Has factcheck.com always been Soros' site, or did he buy it tonight?

[WilliamPitt]

Crazy question, but the dude has bank. factcheck.com redirects to georgesoros.com. Did Soros hear Cheney, snap up the site, and then have that page added?

I'd love it if it were true. Nice to have nimble billionares on your side sometimes. ;)

[GimmeDANEger]

1. got it right after debate

[dave123williams]

2. Nah, he MEANT factcheck.org...

Which is actually a pretty good site; non-partisan, and lets all exagerators have it equally.

[juajen]

3. No, I think someone said in another thread

that Cheney said the name wrong, that it was supposed to be factcheck.org.

[WilliamPitt]

9. He *did* say it wrong. I'm saying Soros (or one of his people)

heard Cheney say it wrong, bought the URL for factcheck.com, and posted the page.

[CrowNotAngelGRL]

23. He probably

ment .org but most website's are .com so it's a simple thing. But still pretty funny cause of what the real site is. When people go there from watching the debate they'll be in for a surprise. Even at the .org (real) site.

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Ah, the sweet mysteries of life!

[K8-EEE]

5. Seriously, This Loses It For Cheney!

For everyone calling it a "draw" the most hilarious mistake loses. I laughed my ass off on this one!

.ORG, asshole! The devil is in the details, DICK...head...

[ReadTomPaine]

6. I understand the URL was a holder site at it's mention in the debate.

...and shortly afterwards the redirection started.

[Newsjock]

7. lengthy speculation at dailykos

http://dailykos.com/story/2004/10/6/02559/0845

No definite answer, but strongly suggests it was owned by a domain-squatter in the Caymans until at least tonight.

[TheWebHead]

8. google's cache also shows it redirected

so I don't think this was post-cheney modification... The domain is registered to:

Registrant:
Name Administration Inc. (BVI)
Box 10518 A.P.O.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands B.W.I.
KY

Domain name: FACTCHECK.COM

Administrative Contact:
Domain, Administrator [e-mail]
Box 10518 A.P.O.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands B.W.I.
KY
+1.345.946.6879
Technical Contact:
Domain, Administrator [e-mail]
Box 10518 A.P.O.
Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands B.W.I.
KY
+1.345.946.6879


Registrar of Record: DomainNameSales
Record last updated on 12-Sep-2004.
Record expires on 04-Feb-2007.
Record created on 04-Feb-2004.

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.15X.NET 66.199.187.170
NS2.15X.NET 66.199.187.171


Domain status:
REGISTRAR-LOCK

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

10. Yes he snatched it up TONIGHT

the moment cheney said factcheck.com, I went there, because I KNEW it was .org and wondered what the hell he was talking about. It was a non-site. Then Soros apparently scrambled, bought it, and now has his site there.

So everyone do like cheney said and go to factcheck.com!!!!

[TheWebHead]

14. you can't normally snatch up a domain like that

with such a common expression, especially when factcheck.org is such a high-traffic website... People look for popular .org sites to buy .com knowing people mistakenly type otherwise... and nobody can register a domain and have it propogate that fast.

[WilliamPitt]

17. Does Soros own his own servers? ISP? Technical staff?

You guess.

Billionare.

[TheWebHead]

21. can't be done

DNS propogation isn't controlled by ISPs, it isn't controlled by a single group, it's regional and normally takes at least 24 hours. And google's cache source also shows the redirect, so it was like that before the debate.

[sonicx]

24. someone referenced dailykos.com in explaining what soros did.

i haven't checked it out yet, tho.

[Doohickie]

25. So you're not telling me that Soros

couldn't find the same info about who owns the website and pay the guy a million dollars to put up a redirection to his own site?

Doesn't sound that far-fetched to me....

[TheWebHead]

28. but

pay google to update the cache on an unused website minutes afterwards... or if it was "registered" and already indexed by google

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=factcheck%2Ecom

also, a guy on southcoasttoday.com has the user name of factcheck.com, so there is a history with this domain...
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=13;t=000526

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

19. Yes you can nowdays

go read the analysis at dailykos linked higher up in this thread.

[Norquist Nemesis]

11. Cheney was 'mistaken'

*cough* :puke:

I think he was talking about factcheck.org NOT .com He might want to be careful about giving out that URL. There's a lot that... well, just look up the Kerry cuts in weapons and see what happens.

[RodneyCK2]

12. I was wondering the same thing.

However, knowing how long it takes to design and build a website, I would have to say it has been up for some time. Then again, with billions of dollars, anything can happen in a matter of minutes.

[WilliamPitt]

16. It's been up on GeorgeSoros.com for a while

His techs just redirected all the factcheck.com traffic to their site.

[Doohickie]

26. There is no new website

if you go to factcheck.com, you see that it is a simple redirect to Soros' site.

[jpgray]

13. Soros nabbed it tonight in mid-debate!

Awesome.

[ThoughtCriminal]

15. Just think what you could do with...

FatCheck.com

[The Doctor.]

18. Holy Shit this is fantastic!

Cheney referred to a site that lambastes Bush*?

I can't get over it.

I heard him say it too... It didn't register untill I looked.


I love it! Soros is the man!

[liberalpragmatist]

20. Probably a Rogue Webmaster

There's been a lot of speculation (check out talkingpointsmemo.com) that indicates that a smart, lefty webmaster (yay for nerds!!!) redirected the site, which was a spam site, to georgesoros.com.

That makes the most sense. George Soros isn't going to be able to set up a new web domain within minutes - even allowing for the fact that he's George Soros.

[XOKCowboy]

27. Gotta love OUR fat cat George Soros

Redirecting that URL was a stroke of genius. I kinda wonder just how much he paid for it.

Thanks George!

[slinkerwink]

22. no, it wasn't Soros----it was the web administrator

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/10/5/235614/339

[symbolman]

29. Damn

we posted that hours ago and now everyone knows it :)

http://web.takebackthemedia.com/geeklog/public_html/ article.php?story=20041006055313501

[cheshire]

30. Freeper said so. So it must be so.