Earlier quoted context omitted.
why does the stack network ( https://stackexchange.com/sites# ) have any advantages? I see a lot of complaints, about questions closed as redundant etc, and about moderation, but what keeps someone from putting a better version up? In particular unlike quora, the reputation of the person answering doesn't seem as important. most people would accept anyone's answer as long as it works. so what's the important network…
My impression is that the network effect comes from where people choose to go to ask questions. You go where you know your question has a good chance of getting answered. As such sites grow as "bases of knowledgeable people", they become a Schelling-point pulling people-with-questions toward them. That's the first-order effect. The second-order effect is that people who are familiar with one of the StackExchange site…
SE is dying. The quality of the questions is falling because being welcoming to new users is deemed more important now than the newcomers absorbing the culture. Questions go unanswered. The real technical Q&A is on Github now. But this is what Spolsky and Atwood wanted all along, good luck to them with their new community of newbies and SJWs.