Stack overflow is almost dead

Summary

Originally published in The Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter.Four months ago, we asked Are LLMs making Stack Overflow irrelevant? Data at the time suggested that the answer is likely "yes:"Number of questions asked per month on StackOverflow. Data source: this GistSince then, things at Stack Overflow went from bad to worse. The volume of questions asked has nearly dried up, new data shows:Questions have slumped to levels last seen when Stack Overflow launched in 2009. Source: Stack Overflow Data Explorer (SEDE) / Marc Gravell on XThis graph was shared by Marc Gravell, a top 10 all-time contributor to Stack Overflow. Let’s look closer at the data:Decline started around 2014A few things stand out:2014: questions started to decline, which was also when Stack Overflow significantly improved moderator efficiency. From then, questions were closed faster, many more were closed, and “low quality” questions were removed more efficiently. This tallies with my memory of feeling that site moderators had gone on a power trip by closing legitimate questions. I stopped asking questions around this time because the site felt unwelcome.March 2020: a big jump in traffic due to pandemic-induced lockdowns and forced remote working. Instead of asking colleagues, devs Googled and visited Stack Overflow for helpJune 2020: questions start to decline, faster than before. Even though we did not know at the time, this was stilll two years from ChatGPT launching!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.November 2022: as soon as ChatGPT came out, the number of questions asked declined rapidly. ChatGPT is faster and it’s trained on StackOverflow data, so the quality of answers is similar. Plus, ChatGPT is polite and answers all questions, in contrast to StackOverflow moderators.May 2025: the number of monthly questions is as low as when Stack Overflo...