metafilter.eu ?! April 9, 2006 4:11 PM   Subscribe

Who is Janusch Kurt (or Kurt Janusch) and does he plan to start metafilter.eu. Does anyone in Hull want to ask him?
posted by ?! to MetaFilter-Related at 4:11 PM (27 comments total)

You might have to fill out the capcha to see the whois information. I was searching to see who picked up a domain I was interested in and decided to check a few others. I wonder if he's a user here or just someone grabbing it in a bid to get millions of dollars from Matt.
posted by ?! at 4:16 PM on April 9, 2006


You could, you know, e-mail him at the address listed in the whois profile. But you're right, posting his home address on the internets is much more effective.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 4:17 PM on April 9, 2006


Yeah, the satellite google map link is, uh, kinda creepy.

Ah, well. *prepares to de-orbit large kinetic mass in the form of a parked and inactive Keyhole satellite*

You might want to take a picnic in the countryside, Hull. These things aren't all that precise.
posted by loquacious at 4:25 PM on April 9, 2006


I doubt a link to a google map is the same as posting an address to the dreaded google spiders. Did you look at the links or just assume I posted his home address?

The map points to a company address. If he really was conscerned about hiding his information he could have easily used a drop box.

And, jesus, who really would go to that trouble to walk there and ask? It's obviously not a serious question.

With all the talk about an American-centric Metafilter I found it interesting someone wanted the domain. I figured a few other Metafilter die-hards might also.
posted by ?! at 4:25 PM on April 9, 2006


?! : "With all the talk about an American-centric Metafilter I found it interesting someone wanted the domain. I figured a few other Metafilter die-hards might also."

Yeah, that part's interesting. The map of his registry info, not so much.
posted by Bugbread at 4:28 PM on April 9, 2006


(That was to Saucy. Loquacious slipped in.)

I find it interesting where things and people are located. The whois information is public record. It isn't like I spent hours finding his address. An admin is welcome to delete the map link. It wasn't the point of the post anyway.
posted by ?! at 4:29 PM on April 9, 2006


Well, you thought wrong. Why has this been posted here? Who cares? Do we need a new thread for every metafilter.tv,biz,info? Nope. Let alone the despicably creepy google map location.

W,

TF?
posted by fire&wings at 5:31 PM on April 9, 2006


Whether metafilter.eu is worth posting to MetaTalk I don't have an opinion. But the "despicably creepy google map location?" It's only presenting information that Janusch Kurt himself made public.

All these objections to the map don't make sense to me at all -- can someone explain why whois.eu printing out Kurt's address is not creepy, but ?! typing it into Google maps is?
posted by event at 5:40 PM on April 9, 2006


A friend of mine was at Uni in Hull - that road is very studenty. My money's on some cheeky student trying to make a couple of quid...
posted by blag at 5:44 PM on April 9, 2006


Having googled the address, it appears to be an office building. No harm.. but just flagrantly unnecessary.

There is "public" information stored away on a whois database and then there is a google satellite map pointed at the location of some guy you don't know from Oprah. To equate the two is just ludicrous.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 5:55 PM on April 9, 2006


Don't make this place something awful.
posted by smackfu at 6:33 PM on April 9, 2006


To equate the two is just ludicrous.

Why? They are equivalent. They both describe the location of some guy you don't know.
posted by event at 7:07 PM on April 9, 2006


Ummm, haven't most of us posted our coordinates here on MeFi, some down to the exact centimeter? How is this different? Unless the killer bears have been dispatched, that is. Assume a very big element of surprise.
posted by blue_beetle at 7:12 PM on April 9, 2006


Some of us are listed in the phone book, too. Doesn't mean we like having our phone numbers displayed prominently.
posted by mcwetboy at 8:28 PM on April 9, 2006


I'm thinking this generation of young folk is pretty much primed for 24-7 surveillance by Big Brother. It's so cool to let it all hang out on the web, that they want to show it all to everyone all the time.

