[fracus]

I think Stack Overflow went dead because of AI specifically. The issues you mention just made that transition easier for people. Before AI, people had no choice but to suffer the toxic mods at Stack Overflow.

Reddit isn't comparable, as AI has not replaced human opinion.

[muzani]

I think this was really the point where Stack Overflow died: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/333965/firing-mods-...

This was the "stage 4 cancer" point of no return. Statistically, it chugged on for a while, and then the dips happened and people just blamed AI, when it was really just a zombie past this point.

Quora is still going on strong despite AI.

[NotAnOtter]

> I think Stack Overflow went dead because of AI specifically

This doesn't hold up when looking at usage charts. There is a clear peak around ~2015 with a steady decline through to now. LLM's came to market in their current form in the last couple years, and took a couple years to be broadly adopted. There was a clear and obvious market fall off way before AI / LLM.

> Reddit isn't comparable

I agree with that in isolation; but since I don't agree with the AI premise this isn't especially relevant. I don't think AI will replace Reddit, I think one of the other major platforms will absorb it's users like Reddit / Hackerrank / better documentation / back searching absorbed SO's users through 2015-2021

[fracus]

Stack Overflow is dead because of AI. Devs can get quicker answers with less hassle with AI. Without AI there is no other option for amateur devs to get answers, so Stack Overflow would otherwise still be used. This isn't difficult logic.

[NotAnOtter]

Then explain the usage chart declining since ~2015?

As I said in my original post, LLM was the final nail in the coffin. I'm not arguing they aren't related. I'm saying they SO was falling long before LLM's took over. This isn't difficult logic.

[fracus]

SO falling before AI doesn't preclude AI killing SO. You aren't listening to anything I've been saying. Your graph is meaningless. If it wasn't for AI, SO would still be used. It isn't more complicated than that.

[NotAnOtter]

Not gonna keep going back and forth when you seem to agree but are choosing to be difficult. We agree SO was falling before LLM's hit the market. We agree LLM's accelerated SO's demise.

You seem to think they weren't failing before LLM (simply rapidly losing member activity), which is a narrative that I won't follow.

[fracus]

I never insinuated SO wasn't dying before LLMs. I'm telling you that is irrelevant to its ultimate death. LLMs killed SO. Not your graph.