The problem that you aren't seeing is duplicates. If some 90% of the site content are questions that have been asked before, they drown out everything else. To the point where the person who isn't asking a FAQ gets reduced chances of getting an answer, because everyone is busy dealing with the flood of FAQ. This scenario has been happening on SO high traffic tags for at least a decade. And the FAQ questions didn't need to be on the site to begin with, had the OP known where to find that FAQ information before posting the question. On a site like SO it means that the highest traffic tags get the same FAQ questions asked pretty much on daily basis. At that point you don't need a Q&A site any longer, you can just replace it with an online FAQ. The tag system is at the root of the problem - if everyone tags their question "Java" and every Java programmer only follows the Java tag, then questions will drown in the flood.

I'd say I'm well aware of the duplicates. There is an antipattern on SO where a newbie asks "hey here's my code it's crashing why", and then the question gets closed as a duplicate, but the duplicate (for a newbie) is impossible to recognize as such. The close notice gives very little explanation, nobody bothers leaving a comment, and the newbie, being a newbie, is not able to understand how it's actually the same thing as what he's asking.

Specific debugging questions should not be treated as duplicates of other debugging question, this is where the problem is. They should be treated as duplicates of a broad and generic "how to troubleshoot this type of situation" question. Newbies cannot generalize and ask that question, so advanced programmers need to make a few so newbies can be pointed to them.

As for the flood, just have a "debugging" tag or something that people can hide.

matthewsnyder‭ When closing something as duplicate and it isn't obvious how the link solves the problem, at least I think it's appropriate to explain why in comments. Although this is much easier to do when you have a "dupe hammer" and can close posts unanimously. In case there are multiple problems, you can even link multiple duplicates when you have dupe hammer, then leave a note. When multiple people are required for closing as duplicate, then it isn't as obvious. So I'd said the close vote mechanic on SO is as much to blame as the site culture. As for site culture, it's a result of status-by-bad-design of SO, using public shaming as a moderator tool. Since the dawn of Codidact I have kept advocating for a better system with less friction, that gives users feedback regarding why their posts were closed in private - see Giving question feedback in private - a moderating system to reduce conflicts.

matthewsnyder‭ Regarding "debug" tag, I don't think that won't work... teaching new users how to use tags correctly always was mission impossible. A debug category might work though, given that regular/trusted users can move posts between categories somewhat effortlessly, without having to call for a moderator each time.