https://stackoverflow.blog/2012/08/21/stack-exchange-machine-learning-contest/ https://stackoverflow.blog/2012/08/21/stack-exchange-machine... They were on it

https://stackoverflow.blog/2012/08/21/stack-exchange-machine-learning-contest/ https://stackoverflow.blog/2012/08/21/stack-exchange-machine... They were on it in 2012! And no, it didn't help. The site's value was in providing users with answers to their questions, but that was never on the radar of the folks running SO. I guess they just assumed the free labor of the people that built the place would continue forever. Edit: I even told them at the time that this was not the right way to proceed. They had no reason to close questions or even review them. All they needed was a holding pen where first-time questioners posted questions, and they needed to be promoted by users viewing them as worthy of an answer. Guess what. They deleted my comment.