I'll transcribe what I said on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/3cafkp/is_stack_overflow_overrun_by_trolls/cstqf7l https://www.reddit.com/r

I'll transcribe what I said on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/3cafkp/is_stack_overflow_overrun_by_trolls/cstqf7l https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/3cafkp/is_stac...): Stack Overflow has become a place where idiot savants who know the ins and outs of specific technologies and have fast typing skills compete with each other for upvotes and reputation. Intuition, analogies and humor aren't appreciated. Only raw, pedantically precise technical content. As a result, Stack Overflow has become the giant sink where all programming knowledge that will be irrelevant in less than five years eventually lands. Programming wisdom, however, has to be found elsewhere. What makes me the most sad about this state of affairs is that things weren't always this way. When Stack Overflow had just been created, the community was genuinely interested first and foremost in helping each other. Of course, we felt joy when others upvoted and accepted our answers, but we weren't desperate for those upvotes. We sometimes took the time to write elaborate questions and write elaborate answers, because our primary aim was to solve actual programming problems, not just watch our reputation increase at the fastest rate possible. When did Stack Overflow go wrong? I can't give a precise time frame, but there were some clear signs: 1. When people started to care enough about reputation that they'd focus on answering trivial questions that were likely to be upvoted by lots of newbies. The most obvious example of this was Jon Skeet's rise to prominence. 2. When people started to care enough about reputation that they'd flame other people's answers to death for very minor technical inaccuracies. By all means point at the mistake, but do it so that it gets fixed, not so that the OP hopefully accepts your answer and not someone else's. 3. When Stack Overflow started giving users privileges on the basis of their reputation: the right to close questions, the right to edit other people's questions and answers (used sparingly, this can be useful, e.g., to rewrite questions more clearly; but this feature has been grossly abused), and even the right to comment on other people's questions and answers. 4. No doubt countless others. Can this situation be remedied? Probably, if the community wants it. Sadly, not everyone has an equal say on Stack Overflow, and the ones with the most power are, for obvious reasons, in favor of the status quo.