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MacSlash Domain Stolen 120

Posted by pudge from the sigh dept.
MacSlash's Robert Daeley writes in to tell us that the domain name for MacSlash, the Mac news site, is incorrectly pointing to a generic "Dotster" page, either by accident or by malicious domain theft or squatting. They have registered macslash.net and hope to be back up again soon, and have as yet been unable to get word from "Dotster" regarding how this all happened.
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MacSlash Domain Stolen More

MacSlash Domain Stolen

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  • Dotster have a contact form (Score:3, Informative)

    by Kris_J ( 10111 ) on Thursday May 30, 2002 @12:35AM (#3607488) Homepage Journal
    https://secure.registerapi.com/help/csupport.php [registerapi.com] Why don't you all go off an ask them what they did with the domain? I'm sure they'd enjoy the email...
  • Registrant:
    Vicente Peiro Crespo
    Chiva , 23 , 27
    Valencia, Valencia 46018
    ES

    Registrar: Dotster (http://www.dotster.com)
    Domain Name: MACSLASH.COM
    Created on: 28-MAY-02
    Expires on: 28-MAY-03
    Last Updated on: 28-MAY-02
    • More importantly who is Dotster I noticed Dotster.com's whois didn't return me their whois info when I looked it up but NetSolutions provided: Registrant: Dotster Inc 11807 N.E. 99th Street, Suite 1100 Vancouver, WA 98682 US Registrar: Dotster (http://www.dotster.com) Domain Name: DOTSTER.COM Created on: 29-DEC-99 Expires on: 12-DEC-04 Last Updated on: 23-FEB-01 Administrative Contact: Contact, Admin hostmaster@dotster.com Dotster Inc 11807 N.E. 99th Street, Suite 1100 Vancouver, WA 98682 US 360.253.2210 360.253.4234 Technical Contact: Contact, Technical hostmaster@dotster.com Dotster Inc 11807 N.E. 99th Street, Suite 1100 Vancouver, WA 98682 US 360.253.2210 360.253.4234 Now my guess is that Suite 1100 is a mailbox rental (though if it is they can't use "Suite" per post office regulationsmi

  • Link (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by gnovos ( 447128 )
    www.macslash/com will never resolve. Try www.macslash.com
  • on att broadband (mchsi).

    Not sure if a name machine is messed up somewhere or what, but I resolve just fine from my machine.
  • I don't know if it's just some of you people, if Dotster fixed the problem already, or what...but macslash.com points to macslash.com.

  • Status is still ongoing (Score:5, Informative)

    by daeley ( 126313 ) on Thursday May 30, 2002 @01:13AM (#3607577) Homepage
    We still have not heard from Dotster at this point (23:10 PDT may 29), however some folks have reported being able to get in. If you are able to, please post in the Domain Troubles story so we know you got there.

    For more information and updates, please email us at macslash@earthlink.net or call Ben Stanfield, Executive Editor, 270-881-0680. Thanks to everyone who has contacted us already. And thanks to Pudge for posting the story.

    We are hoping to have this issue resolved ASAP. We apologize for the inconvenience.
    • Cool. A 270 area code. Fellow Kentuckians.
    • Will the website still be accessable by an IP address?

    • Update (Score:4, Informative)

      by daeley ( 126313 ) on Thursday May 30, 2002 @12:07PM (#3610317) Homepage
      As of 0952 PDT Thursday, there is still no word from Dotster. It seemed as if some folks were able to get through (including me) last night and post, but it is now offline again from where I am: no Dotster page, no MacSlash, no nothin'. A whois via networksolutions.com still brings up that Valencia hombre. Anybody seeing anything?

      I will post again to this thread when we have more info.

      Thanks again to everyone who has gotten in touch with us, and to the other Mac sites for posting info.

    • Update 2 (Score:5, Informative)

      by daeley ( 126313 ) on Thursday May 30, 2002 @06:03PM (#3613542) Homepage
      1601 PDT, Thursday. Ben Stanfield, who is driving somewhere between Kentucky and Washington D.C., just received a call from a V.P. at Dotster who said that his people have been receiving A LOT of emails from you guys. He is personally looking into the problem and has assured us that he will do everything in his power to get this problem corrected. If it ends up being something that Dotster cannot assist us with we have already received an offer for Pro-Bono work from a lawyer who works with domain disputes all of the time. If worst comes to worst we'll be meeting with ICANN soon.

