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The Stack Exchange Network
Type of site
Question & Answer
OwnerStack Overflow Internet Services, Inc.[1][2]
Created byJeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky
URLhttp://stackexchange.com/
CommercialYes

The Stack Exchange Network is a network of websites featuring questions and answers on a wide range of topics in different fields[3][4][5], owned and operated by Stack Overflow Internet Services, Inc.[1][2]

The websites feature the ability for users users to ask and answer questions, and through membership and active participation, to vote questions and answers up or down and edit questions and answers in a wiki fashion. Users can earn reputation points and "badges" through site participation; for example, a user is awarded 10 reputation points for receiving an "up" vote on an answer given to a question, and can receive badges for their valued contributions.[6] By collecting reputation points, users are given more and more permissions, ranging from the ability to vote and comment on questions and answers to the ability to moderate many aspects of the site.[6]

History

Stack Exchange’s first site, Stack Overflow, was created by Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky in 2008[7][8] as a more open alternative to earlier forums such as Experts Exchange. Soon after Stack Overflow exited from its beta phase, a few more sites were added to the network, starting with Server Fault, which entered public beta on May 26, 2009.[9]

The Stack Exchange platform was first released by Fog Creek Software as a solution for third-parties to create their own communities based on the software behind Stack Overflow and its sister sites.[10] Later, it was repurposed so the community can collaborate in deciding on what sites should be added to the network.[11]

Founding sites

Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow was created by Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky in 2008[7][12] as a more open alternative to earlier programmer forums such as Experts Exchange. The name for the website was chosen by voting in April 2008 by readers of Coding Horror, Atwood's popular programming blog.[13] The design of the Stack Overflow logo was also put to a vote. On July 31, 2008, Atwood sent out invitations encouraging his subscribers to take part in the private beta of Stack Overflow. On September 15, 2008 it was announced the public beta was in session and that the general public was now able to use it to seek assistance on programming related issues.

Server Fault

In April 2009, the owners of Stack Overflow began a private beta for Server Fault, a sister site. The site deals exclusively with questions and answers related to the field of system administration. The site is in open beta as of June 2009.

Super User

Super User, a sister site dedicated to questions from all computer "powerusers",[14] rather than just programmers or system administrators, entered a "semi-private beta" in July 2009[15] and was launched publicly on August 18, 2009.[16]

StackExchange 1.0

Stack Exchange 1.0 was the first version of Stack Exchange that was released. Licensed by Stackoverflow.com, LLC to Fog Creek Software in February 2010[10][17], it allowed third-parties to create sites based on the software that powers Stack Overflow on their own, with the third-parties owning the sites they create.[18] Pricing for the platform was based on number of page views, starting at $129 per month for up to 1 million page views.[19] The sites that were created were all hosted by Fog Creek Software.

Stack Exchange 2.0

In April 2010, with the help of venture capital funding[20][21][22][23], Stack Exchange 2.0 was announced by Stack Overflow Internet Services, Inc.[11][17], enacting a few major changes from Stack Exchange 1.0:

  • All Stack Exchange sites (version 1.0 and 2.0) will be free-of-charge going forward.[11]
  • New sites will be owned by the owners of the Stack Exchange network and content (instead of by individual third-parties) and content will be publicly owned under a Creative Commons license.[11]
  • New sites will be created through a democratic process where people can propose ideas and the rest of the community supports or opposes those ideas.[11]
  • The owners of old sites will be giving the choice of either converting their sites to Stack Exchange 2.0 by going through the community process or remaining on the Stack Exchange 1.0 platform (the site then remains in the ownership of the third-party).[11][24]

Site creation process

In order for a new Stack Exchange 2.0 site to be created, it must go through a process consisting of 6 phases:[11]

  • The “Discussion Phase”: the community discusses ideas for potential sites.[11]
  • The “Proposal Phase”: the community builds a detailed proposal for each potential site, discussing the topic, the audience, and what kind of questions will be posted on the site.[11]
  • The “Commitment Phase”: people from the community commit to building the site’s community.[11]
  • The “Closed Beta Phase”: once enough people commit in the previous phase, the site enters a closed beta where the people who committed start the site, seed it with information, and appoint moderators.[11]
  • The “Open Beta Phase”: the site progresses in development, now open to everyone as a public beta.[11]
  • “Full Citizenship”: if the site meets a certain level of activity, it leaves beta status and the public choose a domain name, their moderators, their logo, and more.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Robert Cartaino (2010-06-07). "Stack Exchange Network Legal Links". Stack Exchange Blog. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  2. ^ Alan Zeichick (2009-04-15). "Secrets of social site success". SD Times. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
  3. ^ "Spolsky's Software Q-and-A Site". Slashdot. 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  4. ^ Joel Spolsky (2009-04-24). "Google Tech Talks: Learning from StackOverflow.com". YouTube. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
  5. ^ a b "FAQ: What is Reputation?". Stack Overflow. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  6. ^ a b Jeff Atwood (2008-04-16). "Introducing Stackoverflow.com". Coding Horror. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
  7. ^ Jeff Atwood (2008-09-16). "None of Us is as Dumb as All of Us". Coding Horror. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
  8. ^ Jeff Atwood (2009-05-26). "Server Fault Public Beta Launches". Stack Exchange Blog. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  9. ^ a b Jeff Atwood (2010-02-03). "Stack Exchange Gets a Blog". Stack Exchange Blog. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Joel Spolsky (2010-04-13). "Changes to Stack Exchange". Stack Exchange Blog. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  11. ^ Jeff Atwood (2008-09-16). "None of Us is as Dumb as All of Us". Coding Horror. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
  12. ^ Jeff Atwood (2008-04-06). "Help Name Our Website". Coding Horror. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  13. ^ O'Dell, Jolie (2009-07-26). "Geeks-Only Q&A From Super User". ReadWriteStart. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  14. ^ Atwood, Jeff (2009-07-14). "Super User Semi-Private Beta Begins". Stack Overflow Blog. Retrieved 2009-07-19.
  15. ^ Atwood, Jeff (2009-08-18). "Super User Now Public". Stack Overflow Blog. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  16. ^ a b waiwai933 (2010-06-10). "What Role does Fog Creek Software have in the ownership of the Stack Exchange Network?". Meta Stack Overflow. Retrieved 2010-06-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ RobinH (2009-09-27). "StackOverflow For Any Topic". SlashDot. Retrieved 2009-09-28.
  18. ^ Rich Seller (2010-01-19). "New Pricing Levels". Meta Stack Exchange. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
  19. ^ Joel Spolsky (2010-05-03). "Announcing the Stack Overflow Series A Financing". Stack Exchange Blog. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  20. ^ Andrew (2010-05-06). "Stack Overflow". Union Square Ventures. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  21. ^ Joel Spolsky (2010-02-14). "Raising money for Stack Overflow". Joel on Software. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  22. ^ Liz Gannes (2010-02-16). "Spolsky Switches Teams: Raising VC for StackOverflow in Light of Q&A Competition". Gigaom. Retrieved 2010-06-10.
  23. ^ Robert Cartaino (2010-05-31). "Migration of SE 1.0 Sites". Stack Exchange Blog. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
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