Stack Overflow, in my experience, is great for black and white questions, but for true back and forth discussions, not so much.
Well-said. I've said it before and I know it's brutal in its honesty, but there is a pro and con side.
Stack Overflow is more accurate and expert
on the whole , because it uses a system that lends itself to broad peer review and the systemic, unapologetic RANKING of that peer review - thus, the best stuff floats to the top via its (somewhat harsh) voting system and all the restrictions and well-thought-out components of how and when you can do something.
For that, I give them credit ... But, it goes both ways. It can be VERY harsh and unforgiving for newcomers, middlecomers, or even a latecomer who lacks the talent for writing the "near-perfect question". One tiny example is the idea that, if you have a SQL question, post enough code (including DDL) so that someone can paste your question directly into SSMS and hit F5 and see the precise issue you are having. Well, 90% of the people who have SQL questions find that requirement almost harder than the essence of their question! Yet, it does guarantee a crystal-clear question with a rank-able best set of responses.
AWF is much more friendly, and because of that, we serve a large and legitimate market of people who have semi-answerable questions but haven't yet developed the discipline in forming a good question. I also love that AWF allows a bit of variety on its site.
I also prefer AWF for the fact that a post remains eternally open, forever available for an additional thought/suggestion/idea to be posted.
And they do grow over time! Stack Overflow's open-and-shut method forecloses this possibility (for their own reasons), but I like the benefit AWF gives in this way. UA did this too.
Historically, UtterAccess would have been my goto, but since its revamp a couple years back seems to have been abandoned by the owner and is a shell of its former self, full of unaddressed/ignored issues
Glad to see I'm not the only one who has mentioned this sad state of affairs. It was my go-to for a number of years.
My take on it is pretty simple ... One of the top VIP's on the site (or 2) gradually became the dominant force/authority. At the same time, he was learning to code in other languages. Little by little he began thinking "I can do this myself and promote my own abilities and my own 'software' business" - except he was long before the proper time. He should have had the humility and self-awareness to continue using commercially available Forum software when he was nowhere near ready to roll his own. Ego won that discussion, and ergo ... A highly dysfunctional and aesthetically dismal site. One of the reasons I think this, is I remember interacting with him many times prior to this big change. IMHO, his "I'm the best programmer in the world" personality, and the ultimate decision to try to program the site himself, are not a coincidence. Rather than acknowledge the mistake and roll back, he pressed on, digging the hole deeper.