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I came across these two Qs, one immediately after the other:

How does this website manage to avoid its content being copied and how to copy its content (asked Aug 30 '12 at 22:07)

How to download this webpage? (asked Jul 25 '12 at 22:14)

Both are about copying the content of a web page. The latter is Open, the former not, on the basis:

Questions on Web Applications Stack Exchange are expected to relate to web applications within the scope defined by the community. Consider editing the question or leaving comments for improvement if you believe the question can be reworded to fit within the scope. Read more about reopening questions here. The latter is in a language I do not understand but it not (to me) obviously interactive.

A general Q has been asked and has answers here Define “web application” but no accepted answer. I am interested specifically in the first Q above.

What is it about that Q that makes it off topic given an apparently very similar one is within scope?

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  • The later should be closed too.
    – Rubén Mod
    Sep 2, 2017 at 2:24
  • 1
    Both questions are five years old. As I understand the current "on-topic" criteria, both should be / remain closed.
    – Rubén Mod
    Sep 2, 2017 at 2:30
  • Related: Do we want questions about what software runs a web site?
    – Rubén Mod
    Sep 2, 2017 at 2:33
  • 1
    The Internet, compared with "other technologies" is evolving very fast, and nowadays there is a web application for almost every role, concept designers, developers, admins, end-users... IMHO nowadays only questions related to end-users tasks are on-topic, web-scrapping is off-topic.
    – Rubén Mod
    Sep 2, 2017 at 2:37
  • 1
    Unless there is a web app for end-users to do that ;)
    – Rubén Mod
    Sep 2, 2017 at 2:38
  • Actually that was one of the major "selling point" of Google Sheets... but it's almost obsolete as a web-scrapping tool as many web pages now are dynamically generated and that isn't supported.
    – Rubén Mod
    Sep 2, 2017 at 2:42
  • Let us continue this discussion in chat.
    – Rubén Mod
    Sep 2, 2017 at 2:44

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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How to download this webpage? is now closed.

Bearing in mind that this was over 5 years ago now, it's safe to say that the question likely fell through the cracks or was considered to be on the borderline at that point.

Our site has certainly evolved drastically from what it once was, so there is going to be this type of situation now and again. Overall, relying on a single question as a precedent for site-wide topicality does more harm than good, and my personal feeling is that the spirit of the law is preferred to the letter of the law when judging such things.

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    There's no need to delete things, honestly. Also, not sure why he needs to see it. This was a long time ago, and there's no "I told you so" in this situation, or need for it any time, really..
    – jonsca
    Sep 3, 2017 at 3:43
  • @pnuts Why? I'm not sure why you're singling out people for something they did 5 years ago that very likely was not done on purpose. Al is and has been the lifeblood of this site for a long time, and I refuse to let you drudge up petty things to incriminate people for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
    – jonsca
    Sep 3, 2017 at 3:53
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    I enjoy having you contribute to the site, but there's a lot of pettiness and hair-splitting that's going on lately, and I'd rather be without that.
    – jonsca
    Sep 3, 2017 at 3:54

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