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I was trying to look something up on Google and I stumbled across what I believe to be the mother of all the sites that rip of SO. Now I don't believe this site to be an SO affiliate but I just want to ask to be 100% sure, and I'm only doing this because this site is such a clone of SO that I didn't even realize at first that I wasn't on SO.

Just wanted to bring this to your attention in case anything can be done about this!

http://stackhere.appspot.com/facebook.stackoverflow.com/questions

enter image description here

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20

You are correct. It is not related to Stack Overflow. As a proxy between the user and Stack Overflow, they are technically using Stack Overflow content and... sort of... attributing properly (since the content appears to already be on Stack Overflow...). But that point is irrelevant: we also have a rule that states that other sites using our content may not copy the look and feel of Stack Overflow (or another network site) to confound people into thinking they're on SO.

While we can indeed do nothing about their domain name, as BoltClock said, we do have several tools in our legal toolbox we can swing at the content of their site. Which is the content of our site. Through a proxy.

So, the proxy issue is complicated, but you can consider my attention brought! (I am the SE employee who handles the initial "please cease and desist, good sir or madam" notices to try to crack down on this kind of behavior.)

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  • 5
    Does this include proxies? If so, SHUT DOWN ALL THE PROXIES. – BoltClock's a Unicorn Sep 7 '12 at 19:09
  • Ha, I was just looking at your answering/commenting activity to see if I could find the report of a proxy from a month or two ago (I could not). I suppose there's no need, now. – Pops Sep 7 '12 at 19:11
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    @BoltClock'saUnicorn good luck, I'm behind 7 proxies – Ben Brocka Sep 7 '12 at 19:13
  • @PopularDemand I too am looking for a discussion of the proxies issue that was around here a few months ago, but can't find it. Hmm. – hairboat♦ Sep 7 '12 at 19:21
  • Must've been deleted by one of those abusive team members, mods or high-rep users. Lookin' at you, @BoltClock'saUnicorn. – Pops Sep 7 '12 at 19:24
  • @BoltClock'saUnicorn you (and a huge bunch of users in Asia btw) will be taken off the internet if that actually happened – prusswan Sep 7 '12 at 22:27
13

https://stackhere.appspot.com doesn't seem to be anything more than a frontend to a crappy proxy server. Nowhere does the home page link to or even mention Stack Overflow or Stack Exchange.

Stack Exchange doesn't hold a trademark on the word "Stack" (as far as I'm aware), so while the word appears in an app's domain name, it doesn't mean it infringes on or has anything to do with our site. Since it's a proxy, there's probably nothing to be alarmed about.

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  • Thanks for the quick response, and sorry for the silly question I'm pretty ignorant to web technology and should have spotted the proxy sooner, but once again just wanted to make sure. Thanks! – Mick MacCallum Sep 7 '12 at 19:03
  • Right; there's nothing specific to Stack Exchange, and it seems to work with any public website (e.g. stackhere.appspot.com/www.yahoo.com). – Mechanical snail Sep 8 '12 at 1:38
  • And I doubt SE would have a case against them, since just using the word "stack" doesn't infringe the trademark, and they're just blindly proxying everything. – Mechanical snail Sep 8 '12 at 1:40
0

I would say pretty neat!! - after all this app has practically converted a Google server to a proxy. All requests routed via Google's IP. I hope IP ban do not white list Google's server :).

I hope this is against Google's policy and there is a way to report this app, otherwise not sure who is abby going to send a "cease and desist" request to.

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It is just a proxy server to open the stack overflow. In case, stack overflow is banned in some place like college or office, they can use this site to open stack overflow through a proxy server.

It looks same as stack overflow, but its not a subsidiery of stack overflow community or by no means it is connected with stack overflow.

My findings from this site are: 1. It is much much slower than original stack overflow. 2. It is much heavier(content wise), so it is taking too much time to load. 3. Complex login options.

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  • 1
    I'd guess that if SO is banned, appspot.com would be too. – Andrew Leach Sep 12 '12 at 6:55
  • Why, @Andrew? It's not that well known, I think. – Arjan Sep 22 '12 at 21:04
  • @Arjan Because it's owned by the same people as blogspot.com. – Andrew Leach Sep 22 '12 at 21:34

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