What is Digg?244 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Yeah. I'm with disposablerob. He spammed, admitted to having done so, and then objects to having to pay the spam abuse fee.
In his defense, I don't think he did a very good job of indicating that he wasn't spamming FROM the GoDaddy registered domain, which would have been his defense, and he wasn't doing so via email, which is where the ultimate burden of spam tends to be carried. He likely could have avoided the situation by more clearly explaining the situation to GoDaddy, but the fact of the matter is that he did in fact spam multiple message boards, and got called to task.
I'm a bit divided on this issue, as the nature of his spamming leaves GoDaddy no authority over it, but then, he didn't do his part to clear things up very well either. - mark1372, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8If the message he posted to the Yahoo Group was email and it landed in my inbox, it would have automatically been flagged as spam. It was an ad. It looks like an ad. It's got ad copy. It talks about advertising and customers and has banal buzz-phrases like, "That's right, free!" Ergo, the guy posted an ad, and however "niche" the newsgroup is, I would consider that unsolicited spam.
By the way, as much as this guy insists on his innocence for this free service allegedly performed under the goodness of his sweet little heart, he reaps advertising revenue from the traffic, so it makes no difference.
As for GoDaddy, there could be a direct result on them for one of their users spamming a newsgroup, for a myriad of reasons. They got complaints that the guy was posting ads. He was.
GoDaddy is cheap and there are many more similar services out there. If you don't like them, leave or don't post ads. Those are their rules. - slashfun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5He may have not presented his story very well, but the fact remains that GoDaddy didn't even check it out closely; It's a money grab, pure and simple.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5If you choose your registrar based on the size of some model's boobs, you deserve everything you have coming to you.
...and these tactics are not surprising at all considering the founder has a strong affinity for an organization the duped its first recruits with an offer of all the free beer they could drink. - DisposableRob, on 10/12/2007, -7/+11Hey, another day means another anti-GoDaddy link with spurious merit and this time it's a complaint made by an admitted spammer. For all your spamming needs, don't do GoDaddy.com!
- sprog, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Sounds like spam to me... GoDaddy may have been a little heavy in their approach, but good for them. I'm sick of spam and I'm glad GoDaddy is willing to do something about it.
- uWergo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4the message he posted looks like spam to me
and like previously said, he didnt do a good job defending himself
no digg! - pcuser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Whether or not he spammed is not the issue. The issue is that GoDaddy is willing to take a bribe to overlook it. Plain and simple extortion.
- penguinboy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Give me a break. What he did was a clear violation of the terms of service set forth by MANY domain registrars and hosting providers. Its not our fault he can't read.
What is up with all these stories about GoDaddy? For all we know, this dude made all this up and just posted it here so he could get more traffic. (He is a spammer you know). - Guspaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3While the guy IS a spammer and deserves some consequences, GoDaddy has NO business terminating ANYBODY's domain for ANY reason, EVER. It is not GoDaddy's responsibility to police what is done from a domain. That is the business of the hosting provider, NOT the registrar.
So while I have no sympathy for the spammer, this gets a digg from me for GoDaddy's blatant abuse of their status as registrar. - SilentBobSC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3$200 = Enough to get your attention and make casual spammers stop
412 Digs and 120+ Comments generally supporting a spammer = Thousands of click-thru $s
"Digg Effect" on a revenue-generating site = priceless - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Welcome to capitalism at work, people...even you commies out there. ;)
When a business does something shady, don't patronize their business and publicize their shady practices. The hit to their cashflow will send more of a message than anything. *thumbs up for the internet* - IHaveIssues, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@kc7gr
IN the TOS you posted, at no time do they mention a "non-refundable spam abuse fee" in the terms.
+Digg for extortion - sergio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The post you made to the boards does look like spam, no matter what your intentions are. There are pleny of free (but charge you later) businesses out there, so just because you say free on the post doesn't mean it's not spam.
GoDaddy charging you anything is not blackmail, it's a fee for breaking their rules. Much like a traffic ticket, or late fee from your credit card, or overbalance fee from your bank. You entered into an agreement with GoDaddy when they hosted your sites.
Seems like you got caught and now are trying to employ a digg effect to cover your ass.
