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How to damage your brand in one smooth shot - Way to GoDaddy
- rdl 16y agoThis isn't something I'd do, but doesn't really seem like the biggest outrage ever. There is one rifle shot which would remove a clear threat to everyone in Zimbabwe and the region. If the CEO of someone like Xe flew in and took that shot, I'd be happy to transfer all my domains to his company. (Mugabe, obviously)
- elvirs 16y agoWhy did the village need Bob to shoot the elephant? What, the villagers do not have guns? or do not know how to use them? these guys use AK-47 since childhood and those villagers are much better hunters than an american rich guy who just arrived on a helicopter. The real story is that local villagers are not allowed to kill elephants and are fined if they do so. the american smartass bribed corrupted local government to let him shoot the elephant. Local corrupted head of municipality gets a couple of thousands of dollars (which makes him the richest man in the surrounding are) and the american guy (and his brand) gain cheap publicity back at home. everybody wins, except the elephant, but who cares about the elephant, right?
- Untitled 16y ago> The real story is that local villagers are not allowed to kill elephants and are fined if they do so. The real back-story is that Zimbabwe used to have a fairly urbanized population. Many young people worked in cities and larger towns (and only their parents had homes in rural areas). Zanu-PF is strong in rural areas. The reason for this are numerous - it is much easier to co-opt tribal leadership, easier to organize genocide (e.g. Gukurukundi) and more difficult for opposition groups to organize in rural areas. The opposition (Movement for Democratic Change) had its roots in the trade union movement - which was undoubtedly urban. By destroying the formal economy and urban settlements (e.g. Murambatsvina) Mugabe forced urban people to do one of two things: 1. Become illegal immigrants in South Africa. 2. Become subsistence farmers in rural areas. With this he accomplished his goals – illegal immigrants in other countries can’t vote and those in rural areas came under his power. So this is what you are sitting with now: a large formerly urban population busying itself with subsistence farming to try and eek out a living (while living in squalor with a low life expectancy). > the american smartass bribed corrupted local government to let him shoot the elephant. There are actually two problems. Firstly, all Zimbabwean game farms are basically completely poached of animals. People need food and bushmeat is as good as any. Secondly, expensive game (such as Rhino) was hunted illegally. I doubt the second case is of concern – since elephants are not that expensive.
- rottyguy 16y agoI'll paraphrase Justice Stewart: "I may never be able to intelligibly explain human cruelty, but I'll know it when I see it". Looking forward to seeing him on the news circuit dancing around like a, uhm..., wounded elephant.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoNote: Submitted by me, by hand, after reading the posting and deciding it's relevant to startups. Branding is important, and what you do with your brand is important. Actions speak louder than words. Google is still associated with "Do no Evil," but that's starting to wear a little thin as some of their actions belie the mantra. Similarly, you can get people chanting a slogan, but if you do something wrong, people will notice, and the backlash can be severe. I would add that this: > There is no way to explain all this in a way that does > not make GoDaddy and it's CEO look good, and plenty of > ways to interpret it as bad. ... appears to have either too many or not enough negatives. I suggest it should read: > There is no way to explain all this in a way that makes > GoDaddy and it's CEO look good, and plenty of ways to > interpret it as bad.
- kwis 16y agoThis is a CEO who, in 2005, posted a blog article talking about why we have to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, because (mumble mumble) 9/11. He deleted both the original post and a half-retraction shortly thereafter, or I'd provide a link. As such, I'm not surprised that he turned his personal hunting exhibition into a marketing expense. He seems to have a deaf ear when it comes to brand management. And that doesn't seem to have hurt him in any meaningful way. I'm not sure what lesson to take away from any of this, except that he runs his business differently than I do.
- dchest 16y agoThis one? http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20050701084333/http://www.bobparsons.com/CloseGitmoNowayThinkourinterrogationmethodsaretoughPrisonersintheMiddleEasttalkquickHereswhyt.html http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20050701084333/http://www.b...
- kwis 16y agoYes, though I'm not sure if that's the original or one of the edited versions he tried for a few days before just taking the article down.
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- maukdaddy 16y agoWhat a truly awful stunt & person. How can he even live with himself for this?
- shanked 16y agoI think that attitude is a bit harsh. Does it make him a bad person? I disagree. While I can't imagine doing such things, I understand that people have vastly different values regarding many topics and aren't trying to be evil regardless of how opposed the values are to others. I agree that in this particular case its a bad move to release this publicly because he is a leader of a major company and shouldn't invite such controversy.
- VladRussian 16y ago>Does it make him a bad person? yes. While i think all killers are bad persons, i see how a necessary killing may be up for debate. Jumping at the first chance to kill and doing it willingfully indicates that the person is a moral trash.
- dman 16y agoOn the other hand NRA members might now choose GoDaddy as their registrar and webhost.
- protomyth 16y agoWell, NO. I believe in the bill of rights, but I do not condone the hunting of elephants.
- dman 16y agoWhat do you use a gun for if not killing people or animals?
- dman 16y agoI dont mind the downvotes but I could like the education on what people who believe in gun rights believe in.
