information. This culture of mockery and elitism drove away inexperienced programmers who needed guidance. Instead of nurturing the next generation of developers, Stack Overflow's toxic atmosphere made many beginners vow never to return after being publicly shamed for their "stupid questions."

Tyson's advice for Stack Overflow to become useful: "It would have to fundamentally say: This is a place where the human side of software development lives, and everything that happens here is in support of that basic mission."

Previously:

• I talk about punch cards, AI and 'CODERS' with Joel Spolsky

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