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EarthLink Establishes Their Own "Site Finder"

Guppy06 writes "Last week, instead of a regular DNS error, EarthLink's DNS servers started to return a redirect to earthlink-help.net, a site that bears a close resemblance to VeriSign's much-maligned Site Finder, to their subscribers. According to their official blog at Earthling, "By presenting users with contextual help based upon the non-existent domain the user entered, we believe we are improving the EarthLink user experience with a system that will not interfere with other network processes." Most of the responses in said blog posting aren't positive."

4 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. The address you entered could not be found. by Avillia · · Score: 5, Funny

    Please try the related content suggestions and paid advertisements below, or try another search.
    You entered "http://www.slashdot.org/".

    Advertisements for cow steroids, cars, and free computers followed.

  2. Re:Profit is the Motive by whoppers · · Score: 5, Funny

    Agreed on all points, but it doesn't matter. Picture the average earthlink user in your head and then realize half are dumber than the person you're picturing. Maybe 5% of earthlink users will realize and give a damn, the other 95% are just happy they have something new to click that may take them somewhere that may be useful. An error page is a dead end for them that makes them think they've screwed up.

    A best friend used to work in marketing for earthlink and told me about the users they brought in to test websites, systems, etc... I was absolutely horrified and now weep for the future.

  3. Re:Voting with one's dollars is not always effecti by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    Only terrorists would run their own DNS server.

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  4. Earthlink you say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    "xenu.net"
    "Can't find xxxx.net - Would you like a Free Personality Test?"