166
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NB The following is a community-generated list of websites that republish Stack Exchange content without attributing it properly. It is no longer being maintained, because the procedure for reporting such sites has changed; see the duplicate for more information.

There are a number of license-violating clones of Stack Exchange sites popping up that use Stack Exchange's CC-wiki data without following our Creative Commons attribution terms. Those terms are linked at the bottom of every Stack Exchange webpage, and are also included as a .txt file in every data dump we produce.

Google now has a form for reporting content copiers that appear above the originals in search results.

Also, you can block unwanted sites from appearing in Google search from the search page itself:

The option to block a site appears when you click a search result and then navigate back to the search results page. Click the "Block" link next to that result to block all pages within the site's entire domain.

This post was created as an attempt to organize information originally posted in this answer. You may also be looking for the post for reporting copycat sites that outrank Stack Exchange in search results.

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  • 26
    I have never seen the CAPTCHA page as often as I did when I was adding the existing 40 or so answers to this question.
    – Pops
    May 8, 2012 at 20:20
  • 30
    That is because you pasted. Try typing... Like a real person :)
    – Jeff Atwood
    May 12, 2012 at 15:20
  • 32
    ...yeeeeahhhh, I prefer the CAPTCHAs.
    – Pops
    May 12, 2012 at 21:17
  • 17
    @JeffAtwood I would put a poison pill question(s) that only those APIs presented so that you could automatically re-scrap via Google and easily find infringing sites. Much like cartographers do on physical maps by putting fake locations or markers to easily spot copies. The thieves would never know what to look for and you could easily make this an automated process.
    – user148287
    Jul 14, 2012 at 6:04
  • 3
    @Jeff is this handled at some level? Can we know which sites were reported and closed?
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Aug 8, 2012 at 10:58
  • 8
    @ShaWizDowArd I don't have a handy list of sites that have been dealt with, but we do monitor this thread and contact offenders. This post isn't just a black hole. :)
    – Adam Lear StaffMod
    Aug 31, 2012 at 22:25
  • It's a bit late for this comment, but if you ever want to check out what one of these sites looked like (if it was later removed), you can use one of the many webcache services online (I use the chrome web cache plugin)
    – Snakes and Coffee
    Mar 1, 2013 at 9:02
  • Site blocking is currently unavailable through google unless you use Chrome and the Chrome blocking extension. searchengineland.com/google-block-sites-feature-146409
    – gebuh
    Mar 12, 2013 at 18:27
  • I just went through and about 50% of these are gone. I edited some, until I got tired of it. Cleanup please? :)
    – Doorknob
    Apr 6, 2013 at 1:01
  • @PopularDemand: Can you check nerdanswer.com please? I'm not entirely sure whether to classify it as an illegal clone or not.
    – Karan
    Apr 24, 2013 at 23:25
  • @Karan FYI I'm just the user who posted the question, not an official person of any kind.
    – Pops
    Apr 24, 2013 at 23:29
  • @PopularDemand: Thanks, maybe a mod will check it out then if they ever read my previous comment.
    – Karan
    Apr 24, 2013 at 23:57
  • 3
    Is there a reason the original list of offenders was split into countless posts over multiple pages? Giving it its own topic, sure, but splitting into individual answers just makes searching for existing entries a PITA and invites duplicates.
    – Daniel Beck
    May 27, 2013 at 8:49
  • Here's another one I don't think has been reported earlier, with fake author names and as far as I can see no attribution whatsoever: eonlinegratis.com/channel/superuser/
    – Karan
    Jun 8, 2013 at 22:27
  • 2
    @AnnaLear The RNQA site seems to still be going strong; here’s an ELU meta post about them scraping content from ELU. If there is anything more we can do, please let us know and we would be glad to pitch in in any way we can. Thanks.
    – tchrist
    Aug 4, 2013 at 20:14

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www.diy101.net

  • Example: http://www.diy101.net/questions/5809/any-words-of-advice-on-dealing-with-termites
  • Licensing terms and other footer contents are removed
  • About page claims to be part of Stack Exchange Network
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vote

FantasyPublishings.com/morePHPHelp/

http://www.fantasypublishings.com/morePhpHelp/How_to_enable_the_new_ObjectiveC_object_literals_on_iOS__Stack_Overflow_page64447.php is a copy of How to enable the new Objective-C object literals on iOS?