No digg. Reported as SPAM. Have a nice day. - tommis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I did a little googling and found his SPAM message from various sites. This is pure and simple unsolicited advertising, which is against Godaddy's (AND lots of other registrars) acceptable use policies. Nothing to see here.
http://groups.google.com/group/loyaldog/browse_thread/thread/174f0d232ad11893/ac588bb76ed84a85#ac588bb76ed84a85
http://www.americannn.com/forums/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=4&TopicID=438&PagePosition=1
http://members2.boardhost.com/signingagent/msg/1134608554.html
. - slashfun, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The alleged abuser replies with some follow-up comments over on shoutwire.comrnrnhttp://www.shoutwire.com/comments/3629/Is_GoDaddy_Using_Strongarm_Tactics_to_Blackmail_MernrnTo me, this is not a question "Did he spam", it's a bigger question about GoDaddy's actions and where will they draw the line. I think they are out of line. Any response from the abuser besides "I didn't do it" would result in some kind of admission of guilt. However, I would wager that had he paid the $199 blackmail fine, GoDaddy would have looked away and not checked into it further, and if he had outright denied it GoDaddy would have ignored it and continued the witchhunt elsewhere. I have 35 domains over at GoDaddy and will think hard about cycling them out over time.
- kkapoor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Usually 1st time offences solicit a warning and nothing more. To ask for $199 is blatent abuse. Secondly, article, the so-called spam does not eminate from a Godaddy email account but was posted in various newsgroups and message boards, none of which constitute a breach of Godaddy's EUA.
- panic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2His post does look kinda like spam (just the way it's worded), but it does sound like it's legitimate. As a long term GoDaddy customer this kinda worries me. I've never spammed, but if I try to promote my website on a forum, is this going to happen to me too? Worth a digg
- SilentBobSC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Under no circumstances should he be forced to pay GoDaddy $199. rnrnIt's blackmail, and a very good reason to choose RegisterFly instead, which is just as cheap."
Why the hell not? I'm sorry, but if I'm running a server farm, and some schmuck spams a group and gets an entire IP Block of mine blacklisted, I want that *#&^%er to PAY for the effort I have to go through to get the block removed from the black list... &%#& the spammers and MAKE THEM PAY. - emer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Even if this is a violation, its clearly a harmless one. The $200 fee they're asking for is in bad faith and can easily be seen as extortion.
- barwin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The guy sounds like a definite spammer to me, regardless of whether his intentions were good or evil. Still, I'm not sure I agree with GoDaddy's course of action...
- actoraine, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3What he was doing does look like SPAM. I am with GoDaddy on this one.
- matthewdfleming, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1On the Ryze business networking site Will Hanke the allegedly wronged person posts a comment about how the very same tatics he uses in the story are spam!
- jwcooper, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1At one point I had 5 sites hosted with godaddy, and they tried shutting my site down unless I paid somewhere in the range of $500 due to spamming. The kicker was; I was not spamming, and not affiliated with any spammers.
It turns out some user of my site was spamming AOL customers, and AOL told GoDaddy about it. GoDaddy customer service was a complete bitch. They told me that unless I paid them the money, they would shut down my site. I ended up paying at the time because I could afford it, but it was bordering along the lines of illegal.
They had no way to prove that I was actually the one spamming (I was not). They did not give any warnings to even let me know this was going on so I could stop it, and they were not helpful in the least in any other matters.
I thoroughly recommend everyone avoiding GoDaddy.com. They are becoming a major bully, and there are such better services around for hosting and registering.
Another issue with godaddy is; they basically log down your hosting account. The permissions are so tight that there is no way of using any AJAX based website, or anything beyond a basic database driven website.
In Conclusion, use anyone other than GoDaddy.com for your hosting/registering needs. - bdwoolman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2This guy is a sleazoid. He is a web developer. He darn well knows the code of conduct for forums or groups. Just bad form, rude and crude, to hawk your biz on a board. He knows. He tried to be nice about it, but he joined those groups with the express purpose of soliciting to them..Sure, it's not mega spamming, but it is dirty pool.. Someone got pissed and called him on it. Since the days of bulletin boards this kind of stuff has been off color.
Perhaps it should have been kept in the family, and the group owner could have warned him. And maybe if he was grandma selling stuffed Teddy Bears or Craft supplies somebody would have slapped the spotted wrist. But the guy is a computerist for heaven's sake. He bloody well knows better. Which is why he was spanked.
As for Go Daddy. I do not know what common practice is in this case. Go Daddy hosts the page he pointed to. So, in order not to be complicit, they have to take action. Fining him seems kind of fair. They could have just wiped his page and washed their hand of him. 200 clams seems stiff, but it is a business. Hope you learned your lesson, dude. We are not fooled.
