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> However, a 2013 study has found that 77% of users only ask one question, 65% only answer one question, and only 8% of users answer more than 5 questions. Is

> However, a 2013 study has found that 77% of users only ask one question, 65% only answer one question, and only 8% of users answer more than 5 questions. Is this actually a problem? I've always viewed Stack Overflow as a "write once, read many" community. For top questions, it looks kind of like Quora. Checking my own stats: I've been a member for 7 years, asked 4 questions, and given 45 answers while reaching ~86k people [1]. My karma is not super high at 936. However, I've gleaned so much value from the SO community (and saved so much time), that these numbers only begin to scratch the surface. Using these numbers as metrics doesn't reflect the value of SO's knowledge base. I don't think Stack Overflow is on the decline at all. [1]: http://stackoverflow.com/users/149428/tedmiston?tab=profile http://stackoverflow.com/users/149428/tedmiston?tab=profile

nwjtkjn 10y ago
I have asked 0 questions, given 0 answers, and reached 0 people, giving an overall Reputation of 101 (the 100 bonus coming from activity on MathOverflow). That being said, I probably hit StackOverflow at least once a month for my job, and if I'm working on a personal side project it's probably more like once an hour.
keithnz 10y ago
I've asked 88 questions, answered 992, rep 28k, reach of over 2 million people. But, my coworkers, use SO all the time, and don't even have an account. Most of the issues are with people trying to participate with low quality questions and answers, it can feel like a negative experience, but that's only a tiny fraction of people in the scheme of things. High frequency noise that won't make it to where it becomes useful.... search results. While it isn't a perfect system, it's results are great. If you feel burnt by SO, just don't take it personally, keep participating .... or not, if you really don't like it, go contribute on forums in a more casual non curated manner.

nwjtkjn 10y ago

I have asked 0 questions, given 0 answers, and reached 0 people, giving an overall Reputation of 101 (the 100 bonus coming from activity on MathOverflow). That being said, I probably hit StackOverflow at least once a month for my job, and if I'm working on a personal side project it's probably more like once an hour.

keithnz 10y ago

I've asked 88 questions, answered 992, rep 28k, reach of over 2 million people. But, my coworkers, use SO all the time, and don't even have an account. Most of the issues are with people trying to participate with low quality questions and answers, it can feel like a negative experience, but that's only a tiny fraction of people in the scheme of things. High frequency noise that won't make it to where it becomes useful.... search results. While it isn't a perfect system, it's results are great. If you feel burnt by SO, just don't take it personally, keep participating .... or not, if you really don't like it, go contribute on forums in a more casual non curated manner.