Stack Exchange — retrocomputing.stackexchange.com

A Stack Exchange (retrocomputing.stackexchange.com) dataset of 3,761 users, 10,521 answer-collaboration edges, 5,958 questions, 14,873 answers, collected by Stack Exchange, Inc. via the annual Stack Exchange Data Dump. Each record contains user nodes (reputation, badge counts, vote history), directed weighted edges (answerer→asker, weight=answer score, count=interactions, accepted=bool), post text, tag distribution. User collaboration network from retrocomputing.stackexchange.com — directed weighted graph where edges represent knowledge-sharing relationships (A answered B's question), with edge weight reflecting answer quality. Enables prestige hierarchy, community detection, and expertise flow analysis.. Suitable for expertise network analysis, reputation systems, community detection, knowledge flow, PageRank-based authority ranking, Q&A platform dynamics..

#Computing history#Expertise network#Reputation#Retrocomputing#Stack exchange data dump

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Analytics

The interactive network needs JavaScript.

· graph.json

The full graph has 3,761 nodes; this view shows the 1,000-node sample the pipeline drew for display. Node size is centrality, colour is community.

3.8K
Nodes
10.5K
Edges
7.44e-04
Density
26
Components
-0.1644
Assortativity
2.6%
Reciprocity
2K
Bridges
Most central nodes
42740.1096
43350.0625
5760.04441
41960.02819
2780.02553
3820.02261
72080.02181
32820.02128
40250.02101
102600.01995
Content metrics

20,831 records scored · min–maxmean ± 0.675 σ (the interquartile range if the values are roughly normal)mean

scoreμ 11.129 ± 14.45
min -9max 514
view countμ 722.403 ± 3K
min 0max 232.1K
answer countμ 0.714 ± 1.684
min 0max 26
comment countμ 3.869 ± 4.601
min 0max 60
9.7
Flesch–Kincaid grade
US school grade level
10.6
Automated readability index
Frequent terms
quotbitlikeusememorytimecodedatasystemcomputerwaycpuaddressdosbasicprogramramneeddiskhardwarelinedifferentdrivesoftwaremachinedonworkmoderomgamewindowsvideosetreadquestionapplefileibmrunthinkbyteinstructionexamplenumbercomputersknowsystemsscreenanswercase
Topic clusters

Topic 0

drive
disk
floppy
sector
track
format
boot
partition

Topic 1

color
monitor
colour
pixel
signal
video
display
resolution

Topic 2

basic
language
code
compiler
hplot
assembler
program
variable

Topic 3

instruction
stack
register
cycle
bit
address
byte
flag

Topic 4

dos
windows
file
unix
system
version
directory
command

Topic 5

power
supply
solder
battery
capacitor
voltage
board
pin

Topic 6

cartridge
game
nintendo
rom
nes
console
bank
ram

Topic 7

terminal
printer
character
send
print
paper
line
teletype

Topic 8

character
card
punch
ascii
hole
column
line
code

Topic 9

keyboard
key
layout
shift
press
membrane
usb
keypad

Topic 10

sound
music
sample
audio
play
chip
channel
speaker

Topic 11

game
player
play
level
remember
mario
engine
like
Show all 22 topics

Topic 12

bus
cycle
chip
address
cpu
dram
clock
access

Topic 13

tape
cassette
audio
datum
recorder
load
record
file

Topic 14

modem
phone
connection
internet
dial
network
connect
protocol

Topic 15

ibm
business
apple
computer
company
market
microsoft
sell

Topic 16

sprite
pixel
graphic
screen
game
scroll
line
hardware

Topic 17

bios
dos
system
memory
program
run
windows
driver

Topic 18

kickstart
amiga
rom
boot
cdtv
workbench
disk
library

Topic 19

apple
ram
card
iigs
memory
rom
iie
expansion

Topic 20

float
point
precision
decimal
bit
number
exponent
bcd

Topic 21

tag
question
retrocompute
retrocomputer
retro
use
hardware
software
Top hashtags
#1279
#2208
#0141
#include136
#3135
#define125
#858
#450
#748
#638
#537
#3934
#0033
#imm32
#page28
#pragma27
#821221
#1019
#n18
#1516

Sampled: text metrics from 50K of 108.7K records; topic model from 20K.

Record

Catalog key
stackexchange-retrocomputing-stackexchange-com
Authors
Stack Exchange, Inc.
Year
2025
Source paper
Stack Exchange Data Dump
License
CC BY-SA 2.5 / 3.0 / 4.0 (by post date) (CC-BY-SA-2.5 AND CC-BY-SA-3.0 AND CC-BY-SA-4.0)
Records
108,712
Nodes
3,761
Edges
10,521 (directed)
Nodes are
user (Stack Exchange account)
Edges are
answer collaboration (A answered B's question)
Attributes
nodes have attributes; edges have attributes
Text corpus
question titles, post bodies, comment text, tag names
Languages
en
Collected
2016/2024 (2010s, 2020s)
Tasks
From the graph: link prediction, community detection
Region
Global (inferred: the platform is used worldwide)

Provenance

Originally published at
https://archive.org/download/stackexchange link checked
Hosted copy
Mirrored on echo.directory on 2026-10-09, 39.5 MB across 1 files. Checksums in MANIFEST.json.

How to cite

BibTeX

@misc{echo2026,
  title  = {ECHO: Exploratory Compendium of Humanity Online},
  author = {Switzer, Braden and Zafarani, Reza},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://echo.directory},
  note   = {Syracuse University}
}

@misc{stackexchange_2025,
  title     = {Stack Exchange Data Dump},
  author    = {{Stack Exchange, Inc.}},
  year      = {2025},
  publisher = {Internet Archive},
  url       = {https://archive.org/download/stackexchange}
}

APA

Switzer, B., & Zafarani, R. (2026). ECHO: Exploratory Compendium of Humanity Online [Data repository]. Syracuse University. https://echo.directory

Stack Exchange, Inc. (2025). Stack Exchange — retrocomputing.stackexchange.com [Data set]. https://stackexchange-retrocomputing-stackexchange-com.echo.directory/

MLA

Switzer, Braden, and Reza Zafarani. ECHO: Exploratory Compendium of Humanity Online. Syracuse University, 2026, echo.directory.

Stack Exchange, Inc. Stack Exchange — retrocomputing.stackexchange.com. 2025, stackexchange-retrocomputing-stackexchange-com.echo.directory/.

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