| The accumulated corpus of Stack Overflow content is probably worth less than you think. There is a lot of outdated code on SO. It’s a growing issue for the platform as the community prefers to direct people to existing answers, and Google tends to reward older URLs that still attract traffic. The result is that a lot of searchers are learning how things were done years ago, instead of how they are best done now. Platforms change, APIs change, languages change. That means the “answer” to how to do things changes too. Imagine asking “what would happen if libraries threw away all their outdated computer books?” Obviously they do, and it’s good for their patrons as long as there are updated books replace them. If Stack Overflow went away tomorrow, one of the many other places where people can talk about coding would become the go-to place to get answers. A more ephemeral approach to answers would probably be better in the long run. |