The lame-oh has gotten enough publicity from this. No Diggity Do Dah. Let's get it off the front page. - gredux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I currently have 3 sites hosted by Godaddy and have found them to be reliable and easy to use. I'm not sure if his actions should be considered spamming though.
- vhold, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The whole thing smells fishy.
- Olain, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Looks like spam to me, Should of read his contract a little better. no sympathy or a digg from me.
- Beanlover, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1To all of you who think he was spamming you obviously didn't RTF(riendly)A. He posted messages in yahoo groups which:
A)He was a long time member "in good standing" (his words)
B)Were related to the subject matter which he was posting about.
This does not qualify as SPAM in my (not so) humble opinion. If the group operators didn't like it they should have warned him in the group or via e-mail and deleted the messages from the group.
Sounds like someone was just trying to stir up trouble for this guy (assuming everything in TFA is correct and complete). - Polly, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Who do we hate next week? I wanna be the first to post an anti-company trend of the week story :(
- k3n85, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2new sponsor's for Digg?
$199 a little extreme for something that he offered...I wouldn't say 'spam' since there isn't really holes to jump through such as like a "WinaFreexbox" thing er something
+Digg
-GoDaddy - rosshosman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1no digg...another spammer got what he deserved
- bdwoolman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I admit Go Daddy is taking a big bump for only being his registrar (I stand corrected). Assumed they were hosting him. But they are just hosing him. But seeing the above post by Iccanui I think they smelled fish, went out and found fish and then decided to pump the guy. They should have simply cut the sleazoid loose. More honerable than to shake him down. A pox on both their houses.
For his part, he has not told us the whole story. What a surprise. Prank postcards? WTF! Really, go check out the link Iccanui posted. (repeated here for your convenience.)
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb290230.htm - Iccanui, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Check this out.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/9/prweb290230.htm
Same guy? Story is looking weak. This is guys name is poping up all over my searches with the same business under different names which stinks of shadiness.
Like i said, i call *****. - Valence, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OKAY ...rnrnA guy rents a DVD, invites his friends over for movie night, charges 'em $5.00 a pop to pitch in for beer/food/etc. Someone brings a friend who's reactionary, quick to judge, eager to condemn -- say, like half the Digg community -- and this friend just goes ape *****: "WHAT! FIVE DOLLARS!? That's a violation of FEDERAL LAW! It SAYS SO right here on the WARNING before you watch the show! You're NOT ALLOWED to charge a fee!"rnrnSo the guy reports this to the FBI. Okay. The Special Agent who eventually gets the report decides that he's got absolutely nothing whatsoever to do that day so, just for kicks and because he can, he decides to nail the bastard who's charging to see movies. The party-thrower gets charged, has to go to court, life turns to mush.rnrnIf this happened, I'm fully convinced half the community would be like, "Big Brother! Oppression! The Man! Violation of personal rights! Patriot Act!" and the other half would be, "HE GOT WHAT HE DESERVED! HE'S A CAPITALIST PIG! IF I COULD I'D RIP HIS SKIN OFF AND FEED IT TO MY DOG!"rnrnFor me, this whole thing is ridiculous. The guy spammed? Uh, well, technically, although I can check my own server log reports and tell you there's a big difference between some guy posting a message for his Web site on some groups, and a big time spam operation. But okay, he spammed, but I would hope the community -- someone, anyone -- would be able to see some shades of gray here. The guy may have violated newsgroup rules, but getting fined $199 by THE REGISTRAR is pretty suspect, I don't give a crap what the Terms of Agreement say.rnrnI mean, fine, GoDaddy, those are your terms? All right, but I've decided I don't want to hire someone to police my domain when I buy it. I never send spam, in fact, I try to avoid sending email, but the notion of a punitive "spam abuse" fee is offensive in the least.rnrnI have one domain with GoDaddy. It was cheap, so I bought it there. I'm going to transfer it now. Yes, it will cost me more, and no, I don't send spam, ever, and I'm offended by those who do. But I'm more offended by GoDaddy's relentless quest to find fee opportunities. If it's against their terms, fine, but don't offer a way to buy out of the terms. That's ridiculous, and it shouldn't be the role of a registrar.
- interiot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Exactly, there is a difference between advertising and SPAM.
