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Stack Overflow is fading—can Discord, Reddit, or LLMs take its place?
Normally, we share knowledge here, but today, instead of sharing, I’d like to ask you something. As some of you know, I’ve been experimenting with Stable Diffusion over the past few months, and honestly, I get stuck almost every week. It’s still a terra incognita for me and arguably for the whole world.
But this got me thinking - maybe this is part of a broader issue.
A few years ago, I was an active Stack Overflow user. I asked questions, answered them, and even helped moderate the site. But now, it feels like Stack Overflow is nearly inactive. Just take a look at this tweet from Marc Gravell:
I tested it myself - posted a question - and it was closed. I didn’t expect a full answer, but I was surprised it was shut down without any tips or guidance. The reason? It lacked "debugging details" and a "minimal reproducible example". Sure, I could disagree or ignore it, but I remember Stack Overflow as a place where developers genuinely helped each other. And I’m not exactly a newbie - I’ve got nearly 20k reputation points.
Stack Overflow Is Dead. Long Live the Next King - But Who Will It Be?
I don’t have a definitive answer, but I do have a few ideas. Each has its pros and cons, and this question applies to all dev-related topics, not just Stable Diffusion. I’ll list some options below—please share your own suggestions in the comments, and I’ll update the post accordingly.
1. Discord
Discord is a great place to ask questions. There are tons of communities, and many people are willing to help. The downside? It’s chaotic. Your question can easily get buried in the chat history. Finding the right server is also tricky—many require invites. But if you’re lucky and land in the right community, you might get an answer fast.
Summary: Discord works well if you’re in the right community and if that community doesn’t mind answering the same questions over and over 😅
2. Reddit
People say Reddit is a good place to ask questions. There are many active communities, and lots of helpful users. But personally, I’ve never had much success there. I’ve never received a helpful answer, and I rarely see Reddit links in search results. Maybe it’s just me?
Summary: Reddit has potential, but I’m not convinced it’s the best place for dev-related questions. Still, I hope it’s just my experience 😅
3. GitHub
In recent years, GitHub has evolved from just a code repository into a hub for issues, discussions, and even wikis. It’s a great place to ask project-specific questions. The search is decent, and content is well-indexed by search engines. In my case, I’ve found many useful repos to help me move forward—though many were in Chinese and linked to academic whitepapers. That’s more of a domain issue than a platform one.
Summary: In my opinion, GitHub is currently the best place to ask questions about specific projects.
4. Social Media
Social media is probably the worst place to ask technical questions. Honestly, it’s hard to even browse these platforms nowadays. I won’t go into details, but if you’ve had a good experience asking dev questions on social media, let me know in the comments.
5. LLMs and Search Engines (Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Kagi, etc.)
You can’t exactly ask a question in a search engine, but you can often find answers to existing ones. The problem is that many of the sources mentioned above aren’t indexed well anymore.
As for LLMs like ChatGPT—they hallucinate sometimes, but for simple questions, they’re surprisingly effective. The main issue is trust: where is the answer coming from?
Summary: Great for simple questions. Not reliable for complex ones. Ironically, LLMs might be part of the reason platforms like Stack Overflow are fading.
The End?
If you’ve had different experiences asking dev questions online, please share them in the comments. I’ll update this post with your suggestions and my own ongoing experiences. Hopefully, we can find or build a better place to ask questions and share knowledge.