- staunch 16y agoIf you're genuinely interested (and not just trolling): http://www.amazon.com/That-Every-Man-Armed-Constitutional/dp/0945999380 http://www.amazon.com/That-Every-Man-Armed-Constitutional/dp...
- dman 16y agoThanks for the link. I shall read it. I wasnt trolling, but I come from a country where we won our freedom with a non violent movement so the point of guns is largely missing from my cultural upbringing. In my opinion 10 million people uprising is sufficient for any government - with or without guns. That being said I will read the book and will not comment on this conversation any further so that it doesnt derail the original post.
- haploid 16y agoThe motivation of pro-gun people generally falls into one of three categories: 1. Self/property protection 2. Fun/sport/hunting 3. Assertion of constitutional rights( and sometimes duty ) That said, this thread is in danger of political derailment.
- grandalf 16y agoAnyone who has had the misfortune of registering a domain with GoDaddy and using its horrible user interface to try to adjust DNS settings will not be surprised by this. GoDaddy should have been out of business a long time ago just due to the horrid usability of its product.
- eli 16y ago"Meant to buy 1 domain at GoDaddy; receipt also shows 3 yachts, a skank in a tanktop, and 11 yrs of "WebPlus+ Turbo SomethingSomething™." http://twitter.com/hotdogsladies/status/1553046234 http://twitter.com/hotdogsladies/status/1553046234
- dougws 16y agoI like the implication that companies with bad UI are likely to have bloodthirsty sociopaths as CEOs.
- leon_ 16y ago> Anyone who has had the misfortune of registering a domain with GoDaddy Thanks god no. When I started publishing websites the webmaster forums were full with warnings about GoDaddy :)
- ndaugherty18 16y agoI really like how he through in some ACDC while all the hugry people are fighting for the food. Classy.
- RiderOfGiraffes 16y agoOffered as advice: s/through/threw/
- shakedown 16y agoThis is terrible. Anyone have any suggestions for a registrar to switch to from GoDaddy?
- eli 16y agoI've been happy with Namecheap and I believe they're running a promotion specifically for people switching from godaddy.
- dchest 16y agoSee: - Namecheap promotion [HN discussion] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2390764 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2390764 - Ask YC: Who's your favorite domain registrar and why? [2008] http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=150561 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=150561
- acangiano 16y agoNameCheap.
- danieldk 16y agoI have been with Gandi for years. They are a bit more expensive than some other other registrars, but offer good service, and donate proceeds to non-profit projects: http://en.gandi.net/supports/ http://en.gandi.net/supports/
- elliottcarlson 16y agoNot to mention they have excellent support for domains with different tld's and offer an SSL certificate free for one year with each domain.
- X-Istence 16y agoI recently moved to name.com. I absolutely love their minimalistic interface, and I like supporting local business (Denver)... So far no issues what so ever other than with GoDaddy and moving domains over because of issues with whois, but once there everything is fast, and simple. Unlike GoDaddy's interface.
- danielsoneg 16y agoWhat "Brand"? We ARE talking about the same company that puts out ads which double as Cinemax's 11pm lineup, right?
- pyre 16y agoSlaughtering an endangered species and women in tank tops are hardly on the same level.
- danielsoneg 16y agoAbsolutely, but it's not like this should be the moment when it suddenly becomes clear GoDaddy is a skeezy company run by scumbags.
- pyre 16y agoNo, but it's like they've been digging themselves into a hole. Then they break throw to a seemingly bottomless pit, and decide it's a good idea to jump in to see how deep it is.
- orbenn 16y agoThis is stupid. If the elephant is going to be shot by a warden anyway, WHY NOT let some rich american shoot it? Why does it matter WHO shoots the elephant? It doesn't! If you want to argue about whether the elephant SHOULD have been killed, that's fine. There is plenty to debate there. But who does the shooting is of no importance. That said he's right that as a CEO you represent your company--especially when you're handing out swag. Probably not a smart PR move.
- protomyth 16y agoIt has precious little to do with the legality or morality of the action. Circumstances don't really matter here. What "matters" is that you have a picture and video clip that can fuel a he said / she said segment on all the 24 hour news channels and various organizations now have something they can spin for their own purposes. CEOs should know better.
- peterwwillis 16y agoAnd they do. Any publicity is good publicity.
- protomyth 16y ago"Any publicity is good publicity" - tell that to Enron and Lindsay Lohan.
- peterwwillis 16y agoWhat in the world does Enron have to do with a publicity stunt? They committed fraud and went bankrupt. How is that like shooting an elephant and putting it on youtube? And Lohan, she's still making movies. Where's the problem?
- protomyth 16y agoWell, Ms. Lohan has been bounced from a couple of movies now due to her publicity, and the quote didn't have "stunt" in it and Enron certainly became a household name but not in a good way.
- callmeed 16y agoSo much for Groupon's Super Bowl commercial looking bad ...
- uptown 16y agoIn the grand scheme of things, my 27 domains switched from GoDaddy won't change much from their company's perspective, but I will not continue to use them as a domain registrar because of this.
