FAQoverflow
Great answers to interesting questions about everything.
FAQoverflow was a static site that collected the best questions and answers from the Stack Exchange network through the Stack Exchange API, and presented them as a browsable FAQ. I launched it through GeekPunk in 2010 and last updated it in 2014. Stack Exchange content is licensed under cc-wiki, and Stack Overflow confirmed more than once that the site met the terms of that licence.
In 2023, PicRights contacted me on behalf of Reuters about a copyrighted image in one of the answers. Someone else had uploaded the image to Stack Overflow, Stack Overflow hosted it, and it only appeared on my site through the API. I’d happily have taken the page down, but they wanted AU$970 for past use. I removed the image anyway, and in December 2023, after 13 years, I took the whole site offline.
That wasn’t the end of it. They cut their demand by a third, and in March 2024 a law firm acting for them threatened to go to court unless I settled for $2,425. To me, the whole thing felt more like debt collecting than a genuine copyright dispute, aimed at hobbyists who are easier to push around than anyone with the means to fight back.