This is StackOverflow in 2008:
This is StackOverflow today (10 years later):
The homepage has had a few tweaks over the years but otherwise hasn’t changed much.
They constantly tweaked and improved their way to success. No major platform changes.
Whatever platform you’re using, it’s easy to identify things your current platform doesn’t offer and convince yourself it’s essential. Try to resist this.
I’d estimate only around 50% of people who migrate platforms truly believed it improved the community. Far too often, they trade one set of issues for another. They break things which were working, members get lost and frustrated, search traffic declines, integrations fail, and other features don’t work quite as well.
Migrating to a new platform should usually be the last resort to solve a problem, not the first option. It takes months, costs a fortune, and has a mixed record of success. You’re playing Russian roulette with a year of work and up to $500k+ in costs.
This happens often when a new head of community joins and compares their new community to their last one. Resist this temptation. The benefits rarely match the costs.
p.s. After 10 years, StackOverflow remains the best functioning community on the web.
