I’ve gotten a few queries about what happened to the StopSylviaBrowne website; as Blake explains, some sleaze swept in while Robert Lancaster was hospitalized and grabbed the domain name. It’s now moved to StopSylvia.com. Update those bookmarks!
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Talk about tortured and convoluted prose. As I write on my student’s papers, Sylvia: “Do you READ what you’ve written???”
That really was very low to do to Robert. It definitely crossed the line.
This is just another example of the morals on display by the religiously inclined….anything is allowed so long as it’s done to further the faith.
I agree to the book category reassignement, but I’ll have to disagree with the book-burning comment. I’d prefer to leave that tactic to them. I’d instead recommend skewering the book’s(or website’s) contents in the public domain by exposing it to empirical criticism. This is what the scientically inclined already do, and in this way the true intent will eventually be revealed for what it is…religious wackalooney!
Crossed the line???? These people have no line, except the bottom one. They are immoral sociopaths.
I very much doubt that this was done intentionally to Robert, or that it was done by any Browne supporter. If your domain registration lapses (for whatever reason) it will be bought the instant it becomes available by cybesquatters. They use automated tools to buy lapsed domains, their reasoning presumably being that _someone_ had interest in that domain name in the past, so they may pay a hefty fee to get it back. It’s a safer bet for them than buying unused domain names that they think someone might want in the future.
I think it’s a very slimy practice, and I suspect the domain registrars aid them in it, but I don’t think it’s a personal attack on Robert.
I posted the above before I actually looked at stopsylviabrowne.com, which now contains links / advertisements for online psychic shops… that’s definitely low.
Hooray, a Pharyngulation — I might be able to eat this month!
voskw:
That’s the thing I believe a lot of people don’t realize about psychics and paranormal studies — though lacking in rigor even by religion’s standards, it is still very much a form of religion (though the New Age in particular tends to take a rather postmodern slant on it). Despite the efforts of believer scientists over the years like Rhine, Puthoff, Sarfatti, and others (I’m tempted to include Reich as well, though he seems to have been more of the self-deluded Blondlot persuasion), the paranormal has shown the world very little that wasn’t already known, apart from maybe the basis for a few magic tricks, and it’s actually closed the door on a good many things that people took for granted throughout history.
From the SSb site, “When trying to find a valid psychic the best thing you can do is get a referral.”
Uh, yeah, right. These folks shouldn’t be allowed to talk, vote or breed.
And now that they see that it’s a popular domain, they put it on ebay… Don’t have the link, but it’s there :(
Verisign or ICANN could make themselves useful and jump for people like this with the same speed as they do for crybaby firms boohooing over *sucks.com domains.
I just updated my blog entry to reflect the recent developments in the story.
Just helping a little: Stop Sylvia Browne
Unless they knew that it lapsed due to illness, I can hardly blame them for snatching it up once it became available. I mean, if you don’t, someone else will.
Sites are rotting and dying all the time, and one would probably just suppose that the site had died.
It’s unfortunate, but it’s best just to get the new site going, and to let people know where it is now.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Everybody, go over to ERV’s latest post. It’s an eye-opener about Fred Phelps…from his son’s perspective. Follow the link and read the story, along with the first follow-up comment.
Presumably, the fact that there are no psychics at my door offering assistance indicates 1) either I am not in need of psychics’ assiatance, or 2) that my psychic cries are falling upon deaf psyches. There’s a third possibility: There just aren’t any psychics “in range.” You know who you are!
But Sylvia’s performing such a valuable service! She’s separating delusional cretins from their money!
…And look what is on eBay…
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=150307548966
To bring up o date…
The buyer of the domain name is reputedly Boris Kreiman, the chess player, who has a business in websites promoting psychics. His buy is therefore a natural, and it appears that he did it fair and square, though there is some controversy about godaddy.com’s ability to registrar domain names properly. He appears to have gotten some cold feet; he has placed the site up for auction on two different auctions (see posting just above mine) and has also offered to sell the domain to another person on randi’s forum. The illegalities of all this are wild; the pot is boiling over on this one…
RSL always posted only the most carefully researched information on StopSylianBrowne (now htp://www.StopSylvia.com), and so in that vein, I want to caution. I read some stuff above about religious practitioners. I have no reason to believe that “Kreiman” is religious in any way, and that has not entered into the postings at randi.org. I’d encourage people here to identify the problem before attacking (even if it is only to post a message). Enough rumors and misinformation abound without adding to it.
PS: The campaign to have most of the links on he skeptical part of the web switched from the old location to the new appears to be bearing fruit with Google searches; in less than a week in some searches the two sites are tied for ranking. If you have a site which has links to the old site, make sure your link is edit to the new as soon as possible. There is a list of blogs tha have NOT been updated here: http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=4172385&postcount=146
James Randi has pointed out that it is important that the link contain the words “Sylvia Browne” but not the word stop. This will help the google rankings even more.
Glad to see this one pharyngulated at last.
The ebay details for stopsylviabrowne.com make it pretty clear what this was about. Build a site that looks like it belongs at that domain (use it to link to your own site for a while) then quickly sell the domain using last quarter’s statistical data which, of course, has nothing whatsoever to do with the new content.
But other than Robert Lancaster, who the hell would even want this domain – and why would Robert pay a premium to get it back when his site is still going strong?
I too have summarised the saga.
I haven’t had the chance to check out the Stop Jenny McCarthy site until about a half hour ago. I think something’s wrong. A single page comes up that says “Chaotic Evil Fuck Off Killing Paladins Since 1986”. I don’t think that’s what’s supposed to come up. Please check it out and let me know if something
Knurl (#23):
Oh, dear. The plot thickens. A quick WHOIS reveals that the domain-name registration was updated today (the registrant is Domains By Proxy, Inc.).
Hmmm. If you go directly to stopjenny.com, it seems to work. Somebody must have cracked the site and created a new subdomain; notice that the Google search returns a URL pointing to “site.stopjenny.com”.
Sorry, murci3lago.
Your attempt is blocked by the way scienceblogs automatically adds rel=”nofollow” to links submitted in the comments.
By following the ‘hat-tip’ links, I came to Skeptools’ detailed explanation of the necessary google-fu techniques.
There is something else funny about the stopjenny.com site. Fire fox complains about the certificate and when I check it, it is from godaddy.com They don’t exactly strike me as highly trustworthy.
Thanks – I’d likely miss this news otherwise. I had a link to the site on my TAM 5 envy-posting, and it has been duly redirected :)
Fucking vulture.
Sorry can’t agree, I distinctly remember my glee when the Irish atheists managed to register http://www.catholic.ie/ (still have it, check out the homepage) out from under them. The difference being that Catholic.ie was administered by a large number of people, and I doubt they lost the domain due to an oversight bought on by illness. Still this difference is not enough to quell my hypocrisy gland.
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