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    Stack_Overflow_page64447.php smoooooth
    – Ben Brocka
    Apr 14, 2013 at 16:33
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http://2exception.com/

The first question I see there is: http://2exception.com/question/5764

SO original: how to slow down the speed of buffer sending java

Second: http://2exception.com/question/5762

Original: How to specify relative path for image in xsl

et cetera. Answers are copied, too. Links to profiles changed to some links on 2exception.com but those are broken. Found no attribution whatsoever.

1
vote

cloverink.net

Scraping/copying questions with accepted answers and passing off as blog material. No attribution of any sort.

For example

http://cloverink.net/can-a-byte-array-be-written-to-a-file-in-c/

is sourced from:

Can a Byte[] Array be written to a file in C#?

Site even has Disqus comments set up and people are commenting on these bogus posts, for example:

http://cloverink.net/invalid-multibyte-char-us-ascii-with-rails-and-ruby-1-9

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  • People are just getting more rude... wonder if there's any legal way to shut such sites down?
    – Shadow The GPT Wizard
    Apr 25, 2013 at 13:23
  • @ShaWizDowArd - did ask Tim Post about whether the SE team actively pursue these sites and apparently they do. It just takes time. But yes, downright rude.
    – Kev
    Apr 25, 2013 at 13:24
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askoverflow.com

I once asked Is Ask Overflow a part of the Stack Exchange network? about the fake site Ask Overflow, so I am adding this answer for that fake site.

I don't know whether it violates the attribution rules, though.

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vote

http://088062.com/

  • No attribution at all
  • proxying the whole site
  • Nice translation of everything into German (working better than I'd expected)
  • User names get removed from the posts (but their accounts are accessible via the right URI)
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www.superbank.org

There are only references to author names. No links to Stack Overflow are available, and nothing indicates that the content is from SO.

Example:

http://www.superbank.org/is-the-garbage-first-g1-collector-production-ready-in-java-6/

"Real" question: Is the garbage-first (G1) collector "production ready" in Java 6?.

Updated October 16, 2012:
Appeared on the second page of Google results for spring 3.1.2 register "MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter".

No attribution. http://www.superbank.org/help/34975/registrer-mappingjackson2httpmessageconverter-in-spring-3-1-2-with-jaxb-annotati.html is a copy of Registrer MappingJackson2HttpMessageConverter in Spring 3.1.2 with JAXB annotations.

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9exceptions.com

The post below was copied from Stackoverflow.com. It mentions the SO user's ID but does not mention that it was copied from SO. It also does not link to the original post.

http://9exception.com/question/149547

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  • Possibly related to 74ku, reported here.
    – Pops
    May 17, 2013 at 19:05
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vote

*.phpfogapp.com

Subsite: javascriptfaq.phpfogapp.com, titled "Javascript FAQ"

Example: http://javascriptfaq.phpfogapp.com/javascript-why-create-loops-to-get-elements-for-events.html

Content has been stolen from Stack Overflow, but only the questions related to and . Answers are posted as comments, with original names of the users who answered, but without links to the users or to Stack Overflow.

They also copied the "Demo" links of jsfiddle.net with the original answers. There is also a button marked "Submit a comment," but it doesn't work for commenting.

Update August 3, 2012:

Subsite: javascriptask.phpfogapp.com

This site seems to actively crawl or collect JavaScript questions from SO. It violates all attributions but mentions the authors' names. There are no links to original questions or to author profiles, or any indication that the posts are from Stack Overflow.

