The Fall of Stack Overflow

A Dive into its Decline and What it Means for the Future

Stack Overflow fall — Photo by Ries Bosch on Unsplash edited by the author

Over the last one and a half years, Stack Overflow has witnessed a 35% drop in its traffic. A concerning slump mirrored in site activity with roughly a halving in questions, answers, and votes.

Chart of Stack Overflow page views — source : https://observablehq.com/@ayhanfuat/the-fall-of-stack-overflow

Now, you’re probably thinking:

AI, isn’t it?

Well, while AI tools like ChatGPT have stormed the scene as handy coding companions, it’s not entirely accurate to blame them for this traffic nosedive. The timing just doesn’t line up correctly. The most pronounced drop-kicked off around April 2022, a whole seven months before ChatGPT debuted.

So why this startling downturn? It’s a curious mix of cookies, cyber civility, and the colossal Google.

Privacy Laws and a Pinch of Passive Aggression

We need to rewind a little to May 2022 when Google Analytics tweaked its cookie storing methodology due to privacy laws. The result? A noticeable 15% traffic loss for Stack Overflow. But this wasn’t the only driving force behind the decline.