I eagerly await the return of decorum to our culture.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:44 PM on April 9, 2006


Just the opposite, actually: this generation, having posted EVERY OTHER GODDAMN DETAIL OF THEIR LIVES on MySpace or Facebook, is acutely sensitive to location - the last piece of the puzzle - going live.
posted by adamgreenfield at 8:46 PM on April 9, 2006


Who cares if he has metafilter.eu? Just flag it and move on.
posted by keijo at 8:58 PM on April 9, 2006


I have to say I don't see why someone would get upset about the google map link either. The address is available to anyone who wants to get it from whois; how is this at all different? If the address were harder to find, then I could see the upset, but this isn't revealing anything that was hidden.

It's probably just the offices of Bob's Bargain Web Hosting anyway.
posted by hattifattener at 10:19 PM on April 9, 2006


Anyway you can't make out the guy's Mom's basement from the satellite pic.
posted by Joeforking at 12:54 AM on April 10, 2006


I do see the point of being upset about the Google Map link since it is indeed much easier to get his exact location from there than from whois, but I still don't quite understand the amount of upset in this thread.
posted by keijo at 3:40 AM on April 10, 2006


To equate the two is just ludicrous.

No. This is Lucacris. A link to some Google map coordinates, not even close.

Image hosting by Photobucket
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:16 AM on April 10, 2006


FYI, I don't think .eu names are covered by any of those whois privacy protection services (as far as I know they're only available for top level domains, not regional ones), so, there's a possibility that this person has his actual personal details in the whois profile just because he's required to and doesn't have an alternative, not because he wants everyone to publicise them.

Not a big deal but I don't think it's very cool either.
posted by funambulist at 9:51 AM on April 10, 2006


"It's so cool to let it all hang out on the web, that they want to show it all to everyone all the time."

/me shows it all to fff
posted by Baby_Balrog at 11:26 AM on April 10, 2006


Where's the sgt.? He fucking loves Hull.
posted by jack_mo at 11:31 AM on April 10, 2006


This isn't a registration from a "natural person," but from a company.

From the .eu Domain Name WHOIS Policy:
2.4 Information published in the WHOIS

(ii) When the Registrant is a natural person

Where the Registrant is a private individual (natural person) the Registrant contact information published is restricted to the e-mail address, unless they request otherwise.
I wonder how this thread might have turned out if I hadn't tossed in the Google link. I guess we'll never know. To answer some questions...

"Do we need a new thread for every metafilter..." No, but Matt has all the others that have been registered. With all the press that the EU hopes .eu will become as popular as .com I thought this one was different. Especially for the reason I posted earlier.

"....email him..." I did. I don't expect an answer now. The post wasn't to get information from him, it was to share information with interested Metafilter users.

"Having googled the address, it appears to be an office building. No harm.." Of course I did that and more before I made the post. I don't link to anything without first checking it out. You don't see single link newsfilter posts above my name.

For those who didn't bother checking out the whois: It listed a business name and a business address. I looked to see if it was an obvious domain squatter company. It didn't seem to be one. (I'll the reader check out for himself to see why not. I don't want to post the information here.)

The company address -- where the Google link points to -- is a business building with quite a few storefronts. You can get your hair and nails done there if you like.

"acutely sensitive to location" -- Anyone like that has the sense to use a drop box. We all know registration information is easily accessible.

I am cognizant of the how information makes it to the search engines. I did not list the address in the post. It would have saved the trouble of clicking on the link, but I knew doing so would make it appear in Google and Yahoo searches. If you wanted to know the information you had to look.

I thought it was most likely registered by a member of Metafilter rather than some random squatter. Since some members of this community seem to obsess with all things Metafilter I thought they'd also wonder "what's up?" I guarantee if some rogue "metafilter.eu" site pops up we'll have some "WTF? How did that happen?" comments.

My email address is listed if anyone would like to discuss this further.

KevinSkomsvold, thanks for the laugh.
posted by ?! at 11:45 AM on April 10, 2006


I'm embarassed for you, Baby Balrog.
posted by five fresh fish at 4:29 PM on April 10, 2006


Count me among the people wondering why the hostility has been directed against ?!. I thought his post was interesting, and not at all objectionable. Does anyone here seriously think that some nut is going to see that map, drive to the guy's address, and harass him because ?! posted the link? That's quite silly.
posted by jayder at 6:29 PM on April 10, 2006


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