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I don't understand why StackOverflow allows this, yeah creative commons is cool and all but it IS NOT COOL for actual users. I get so annoyed every time i searc

by volaski 11y ago

I don't understand why StackOverflow allows this, yeah creative commons is cool and all but it IS NOT COOL for actual users. I get so annoyed every time i search for something on Google and it leads to an its clone site. It's not like StackOverflow has better search than Google (which is ridiculous). I still have to search on Google if I want quality search result instead of StackOverflow. With more power comes more responsibility. StackOverflow's policy feels too irresponsible in this regard

rhinoceraptor 11y ago
Just append your query text with 'site:stackoverflow.com'.
- fezz 11y ago
  That or use the SO docset in Dash or StackStash https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/stackstash-stackoverflow-offline/id602112351?l=en&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/stackstash-stackoverflow-off... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7932477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7932477
JasonPunyon 11y ago
We use that license because it protects the content from us. No matter who comes along to run Stack Overflow in the future, Stack Overflow can't do something like put up a paywall and lock it up. Someone else'll just be able to host a copy.
- msie 11y ago
  Yes, look at what happened to imdb.
- volaski 11y ago
  As an end user, I don't care about that at all. If StackOverflow does something like put up a paywall and lock it up, then it will die off and some other site will arise that will replace it, just like some other sites that came before StackOverflow which put up a paywall and faded away. Also, StackOverflow can always change the policy if they want (which probably won't happen for the reason I mentioned), so the license as an excuse doesn't really make sense to me. Especially when it comes at a cost of horrible user experience. Lastly it doesn't seem like StackOverflow is doing much to improve search on the site itself and that's what makes this even worse. I wouldn't be complaining if I could find more relevant StackOverflow results on StackOverflow than searching on Google. How is it that I can find more relevant results on a generic search engine than the site where the contents came from?
  - volaski 11y ago
    Wow i'm getting downvoted like crazy. I don't think I said anything that's not factual. At least explain why you think I am wrong if you're gonna downvote. To be clear, I love Stackoverflow and I don't know what the world would have been like if it wasn't around, but I do think there are things that are broken and I just mentioned them. Am I supposed to keep quiet because that's how it's been?
    - dredmorbius 11y ago
      "Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html (NB: I didn't, and tend to agree it's excessive here.)
    - ciupicri 11y ago
      > If StackOverflow does something like put up a paywall and lock it up, then it will die off and some other site will arise that will replace it As others have already said that possible thanks to their liberal license, not despite of it, so you're wrong, hence the downvotes (though I haven't voted in any way).
      - volaski 11y ago
        As a thought experiment, do you think if StackOverflow changed their license tomorrow (hypothetically because of the spam problem) but assured all its users that they will never mess with them, all users will leave simply because of the license?
  - AndrewDucker 11y ago
    Basically, I'm not willing to supply useful data to a site which then profits off of it without also making it open. So if they weren't open then they wouldn't be getting my answers (or a bunch of other people's).
    - volaski 11y ago
- TD-Linux 11y ago
  Thank you for doing this, by the way. It'd be nice to figure out the whole Google link ranking thing, but I don't think switching away from Creative Commons is the way.
- WorldWideWayne 11y ago
  Well, that was a bad decision with regards to UX because now I have to dig through 20 look-alike sites that don't link back to SO and you're not doing shit about it. Yes, SO comes up first when I search for the exact question but I'm sure you're aware how useless that is. If I knew the exact question to ask, I probably wouldn't be searching around Google. My time is the most valuable thing to me and with this decision, you've essentially costed me a lot of time and I already paid my way by adding content to your site. I would have much rather seen you enter a simple legal agreement where the content was placed in escrow.
dhekir 11y ago
I once contributed to a localized version of SO whose licence was not open. The startup backing it eventually shutdown and the site disappeared. All time invested in those answers is now irrevocably lost. Non-open content licence is exactly what made me stop contributing to sites such as Wikimapia and start contributing to OpenStreetMap instead. Once you get burned a few times, you learn it's better to have to put up with a few clone sites than risk losing all the data, or having to pay to read what you wrote yourself a few months ago.
- volaski 11y ago
  Thanks for the answer. I just want to ask one more question. Don't you think StackOverflow is already too large to disappear suddenly like those startups you mentioned, and smart enough to NOT go the way of ExpertsExchange? (I think the founder explicitly mentioned StackOverflow wanted to be an anti ExpertsExchange when they launched. Also I don't think the company would be stupid enough to alienate their users which will lead to demise regardless of how much content they already have)

by volaski 11y ago

rhinoceraptor 11y ago

Just append your query text with 'site:stackoverflow.com'.

