Red Herring: The War Over Wargames.Com

Red Herring interviewed me for a news article on the war over Wargames.Com. The story's pretty fair, though I was never uncertain about what I wanted to do with the domain. I've been playing wargames since Dungeons & Dragons was still considered a wargame in the late '70s.

She covers my background in the article:

Two years ago, Mr. Cadenhead registered www.BenedictXVI.com. When the new pope announced his new name, the website saw 500,000 hits in two days. Mr. Cadenhead decided to donate the domain to a charity rather than sell it to a porn operator and have to face the ire of Catholics everywhere.

He's not, he insists, a domain investor. "When I acquire a domain, my intention is to publish a site," said Mr. Cadenhead. "I would never trade on somebody else's trademark for a profit."

This is a point I'd like to emphasize, as self-serving as it sounds. I'm a computer book author and web publisher who tries to conduct myself ethically. I've turned down a lot of easy money over the 10 years I've published sites -- refusing ads for absinthe, laser pointers, Cuban cigars and countless porn opportunities. I have too much Catholic guilt to enjoy committing any of the deadly sins, except for sloth.

Comments

Has Red Herring figured out that their name means "a deliberately misleading claim" yet?

Here in the U.S., college students are having absinthe parties, Cuban cigars are available for a price, and laser pointers come on regular cigarette lighters. Enjoy your sloth, it's likely the only satisfaction you'll have.

I may seem tame now, Possum, but I was a wild man in college, as the players in my Dungeons & Dragons campaign could tell you.

Ah, that explains your friend, Uncle Mikey.

Add a Comment

All comments are moderated before publication. These HTML tags are permitted: <p>, <b>, <i>, <a>, and <blockquote>. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA (for which the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply).