--- title: We might have been slower to abandon Stack Overflow if... description: Stack Overflow usage has declined sharply since 2017, with a dramatic drop after 2023. Developers are abandoning the platform in favor of LLMs that provide... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/yerykzr8b twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: We might have been slower to abandon Stack Overflow if it wasn't a toxic hellhole | daily.dev og:description: Stack Overflow usage has declined sharply since 2017, with a dramatic drop after 2023. Developers are abandoning the platform in favor of LLMs that provide... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/yerykzr8b og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/YErYkZR8B.png og:image:alt: Post cover image og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # We might have been slower to abandon Stack Overflow if it wasn't a toxic hellhole **[Zero To Mastery](https://daily.dev/sources/zerotomastery)** · [@aldopaganijr](https://daily.dev/aldopaganijr) · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Stack Overflow usage has declined sharply since 2017, with a dramatic drop after 2023. Developers are abandoning the platform in favor of LLMs that provide faster answers without the toxic, unwelcoming interactions that characterized Stack Overflow's community. While AI would likely have disrupted Stack Overflow regardless, the platform's hostile culture made developers eager rather than reluctant to leave. This serves as a cautionary tale: communities that rely solely on necessity without fostering positive experiences risk rapid abandonment when alternatives emerge. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Dramatic drop in Stack Overflow questions as devs look elsewhere for help • DEVCLASS](https://daily.dev/posts/dramatic-drop-in-stack-overflow-questions-as-devs-look-elsewhere-for-help-devclass-kwyo1g6gh) · DEVCLASS · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [AI is causing developers to abandon Stack Overflow](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-is-causing-developers-to-abandon-stack-overflow-9nz5cjyz4) · InfoWorld · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Stack Overflow: When We Stop Asking](https://daily.dev/posts/stack-overflow-when-we-stop-asking-ctjc1higa) · CSS-Tricks · 3 upvotes · 2 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/yerykzr8b) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/yerykzr8b","headline":"We might have been slower to abandon Stack Overflow if it wasn't a toxic hellhole","text":"Shared: We might have been slower to abandon Stack Overflow if it wasn't a toxic hellhole","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/yerykzr8b","datePublished":"2026-01-13T14:52:25.234Z","dateModified":"2026-01-13T14:53:02.430Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Aldo Pagani Jr.","url":"https://daily.dev/aldopaganijr","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocK1atgNHO1tmBQCnztPCdi0XnnEo-5MIRZqm99FCh05I2gPL_vt=s96-c","description":"Helping people start careers in tech.","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":9980}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--VDukGCjf--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2002","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/kVvz3Q5cP"},"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/zerotomastery","name":"Zero To Mastery"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zero To Mastery","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/zerotomastery"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"We might have been slower to abandon Stack Overflow if it wasn't a toxic hellhole"}]} ```