18

Not sure this is the right place for such a question, but are the owners of askubuntu.com aware of a clone going by the name askubuntu.biz?

It came up for me in a Google search result for "libsodium vs libsodium13".

whois askubuntu.biz is rather revealing:

Domain Name:                                 ASKUBUNTU.BIZ
Domain ID:                                   D66237761-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar:                        PDR LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
...
Registrant Name:                             Hiep
Registrant Organization:                     SKMVietnam
Registrant Address1:                         Hoang Quoc Viet
Registrant City:                             Ha Noi
Registrant State/Province:                   Ha Noi
Registrant Postal Code:                      10000
Registrant Country:                          VIET NAM
Registrant Country Code:                     VN
Registrant Phone Number:                     +84.936310310
Registrant Email:                            [email protected]
...

Wondering if it makes sense to put the word out about this impostor site...

8
  • In the scope of things, is it important? People will find the right place and there will always be lesser quality forums out there. I'd not run something like that, nor do I condone it, but I don't see where it's an issue unless there's a trademark complaint or copyright issues that are bothering the powers that be.
    – KGIII
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 18:14
  • 9
    The issue is that it's an EXACT clone of askubuntu.com, all the way down to the login link. Any poor schlub who fails to notice the different TLD may just give up their login credentials...
    – Hephaestus
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 18:18
  • Not really, well, I don't see how. Have you clicked the login or register buttons at that site? They take you to askubuntu.com and not on that site directly. That was the first thing I checked before commenting. Given the source IP addresses it doesn't look like they're spoofing the URL in the address bar either - it takes you to this site.
    – KGIII
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 18:24
  • 10
    Today that's true. Tomorrow...?
    – Hephaestus
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 18:25
  • 2
    @KGIII There are quite a few of these exact clones out there. Most of them don't link back here.
    – Seth Mod
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 18:26
  • 1
    @Seth Probably true but I was only referencing this one as that was the question asked. :/ And, as hephaestus indicated - that may not be true tomorrow so there's that. The same thing always applies - know where you are before giving up your credentials. Maybe a security section would be of interest?
    – KGIII
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 18:29
  • I've reported one copycat site of Askubuntu before , there's always folks who want make a coin out of AU traffic
    – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy
    Commented Oct 24, 2015 at 17:57
  • OMG, what a copycat, maybe he just copied the HTML code of the entire site...
    – retrixe
    Commented Oct 30, 2015 at 6:04

1 Answer 1

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15

Pretty sure this particular one has come up before, but maybe not since it still exists. Please report it using the contact us form at the bottom of every page.

6
  • Done, thank you for the pointer. I started thinking about whether "Contact Us" was the right vehicle after I'd submitted the question, glad to have confirmation.
    – Hephaestus
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 18:03
  • Probably similar Q&A to this - the one also talked about there has also turned up AGAIN :/
    – Wilf
    Commented Oct 23, 2015 at 23:29
  • Sorry, I always get confused with all these license stuff, but since author links are linked directly to askubuntu.com, doesn't mean that the website is considered "legally" ok? They are attributing users and whatnot. (Btw, not that it matters, but the site was last updated 13 days ago)
    – Dan
    Commented Oct 26, 2015 at 17:14
  • Nevermind, I just remembered to disable adblock and then checked it.
    – Dan
    Commented Oct 26, 2015 at 17:16
  • 7
    @Dan well yes they are linking back but no, the site design is copyright Stack Exchange inc. (see footer)
    – Tim
    Commented Oct 28, 2015 at 11:01
  • 1
    I noticed while clicking through the questions on that site, it keeps all the questions on the ".biz" domain, and puts ads in the tops of the questions.
    – user323419
    Commented Nov 4, 2015 at 19:53

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