The Museum of Stack Overflow · Get Closed as Duplicate One Last Time
⚠ This website has been flagged as a possible duplicate of archive.org. If you believe this is a mistake, you are wrong.
Exhibit A
The Vital Signs
Questions per month, 2008–2026 · Mixed media: hope & moderation
Patient: stackoverflow.com<br>Replay with sound<br>● 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.
▮▮▮stack overflow · memorial edition
0.0s
rep 1 −5
Ask a public question
Title<br>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.
Post your question
Asked just now · Viewed 3 times · Active for the last time
Hello, this is my first question here! Any help appreciated 🙏
Closed. This question was marked as a duplicate of<br>[closed] (2011).<br>Appeal this decision (nobody ever has successfully)
Badges earned this visit
Fine, I'll ask ChatGPT →
ChatGPT
This answer was adapted from a Stack Overflow answer written in 2013 by a human<br>who received 3 upvotes and was never thanked.
▲ Thank them now
Your visit, ready to paste anywhere
Share<br>Copy result<br>Save card<br>Certificate<br>Speedrun again
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.
#TimeThe question that died
Leaderboard resets at midnight UTC. The grief does not.
The Hall of Fame
The ten fastest closures in the history of the museum. These do not reset. Ever.
#TimeThe question that died
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.
Retrieve file
or view a sample visitor's record →
Public data via the Stack Exchange API.
tap to continue →
Your record, ready to paste anywhere
Share<br>Copy your record<br>Save your card<br>Look up someone else
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
Sign the guestbook: what did Stack Overflow mean to you?
Leave condolences
The Vigil
One flame per visitor. The servers are cold now, but this is not.
Light a candle
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.
$24.99$−4.00
Sold out forever
"What have you tried?" Mug
Holds coffee, tea, or the tears of new contributors. Dishwasher hostile.
$14.99$−4.00
Sold out forever
🧹
Welcome Doormat
[This welcome has been marked as off-topic and removed.]
$34.99$−4.00
Sold out forever
🕯️
Eternal Flame Candle
Scent: "Unanswered since 2014". Burns for exactly 34 seconds.
$19.99$−4.00
Sold out forever
🏷️
The "Duplicate" Stamp
Gently used. 24,143,722 impressions and counting. Ink: permanent.
$49.99$−4.00
Sold out forever
A Coffee for the Curator
The only item that was ever in stock. Keeps the candles lit and the moderators sedated.
$4.00$4.00 · no discount. we know.
In stock. Suspiciously.
All proceeds go to nobody. Except the coffee. That one goes to the curator. Everything else, like the answers, was always free.
Badge earned
Copied. Just like the old days.
Certificate of Closure
Official proof that you asked, and were refused, one last time.
Engrave
Download PNG<br>Close
Wait! Your question is still open!
…Just kidding. It was closed 4 minutes ago. You can go.
Leave anyway<br>Stay forever
Appeals Office
Open since 2008. Zero appeals granted. But please, make your case.
Send
In the real museum this moderator is an AI. It is just as unhelpful, but infinitely creative about it.
Copy transcript<br>Give up (recommended)