      Meanwhile, back at the ranch, macslash.net should be propagating even as we speak, so hopefully by tomorrow things will be back to (relative) normalcy. If not, I will continue to post updates in this thread. (Knock on wood laminate desk.)

      Thanks much to everyone for their assistance, emails, and well-wishes.
    • www.macslash.com now gets redirected to MacMall!!

      Is this some attempt to redirect blame, or is MacMall really this slimy?

    • Update 3 (Score:5, Informative)

      by daeley ( 126313 ) on Friday May 31, 2002 @11:56AM (#3618039) Homepage
      OK, two pieces of business.

      macslash.net is not propagating properly, and since .org has already (thanks again to Charles Ruggerio for hooking us up), we are going ahead with macslash.org for now [macslash.org]. We will be posting a story on the site later today breaking down the whole situation.

      Secondly, a Mac/ user (samiam) has already posted a great explanation [macslash.org] of the apparent redirection to MacMall, so I won't repeat the story.

      Thanks much!
  • Im sure we can get together a mob of angry macslash users right? i mean mac users are always refered to as zealots and a cult, well what's a cult without a militant arm?

    there just aint no justice like mob justice.

  • Surveyt says...updated 2 days ago. (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Sounds like someone missed the expiration notice...

    Domain Name: MACSLASH.COM
    Registrar: DOTSTER, INC.
    Whois Server: whois.dotster.com
    Referral URL: http://www.dotster.com/help/whois
    Name Server: NS1.DOTSTERINC.COM
    Name Server: NS2.DOTSTERINC.COM
    Updated Date: 28-may-2002

  • I've been suffering from the shakes since As The Apple Turns (http://www.appleturns.com) went off the air last month and now MacSlash, too! Excuse me while I hide under the covers from the baby Steve Jobs that's crawling on my ceiling. Wait maybe if I go to Apple's Hot News page and keep hitting reload I can get a fix...
    • Yeah, but the good news there is that AtAT is scheduled to return next week! Hurrah!
      • Really? Where'd you heard that? Maybe I should be paying more attention to the unofficial forums...

        If it's true, this is great news! I'd be so happy even if Jack only posted one or two new 'shows' a week; anything is better then nothing, and it'd be totally understandable with 'the intern' and all.

        I've been feasting on Random Episodes [appleturns.com] for weeks now to help with the withdrawal symptoms, and honestly the quality of the stuff that Jack has put out daily for so long is amazing. Most people couldn't write three long pieces like that each day and still be funny, informative, and entertaining.

        Kudos to Jack, and I can't wait for the big return from hiatus.
        • It's right on the main page of his site, as of sometime yesterday.

          Credit Rockwood [rockwoodcomic.com] for flushing him out of his hiding place - Rockwood posted a hilarious strip starring Jack, and it looks like that caused him to snap out of the doldrums. (Check yesterday's comic for the start).

          Thanks Brian! We Appleturns fans owe you one.

          D

  • Nope (Score:1)

    by inerte ( 452992 )
    The domain is pointing to the right number, there is no place at the internet, remember?
  • I noticed www.scandalsheet.net [scandalsheet.net] had stopped resolving. I was hopping mad as I'd had trouble renewning it and thought Netsol had messed up.

    So I quickly re-registered it with joker.com to make sure I kept it.

    I then found out I had never had scandalsheet.net, only scandalsheet.org!

    Ah well, now I have both!

    Sam

  • but.. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by dalassa ( 204012 )
    I thought domain name stealing/squatting had pretty much ended with google.

    Oh well, sadly it appears that Dotster has enough server power to avoid a massive slashdotting.

  • IP address (Score:3, Informative)

    by Megane ( 129182 ) on Thursday May 30, 2002 @07:09AM (#3608331)
    I'm surprised nobody seems to have posted this yet:

    63.238.196.105 macslash.com.
    63.238.196.105 www.macslash.com.

