In Chapter #2 of The Loop, the following graph is being shown:
The blog post states the following as explanation for what it defines as "unwelcoming":
- Unwelcoming community (10.6% of responses): A perception of an unwelcoming community was the top thing that people found most frustrating or unappealing about Stack Overflow. We categorized responses that mentioned condescending or rude replies, and general comments about toxicity and lack of friendliness issues into this theme.
“The toxic nature of the community… Scares people from even signing up let alone asking questions”
“Some people are often condescending or rude”
Those two statements seem to be generalized to the point of meaning nothing at all. "The toxic nature of the community" implies that it's in the nature of the Stack Exchange community to be toxic, which is a statement I do not agree with from personal experience. It also does not explain exactly what "toxicity" is, only that it supposedly exists. Also the fact that people are supposedly scared to sign up or ask questions is in stark contrast to what the CEO claimed in his recent blog post:
In 2019, Stack Overflow added over 2.8 million answers and 2.6 million new questions, with over 1.7 million new users joining the community. There are now over 18 million questions and 27 million answers on Stack Overflow, and over 150,000 people sign up for a Stack Overflow account each month, 12 years after we started.
I also wonder how exactly one would measure how many people are too scared to sign up for Stack Exchange, given that I doubt they would answer a survey about Stack Exchange.
The second example being used claims "Some people are often condescending or rude", which has no information that is in any way usable. "Some things sometimes happen" is just as informative.
Furthermore, it is also very subjective. The phrase
This answer does not answer the question at all.
could be interpreted as being neutral in tone (as it states a fact), or as being rude and condescending.
As such, my question is simply put: What exactly about the community is so toxic and unwelcoming?