Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Publisher Renames 'Katie.com'

Posted by michael on from the advance-in-a-retrograde-direction dept.

twigstamc420 writes "In an update to stories posted the previous two days on Slashdot, Penguin Putnam publishing has issued a press release stating that they have re-named the title of Katie.com to 'A Girl's Life Online'. Press release (pdf) found on their press page."

8 of 510 comments (clear)

  1. Covered their bases on this one... by Coffee+Warlord · · Score: 5, Informative

    Certainly snapped this one up.

    Domain Name: AGIRLSLIFEONLINE.COM
    Registrar: REGISTER.COM, INC.
    Whois Server: whois.register.com
    Referral URL: http://www.register.com
    Name Server: DNS19.REGISTER.COM
    Name Server: DNS20.REGISTER.COM
    Status: ACTIVE
    Updated Date: 05-aug-2004
    Creation Date: 05-aug-2004
    Expiration Date: 05-aug-2006

    Organization:
    Katie Tarbox, Inc.
    Katie Tarbox

  2. Her own announement by miracle · · Score: 5, Informative
    She posted her own personal announcement on the site she really owns.

    Today I am very excited to announce that Katie.com will be re-released and re-named A Girl's Life Online. From the beginning, I hoped that Penguin and Katie Jones would be able to resolve this issue. I never believed that I had any right to the name Katie.com as a website but simply viewed it to be the name of my book. That being said, I never wanted anyone to experience unwanted emails or traffic on the Internet. As someone who has been abused, I would certainly not wish to cause anybody pain. Therefore, I sincerely apologize to Katie Jones for any suffering she may have endured.

    That's a little different than the slashing perpetrator Slashdot has cast her. Refreshing to know the good guys do win....sometimes.
  3. Re:The Power of Slashdot???? by Sircus · · Score: 4, Informative

    There was also an article on The Register. I presume there were other articles on other sites - it probably all got too much for Penguin.

    --
    PenguiNet: the (shareware) Windows SSH client
  4. Re:New address by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's what KatieT had to say about it

    http://www.katiet.com/message1.htm

  5. Katie Jones Responds by geekychic · · Score: 5, Informative
    Katie Jones, owner of the katie.com domain, has posted a response on her website.

    Penguin FINALLY do the right thing!

    According to a press release on their site today, Penguin Puttnam have finally decided to do the right thing and rename the book. I cannot tell you how pleased I am!. Of course they should have done this 4 years ago and saved us all a load of grief, but I am thrilled that they've finally realised the consequences of their actions and admitted fault by retitling the book.

    All that remains is to hope that Katie Tarbox does not continue to promote herself or her services as 'katie.com' as previously threatened and maybe then my life can return to normal :-)

    I am sure that this sudden change of heart by the publisher is largely to do with the support this issue has received from the online community and once again I'd like to thank everyone very much indeed.

    Yours very happily

    Katie Jones

    I'm so glad -- I was so ticked off by this that I sent an email to Penguin yesterday threatening to never buy their books again. I wonder how many irate slashdotters flooded their inboxes... =)
  6. Re:Typical Face Saving -'Not Our Fault' Retreat by pyrrhonist · · Score: 4, Informative
    All we know is that a lawyer, working on a project with Tarbox, suggested to Jones that she sell the domain to Tarbox, and when Jones refused, said that continuing to hold on to the domain would only make things worse.

    I don't think threats count as suggestions. In Katie Jones' own words:

    She then got quite aggressive and said things would 'only get worse' for me if I didn't give it up.

    The other thing she tried to do was emotionally blackmail me, which I felt was extremely inappropriate.

    From what I have read, nothing Jones has said implied in any way that any legal threats were being made.

    Again, in Katie Jones' own words:

    She also told me that I could not sell it to anyone nor use it for any other purpose because she could prosecute as it's now linked forever to the book and it's subject matter. And she said that they were going to Trademark the term 'katie.com'.
    --
    Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
  7. Re:Probably Amazon, not Slashdot by sik0fewl · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yep, that's been noted several times already (see my post history). They haven't been "censored" however, since the reviews weren't about the book, they were about the publisher and author which is why they were removed.

    However, I still think the ratings bomb had a big effect on the publishers. They were down to 2 stars or less for a while and all the positive reviews still say "5 out of 287" people found this review helpful.

    --
    I remember when legal used to mean lawful, now it means some kind of loophole. - Leo Kessler
  8. Interesting difference in international title by mrklin · · Score: 4, Informative

    On Katie Tarbox's site, you can see in the lower banner that her book has been translated into multiple languages such as Chinese, Japanese, German, and others.

    All of them feature the original title of katie.com except for the Chinese version whose title translates to Dream of the Internet Lover. Maybe the Chinese editors did their homework?