I discovered these by using Copyscape, a website I discovered that searches the internet for duplicate websites. The free trial only returns the first ten hits, it might be worthwhile to subscribe and see how many other doppelgangers are out there.
Someone a while back had a message board the contents of which were lifted in full from the SDMB and posted with minor cosmetic changes to try to “claim” them as originating not from the SDMB, but from their board. They even copied member names, but a post by “Shodan” there might actually have been made by Johnny L.A. here. It had a chicken theme. It was pretty trippy to see all the dopplegangers.
If you’re wondering why this happens, it’s apparently a simple (though unethical and I assume illegal) way to make your site appear to be popular so as to attract more people.
This is a joke, right? The IP address 69.20.125.245 resolves to rs1.straightdope.com. Normally I would ask you if this was your first time on the internet, but you’ve been here since 2000.
While Bob could have said it kinder, it’s simple to resolve an IP address to who owns it.
From a command prompt, do “nslookup 69.20.125.245”, and it will tell you rs1.straightdope.com is the owner. You can also go to www.arin.net and work it out from there. There’s lots of other tools one can use, and none of this is confidential information.
I know. I just relayed what I had found. I left the detective work up to the copyright holder. **Tuba ** appreciated it, but for some reason, **Bob ** thought I deserved some snark, so I was being sarcastic. C’est la vie.
I don’t know if it still up and running but I once mistakenly typed in Starightdope.com (no link of course). It was/is a spam site full of popups. Beware.