Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Re: FactCheck.com

[Jonathan King <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Wed, 6 Oct 2004 15:02:44 -0500 (CDT), Mike Miller
<EMAIL:PROTECTED> wrote:
> On Wed, 6 Oct 2004, Mike Miller wrote:
> 
> > Turns out that FactCheck.com is a George Soros site with the banner
> > headline: "Why we must not re-elect President Bush."  Marvelous!
> 
> Actually, things are a little different than we thought. FactCheck.com was
> probably not being used as a web site when Cheney made his mistake.

Close, but not quite right.  Here's the actual story, acording to the
Wall Street Journal:

# FactCheck.com is owned by Name Administration Inc., a Cayman Islands
company that engages in so-
# called "domain parking" -- it acquires discarded Web sites and
monetizes the traffic with text
# advertising.
#
# The site had been showing education-related ads, mostly for
online-degree programs, when Mr. Cheney
# mentioned the site during the debate. Suddenly, Name Administration
saw a surge in traffic -- about
# 50,000 unique visitors in the first hour -- which costs the company
money for Internet bandwidth,
# according to John Berryhill, Name Administration's attorney.
#
# ....So employees redirected traffic to the Soros site, not because
of any request nor payment from Mr.
# Soros's organization or supporters, but based on their own political
viewpoints, Mr. Berryhill said.
# "Individuals within the company are favorably disposed to George
Soros's political point of view," said
# Mr. Berryhill.
#
# Name Administration said in a statement, "The staff at Name
Administration have been through some
# difficult times lately, due to the impact of hurricane Ivan on Grand
Cayman, and they were delighted to
# have been given this opportunity by Vice President Cheney." Mr.
Berryhill said no one was available at
# the company to comment.

I think this is pretty funny.  A parked domain gets "Cheney-dotted",
so they forward the traffic to their favorite billionaire.  Definitely
a win-win situation.  (And I'm serious about that: think of what would
have happened if they'd forwarded traffic to www.livenudegirls.com or
www.gayboysinbondage.com or...you get the picture.

jking
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