A lot of talk about the demise of Stack Overflow. But let's have some positive reminiscence: They really captured lightning in a bottle at one point. On the internet, everyone has an opinion, and they fight like hell to defend them. It's amazing that SO was able to remain civil for as long as it did. People actually wanted to help! And the best answers typically rose to the top. I don't know what went wrong, I suspect it was a variation on Gresham's Law: "bad social currency chases out good social currency".