Stack Overflow Deaditude Score
How we measure digital decay through unanswered questions
The Technical Autopsy
We calculate the Stack Overflow "Deaditude Score" out of 10 (10 = please bury this tech, 0 = still breathing fire). Higher scores indicate more signs of technological decay.
For each technology, we pull the last 30 days of questions using the StackExchange API, then analyze the data looking for these key indicators of morbidity:
Answered Ratio
What percentage of questions actually get an answer?
If people ask and nobody answers… the tech is giving "ghost town" energy.
Accepted Answers
Out of all answered questions, how many get an accepted answer?
If people do answer, but nobody accepts the answer, either no one cares or no one's coming back. Either way, not a great sign.
Zero Answers
How many questions get absolutely no answers?
It's like screaming into the void, but nerdier.
Median Time to First Answer
How long does it take to get a first response?
If it takes days to get a first response, you're in legacy land.
Duplicate Questions
How many questions are marked as duplicates?
Means either the community is annoyed or nobody's updating their docs. Or both.
Views
How many people are looking at these questions?
If no one even looks at the questions, this tech is basically in hospice.
High View But Low Engagement
Questions that many look at but few help with
Basically a crowd watching a slow trainwreck.
Lurker Ratio
Views per answer ratio
Everyone's looking. No one's helping. Kind of like your old team.
Volume Penalty
How many questions are being asked about this tech?
Low activity? It's either niche… or dying. Possibly both.
Last Activity Date
When was the last sign of life?
Nobody home? Turn off the lights.
The Final Diagnosis
All the points add up to a score out of 10 — capped at 10. Higher score = more signs of decay. It's like a mortality index, but for codebases your boss still believes in.
Ironic Plot Twist:
Stack Overflow itself is probably dying because of LLMs anyway. The metrics we use to measure tech death will soon be measuring Stack Overflow's own demise. How deliciously meta.