There was a lot of engagement in the communities I participate up until a couple of years ago. People were interested and actively discussing a lot of topics. There were a lot of newbies asking questions and people proposing different ways for tasks.
Is it just me or did it reduce a lot? LLMs? Company forums? Other forums I did not move to (e.g. discord)? Reduced interest? Or is it just subjective?
90% of the time if I ask for help on forums the answer will be one of three things:
Completely absent
Just google it scrub lmao (nevermind the fact that search has gone to shit)
Doesn’t actually answer the question
In the early days it seems pike Stack Overflow tried to regulate engagement from trolls. They encouraged support for dumb/newbie questions and discouraged obnoxious behaviors.
I’m guessing that’s just a losing battle. I don’t think there’s much hope of keeping a good moderator for free. It’s a tough, thankless job. Troll/poor moderators are free.
Don’t forget these responses
XY Problems are much more common from the person asking the question though…
Sometimes this is useful, though. Other times it’s infuriating 😅