Exhibit A
The Vital Signs
Questions per month, 2008–2026 · Mixed media: hope & moderation
Patient: stackoverflow.com
● 200,000 q/mo
20082014Nov 2022 · ChatGPT2026
···
peak: ~200,000 questions / month (2014) · now: barely a pulse
Exhibit B
The Simulator
Interactive installation · Ask one last question. Time yourself. We do.
Ask a public question
Be specific. It won't help, but be specific. The fastest closures make the Hall of Speed.
Certain questions have been closed here so many times that the museum keeps a pre-written verdict for them. You will know one when you find it.
0
Hello, this is my first question here! Any help appreciated 🙏
Badges earned this visit
ChatGPT
This answer was adapted from a Stack Overflow answer written in 2013 by a human
who received 3 upvotes and was never thanked.
Notice to visitors
Please do not touch the code. It works and nobody knows why.
Exhibit C
The Hall of Speed
Today's fastest closures · The questions died so the leaderboard could live
Every question below was asked in good faith. Rest in peace, all of them.
| # | Time | The question that died |
|---|
Leaderboard resets at midnight UTC. The grief does not.
Exhibit D
Your Permanent Record
Personal retrospective · Real data from the archive · The museum remembers you
You were here too, once. Enter your Stack Overflow username and the museum will retrieve your file.
Public data via the Stack Exchange API.
tap to continue →
Exhibit E
The Guestbook & Vigil
Condolence wall · Leave a message. Nobody will mark it as off-topic.
"Thank you for the jQuery answer from 2011 that I copy-pasted into production every year until 2023. It's still there."
- anonymous, 14 years of lurking, 0 questions asked (too scared)
"You taught me that my question was a duplicate before I even knew what my question was. That's a kind of love."
- former junior dev, now senior, still afraid to ask
"Rest easy, old friend. The AI that replaced you was trained on your answers. You live on in every hallucination."
- dev since 2009
The Vigil
One flame per visitor. The servers are cold now, but this is not.
Pay Respects
Press F. On screen or on your keyboard. It knows.
F pressed 1,204,391 times worldwide
Exhibit F
The Gift Shop
You are now exiting through the gift shop · Everything is sold out forever
👕
"Closed as Duplicate" Tee
Identical to a shirt released in 2011. See original shirt.
☕
"What have you tried?" Mug
Holds coffee, tea, or the tears of new contributors. Dishwasher hostile.
🧹
Welcome Doormat
[This welcome has been marked as off-topic and removed.]
🕯️
Eternal Flame Candle
Scent: "Unanswered since 2014". Burns for exactly 34 seconds.
🏷️
The "Duplicate" Stamp
Gently used. 24,143,722 impressions and counting. Ink: permanent.
☕
A Coffee for the Curator
The only item that was ever in stock. Keeps the candles lit and the moderators sedated.
All proceeds go to nobody. Except the coffee. That one goes to the curator. Everything else, like the answers, was always free.