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Stop using Stack Exchange paid products at work (e.g. Teams)

Boycott campaigns can be very successful, but they only succeed if the target knows they're being boycotted and why, and can see that the small dip on their charts has a clear explanation and could become a downward trend.

Don't only post here, very few Stack Overflow Inc employees actually use their own network. It won't be seen.

Instead, write directly to the appropriate sales team - see for example https://stackoverflow.com/company/contact - and also post to social media and/or blog about it.

If hardworking sales professionals see that their hard work trying to promote their company is being actively undone because one colleague in a different team refuses to take responsible action after beaking the company's own rules while pursuing an inexplicable personal grudge against a valuable volunteer, they may apply the kind of pressure we can't.

• You can tell them how you advise colleagues to use other platforms for Q&A and knowledge sharing (e.g. GitHub issues) because of the failing quality control, moderation and community engagement you see at Stack Overflow. I believe that SO Inc is complacent about Stack Overflow's (slipping) market leader position, but they must have noticed and have some concerns about how (even a year or two ago) its reputation began to fall steeply.

• You are a key part of the target market for Stack Overflow Jobs. You can tell them that you no longer use this for job searches, and that you tell companies who advertise there that it is a platform you won't use (e.g. in surveys, or if you see their own website link to a Stack Overflow Jobs page, etc).

  Something that could be quite effective is, any time you see a company advertise exclusively or primarily using Stack Overflow Jobs, you could send them an email saying that you do not use this platform due to the company's unethical treatment of its volunteers, and you therefore will not apply for positions at this company unless an alternative method is offered, and bcc the relevant SO sales team in the email.

• Your employer is the target market for Teams and Jobs. You can tell them that you have advised your company not to consider such products, because as a long-standing member, you have observed that Stack Overflow is a burning platform. Even if your company was never considering such products, they will be hoping to reach companies like yours with their marketing and it will concern them to learn that their marketing will be reaching decision makers who are already briefed against them.

• You can say very similar things to above but with much higher impact - "My company has made the decision to [x]" is stronger than "I am advising my employer to [X]",

• You could blog about it on the company blog, if there is one. This could be very high impact, if you get the tone right.

  For example: you supported their talk and ambitions about inclusivity, but having observed how the company appears to be abusing the name of inclusivity as a cover for staff to pursue unrelated personal vendettas against volunteers, you believe this is a company you cannot trust to be part of your company's operations. You now favour [x] for recruitment, [y] for internal knowledge sharing, and [z] as your recommendation for employees seeking support from the wider developer community.

• You no longer promote the SE site among other enthusiasts in that field, and/or, you promote [rival site] instead,
• You advise people you know in that field to use an ad blocker if they visit that site

Stop using Stack Exchange paid products at work (e.g., Teams)

Boycott campaigns can be very successful, but they succeed only if the target knows they're being boycotted and why, and can see that the small dip on their charts has a clear explanation and could become a downward trend.

Don't just post here; very few Stack Overflow Inc. employees actually use their own network. It won't be seen.

Instead, write directly to the appropriate sales team – see for example https://stackoverflow.com/company/contact – and also post to social media and/or blog about it.

If hardworking sales professionals see that their hard work trying to promote their company is being actively undone because one colleague in a different team refuses to take responsible action after breaking the company's own rules while pursuing an inexplicable personal grudge against a valuable volunteer, they may apply the kind of pressure we can't.

• You can tell them how you advise colleagues to use other platforms for Q&A and knowledge sharing (e.g., GitHub issues) because of the failing quality control, moderation and community engagement you see at Stack Overflow. I believe that SO Inc. is complacent about Stack Overflow's (slipping) market leader position, but they must have noticed and have some concerns about how (even a year or two ago) its reputation began to fall steeply.

• You are a key part of the target market for Stack Overflow Jobs. You can tell them that you no longer use this for job searches, and that you tell companies who advertise there that it is a platform you won't use (e.g., in surveys, or if you see their own website link to a Stack Overflow Jobs page, etc).

  Something that could be quite effective is, any time you see a company advertise exclusively or primarily using Stack Overflow Jobs, you could send them an email saying that you do not use this platform due to the company's unethical treatment of its volunteers, and you therefore will not apply for positions at this company unless an alternative method is offered, and bcc the relevant SO sales team in the email.

• Your employer is the target market for Teams and Jobs. You can tell them that you have advised your company not to consider such products, because, as a long-standing member, you have observed that Stack Overflow is a burning platform. Even if your company was never considering such products, they will be hoping to reach companies like yours with their marketing and it will concern them to learn that their marketing will be reaching decision makers who are already briefed against them.

