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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
    Commented May 8, 2012 at 20:20
  • 30
    That is because you pasted. Try typing... Like a real person :)
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented May 12, 2012 at 15:20
  • 32
    ...yeeeeahhhh, I prefer the CAPTCHAs.
    – Pops
    Commented 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
    Commented Jul 14, 2012 at 6:04
  • 3
    @Jeff is this handled at some level? Can we know which sites were reported and closed?
    – Shadow Wizard
    Commented 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
    Commented 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)
    – AI Generated Response
    Commented 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
    Commented 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
    Commented 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
    Commented 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
    Commented Apr 24, 2013 at 23:29
  • @PopularDemand: Thanks, maybe a mod will check it out then if they ever read my previous comment.
    – Karan
    Commented 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
    Commented 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
    Commented 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
    Commented Aug 4, 2013 at 20:14

127 Answers 127

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answerleaks.com

  • Missing attribution of answers (example here: http://meta.superuser.com/questions/3555/can-we-do-something-about-sites-copying-content-from-super-user-redux)
  • nofollow in footer links to Stack Exchange sites (but regular links to the site otherwise)
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  • At the moment, I'm seeing a parking page for it now.
    – Qantas 94 Heavy
    Commented Sep 17, 2013 at 2:25
0
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jqpoint.com

  • links back to the Stack Exchange question, but nofollow
  • no asker or answerer attrib
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cjavaphp.com

  • Does not attribute to SO (no mention found even in html source)
  • No links back to profile for users
  • Does not link to original question
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www.windowslinuxosx.com

Scrapes content from Super User (at least). The name and avatar of the author appears next to each post, but there is never any mention of Super User, any link back to posts of user pages, or any indication that the content is not original.

Example: http://www.windowslinuxosx.com/q/answers-why-cant-old-pcs-view-modern-sites-628179.html ← Why can't old PCs view modern sites?

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"Acidmanic.Somee"

Sample scraped question from Mi Yodeya: http://acidmanic.somee.com/surf/surf.aspx?dec=1&url=uh4QwdELmSFRtgfFwSQKwT47sSJByg0EsqVDt5V9vSQLwrpBwT4FvSVPmPAN0dsLxS7VmqBPmqBQmqVBsSpPwSfOy5RQvOR7wSIJs5ROsqj8u3==B6X!

Copies the boilerplate including the CC-SA notice, but contains no links back to the site and no attribution in plain text.

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votes

"TinyMoviez.org" + something in Arabic that I can't read.

Scrape of Mi Yodeya front page, no links back to SE or attribution: http://s3.tinysub.org/sub/browse.php?u=Oi8vanVkYWlzbS5zdGFja2V4Y2hhbmdlLmNvbQ%3D%3D&b=0

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votes

digresource.com

Examples:

  1. http://digresource.com/encouraging-users-to-be-more-specific-about-tool-or-server-versions-228135.html is a copy of Encouraging users to be more specific about tool or server versions - Meta
  2. http://digresource.com/mac-mini-for-software-development-213747.html is a copy of mac mini for software development - Ask Differnt
  3. http://digresource.com/why-are-tasks-in-microsoft-project-turned-red-86412.html is a copy of Why are tasks in Microsoft Project turned red? - Super User
  4. http://digresource.com/how-to-restore-etcservices-205858.html is a copy of How to restore /etc/services? - Ask Ubuntu
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