RobertB-DC's Journal: Ghost Article: M'soft Tool To Help Users Avoid Typo Domains

Ghosts of Slashdot: 04/14/2006
[I'm posting this journal entry while the article is still alive... because it's *got* to go away. I knew this one was a dupe right away -- because I scored a +5, Informative on it (before some bozo called it "Flamebait" -- if anything, it should have been "Offtopic"...). But it's from a week ago, so it's understandable. I sent a note to DaddyPants, so give me an Assist if you're keeping score at home. Update: I guess I jinxed it by posting this entry too soon, because the article went live! I guess DaddyPants is taking a 3-day Easter weekend... maybe I'll see him at sunrise service.]

Microsoft Tool To Help Users Avoid Typo Domains
Posted by Zonk in The Mysterious Future!
from the slashdot-is-not-a-typo dept.

blueZ3 writes "ZDnet is running a story on a new tool from Microsoft that aims to inform users when they reach 'typo domains'. Apparently, there's concern in Redmond that IE users are being exploited by companies running ad farms on typo domains. The tool uses an automated search routine to look for domains with particular types of typographical errors--transpositions, incorrect TLDs, missing letters--and then adds the domains to a database. The eventual goal (though this isn't clear from the article) seems to be something akin to Verisign's URL redirecting, where typo domains are blocked."

What are the Ghosts of Slashdot?
As a Slashdot Subscriber, I get to see stories before they're posted to the general public. This means that I get to see the mistakes -- the articles that almost made it, but got sent to the cutting room floor at the last minute. They become the Ghosts of Slashdot, a URL that points to nothing.

Note that this is NOT the same as whining about article submissions that didn't get accepted! These stories were accepted, posted for subscribers, and then pulled from the site. Their brief existence gives us a glimpse into the Slashdot post-submission process, for those who are interested in what's going on behind the curtain.

Good effort!

[peacefinder]

But no.

Allow me to suggest a new way to tag dupes. Instead of just a "dupe" tag, make a dupe tag including the story ID of the duplicated article. I'm not sure how to format it so it goes through, though. I tried "dupe=http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/ 07/1818228", "dupe=article.pl?sid=06/04/07/1818228", and "dupe=1818228"... none of them stuck.

But "dupe1818228" did stick, so I guess that'll do. (It might not help, but it's a little bit more satisfying.)