• You can say very similar things to above but with much higher impact – "My company has made the decision to [x]" is stronger than "I am advising my employer to [X]",

• You could blog about it on the company blog, if there is one. This could be very high impact, if you get the tone right.

  For example: you supported their talk and ambitions about inclusivity, but having observed how the company appears to be abusing the name of inclusivity as a cover for staff to pursue unrelated personal vendettas against volunteers, you believe this is a company you cannot trust to be part of your company's operations. You now favour [x] for recruitment, [y] for internal knowledge sharing, and [z] as your recommendation for employees seeking support from the wider developer community.

• You no longer promote the SE site among other enthusiasts in that field, and/or you promote [rival site] instead,
• You advise people you know in that field to use an ad blocker if they visit that site

• You can tell them how you advise colleagues to use other platforms for Q&A and knowledge sharing (e.g. GitHub issues) because of the failing quality control, moderation and community engagement you see at Stack Overflow. I believe that SO Inc is complacent about Stack Overflow's (slipping) market leader position, but they must have noticed and have some concerns about how (even a year or two ago) its reputation began to fall steeply.
• You are a key part of the target market for Stack Overflow Jobs. You can tell them that you no longer use this for job searches, and that you tell companies who advertise there that it is a platform you won't use (e.g. in surveys, or if you see their own website link to a Stack Overflow Jobs page, etc).
• Your employer is the target market for Teams and Jobs. You can tell them that you have advised your company not to consider such products, because as a long-standing member, you have observed that Stack Overflow is a burning platform. Even if your company was never considering such products, they will be hoping to reach companies like yours with their marketing and it will concern them to learn that their marketing will be reaching decision makers who are already briefed against them.

• You can say very similar things to above but with much higher impact - "My company has made the decision to [x]" is stronger than "I am advising my employer to [X]",
• You could blog about it on the company blog, if there is one. This could be very high impact, if you get the tone right. For example: you supported their talk and ambitions about inclusivity, but having observed how poorly managed the implementation has been, how unprepared the company has been to respond to feedback, and/or how they appear to be abusing inclusivity as an excuse for staff members to pursue personal vendettas against volunteers, you believe this is a company that is past its prime. You now favour [x] for recruitment, [y] for internal knowledge sharing, and [z] as your recommendation for employees seeking support from the wider developer community).

If hardworking sales professionals see that their hard work trying to promote their company is being actively undone because one colleague in a different team refuses to take responsible action after beaking the company's own rules while pursuing an inexplicable personal grudge against a valuable volunteer, they may apply the kind of pressure we can't.

• You can tell them how you advise colleagues to use other platforms for Q&A and knowledge sharing (e.g. GitHub issues) because of the failing quality control, moderation and community engagement you see at Stack Overflow. I believe that SO Inc is complacent about Stack Overflow's (slipping) market leader position, but they must have noticed and have some concerns about how (even a year or two ago) its reputation began to fall steeply.

• You are a key part of the target market for Stack Overflow Jobs. You can tell them that you no longer use this for job searches, and that you tell companies who advertise there that it is a platform you won't use (e.g. in surveys, or if you see their own website link to a Stack Overflow Jobs page, etc).

  Something that could be quite effective is, any time you see a company advertise exclusively or primarily using Stack Overflow Jobs, you could send them an email saying that you do not use this platform due to the company's unethical treatment of its volunteers, and you therefore will not apply for positions at this company unless an alternative method is offered, and bcc the relevant SO sales team in the email.

• Your employer is the target market for Teams and Jobs. You can tell them that you have advised your company not to consider such products, because as a long-standing member, you have observed that Stack Overflow is a burning platform. Even if your company was never considering such products, they will be hoping to reach companies like yours with their marketing and it will concern them to learn that their marketing will be reaching decision makers who are already briefed against them.

• You can say very similar things to above but with much higher impact - "My company has made the decision to [x]" is stronger than "I am advising my employer to [X]",

• You could blog about it on the company blog, if there is one. This could be very high impact, if you get the tone right.

  For example: you supported their talk and ambitions about inclusivity, but having observed how the company appears to be abusing the name of inclusivity as a cover for staff to pursue unrelated personal vendettas against volunteers, you believe this is a company you cannot trust to be part of your company's operations. You now favour [x] for recruitment, [y] for internal knowledge sharing, and [z] as your recommendation for employees seeking support from the wider developer community.

A note on this suggestion:

Stop using Stack Exchange paid products at work (e.g. Teams)

Boycott campaigns can be very successful, but they only succeed if the target knows they're being boycotted and why, and can see that the small dip on their charts has a clear explanation and could become a downward trend.

If senior staff in the Public Q&A team don't follow what the community behind the public Q&A are saying here on Meta, then the sales team definitely don't.

