Ask HN: Is it ethical to scrap StackExchange to generate YoutTube content?

2 points by Twisell 4y ago ↗ HN

I just had a big uncanny valley experience when I stumbled onto a jovial Australian hacker introducing an apparently computer generated animation of a StackExchange Question/Answer I just read...

https://serverfault.com/questions/854426/how-to-override-smtp-host-details-while-using-sendmail

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siKs98nwxWY

I grow accustomed to stackoverflow based doppelganger sites but this was for me a new level of scam. Bitcoin consume a lot of energy, but at least you can believe that it might ultimately end up being usable in some way. This look like a pure waste of resource to generate and store automated video content that is actually LESS accessible than the original in order to mine a few buck.

Do you think it's ethical or are you internally screaming as I am right now?

2 comments

[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 18.5 ms ] thread

0xedd 4y ago ↗

Aren't the answers on SO, and friends, licensed automatically? This provides a partial answer.

That being said, from a scientist's perspective (assuming it all falls under Computer Science), does he progress the field in some way? No.

Kye 4y ago ↗

Is it ethical to follow the license the answers are contributed under? Of course. I see a proper citation in the video description. What's the issue here other than your subjective sense of accessibility?