Wikipedia, in fact, did a bit of advertising when it was very small. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Building_Wikipedia_membership&oldid=568827 Sometimes some advertising is necessary to get a good idea rolling. - crispytown, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Another bad company is MELBOURNEIT.COM... they stole my domain from me even after I have paid for it. THey claim I haven't paid but the whois is and everything still says I own the domain and it is up to date till June of this year. They claim whois always contains wrong data. I would not use MELBOURNEIT.COM at all. They will steal your domain from you!!!!!
- littleidiot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it's funny, most of the people bashing godaddy here are people that didn't even read the story, just the header and took it from there. please read the story first and then you'll realize that this loser was nothing more than your average spammer. props to godaddy for taking a stand against this #$!& !!!
- binarypower, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He should not have been spamming. He spammed. He admitted to spamming. His contract has a spamming clause. He now owes $199. What's so hard to understand here?
- Moocat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't think so.
From the article, it seems our well meaning hero decided he would post a few messages on some Yahoo! boards about this great new weblink trading (nothing new here). He thinks it's all fine and dandy till someone reports him for spamming and here my friends is where the story gets sticky.
Since this is his side of the story, we're obviously not seeing the big picture and he was very vague about exactly how many message boards he posted on. His first rebutal included that he "joined a few discussion boards to let everyone know about the service" which he explicity denies only a few paragraphs later saying to us "Take into account that this message went to a few Yahoo groups of which I was already a member in good standing.".
So which one is it? Did you sign up for new accounts for the sole purpose of contacting people? Did you not realize doing so would be considered spam? Were you, or weren't you a member of these groups beforehand? Do you even know?
In the end, perhaps it was well intentioned, but I believe only in the fact that he ignored common sense in order to propogate his business. The only seperation between him and spammers is that he doesn't admit to himself that he is one. - fogelbaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He is a spammer and should be given no quarter. His thoughts that his message do not constitute spam are completely ridiculous. GoDaddy should just kick him off.
- matthewdfleming, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here's the link to the comment by Will Hanke-- http://new.ryze.com.nyud.net:8090/postdisplay.php?confid=345&messageid=145074
- jenmarsh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I agree with silentbobsc!
We should tag this as lame because all it is getting revenue for this guy. - Angeliec, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It seems a bit like extortion to me. The person was spamming, true. However, $199 is a lot steep for a first time offense to anything. How would you like it if every time you were ever pulled over for speeding it was an immediate fine? No verbal or written warnings whatsoever! I think that Godaddy.com should instead, give the option to clean up the Yahoo Groups Posts (you can delete your own postings) within a certain time limit, pay the fine to allow GoDaddy.com to do it, or have their account suspended the 2nd time around. Business practices are not mafia practices, and should not be allowed to become such. A hefty fine like this should only be levied for multiple abusers.rnrn+digg
- Satellite1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1We can only hope this makes it to Diggnation.
- kali25, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Wow a lot of posts, noone will ever get to mine. The key work here is "bulk" does that apply to just eh e-mail or also the IMs and Message board posting. If he manually made a few posts then that is just fine. That is what these damn things are for.
- kderby2000, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2...and this is how I see it:
1. Someone sends an advertisement for a "new free site" out to a discussion group.
2. Some individuals on the discussion group interpret this 'post' as an unsolicited advertisement.
3. They complain, causing GoDaddy to take action.
4. The site owner responds "yes, i sent it, but didn't know people would think it's spam".
5. GoDaddy see this response as an admission of guilt, and charges a "spam violation fee", in order to get the point across.
People need to stop blaming others for the issues they themselves cause. GoDaddy is not at fault here, but the site owner (aka The Spammer). Since the user did, indeed, but their own admission, violate the TOS, they could have disrupted/discontinued service. Instead, they elected to charge a violation fee, rather than do so.
Be thankful the site's still up. - KlipschFan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1GoDaddy CEO says Guantanamo torture is, "OK with me." I think he should adopt the "Do No Evil" creed of Google, or his company should change it's name to GoD AD Die!
- Otto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Okay, first off, what he wrote was spam. Plain and simple.
Secondly, they can't charge a $50 "transfer fee" unless you're gullible enough to pay it or did something stupid like letting them get the domain in their name and not your own. If *you* own the domain, you can transfer it anywhere you wish and tell GD to go ***** themselves.
In his situation, I'd a) transfer the domain and all my other domains away from GD to somebody else like netsol, and b) stop spamming ***** ads for his websites all over the place like an idiot. - Mabu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What's really sleazy is that GoDaddy wants to charge you $50 to move your domain over to another registrar. This is unheard of. As long as your domain is in good standing, you should be able to change registrars any time without having to pay the old registrar a dime.
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