But in trying to solve that problem, they threw the baby out with the bathwater!

They were so fixated on solving that that they failed to realize: training all their power users to grief anyone who didn't behave like a power user off the site was detrimental (to having a site with non-power users). Everyone came for a question and answer site, but when it transformed it into a "question and get downvoted and modded into oblivion" site, everyone left.

AI put the final nail in the coffin, but SO was dead before AI arrived ... from this self-inflicted wound.