What happened to tastespotting?

June 12, 2008 8:41 PM

What happened to Tastespotting?

I checked a few times today and it wasn't updated, then this evening there was a note left stating that due to "legal complications" NOTCOT would no longer be operating tastespotting.com. Does anyone know what these legal complications are? Were these issues caused by posting pictures without permission or were they something unrelated to the content of the website.

I loved tastespotting and used it all the time to get recipe ideas. Is there hope of a similar website springing up in the next few days, or will any website of this type face legal issues?

posted by shesbookish to computers & internet (19 comments total)

Oh man - sorry I can't answer your question, but I am seriously bummed about Tastespotting vanishing. I used it as a resource almost daily.
posted by lottie at 9:20 PM on June 12, 2008

Hm, same here - the site layout was just perfect. My guess would be they ran into legal issues with image rights. I'll be on the lookout for further news.
posted by Bakuun at 9:35 PM on June 12, 2008

oh man! :( tastespotting was the site that i'd hit right after askmefi, and right before i'd go to the fridge and pig out on ice cream. what a disappointment. hope this gets cleared up fast.
posted by phoeniciansailor at 9:50 PM on June 12, 2008

How disappointing! I was also a frequent visitor, and that note sounds pretty final. If it helps, I bookmarked a few of the food blogs found on Tastespotting. Perhaps one of the bloggers knows what happened.

Smitten Kitchen
Delicious Days
28 Cooks
Albion Cooks
Boxcar Kitchen
Cream Puffs in Venice
The Delicious Life
Nook & Pantry
My Feasts
Dine & Dish
Bake or Break

And there's more where these came from.
posted by mia_farrow at 10:26 PM on June 12, 2008 [8 favorites has favorites]

Oh man, so super sad. I would go here for inspiration for sure! Might be good to keep an eye here, a thread on the mystery at Serious Eats..
posted by ethel at 10:32 PM on June 12, 2008

DAMN.


I can't find anything either...although I hadn't heard about this before.

My bet is on copyright issues.
posted by Bibliogeek at 11:53 PM on June 12, 2008

You would think... as a food blogger... you would WANT a meta-list type site like Tastespotting to be "spotlighting" your fab' creations. Tastespotting was one of my (almost) daily reads, and definitely the very first place I would turn to whenever I didnt know what to make. ("Damn, I only have noodles, lets search Tastespotting for "noodles")...

Bummer :(
posted by jmnugent at 2:41 AM on June 13, 2008

Oh crap! That sucks!

I thought people posted their own photos on Tastespotting, was that not right?

I could see copyright issues if Tastespotting were rolling around teh interwebs linking to other blogs without asking... but why on earth would anyone have an issue with that?
posted by GardenGal at 8:30 AM on June 13, 2008

I would almost bet that the problem Bibliogeek linked to is to blame.
posted by mikeh at 8:34 AM on June 13, 2008

The troll Bibliogeek's link describes has been around a lot longer than tastespotting and is well-known in the food blog world. No doubt tastespotting made his obsession easier by providing so many links. It's really sad to think he may have had a hand in causing NOTCOT to take the site down.
posted by idest at 8:41 AM on June 13, 2008

bummer :(
posted by _dario at 8:58 AM on June 13, 2008

I'm not sure why anyone would have an issue with TasteSpotting, but there were some rumblings from various food bloggers here and there. I didn't know that the rumblings had become "legal complications," though. I'm trying to get in touch with the TS people to see what happened.
posted by chipbrantley at 9:53 AM on June 13, 2008

I have no idea what happened, but I agree with everyone else that I'm seriously bummed about it :(
posted by geeky at 9:57 AM on June 13, 2008

How am I supposed to procrastinate now? I wish I had some pirate internet server on some tax shelter island so I could recreate it.
posted by melissam at 6:47 PM on June 14, 2008

A Tastespotting clone has popped up - it's still in its early stages but looks promising: Food Gawker.
posted by kitkatcathy at 8:18 AM on June 15, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

Re: Food Gawker - Oh, YAY!
posted by geeky at 9:34 AM on June 16, 2008

For those following this thread, just wanted to update that the tastespotting site has received some updates in the past few days. Apparently the legal issues don't involve copyright issues or the aforementioned stalker. From the tone of the notes, it seems like they're working on trying to bring tastespotting back. Yay!

The people behind tastespotting have started a new website with a similar theme: Liqurious.
posted by shesbookish at 6:32 PM on June 18, 2008

And tastespotting is back! Woohoo!
posted by shesbookish at 3:52 PM on June 27, 2008

Interview with the Tastespotting founder. It includes why it was down for a while.
posted by zsazsa at 8:13 AM on July 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]