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I found a website that contains content stolen from Stack Exchange. Is it related to SE in any way? (Proof: compare this post with this question on EL&U.)

Edit: As per Kiamlaluno's excellent answer, it does not appear that this is an SE-related site. Is there anything that can be done about it?

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  • It's not providing attribution of any kind and appears to be ripping off all non-beta SE sites. I think the Stack Exchange crew should get in direct contact with that site's administrator. They could easily be sued by the SE team for this I believe.
    – Zelda
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 4:06
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    You know, this all started in an odd manner; I Googled my [usual] username, clicked page 10 for no reason whatsoever, and found that site.
    – please delete me
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 6:09
  • @Arjan: Unfortunately we kinda need the search query that was used where it outranks the EL&U post to be able to "properly" report it.
    – Jeff Mercado
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 20:35
  • @JeffMercado It didn't rank higher than EL&U, it was just there, on page 10. Nobody ever goes that far, but I did, for some reason.
    – please delete me
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 20:37
  • @Can'tGetEnoughMahna: Well it will appear on the first page if you search the whole title but it doesn't outrank EL&U. You can block the site at least.
    – Jeff Mercado
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 20:40
  • Not useful in this specific case (given it's a page 10 result, not outranking SE), but for future reference: Google has a form to report search queries for which the scraper gets a better result than the original site: docs.google.com/spreadsheet/…
    – Arjan
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 20:40
  • @Jeff Well, I suspected it would.
    – please delete me
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 20:41
  • I wonder if SOPA could be useful in a situation like this. Get them blasted off the US internet for copyright infringement.
    – Kibbee
    Commented Dec 19, 2011 at 1:15
  • @Arjan Google has a specific tool for Copyright infringements; the Scaper form is just to help them beta test new functionality. I strongly suggest one of the Stack Exchange crew fill out this form for copyright owners: support.google.com/bin/…
    – Zelda
    Commented Dec 19, 2011 at 14:30

5 Answers 5

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No, they're certainly not affiliated with Stack Exchange; we'll add it to the list of sites to take a look at (unfortunately, there are quite a few of them copying content without correct, if any, attribution).

Thanks for reporting them.

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That site is not related to Stack Exchange. It allows you to reply by logging in on it; if you do it, that site content would contain a comment that the original site from which the question has been taken doesn't contain. The site doesn't correctly attribute the content grabbed from Stack Exchange in any way: The content is not said to be taken from Stack Exchange, and there aren't links for the original question, or the user profile of who answered or commented.

The site is then built with Wordpress. It would not make sense for Stack Exchange to create a clone using Wordpress.

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  • 18
    Release the hounds.
    – sarnold
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 2:52
  • Release the robotic Richard Simmons!
    – Nicol Bolas
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 3:27
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See the official attribution policy here. There is also a listing of illegeal clones (sites that do not give proper attribution) on the same post; you can add this site to that list if you'd like to.

Note that it's not inherently illegal to repost content from Stack Exchange — all posts are released under a creative commons license, but they are required to give proper attribution, which this site does not.

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Honestly, this looks more like an improperly referenced student project than a real content spamming site. Parasitic scrapers usually get their revenue from ads. Notice that there are none on any of the pages. Maybe I'm just naive.

EDIT: My search through DNS registrar supports that theory. Spammers can easily hide their contact info from public listing by paying some extra bucks to domain name provider. This one is wide open, including registrants email and other contact info. Yup, this definitely seems to be an amateur.

My suggestion is to simply send an email to this guy, explaining that whatever is the reason why he made the site, he has to include the backreferences and other stuff that license requires. I still may be naive, but you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar (not that I ever tried to catch flies).

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  • Student projects could never post questions at that rate, methinks.
    – please delete me
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 20:36
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    @Can'tGetEnoughMahna: I don't get it. Various people post question throughout SE. And this site scrapes them. I'm not saying that someone does it manually. I'm saying that it seems to be done by an amateur/hobbyist/student.
    – Goran Jovic
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 20:50
  • Oh! That's what you mean. Yeah, I suppose that's possible.
    – please delete me
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 20:52
  • @Can'tGetEnoughMahna: That seems to be the most likely thing. Either that or he is waiting for the site to become popular to include ads. But, c'mon... only a programming beginer would try to ripoff SE in Wordpress :)
    – Goran Jovic
    Commented Dec 18, 2011 at 21:07
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    @GoranJovic I know, right? Wordpress. They should drop that mess and try Jquery.
    – Zelda
    Commented Dec 21, 2011 at 0:13
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Yes, it's "related".

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