Sucks because I prefer stack overflow in searches because I get more of a human explanation and wisdom. With llm i have to figure out what it’s_trying to do_ , debug it, and god forbid you want various ways of doing the same thing. I hate LLMs for coding. I hate clients for trying to force me to use it when most of the time now they admit they’re hiring me because AI failed in the first place
this post was submitted on 20 May 2025
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Anyone remember experts-exchange?
Ah yes, the place that never answered anything.
The sloppiest of slops before we got AI slop.
It was the pinterest of answering stuff
I used it in earnest! (to write shitty VB scripts and PHP websites)
I remember when it didn't have a dash. Until people started making fun of the old URL...
So easily avoided too
My experience with SO is that I'll look up a question about how to do something using X method and all the answers are like "why are you using X?" or "here's how to do it using Y.". You rarely find people answering the questions and instead find people trying to spread gospel about a certain tech that you aren't using.
Yep, they aggressively XY problem your question until you give up. Also why many questions do not give the answer to the problem what most people asking that question would ask.
This was the majority of my experience as well. As a newer programmer, I'm more than happy to always know a better option. But if the way I'm looking to solve my problem is wrong, don't just give me Y, explain to me why it may not work how I think it will. Tell me about X and some pitfalls or reasoning for it not going to work, then recommend Y. Because if others only see the Y answer to my question about X, they'll probably just keep searching for a solution to X not knowing it may not work like I didn't know.
That's strange. It's almost never my experience on stack overflow.
What you're describing happens mostly on reddit and lemmy.
I think all that needs to be said is if you search how to install a new CA in a given runtimes cert store, odds are the first and accepted answer will almost without fail describe how to disable ssl.
A lot of times the accepted answer on a locked question will be extremely outdated and/or not even functional anymore.
Modern tech charges at a break neck pace and stack overflow can't keep up because the people who run the community created rules that artificially led to it not keeping up
This is honestly the reason why it's going downhill, forcing people to do Y or use Z because of some problem irrelevant to the question being asked.
It limits creativity and depth of discussion on a forum designed to discuss all principles of programming
My experience with SO is somewhat the same, but sometimes (actually maybe most times) you're trying to use a hammer to screw in a screw.. If you read the suggestions and take them into account you can often find the actual question, and then the actual answer.
My experience has been more like this:
OP: I’m trying to make lasagna from scratch but my noodles aren’t turning out right. Here’s my noodle recipe and settings for my pasta machine.
Mod: duplicate post of “How to make canned spaghetti bolognese” thread locked.
In my experience has been like "that's a bug and was solved on version 2.1, update" and I'm having the exact problem in version 2.2 so what now?
Or I don't actually get to update the version my company is using, is there a workaround?
I've been in your position and in the other person's position many times. It can be frustrating but we need to think about the big picture. It's possible you hadn't considered a certain approach, and it's probable that many other future readers will not have considered a certain approach. So even though you might have said that you want to do something specific, it's often helpful to some people to provide general information of another way to tackle the same issue.
And of course you know your own situation, so now there are these comments that appear off topic, and they kind of are, for you, and that's just how it is on forums.
The other situation that comes up a lot is that people are doing it wrong. They are misusing some piece of technology and while their kluge might kind of work right now, it's setting themselves up for bigger issues in the future. Of course no one appreciates it when you tell them they're doing it wrong.
People don't like when you don't answer their question because it doesn't give them an answer to their question. Just answer the question first and then hop on your high horse to tell them why it's not going to work.
Make no mistake. LLMs aren’t killing stackoverflow. LLMs just arrived to finish it off. The stuff that was killing it are the regular posters there, and their passive aggressive bullshit
Yup. I once decided to spend an afternoon answering questions on a framework I was expert in, as a kind of profile-building exercise to help with job hunting, and after around the third smug self-satisfied comment picking me up on some piece of irrelevant bullshit I deleted my account.
Nothing passive about them it was just regular aggressive. Made my programming coursework so much worse. Indian guys on YouTube however, now those guys were helpful!
Question closed as off-topic.
Not necessarily directly, many people may have abandoned learning programming because of LLMs, rather than Stack Overflow specifically.
You’re pulling this out of your ass. That is completely made up.
I don't think such trend would be so big. And anyone who has used any LLM for programming learns very quickly that those are very far from replacing anyone
For real. You can tell how good a programmer someone is, by how good they think an LLM is at programming.
Ever ask a question on SO? I tell my students to search there but never, ever ask a question. The unmitigated hostility is not what new developers need or deserve. ChatGPT won't humiliate you for asking a question that someone else has already asked.
I've never had an issue asking a question on stack overflow.
I'd wager a lot of 'you people' that have issues with it probably didn't do enough research on your own.
ChatGPT won't humiliate you for asking a question that someone else has already asked.
I don't know, being told what a good question that was and what a good boy I am everytime I ask a stupid question feels pretty humiliating.
(Still better than SO)
I forget where I heard the quote, but:
Stack Overflow is a great place to find answers. Stack Overflow is a terrible place to ask questions.
Their moderation approach is a big part of why it's a great place to search for answers.
If LLMs just copied stack overflow they'd respond to every question with "Closed as duplicate. Question already answered."
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