    Sorry, but http://63.238.196.105/ won't work because it's vhosted and needs a request for macslash.com.

  • If you previously owned Macslash.org please email me at: webmaster@edgeofheaven.com

    sounds antagonistic to me
    • That's what I thought, but when I looked a edgeofheaven.com, it appears to be a Garbage fan-site. Not exactly a domain squatter. If they are than they deserve to be disemboweled. Rather, I suspect that it's just a macslash fan who saw that the domain had been swiped and is trying to save the .org from the same fate.

      -if you are unprofitable, does that make you a nonprofit?

      • Re:this is wierd (Score:3, Informative)

        by Betaman ( 561110 )
        Yup... I registered macslash.org cause I thought macslash.com was squatted. (please don't disembowel me) I have contacted the real owners of macslash and I will be transfering the domain and hopefully forwarding .org to their IP address in the meantime.
      • Yes, please do not disembowel him; he was kind enough to register macslash.org and let us know about it when he discovered the hijacking. Disemboweling is reserved for the dude in Valencia... or the fscker at Dotster who screwed this up, whichever it turns out to be

        • Re:this is wierd (Score:2, Insightful)

          by EddydaSquige ( 552178 )
          The threat was to disembowel him if he was a squatter, but as it turns out he's not (as I though to be the case). So no disemboweling is necessary. What he does deserve is a big HUZZHA for doing the right thing.

  • Still dead here... sorta (Score:2, Informative)

    by zaren ( 204877 )
    As of 10:15 am Thursday morning from inside UMich, www.macslash.com is still a dotster default page. Plain old macslash.com, however, gets me to their site.

    -----
    Apple hardware still too expensive for you? How about a raffle ticket? [macraffle.com]

  • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Good marketing (Score:3, Funny)

    by anthony_dipierro ( 543308 ) on Thursday May 30, 2002 @10:26AM (#3609551) Journal
    I'm going to have to forget to renew my domain name so I can get slashdotted too!

  • Follow-up (Score:3, Informative)

    by cloudscout ( 104011 ) on Thursday May 30, 2002 @12:14PM (#3610354) Homepage
    I've been following this story since yesterday afternoon on my fly-by-night Mac blog, obzorg.org [obzorg.org].

    If you're getting the Dotster 'coming soon' page when you try to reach the MacSlash site, check out these updates [obzorg.org] including AcaBen's public statements on the subject.

  • evil dotster javascript (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I'm using mozilla rc3 on linux.

    The dotster holding page creates two new windows, then immediately hides them. In the brief interval before they disappear, I noticed an amazon.com url in one.

    The windows disappear from the workspace, but leave placeholders in the KDE panel which don't disappear until I kill the browser.

    So I don't know for sure what dotster is up to, but it looks like they may be trying to artificially inflate their clickthrough revenue from amazon.com.

    - harv

    • Easy to ignore forever (Score:3, Informative)

      by Valdrax ( 32670 )
      Since you're using Mozilla RC3, use the following list of steps to avoid ever having to see this kind of crappy advertising ever again:
      1. Open your Preferences panel.
      2. Expand the tree for "Advanced" and click on "Scripts & Windows".
      3. Deselect the ability of Javascript to:
        • Open unrequested windows
        • Move or resize existing windows
        • Raise or lower windows
      That should get rid of all the most annoying features of JavaScript without killing the useful or "pretty" website enhancements.

  • Expired. (Score:2, Insightful)

    by stupor ( 165265 )
    The domain expired on May 28th From the verisign registry and was grabbed by Dotster's Namewinner software. The domain was NOT transferred.
    • And what evidence do you have to back up this claim? I'm sure if it were that simple, the folks ovet at MacSlash would have caught it farily quickly.

      I would love to see the NSI whois page showing this to be the case.
    • > The domain expired on May 28th From the verisign registry

      I don't know if this is the case with MacSlash, but I know of someone who's domain got taken like this. He had the domain registered with Network Solutions, but when it expired, he was never notified (either via email or snail mail). NetSol's systems didn't catch it either, until 5 months later when they just deleted the registry and let someone else grab it. His site was getting quite a bit of traffic too (something in the range of a couple million unique hits a month).

