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AWNews.com Domain Name

Sep 19, 2002, 4:59pm
Actually, they didn't jack anything, since they hadn't posted a price
when I first contacted them. After I had essentially told them where to
stuff their $1,250 offer, they then posted the $10,000 asking price.
This was all before I posted here to the NGs and ABP started this
crusade, so I'm sure the only effect the emails have had is to prove to
MWD that the awnews.com domain really is worth $10,000, and that I'll
cough up that kind of dough "for the community". :-/

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
When good intentions backfire...
robrod at prism.net

AWNews.com Domain Name

Sep 19, 2002, 6:25pm
Just goes to show that we'd definitely have to get a trademark on AWNews
if we were ever going to be successful in this. :-/

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
$325 for a $35 domain?...
robrod at prism.net

AWNews.com Domain Name

Sep 19, 2002, 8:00pm
That's what I mentioned in my If You Insist post. MostWantedDomains.com
bought the awnews.com domain through the registrar IARegistry.com. It's
Dispute Policies are almost identical to those on register.com's, the
registrar Cybor originally used to register the awnews.com domain.

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Hey, you! Pay attention! ;P
robrod at prism.net

Re: Well....

Sep 18, 2002, 6:49pm
Obviously not, otherwise you wouldn't have said it to me already. :P

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Notes Brock hopping on the "I told you so!" bandwagon...
robrod at prism.net

[AWNews] If You Insist...

Sep 19, 2002, 2:54pm
Well, if you guys are really willing to take this all the way, then here are all the facts,
to the best of my knowledge:

As I had already stated, Cybor had decided to let the domain expire and I was to pick it up
when it went public. According to Cybor, the account expired on August 1, 2002. However,
when I contacted register.com, the registrar of the awnews.com domain, about the possibility
of transferring the account to me, I was told that it can take upwards of two months for a
domain to go public after it has expired, so I was advised to have Cybor renew the account
and then transfer it to me. But since Cybor felt that the transfer process was far too
tedious, he decided to continue to let the account expire.

Over the next few weeks, I occasionally visited register.com to check on awnews.com status,
and the WHOIS information continued to claim the domain was owned by Cybor. Thinking that
the domain wasn't very valuable outside of AW, given that all the other awnews domains were
still available, I didn't pay much attention.

On Sept 11th, (talk about bad timing...) I received a telegram from fellow AWNews staffer
Padfoot, letting me know that the awnews.com domain was for sale. Understandably excited, I
went to register.com to register the domain, only to find out it was still taken. Only this
time, it wasn't Cybor's name on the WHOIS, but Worldwide Media, Inc., owner of
MostWantedDomains.com. They had registered the domain through the registrar IAregistry.com

Needless to say, I was thoroughly pissed off. Going to "www.awnews.com" brought up a web
page proclaiming that the site was for sale. At the bottom was a tiny form where you could
make an offer for the domain, however the space next to "Asking Price" was blank. So, I
offered them $35, which is what I would've had to pay if I had registered it with
register.com. I also added the comment "You stole my domain and I want it back!"

The next day, I received an email from Michael H. Berkens, President of Worldwide Media,
Inc., essentially saying that they got my domain fair and square because I hadn't renewed
it. Conceding that he had a point, I replied by explaining my situation to him and asking
him what I would have to do in order to get the domain back. He responded simply with
"$1,250". Naturally, I scoffed at that price and replied with the following:

"Surely you jest. There's no way I'm going to pay that much money for a collection of
letters that I *could* have bought for $35 had you not snatched it up for apparently no
reason other than greed. I was even willing to go as high as $70 just so you could make a
profit, but if that's not enough for you, then you've just wasted $35 in buying that domain,
since I can almost guarantee you won't find another buyer for awnews.com; certainly not one
willing to pay over $1000 for it."

I have yet to hear back from him, and that message was sent almost a week ago (9/13). Soon
after I sent that message, I noticed that the Asking Price for awnews.com had finally been
filled in, to the tune of $10,000. Figuring I'd never get it back from the greedy bastard
now, I resigned myself to looking for alternative domains for AWNews to use, which brings us
to now.

After ABP started up the cause, I did a little research into Worldwide Media, Inc. Turns out
that Worldwide Media and Michael H. Berkens are actually one in the same (much like InSaNiTy
and Heartfall Productions). I also found out that WWM has gone to court over this exact
thing before, but won because the complainant couldn't prove that the domain name was
confusingly similar to their trademark.