Write to StackOverflow Inc. and tell them

Don't only post here, very few StackOverflow Inc employees actually use their own network. It won't be seen.

Instead, write directly to the appropriate sales team - see for example https://stackoverflow.com/company/contact - and also post to social media and/or blog about it.

What can I do?

If you're a software developer:

• You can tell them how you advise colleagues to use other platforms for Q&A and knowledge sharing (e.g. GitHub issues) because of the failing quality control, moderation and community engagement you see at StackOverflow. I believe that SO Inc is complacent about StackOverflow's (slipping) market leader position, but they must have noticed and have some concerns about how (even a year or two ago) its reputation began to fall steeply.
• You are a key part of the target market for StackOverflow Jobs. You can tell them that you no longer use this for job searches, and that you tell companies who advertise there that it is a platform you won't use (e.g. in surveys, or if you see their own website link to a StackOverflow Jobs page, etc).
• Your employer is the target market for Teams and Jobs. You can tell them that you have advised your company not to consider such products, because as a long-standing member, you have observed that StackOverflow is a burning platform. Even if your company was never considering such products, they will be hoping to reach companies like yours with their marketing and it will concern them to learn that their marketing will be reaching decision makers who are already briefed against them.

If you are a senior person in a software company (even a very small one):

• You can say very similar things to above but with much higher impact - "My company has made the decision to [x]" is stronger than "I am advising my employer to [X]",
• You could blog about it on the company blog, if there is one. This could be very high impact, if you get the tone right. For example: you supported their talk and ambitions about inclusivity, but having observed how poorly managed the implementation has been, how unprepared the company has been to respond to feedback, and/or how they appear to be abusing inclusivity as an excuse for staff members to pursue personal vendettas against volunteers, you believe this is a company that is past its prime. You now favour [x] for recruitment, [y] for internal knowledge sharing, and [z] as your recommendation for employees seeking support from the wider developer community).

If you don't work in software, it's harder to make an impact because the other sites are so much smaller and less monetised, but there could still be an impact if enough people directly tell them things like:

• You no longer promote the SE site among other enthusiasts in that field, and/or, you promote [rival site] instead,
• You advise people you know in that field to use an ad blocker if they visit that site

A note on this suggestion:

Stop using Stack Exchange paid products at work (e.g. Teams)

Boycott campaigns can be very successful, but they only succeed if the target knows they're being boycotted and why, and can see that the small dip on their charts has a clear explanation and could become a downward trend.

If senior staff in the Public Q&A team don't follow what the community behind the public Q&A are saying here on Meta, then the sales team definitely don't.

Write to Stack Overflow Inc. and tell them

Don't only post here, very few Stack Overflow Inc employees actually use their own network. It won't be seen.

Instead, write directly to the appropriate sales team - see for example https://stackoverflow.com/company/contact - and also post to social media and/or blog about it.

What can I do?

If you're a software developer:

• You can tell them how you advise colleagues to use other platforms for Q&A and knowledge sharing (e.g. GitHub issues) because of the failing quality control, moderation and community engagement you see at Stack Overflow. I believe that SO Inc is complacent about Stack Overflow's (slipping) market leader position, but they must have noticed and have some concerns about how (even a year or two ago) its reputation began to fall steeply.
• You are a key part of the target market for Stack Overflow Jobs. You can tell them that you no longer use this for job searches, and that you tell companies who advertise there that it is a platform you won't use (e.g. in surveys, or if you see their own website link to a Stack Overflow Jobs page, etc).
• Your employer is the target market for Teams and Jobs. You can tell them that you have advised your company not to consider such products, because as a long-standing member, you have observed that Stack Overflow is a burning platform. Even if your company was never considering such products, they will be hoping to reach companies like yours with their marketing and it will concern them to learn that their marketing will be reaching decision makers who are already briefed against them.

If you are a senior person in a software company (even a very small one):

• You can say very similar things to above but with much higher impact - "My company has made the decision to [x]" is stronger than "I am advising my employer to [X]",
• You could blog about it on the company blog, if there is one. This could be very high impact, if you get the tone right. For example: you supported their talk and ambitions about inclusivity, but having observed how poorly managed the implementation has been, how unprepared the company has been to respond to feedback, and/or how they appear to be abusing inclusivity as an excuse for staff members to pursue personal vendettas against volunteers, you believe this is a company that is past its prime. You now favour [x] for recruitment, [y] for internal knowledge sharing, and [z] as your recommendation for employees seeking support from the wider developer community).

If you don't work in software, it's harder to make an impact because the other sites are so much smaller and less monetised, but there could still be an impact if enough people directly tell them things like:

• You no longer promote the SE site among other enthusiasts in that field, and/or, you promote [rival site] instead,
• You advise people you know in that field to use an ad blocker if they visit that site