We Were Never Good Programmers (idiallo.com)

The decline of Stack Overflow, highlighted by a staggering drop from 207,000 questions asked in a month to just 3,600 by December 2025, is attributed to the rise of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. While heavy moderation on the site has been blamed for its fall, a deeper analysis reveals that Stack Overflow successfully accomplished its mission of making programming resources accessible. Instead of asking questions on Stack Overflow, users now turn to LLMs, which leverage existing answers from the platform, demonstrating both a shift in user behavior and the effectiveness of Stack Overflow's original goal to streamline problem-solving in programming. However, this shift carries significant implications for programmers' skills. The discipline of formulating clear, context-rich questions on Stack Overflow not only facilitated answers but also fostered deeper understanding and problem-solving abilities among programmers. With LLMs providing quick answers without the necessity of critical questioning, there is a risk that developers may lose essential skills in debugging and problem identification. As reliance on AI grows, critical thinking and the ability to articulate problems may atrophy, raising a vital question for the community: can programmers truly understand the answers they receive and effectively troubleshoot when AI falls short?