After examining register.com's Dispute Policy, I found a ray of hope for our little crusade
in the following paragraphs:

"a. Applicable Disputes. You are required to submit to a mandatory administrative proceeding
in the event that a third party (a "complainant") asserts to the applicable Provider, in
compliance with the Rules of Procedure, that (i) your domain name is identical or
confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the complainant has rights; and
(ii) you have no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name; and (iii)
your domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith. In the administrative
proceeding, the complainant must prove that each of these three elements are present.

b. Evidence of Registration and Use in Bad Faith. For the purposes of Paragraph 4(a)(iii),
the following circumstances, in particular but without limitation, if found by the Panel to
be present, shall be evidence of the registration and use of a domain name in bad faith: (i)
circumstances indicating that you have registered or you have acquired the domain name
primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name
registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a
competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of your documented
out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or (ii) you have registered the
domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting
the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a pattern of such
conduct; or (iii) you have registered the domain name primarily for the purpose of
disrupting the business of a competitor; or (iv) by using the domain name, you have
intentionally attempted to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to your web site or
other online location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as
to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of your web site or location or of a
product or service on your web site or location."

Translation: If we're going to have any success at this, we MUST prove that all three of
these actions have taken place:

1) The domain is identical to a trademark (TM or SM) that I have rights to
2) That WWM has no rights or legitimate interests in awnews.com
3) That WWM is using the awnews.com domain in bad faith, including but not limited to
purchasing the domain for the main purpose of selling the domain back to the former owner at
an inflated cost.

So that's everything I know. I can tell you all right now that I have no trademarks on
AWNews whatsoever, so that may kill us right there. Perhaps you guys could talk to your
legal friends about all this, but I honestly don't see much good coming of this. :-/

Oh, and for those who might be thinking that I'm making all this up *glares pointedly at the
lurkers*, here are references to all the info I just mentioned:

http://www.awnews.com/default.php?stat=yes - the domain name in question, which displays the
$10,000 Asking Price
http://www.register.com/dispute-policy.cgi?1|3374924395| - register.com's Dispute Policy
(similar to IAregistry.com's Dispute Policy)
http://www.register.com/whois-results.cgi?dacb02ad2bb54a78f1c7b08942ed18afdd3dc793383e4fe56498f89cd3f8a9d38403efb03eeeba61
- WHOIS information for AWNews.com
http://www.arb-forum.com/domains/decisions/99675.htm - RentRight, Inc. v. Worldwide Media
Inc. a/k/a Michael Berkens

--
Goober King
Let the fun begin...
robrod at prism.net

[AWNews] If You Insist...

Sep 19, 2002, 6:11pm
Unless ol' Mikey's getting so rich off domains that he has a summer home
in Florida, I don't think those first two links you mention refer to the
same Michael Berkens that runs WWM. Note the different addresses...

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
In cases like this, attention to detail is important...
robrod at prism.net

[AWNews] If You Insist...

Sep 19, 2002, 6:22pm
hmm... Old address then, perhaps?

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Obviously his attention to detail is waning...
robrod at prism.net

AWNews Domain

Sep 20, 2002, 12:27am
Relax folks, that's just me. AWNews.org should be under my control,
pending approval of my credit card. It's all good. :)

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
It's not WHOIS that's slow...
robrod at prism.net

AWNews Domain

Sep 20, 2002, 6:20pm
Oh no! My secret's out! Whatever shall I do?!? *panic* ;P

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Admitting he's a... a... BOB!
robrod at prism.net

AWNews Domain

Sep 20, 2002, 6:24pm
The problem is a copyright isn't enough to get the domain back,
according to both register.com and IARegistry.com's Dispute Policy. We
need to have a trademark, not a copyright. I can contact register.com
and see if a copyright would be enough, but I doubt it, even for a
non-profit org. (Technically, we're not a one-man operation... ;P)

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
An army of one...
robrod at prism.net

AWNews Domain

Sep 20, 2002, 7:37pm
It has nothing to do with Mikey. In order for me to have a legitimate
case, I need to have a TM that is in direct conflict with the domain
name, that's all there is to it.

Although, the Dispute Policy also said a Service Mark (SM) was
acceptable. Chris, think AWNews would be eligible for an SM? :)

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
AWNews.com™©® Editor in Chief
robrod at prism.net

AWNews Domain

Sep 21, 2002, 11:41am
If you look at the RentRight v. WWM case, you'll see that's the exact
reason RentRight didn't win. If they can't win for not having a TM or an
SM, even when the other two conditions were met, then neither can we.

But who knows? Perhaps someone else set a different precedent that
changed things. Unfortunately, since I just recently moved, I haven't
had time to get to know any "lawyer friends". Perhaps Facter or ABP
could look into this?

As for what a service mark is, here's a definition I found:

A service mark is a name, symbol, word, or combination of 2 or more of
these that a person displays or otherwise uses to advertise or sell
services that the person performs to identify those services that the
person performs and to distinguish them from services that another
person performs. Examples of service marks: Wendy's (restaurant
services); Waxie Maxie (retail phonograph record store service); COMPUSA
(retail and wholesale computer services).

