8

There is a blog post from late 2015 titled We're Changing Our Name (Back) to Stack Overflow that reads:

Here’s what’s changing:

  1. As of today, our company will be known as Stack Overflow.
  2. Our logo is different. But only a little.
  3. Not one other damn thing.

What was the ultimate fate of this change? I can see that:

Most parts of the network identify Stack Exchange, Inc., and public information on the internet does not identify Stack Overflow as a company. However, the Stack Overflow Blog as well as the SO About Page do contain references to it, although they seem to be isolated.

Can we get some follow up info to the above blog post? What's the deal with the "Stack Overflow" company name, and how does it officially fit into the "Stack Exchange, Inc." corporate structure?

This also serves as a follow-up to this late 2015 post prompted by the blog announcement. At that point the path forward didn't seem to be set in stone yet, and some of the comments labelled it as more of a casual "rebranding" than a full-blown rename.

This is heavily related to the Line between meta.stackexchange, meta.stackoverflow and stackoverflow.blog post, which asks about the line of responsibility between various network sites, but I felt this question was different enough: This post concerns just the name change announcement and follow up, not the purpose of the individual sites.

6
  • Isn't Stack Overflow just their brand name? Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 20:34
  • @PatrickHofman I'm not sure; that's part of the question. :)
    – Jason C
    Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 20:34
  • @Patrick I wouldn't say so, they explicitly say Learn more about Stack Overflow the company (emphasis mine) in the subtitle for About us link in the help menu in the network header (uppermost part of the screen).
    – Luke
    Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 20:47
  • also meta.stackexchange.com/questions/266410/…
    – Luke
    Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 20:49
  • 1
    Interesting tidbit: GitHub username is @StackExchange, full name is Stack Overflow
    – shalvah
    Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 22:11
  • 1
    multiple personality disorder?
    – Luke
    Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 22:15

1 Answer 1

7

Stack Exchange, Inc is to Stack Overflow like Richard Starkey, MBE is to Ringo Starr.

To improve the analogy, imagine that prior to starting his music career, he also created "Richard Starkey network" of websites, and prefers to keep that name for the network.

Both names remain in use; the former on legal documents, the latter on marketing materials. There's also a spectrum of things between these. Some are closer to legal, like a footer with license terms. Some are closer to marketing, like "about our company" page. The blog is mostly a marketing effort, so "Stack Overflow" looks better on its pages and in its footer. Besides, it's unlikely that scrapers are clamoring for blog's content and need to be served notices from the legal department.

2
  • Ah, so more of a casual preference / marketing identity / [re-]rebrand, rather than an official corporate entity? If a person refers to the "Stack Overflow Company", what should that be interpreted to mean?
    – Jason C
    Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 23:11
  • They refer to the company that prefers to be known as "Stack Overflow", whose legal name is "Stack Exchange". And perhaps they included "company" to differentiate it from Stack Overflow the website.
    – user315433
    Commented Jan 29, 2017 at 23:22

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .