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Save the data dump

In July 2024, Stack Exchange, Inc. started taking the first steps to restrict the data dump, justifying it as "protecting the community" from genAI. What they're actually doing is protecting their revenue at great cost to the community.

What they don't say as loudly is that they're still selling the data to genAI companies - they just don't want genAI companies to get it for free. They're capitalising on the community's data, while making it harder for the same community to own our data. This is also the first step in what will likely be a series of actions to further restrict and make the data dump increasingly unavailable.

The data dump is not dead with this move - but it certainly won't be Stack Exchange, Inc.'s last attack on the data dump. Stack Exchange, Inc. is the single biggest threat to the community, and the content we've produced for over 15 years.

If you want to help the community fight back against this blatant attack on the community, here's a few places to start:

• Contribute with code
• Voice your displeasure with Stack Exchange, Inc.'s anti-community actions
  • Also on: https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/403002/332043
• Seed the data dump torrents - community-driven torrents of the new data dump formats are out now as well. Seeding makes it much harder for the data dumps to quietly disappear, even if SE takes down the archive.org listings.
  • If you can, I strongly encourage setting up a seedbox with the data dumps. In the long term, this will help reduce the chance the data disappears, potentially forever.
• Join Codidact, a community-driven (and open-source) Q&A platform. A long-term competitor may be the kick Stack Exchange, Inc. needs to start acting in the community's best interest