Example: http://javascriptask.phpfogapp.com/php-http-status-code-with-special-characters-in-the-url.html

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codequestions.org

Apparently 100% duplicating site, doesn't even properly include answers on many of them... no attribution.

Original: saving images in python at a very high quality

http://codequestions.org/saving-images-in-python-at-a-very-high-quality/

Second: ASP MVC 2 Forgot Password

http://codequestions.org/asp-mvc-2-forgot-password/

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http://asilvia12-silviaa.blogspot.fr/

Posts questions from multiple SE sites, e.g. http://asilvia12-silviaa.blogspot.fr/2013/06/creating-multiple-devices-from-one.html from Creating multiple devices from one device?, https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/101807/tags-404-error-when-associating-tag-with-post from Using SPM5 with MatLab, https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/101807/tags-404-error-when-associating-tag-with-post from https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/101807/tags-404-error-when-associating-tag-with-post etc.

No attribution.

I noticed it in Google results, but it wasn't high-ranking.

Warning: don't go there with JS on, the ads are especially annoying.

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www.vvreview.com

Appears to be scraping Server Fault (among other sites).

http://www.vvreview.com/q/answers-controlling-tomcat-with-supervisor-425132.html ← Controlling tomcat with supervisor

http://www.vvreview.com/q/answers-supervisor-always-quit-process-with-exit-status-0-not-expected-163392.html ← Supervisor always quit process with 'exit status 0; not expected'

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vote

www.cryptoanswers.co.uk

Reposts many (all?) questions from https://crypto.stackexchange.com/ with no attribution (there's an author name, which isn't always correct, but no mention of Stack Exchange and no link back).

Examples:

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abbate-zara2jan1991.blogspot.fr

Reposts content from various Stack Exchange sites with no attribution.

Examples:

1
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http://www.zzzxo.com/

No notice that content is from Stack Overflow. No links to original question. Does identify original author. Does not link back to original author's profile.

Also appears to be scraping the related questions links.

Appears to be using the site as a giant advertising board for an Amazon Associate account. Not sure if there's a way to report that to Amazon...

Examples:

1
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incoupo.com

Copy from TEX.SE without attribution.

  • Example http://www.incoupo.com/q/answers-gnuplot-ubuntu-12-10-kile-texlive2012-103168.html, Original gnuplot, ubuntu 12.10, kile, texlive2012
  • No mentioning that this material is from SE
  • No hyperlink to original question
  • No hyperlinks to user names
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http://www.codeloopers.com

  • Questions are not linked back to Stack Overflow
  • No attribution whatsoever
  • Names of the poster are replaced by: webqueen ( a whooping 22 posts), david_2007, and their common friend er.James. Sukrut seems to be a human person.
  • a few genuine posts in the PHP section
  • one or two questions and their answers in each section of the forum to make it look alive.
1
vote

http://www.pmanswers.co.uk/

Exact copy of posts from PMSE.

On this site, I didn't see the following (maybe I missed it):

  • Visual indication that the content is from Stack Exchange.
  • Hyperlink directly to the original question on the source site.
  • Hyperlink each author name directly back to their user profile page on the source site.
1
vote

www.faqoverflow.com

  • example: www.faqoverflow.com/stackoverflow/122102.html copy of this
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  • Now appears to be attributing correctly.
    – user102937
    Aug 21, 2013 at 19:30
1
vote

Another one: http://www.2exception.com/

1
vote

I found this result quite high in my search-query just now http://questiontrack.com/does-php-validate-requests-against-a-wsdl-prior-to-sending-the-request-1031924.html (with origional: Does PHP Validate Requests Against a WSDL Prior to Sending the Request? )

There wasn't a hit on a search within this question for questiontrack, so therefore:

  • http://questiontrack.com seems to copy not only stackoverflow questions, but others as well
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  • It came up as the bottom three hits on the first page for a search I just did, all of which are from SO (to be fair, for two of the three, the SO link shows up at the top of the first page of Google hits).
    – Shauna
    Aug 21, 2013 at 19:51
1
vote

