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No, I do not believe it's dead.

Is it as frequently visited by users able and willing to answers questions as in the past? No, it isn't.

What perhaps doesn't help is topics like Would it make sense to migrate ROS Answers to Stack Exchange? and announcements such as Planned Migration of ROS Answers and Gazebo Answers to Robotics Stack Exchange.

But regardless, the number of active, experienced accounts here has steadily gone down over the years. I guess that's somewhat inevitable, as people progress to more demanding positions (as part of their careers) and/or just don't enjoy contributing to forums like this one any more.

(or, my personal theory: there is too much money in robotics these days, and time == money, so time spent on sites like ROS Answers is "lost money". In reality, it's a free "training course", but not many people see it that way)

See some of the later posts on ROS Answers needs your help for some perspectives on this from different community members.

I think it is time to: 1. acknowledge this forum has a problem 2. start reforming it, to create an incentive for questions being answered.

turning it around a bit: looking at your account, you have 33 questions, 12 answers. It really doesn't take much to answer someone else's question, and if a couple more people would do that, we could turn it around pretty quickly I believe. Don't feel like you have to be an "expert" to start answering. That's not needed at all.

No, I do not believe it's dead.

Is it as frequently visited by users able and willing to answers questions as in the past? No, it isn't.

What perhaps doesn't help is topics like Would it make sense to migrate ROS Answers to Stack Exchange? and announcements such as Planned Migration of ROS Answers and Gazebo Answers to Robotics Stack Exchange.

But regardless, the number of active, experienced accounts here has steadily gone down over the years. I guess that's somewhat inevitable, as people progress to more demanding positions (as part of their careers) and/or just don't enjoy contributing to forums like this one any more.

I also believe in general participation on forums and Q&A sites has gone down, not just here on ROS Answers. Facebook groups, Discord, Whatsapp/Telegram/Slack/etc channels and other such channels have seen growth, whereas public forums are seen as old and clunky.

(or, my personal theory: there is too much money in robotics these days, and time == money, so time spent on sites like ROS Answers is "lost money". In reality, it's a free "training course", but not many people see it that way)

See some of the later posts on ROS Answers needs your help for some perspectives on this from different community members.

I think it is time to: 1. acknowledge this forum has a problem 2. start reforming it, to create an incentive for questions being answered.

turning it around a bit: looking at your account, you have 33 questions, 12 answers. It really doesn't take much to answer someone else's question, and if a couple more people would do that, we could turn it around pretty quickly I believe. Don't feel like you have to be an "expert" to start answering. That's not needed at all.

No, I do not believe it's dead.

Is it as frequently visited by users able and willing to answers questions as in the past? No, it isn't.

What perhaps doesn't help is topics like Would it make sense to migrate ROS Answers to Stack Exchange? and announcements such as Planned Migration of ROS Answers and Gazebo Answers to Robotics Stack Exchange.

But regardless, the number of active, experienced accounts here has steadily gone down over the years. I guess that's somewhat inevitable, as people progress to more demanding positions (as part of their careers) and/or just don't enjoy contributing to forums like this one any more.

I also believe in general participation on forums and Q&A sites has gone down, not just here on ROS Answers. Facebook groups, Discord, Whatsapp/Telegram/Slack/etc channels and other such channels venues have seen growth, growth (even Youtube is used for these kinds of things in some scenes), whereas public forums are seen as old and clunky.

(or, my personal theory: there is too much money in robotics these days, and time == money, so time spent on sites like ROS Answers is "lost money". In reality, it's a free "training course", but not many people see it that way)

See some of the later posts on ROS Answers needs your help for some perspectives on this from different community members.

I think it is time to: 1. acknowledge this forum has a problem 2. start reforming it, to create an incentive for questions being answered.

turning it around a bit: looking at your account, you have 33 questions, 12 answers. It really doesn't take much to answer someone else's question, and if a couple more people would do that, we could turn it around pretty quickly I believe. Don't feel like you have to be an "expert" to start answering. That's not needed at all.

No, I do not believe it's dead.

Is it as frequently visited by users able and willing to answers questions as in the past? No, it isn't.

What perhaps doesn't help is topics like Would it make sense to migrate ROS Answers to Stack Exchange? and announcements such as Planned Migration of ROS Answers and Gazebo Answers to Robotics Stack Exchange. (which, for good reason, then doesn't lead to any immediate action, and leaves things in limbo for a long time).

But regardless, the number of active, experienced accounts here has steadily gone down over the years. I guess that's somewhat inevitable, as people progress to more demanding positions (as part of their careers) and/or just don't enjoy contributing to forums like this one any more.

I also believe in general participation on forums and Q&A sites has gone down, not just here on ROS Answers. Facebook groups, Discord, Whatsapp/Telegram/Slack/etc channels and other such venues have seen growth (even Youtube is used for these kinds of things in some scenes), whereas public forums are seen as old and clunky.

(or, my personal theory: there is too much money in robotics these days, and time == money, so time spent on sites like ROS Answers is "lost money". In reality, it's a free "training course", but not many people see it that way)

See some of the later posts on ROS Answers needs your help for some perspectives on this from different community members.

I think it is time to: 1. acknowledge this forum has a problem 2. start reforming it, to create an incentive for questions being answered.

turning it around a bit: looking at your account, you have 33 questions, 12 answers. It really doesn't take much to answer someone else's question, and if a couple more people would do that, we could turn it around pretty quickly I believe. Don't feel like you have to be an "expert" to start answering. That's not needed at all.

No, I do not believe it's dead.

Is it as frequently visited by users able and willing to answers questions as in the past? No, it isn't.

Some interesting statistics are provided by metrics.ros.org/answers, and they seem to show this as well: notice how the percentage of unanswered questions has steadily gone up over the years.

What perhaps doesn't help is topics like Would it make sense to migrate ROS Answers to Stack Exchange? and announcements such as Planned Migration of ROS Answers and Gazebo Answers to Robotics Stack Exchange (which, for good reason, then doesn't lead to any immediate action, and leaves things in limbo for a long time).

But regardless, the number of active, experienced accounts here has steadily gone down over the years. I guess that's somewhat inevitable, as people progress to more demanding positions (as part of their careers) and/or just don't enjoy contributing to forums like this one any more.

I also believe in general participation on forums and Q&A sites has gone down, not just here on ROS Answers. Facebook groups, Discord, Whatsapp/Telegram/Slack/etc channels and other such venues have seen growth (even Youtube is used for these kinds of things in some scenes), whereas public forums are seen as old and clunky.

(or, my personal theory: there is too much money in robotics these days, and time == money, so time spent on sites like ROS Answers is "lost money". In reality, it's a free "training course", but not many people see it that way)

See some of the later posts on ROS Answers needs your help for some perspectives on this from different community members.

I think it is time to: 1. acknowledge this forum has a problem 2. start reforming it, to create an incentive for questions being answered.

turning it around a bit: looking at your account, you have 33 questions, 12 answers. It really doesn't take much to answer someone else's question, and if a couple more people would do that, we could turn it around pretty quickly I believe. Don't feel like you have to be an "expert" to start answering. That's not needed at all.