Publisher Renames 'Katie.com'

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."

Comments

Covered their bases on this one...

[Coffee Warlord]

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

Her own announement

[miracle]

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.

Re:New address

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's what KatieT had to say about it

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

Katie Jones Responds

[geekychic]

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... =)

Re:Probably Amazon, not Slashdot

[sik0fewl]

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.