From: 'Mirrors' of Stack Overflow

http://www.9nit.com/c-c-/opencv-imwrite-saving-complete-black-jpeg-37967.html

http://fatalweb.com/question/change-cvfindcontours-to-4-connected-neighbors-from-8-connected-6951483.html

http://www.rqna.net/qna/kvqnun-how-to-minimize-opencv-library-size.html

http://www.questiondb.com/questions/7403455/how-do-you-set-up-opencv-with-qt-in-osx

http://it.dbline.net/questions/tagged/contour?page=1&sort=active http://s7438.socode.info/question/5081280a4f1eba38a41a813d

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  • Thank you @manishearth
    – Herbert
    Jul 6, 2013 at 17:32
  • 9nit.com they link the original source web page .e author names for every question and answer Hyperlink each author name directly back to their user profile page on the source site (e.g., stackoverflow.com/users/12345/username) .Eg: 9nit.com/apache/mod_rewrite-keeps-anchor-link-138415.html
    – user216457
    Jul 21, 2013 at 12:21
  • @user216457 There is no clear visual indication: You will ensure that any such use of Subscriber Content visually displays or otherwise indicates the source of the Subscriber Content as coming from the Stack Exchange Network. This requirement is satisfied with a discreet text blurb, or some other unobtrusive but clear visual indication.
    – Manishearth
    Jul 21, 2013 at 14:14
1
vote

chanhope.com

  • No indication content comes from Stack Exchange
  • No link back to original question
  • No author names
  • No author profile links

Examples

  • chanhope.com/discussions/how-to-reply-to-facebook-messages-using-gmail.html

    From Web Apps

  • chanhope.com/discussions/how-to-split-up-the-wordpress-blog-post-title-and-insert-a-span-tag.html

    From WordPress Answers

  • chanhope.com/discussions/how-to-group-apps-in-unity-launcher.html

    From Ask Ubuntu question, Ask Ubuntu answer

  • chanhope.com/discussions/multiple-submit-buttons-in-an-html-form.html

    From Stack Overflow

1
vote

www.windowslinuxosx.com

1
vote

languageusage.com is scraping “English Language & Usage” without following attribution rules.

For example,

http://www.languageusage.com/q/answers-neutral-term-for-a-person-in-the-same-organization-50864.html

is a scrape of

http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/50864/neutral-term-for-a-person-in-the-same-organization

without attributing to SE, linking back to the question at SE, or linking back to the author at SE.

1
vote

pressingquestion.com

There is author attribution, but not post attribution if the OP no longer exists.

Example:

  • www.pressingquestion.com/160637/What-Is-A-Good-Implementation-Of-A-Peer-To-Peer-Chat-Program-With-A-Server-For-Assigning-Connections-In-C%2B%2B%3F
1
vote

eonlinegratis.com

Copies from SuperUser, ServerFault and perhaps others. They even file it on their main page under those names, along with a few other sites. No attribution to any of them.

Examples:

1
vote

This site copies the Stack Exchange site content (without following attribution guidelines)

Site: http://programmers-question.com

Example

  1. This http://programmers-question.com/xcode-5-crashes-with-svn-version-1-7-xcode-svn-crash-xcode5/ is a copy of SO question Xcode 5 crashes with SVN version 1.7 - self signed certificate
  2. This http://programmers-question.com/how-to-stop-timer-on-killing-app-android-android-timer/ is a copy of SO question How to stop timer on killing app android
  3. This http://programmers-question.com/objective-c-remove-navigationbars-bottom-border-ios7-objective-c-uinavigationbar-ios7-xcode5/ is a copy of SO question Remove Navigationbar's bottom border iOS7

The list of many such copied questions can be found on this site.

1
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http://www.unixli.com/q/answers-skip-all-new-device-drivers-in-make-oldconfig-for-linux-kernel-65758.html

plagiarized from Skip all new device drivers in `make oldconfig` for Linux kernel

No Stackexchange link on that site.

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