12
$\begingroup$

When I was looking for an answer for my question Why does 1,4-diiodobenzene have a non-zero dipole moment? asked on the main site (a few days ago), I came across 'exactly' the same question posted on a different forum on the same day. To double check this observation, I looked for the question What single, pure compound would best replace petrol? asked on the main site (in the year 2017) to be also copied there. But it is dated to be April 30, 2020. I guess this process started only this year. More examples can be found by simply putting the title from this site to the tiny search box there.

I don't know whether this has been discussed earlier. Why does this happen and what should we do? It seems like an attempt to drive some traffic towards their site. But is this activity allowed?

$\endgroup$
4
  • $\begingroup$ Is it just me, or have they copied all the LaTeX formatting too, and there's no hope of it rendering there? $\endgroup$
    – William R. Ebenezer
    Commented Jul 7, 2020 at 7:44
  • $\begingroup$ @WilliamR.Ebenezer: You're right. That site doesn't render $\LaTeX$ at all. If it becomes necessary for you to view them properly then you can run the ChatJax script. Then, it shows the math expressions properly. Anyways, when we know where the original is why do we need to refer the duplicate? :) $\endgroup$
    – Vishnu
    Commented Jul 7, 2020 at 8:37
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, I know, but that's not what I meant ;). I was highlighting their blatantly obvious plagiarism. Didn't even convert the $\LaTeX$ to readable plaintext or some image format. $\endgroup$
    – William R. Ebenezer
    Commented Jul 7, 2020 at 10:32
  • $\begingroup$ It's not just for chem se, but for all of SE. My Math-SE was copied there as well. Probably they're data scraping, so post on meta.se.com if required $\endgroup$
    – user96208
    Commented Aug 13, 2020 at 18:48

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
14
$\begingroup$

Other sites have recognized the quality of Stack Exchange question and answers, and started to copy them. If they abide by the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, this is even allowed. It doens't look like the site you mentioned abides by that rule, so you're welcome to report this via the Contact Us form; there's a special option "Stack Exchange content is being reproduced without attribution" for this.

$\endgroup$
1

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .