19

Just out of curiosity, who owns Ask Ubuntu? Canonical or Stack Exchange ?

Previously it was said that Canonical helped to make this site and also assisted in designs but there were no Ubuntu links at the top. Now every link of Ubuntu.com appears in the navbar at top, so I thought of asking.

2
  • Related if not a duplicated Is Ask Ubuntu "official" Ubuntu?
    – Braiam
    Nov 25, 2013 at 12:03
  • 2
    Yes, I have seen some questions which were 3 years old and askubuntu.com didn't have navigation bar at top for ubuntu.com links
    – user126851
    Nov 25, 2013 at 12:15

2 Answers 2

34

Stack Exchange.

There's a trademark arrangement and yes, there are design considerations influenced from Canonical, but it's very much still a Stack Exchange venture.

6

I don't think we can say that "someone owns Ask Ubuntu".

The system and the engine that runs this site is provided and maintained by Stack Exchange whereas all the content and contribution of members is licensed under cc-wiki.

This site has come into existence by a democratic process and the strength of every Stack Exchange site is its users and members. I don't think we can say that the site is owned by Stack Exchange. But they are the maintainers of the engine and act as trustees to ensure that the site is run properly. Stack Exchange derives its revenues through this model, so well-run sites definitely help them creating goodwill.

Whereas, Ask Ubuntu is also regarded as an Official Support channel for all things Ubuntu. And Ubuntu involves the whole community around Ubuntu. So, once again this is not owned by someone.

Basically, I think each and every site in Stack Exchange network is not owned by anyone. Stack Exchange is at the core of every site, but they are the maintainers of the engine - I wouldn't regard them as the owners of the site (because of the fact that the strength of the SE model is its members).

What I consider is that the community owns Ask Ubuntu (and every other SE site).


PS: The above is just my opinion without going into technicalities and the legal stuff.

1
  • 17
    Oh really? I know the stuff about people's contribution for open source project and this network is all about community members like you and me. Some community members with higher reputation has more rights and you gain more rights by being good citizen of community. But mind that when Joel or Coding Horror would want to sell this chain, they're the one who makes millions/billions not you. So, owning is perfectly right word
    – user126851
    Nov 25, 2013 at 15:25

You must log in to answer this question.