The rise of slop (answers made to look good, not be correct, and the bonus to the poster) - was really the start of the slide down. And this started happening more than a decade ago.

I really like SO. I couldn't post answers much, because I had to vet anything I could have said past management. But it was a favoured place to find how to solve questions I didn't deal with daily - up until the slop grew too much.

Oh I'm not really blaming the "slop" on anyone (although it feeds heavily into why AI produces such slop) - it was just connected with the rise of popularity worldwide, and gamed by people wanting to improve their perceived prestige, to open more doors. And, once upon a time, stackoverflow DID open more doors, for a lot of people.