[jayflux]

One aspect I haven’t seen anyone mention contributing to the decline is GitHub (part of your “improved tooling”)

These days you can go to the repo and there’s usually already an issue open with the problem and a workaround. Or if someone has a question on how to use the tool/software they ask there.

Before GH boomed it was often SO doing this job.

[makeitdouble]

It could be the most impacting aspect IMHO.

This, and first party developer forums. iOS questions will go directly to Apple's community forums. Same for SalesForce, or Elastic search etc.

There's just a higher noise/signal ratio, a real chance to get answers from experts, and it makes for a stepping stone if the issues needs to be bumped to paid support.