fezz 11y ago
That or use the SO docset in Dash or StackStash https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/stackstash-stackoverflow-offline/id602112351?l=en&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/en/app/stackstash-stackoverflow-off... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7932477 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7932477

JasonPunyon 11y ago

We use that license because it protects the content from us. No matter who comes along to run Stack Overflow in the future, Stack Overflow can't do something like put up a paywall and lock it up. Someone else'll just be able to host a copy.

msie 11y ago
Yes, look at what happened to imdb.
volaski 11y ago
As an end user, I don't care about that at all. If StackOverflow does something like put up a paywall and lock it up, then it will die off and some other site will arise that will replace it, just like some other sites that came before StackOverflow which put up a paywall and faded away. Also, StackOverflow can always change the policy if they want (which probably won't happen for the reason I mentioned), so the license as an excuse doesn't really make sense to me. Especially when it comes at a cost of horrible user experience. Lastly it doesn't seem like StackOverflow is doing much to improve search on the site itself and that's what makes this even worse. I wouldn't be complaining if I could find more relevant StackOverflow results on StackOverflow than searching on Google. How is it that I can find more relevant results on a generic search engine than the site where the contents came from?
- volaski 11y ago
  Wow i'm getting downvoted like crazy. I don't think I said anything that's not factual. At least explain why you think I am wrong if you're gonna downvote. To be clear, I love Stackoverflow and I don't know what the world would have been like if it wasn't around, but I do think there are things that are broken and I just mentioned them. Am I supposed to keep quiet because that's how it's been?
  - dredmorbius 11y ago
    "Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html (NB: I didn't, and tend to agree it's excessive here.)
  - ciupicri 11y ago
    > If StackOverflow does something like put up a paywall and lock it up, then it will die off and some other site will arise that will replace it As others have already said that possible thanks to their liberal license, not despite of it, so you're wrong, hence the downvotes (though I haven't voted in any way).
    - volaski 11y ago
      As a thought experiment, do you think if StackOverflow changed their license tomorrow (hypothetically because of the spam problem) but assured all its users that they will never mess with them, all users will leave simply because of the license?
- AndrewDucker 11y ago
  Basically, I'm not willing to supply useful data to a site which then profits off of it without also making it open. So if they weren't open then they wouldn't be getting my answers (or a bunch of other people's).
  - volaski 11y ago
TD-Linux 11y ago
Thank you for doing this, by the way. It'd be nice to figure out the whole Google link ranking thing, but I don't think switching away from Creative Commons is the way.
WorldWideWayne 11y ago
Well, that was a bad decision with regards to UX because now I have to dig through 20 look-alike sites that don't link back to SO and you're not doing shit about it. Yes, SO comes up first when I search for the exact question but I'm sure you're aware how useless that is. If I knew the exact question to ask, I probably wouldn't be searching around Google. My time is the most valuable thing to me and with this decision, you've essentially costed me a lot of time and I already paid my way by adding content to your site. I would have much rather seen you enter a simple legal agreement where the content was placed in escrow.

dhekir 11y ago

I once contributed to a localized version of SO whose licence was not open. The startup backing it eventually shutdown and the site disappeared. All time invested in those answers is now irrevocably lost. Non-open content licence is exactly what made me stop contributing to sites such as Wikimapia and start contributing to OpenStreetMap instead. Once you get burned a few times, you learn it's better to have to put up with a few clone sites than risk losing all the data, or having to pay to read what you wrote yourself a few months ago.

volaski 11y ago
Thanks for the answer. I just want to ask one more question. Don't you think StackOverflow is already too large to disappear suddenly like those startups you mentioned, and smart enough to NOT go the way of ExpertsExchange? (I think the founder explicitly mentioned StackOverflow wanted to be an anti ExpertsExchange when they launched. Also I don't think the company would be stupid enough to alienate their users which will lead to demise regardless of how much content they already have)