Article puts words into mouth of domain name buyer, hits new low in biased reporting.
An article by ZDNet writer Steven Deare about the sale of Tennis.com.au suggests that the seller of the generic domain name is a “scalper” and cybersquatter.
The opening to the article reads:
“Tennis Australia has admitted it paid a “hefty fee” to a scalper of the domain name kind in order to obtain the Web address it wanted as part of a rebranding campaign.”
But as you read the article you realize that these are Deare’s words, not those of Tennis Australia. In fact, Tennis Australia CEO Steve Wood does just about everything he can to explain that this was a fair and justified transaction:
“It’s quite common, I might say, that domain names are bought and traded and so on. And we’re very excited now that we’ve got that,” says Wood.
Apparently Deare is trying to draw a parallel to ticket scalping, which is currently a hot issue in Australia:
“Tennis Australia’s payment to the cyber-squatter comes as several sporting and entertainment promoters recently upped their fight against ticket scalpers,” writes Deare. “Both Cricket Australia and the Big Day Out last year took new measures against people buying tickets purely for re-sale purposes.”
But again, Wood doesn’t fall prey to Deare’s metaphor:
“Wood, however, had no qualms with the ethics of the purchase.
Asked if he agreed the purchase was like paying a ticket scalper, Wood said: “Yeah, perhaps, but from my perspective, we needed all the tools of our trade to run our business.
“And for whatever reason someone else had that tool and I needed to get it and for a fee I was able to extract that.”
Deare needs to look up the definition of “cybersquatter”. Last I checked, “Tennis” was not a trademarked term. Incidentally, the previous owner of Tennis.com.au wasn’t making any money off the domain, it was not parked with a pay-per-click service.
The purchase price was below six figures.
By the way, Steven, you should probably register your name SteveDeare.com and .com.au. They’re currently available.
Excellent comments! There are still lots of misconceptions and even outright hatred against domainers in the mainstream media and general public. Envy might play a role here, too. While those cheap editors waste their lives away in a some cubicle and have to live off a fixed salary, many domainers are making real money in a creative and challenging business, and their profits allow them to do so from any place in the world they choose to. Is it time for a “domaining is cool” campaign to clear up the media-induced hallucinations that plague many otherwise decent individuals?
You parasite.