The only problem is that it sounds like you can only use the SM for
commercial use, but again I'm not sure. The site I found doesn't say
whether it's retroactive or not. We need to get a lawyer in here! :P

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Never around when you actually *do* need them...
robrod at prism.net

AWNews Domain

Sep 23, 2002, 5:39pm
Thanks for the warning, I'll be sure to bolt the doors. ;P

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
If he can get through RI traffic, that is! *cackle*
robrod at prism.net

Re: Well....

Sep 20, 2002, 1:34pm
I meant "Obviously not" as in, "Obviously you don't hate to say it". :P

[View Quote] --
Goober King
Subtlety is lost on some people...
robrod at prism.net

/whois Mr. Kwok Li

Sep 21, 2002, 12:15pm
It's not "our board" anymore. AWCorp is a completely separate entity
from AWI now. Kwok would end up on the board of AWCorp, which would have
almost 0 effect on AWI. And since AWI owns everything related to AW,
AWCorp can't do anything, directly or indirectly, to us either.

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
AWC != AWI == AW
robrod at prism.net

/whois Mr. Kwok Li

Sep 22, 2002, 3:39pm
You guys have to remember that it's only AWCorp that wants to acquire
Wavix, *not* AW Inc. AWCorp doesn't own anything having to do with AW,
so Li would have no interest in us whatsoever.

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
An empty shell of a company... Oh yea, and AWCorp's pretty empty too :P
robrod at prism.net

opinions and flaming and stuff

Sep 22, 2002, 3:28pm
[View Quote] That's me! ;)

Seriously, though, as Johnny pointed out, one of the reasons people do
it is simply because they can. There are no real consequences for their
actions, which frees them to attack any person over any subject. While
I'm all for intelligent discussion, flame wars really get stupid when
the conversation turns from the topic and instead concentrates on the
people involved or what was said. (I reference you to the VR Village
thread for the most recent example)

Of course, the way to curb all this is to start with yourself. (and I'm
talking to everyone, here) If you find yourself starting to talk about
the other person or what was said, rather than the topic at hand, STOP!
The beautiful thing about the NGs is that you *don't* have to reply to
something right away. You have all the time in the world to think out
your response and post intelligently when you're ready. Unfortunately,
some people don't take advantage of this "feature" and wind up making
themselves look like idiots, and in the process ruin the NG experience
for everyone else.

I think if more people used the wait feature more often, (myself
included) we wouldn't have these problems to begin with. One can only
hope...

--
Goober King
Stirring the Virtual Melting Pot Since 1996
robrod at prism.net

opinions and flaming and stuff

Sep 22, 2002, 10:46pm
Umm, if you're referring to the VR Village thread, the original topic
(if there ever really was one to begin with) was over ABP's comments
about the forum and it's clientele. In fact, it was *your* comments that
turned it into a "Speak for yourself" thread.

But, here I am demonstrating the very thing I told everyone not to do:
yakking about the thread itself rather than what the thread is about.
Hopefully this proved educational to some. I'll shut up now. :P

[View Quote] --
Goober King
Part of the problem is some people just don't get it...
robrod at prism.net

Aw Video 4 Almost coming out

Sep 24, 2002, 9:37am
Excellent job, pineriver. Maybe you can show it to the boys in
Newburyport and get some money for your hard work. :)

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Hey, look AWI! Advertising!!
robrod at prism.net

The Video4 is out!

Sep 25, 2002, 9:55pm
If you people really want to get technical, it should be ActiveWorlds's,
since there's no such thing as ActiveWorld.

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Leave the semantics to the professionals...
robrod at prism.net

The Video4 is out!

Sep 26, 2002, 9:43am
Not sure what your English teacher is smoking but both ActiveWorlds's
and ActiveWorlds' would be correct. If a noun ends in "s", you have the
option of using the second "s" or not. Not using the "s" might be more
proper, but no one's going to kill you if you do.

At any rate, it shouldn't have been used at all, since there was no
"Video" in the actual video; it just said "ActiveWorld's" and nothing
else. There's no way to tell what "ActiveWorld" (which isn't even a
word) was possessing, so it shouldn't have been there in the first place.

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
See previous signature...
robrod at prism.net

The Video4 is out!

Sep 26, 2002, 9:54am
Great work once again, pineriver! I know you're probably not going to be
handing this to AWI any time soon, but if you ever plan to make a
serious commercial out of this, I'd like to offer a couple suggestions:

- I don't think anyone's going to go ga-ga over Chess and Checkers. If
you want to mention them, just mention games in general and include
other stuff like Bingo and AWGames.
- Be sure to mention more community aspects, like some of the
AWCommunity orgs and events. Gotta let people know that there's more to
this place than just worlds and building! :)

Other than that, keep up the good work! :)

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
You paying attention, AWI?! This could actually HELP you!!
robrod at prism.net

The Video4 is out!