      Keeping track of your domains' expiration dates is your responsibility, but then, the way NetSol handled it wasn't exactly fair either. I guess that's just another reason why NetSol sucks.

  • expired != hijacked.

  • Renewal Blacklist (Score:4, Informative)

    by stupor ( 165265 ) on Thursday May 30, 2002 @05:50PM (#3613447)
    dotster's mail server is blacklisted by mac.com which is where the renewal notices were sent. so anyone with a mac.com email address rejects all mail from dotster. sucks to be blacklisted.

    • dotster's mail server is blacklisted by mac.com which is where the renewal notices were sent. so anyone with a mac.com email address rejects all mail from dotster. sucks to be blacklisted.

      That's interesting. What list does mac.com subscribe to? Why would dotster.com be blacklisted?

      ....Now back to the original topic...
    • I have a mac.com address, and domain names hosted through dotster and I get renewal notices. I just got one last week.

      How's that work if they're 'blacklisted' ?
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I sent an email to Mac Mall about this. Here's their reply:

      Thank you for your email. We are looking into this issue. MacMall is not responsible for this and we are working with those who are redirecting the MacSlash.com URL to our site. We are also working on blocking this from going to our site.

      Webmaster MacMall

      I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and proclaim their innocence (until I hear otherwise).
  • as of 8:54 AM Eastern Time, macslash.com [macslash.com] loads first with a page that says "mac" in small type, and then brings up www.macmall.com [macmall.com] inside a frame...

    this situation is getting stranger and stranger. and ain't i the lucky one to have acaben's cell phone number ;)

    grace

    • The fact that the advertising is for Mac retailers means that whoever did this (Vicente Peiro Crespo?) did it with malicious intent! This was no mistake - I bet they are getting tens of thousdands of hits each day this goes on and making money off of our interest in the scandal. MacMall and Amazon should be notified about this so they don't pay these bastards.
  • Now (may 30 1:18PDT) when you go to macslash.com it's a page with
    visit macslash.org.
    when you click on the link it takes you to a site with a small message which then finally redirects you to macslash.net
  • The page consists of

    "visit www.macslash.org"

    So they know what they did.

  • Going directly to the site now goes to a link to http://www.macslash.org/ but any page that's not the main page brings up an ad for free cell phones.

    An what really sucks is that if you click a story title on the macslash slashbox, it brings up that free cell phone ad.

  • Recap (Score:2, Informative)

    by ablair ( 318858 )
    What seems to have happened is the owners of macslash.com let their registration expire (the Dotster e-mail warning them of this was filtered out as spam on their mac.com e-mail account apparently), and Vicente Peiro Crespo of Valencia, Spain registered and paid for it legally at expiry. According to what he's said on the macslash.org thread [macslash.org] about this, he does this with expired domains and redirects them through Commission Junction for a little extra money from ad revenue. Not exactly the most honorable thing for a moonlighting hobby, but perfectly legal.

    However, he has said that when owners ask for their domains back (eg. when the domain is still in use) he gives it to them sans profit; and further he has stopped advertising on macslash.com as soon as he found out the domain was still near & dear to people's hearts and he's stopped advertising. He's also put up a link from macslash.com to macslash.org as of this posting, as you can see [macslash.com]. This dosen't sound like the work of a beligerent opportunist nor is this a "hijacking" as the title of this thread implies. His first post on Macslash about it mentioned that he was willing to return the domain if the former owner contacted him. But now Vincente says that he, Dotster, and Commission Junction have recieved so many flames about this that they've cut off his account and he's no longer making any money off of anything.

    Somehow this seems like a simple mistake (on both the part of Vincenete and Macslash's owners for letting it expire) that could have been easily corrected but now exacerbated by a lot of flamers. So stop sending nasty e-mails to everyone on the planet about this and maybe Vincente will give the domain back if he's still inclined. Otherwise MacSlash will have to get used to permanently being at MacSlash.org [macslash.org]

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