I can't be the only one to notice content on this site is copy/paste from official documentation?

Question

So I subscribed to sololearn hoping that it would be a fun, interactive way to leave programming languages.

But the more courses I do, the more I'm finding that the content is just copy and pasted from official documentation for the language in question. In the case of the Swift course, most of it is word-for-word and lessons are even in the same order!

Surely I can't be the only one to think that this is a rip off?

Answer 1

Your ultimate source of truth is always in the official documentation.
What Sololearn adds on top of it, is
- a learning methodology based on bite sized lessons, gamification and positive reinforcement
- a large community of learners who can support each other and learn from each other
- online code playground to instantly try and experiment with coding, as well as share your attempts among fellow beginners

Considering that the core features of Sololearn are offered for free, you can hardly call it a rip-off. Paying for pro membership supports the organization to develop more content and better features.

Answer 2

In terms of the word-for-word plagiarism, I cannot judge that, especially I have not done the Swift course you mentioned. The different lessons were authored by various people, and if you have concerns like this, I think you should raise it directly to Sololearn (through feedback menu). I am sure they would not like to get any lawsuits for using copyrighted content on their platform. Generally the language of the lessons tries to simplify the concepts for beginners, in contrast to the language of the reference manuals which are typically more dry, factual and detailed. So in general I did not experience the kind of plagiarism in the lesson content, what you mentioned.