Sep 26, 2002, 2:06pm
Erm, "fishes" isn't correct either. The plural of "fish" is "fish", just
like the plural of "moose" is "moose", not "mooses". Anyone who says
"fishes" is either trying to be funny or failed English. :P

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Thinking that AWUniv could use an English course...
robrod at prism.net

The Video4 is out!

Sep 26, 2002, 2:17pm
Must be a British thing then. They're the ones who always have the
messed up words. ;P

(Note to all anal Brits: I *know* American English is derived from
British English. It's called a "joke", go look it up.)

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Maybe Brits spell it "jouke"...
robrod at prism.net

just so you know

Sep 26, 2002, 2:09pm
*blink* You people are just never happy, are you? They post an apology
and let the community know what's going on ahead of time, and you think
it's a demand of some sort? *boggle*

You people really are on crack...

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
You can't please everyone, and you can't please some at all...
robrod at prism.net

just so you know

Sep 26, 2002, 6:55pm
*blink* What are you talking about? Since when was the CY Awards *not*
sponsored by AW? Hell, if it wasn't for AWI, the CY Awards would've
never gotten off the ground in the first place, and you'd have to find
something else to gripe about.

[View Quote] --
Goober King
Thanking AWI for Linn's griping... wait...
robrod at prism.net

just so you know

Sep 26, 2002, 7:26pm
*rubs temples* Considering you never mentioned *who* from AW it was you
talked to, and given your past record with "facts" in here, I'm wont to
doubt you.

In any case, from the sounds of it, you seem to think "sponsor" means
"gave money to". I can almost guarantee that *no one* has given money to
the CY Awards Committee at all. However, AWI *has* donated a world,
avatars, and even the CY statue itself to the cause, therefore they
"sponsor" it. If you show any sort of support for something, you are
sponsoring it, plain and simple.

What, you think AWNews has the sort of funds to donate money the CY
Awards? I think not. :P

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Swears she does this on purpose...
robrod at prism.net

just so you know

Sep 26, 2002, 7:41pm
I'd swear you and Linn are brother and sister...

Gather around, children! It's time for a lesson in Basic English!

sponsor - n. 1. One who assumes responsibility for another person or a
group during a period of instruction, apprenticeship, or probation.
2. One who vouches for the suitability of a candidate for admission.
3. One that finances a project or an event carried out by another person
or group, especially a business enterprise that pays for radio or
television programming in return for advertising time.

Now class, who can tell me why AWI fits this definition as it pertains
to the CY Awards? Yes, you in the back.

"Because AWI gave them a world, avatars, and models, which normally cost
money to make."

So which definition is that?

"3"

Correct! Even though no money actually changed hands, AWI still financed
the CY Awards because it essentially paid for all the things that it
freely donated to the CYs!

So Wyz, to answer you're question, yes they would be sponsoring you
since they had to pay for Truespace in order to give it to you to do
modeling for them.

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
Blames all the stupidity for making him act like a freak...
robrod at prism.net

just so you know

Sep 27, 2002, 1:19am
Last I checked, Linn, the CY Awards Committee is in charge of the CY
Awards, not the community. They are free to shape the rules however they
see fit, since it's their org. If the entire committee was
democratically elected every year, then perhaps you'd have more reason
to complain, but as it stands now, it's their decision to make, not
yours. All you can do is vote for the winner. And be glad you have even
that privilege, as most awards systems have no such community
involvement whatsoever.

I guess when some people in the community gets a taste of power, they're
extremely reluctant to relinquish it, no matter how trivial it may be,
especially when they find out they were never in control to begin with...

[View Quote] --
Goober King
Have a hot steaming mug of STFU!
robrod at prism.net

ATTN BRANT.....PK MATTER!!!

Oct 3, 2002, 9:49am
In case you haven't gotten the point yet, PC, you didn't *have* to post
the actual link to the website. You could have just as easily said "Hey,
there's this sign with a porn link on it in AWTeen. Can you get rid of
it? Email me and I'll give you the coords." You alert the PKs that
there's a problem without making public any information that could be
traced by curious innocents. While I agree that parents should be paying
attention to their kids' activities online, that doesn't mean you
shouldn't also take some responsibility and avoid the problem in the
first place.

Of course, you could have also tried emailing the PKs directly, but
instead you somehow got the idea that the PKs actually pay attention to
these NGs. Not sure where you got that from, but it's certainly not in
the PK job description.

As for GET, it would appear to be working just fine.
http://www.awcommunity.org/get/ for the URL-deprived.

Oh, and you might want to start thinking about anger management courses
or something. You're starting to sound eerily similar to JFK2's rantings...

[View Quote]
--
Goober King
It may already be too late...
robrod at prism.net

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