- amitagrawal 16y agoActually, it will. What if a 1000 customers like you who own 10 domains do it at the same day? They sure HAVE to notice it. I've already transferred my domains and I'll make sure I won't buy any from GoDaddy again. GoDaddy already has one of the scammiest UIs I've ever come across (with a possible exception of, maybe, MySpace) and the recent elephant killing was the last straw!
- kwis 16y agoIt's a private company, run by a very opinionated individual with a demonstrated lack of concern for the feelings of others. He might notice, but he's making so much money that I really doubt he cares.
- amitagrawal 16y agoWell, you're right - he might not care but next time he'd think a million times before killing yet another helpless creature and posting a shameless video of it.
- mitjak 16y agoBut where to transfer to? NameCheap? 1&1?
- amitagrawal 16y agoI have had my domains with Name.com as well as NameCheap for more than half a decade. Name.com's interface is a little confusing and NameCheap have great customer service!
- eklovlfjkeos 16y ago
- rriepe 16y agoI don't agree with GoDaddy's lowest common denominator branding strategy, but it seems to have served them well over the years. It's hard to argue with results. Make no mistake though, this is just as much a part of their branding strategy as their stupid, tasteless Super Bowl commercials. They'll probably make a token PR apology to hedge their bets here, but this reinforces their "brand" more than it damages it.
- olefoo 16y agoTo paraphrase P.T. Barnum "No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the buying public."
- chc 16y agoIt's worth remembering that the producers of "Bumfights" went out of business due to lawsuits, not because they had revenue problems.
- PonyGumbo 16y agoUltimately, this is why I'm looking for another registrar. How can I reasonably recommend them to clients? The first thing you see on their site is a photo of a girl in a tight t-shirt, and text at the bottom that says "Aligators nipping at your ass? How to hang in there & enjoy the ride. PLUS a smoking hot crazy blond." It's ridiculous.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- run4yourlives 16y agoWow. Just wow. Having been to Africa and seen elephants in the wild up close, among other animals, I simply can't stomach that I'm supporting a bunch of fat white Americans flying half way around the world to destroy a magnificent animal simply because they can. I'll be moving my domains away from GoDaddy asap.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- malvim 16y agoI've been thinking of moving for some time now (even before I watched this video). My question is: how? They kind of own my domain names now, how can I simply change registrars?
- elliottcarlson 16y agoTransfer to: Gandi: https://www.gandi.net/domain/transfer https://www.gandi.net/domain/transfer 1and1: http://order.1and1.com/xml/order/DomaininfoMove http://order.1and1.com/xml/order/DomaininfoMove NameCheap: http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/ http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/ Basically go to any registrars home page and either search for "Transfer" on the page itself or in their search box if provided. They will all offer it together with easy how to steps - and I am sure their support team will help as well. They want your business and will make it as easy as possible.
- ericmoritz 16y agoI've been slowly transferring my domains to Gandi as they expire, you have to love their tag line.
- tnorthcutt 16y agoI'd encourage you to avoid 1and1. Horrendous customer service, crippled control panels, etc.
- kqueue 16y agoI like the ad unit at the top of the blog page.
- bretthopper 16y agohttp://i.imgur.com/ec4lM.png http://i.imgur.com/ec4lM.png
- HowardRoark 16y agoOh Google!
- cloudbrain 16y agoFacts: 1) GoDaddy has been doing crazy stunts forever (see rejected Super Bowl ads) 2) GoDaddy is the largest registrar, with 31% market share (http://www.webhosting.info/registrars/top-registrars/global http://www.webhosting.info/registrars/top-registrars/global) Given the above, I would say: 1) He knows exactly what he is doing and why 2) It is working* *meaning growing the company, making lots of money, returning value to shareholders etc.
- mcherm 16y agoI agree that it's a horrible stunt, but I don't see how it can harm GoDaddy's reputation. As far as I am concerned, GoDaddy's reputation is so far down in the dumps that it is difficult for it to sink any lower, and that is based on their behavior as a registrar, not stunts by the CEO.
- locopati 16y agoSo, to recap: sexist advertising campaigns for the benefit of the entire company == OK; the CEO shooting an elephant == boycott. To be clear, I'm in no way agreeing with his actions, but it was getting fed up with the advertising that got me to dump GoDaddy for DynDNS long before anything like this occurred.
- namityadav 16y agoUmm -- YES! Sexist advertising campaign = Silly, but I am not going to choose or drop a registrar based on that. CEO shooting an innocent animal = A company that I don't want to do business with. You aren't trying to say that showing some scantily clad women is equivalent to killing, are you?
- nhangen 16y agoBesides, Jillian Michaels and Danica Patrick are willing participants.
- travisp 16y agoAlmost every CEO in the country is responsible for killing "innocent" animals, since most are not vegetarian. Most are paying others to do it for them and are eating it themselves, but why is that morally better?
- mc2k 16y agoThis is a form of blood sport (i.e. killing for personal entertainment). Animals that are destined for human consumption aren't generally killed for entertainment.
- locopati 16y agoYou are connecting the actions of the CEO with the actions of the company. I am making a point about the culture of a company that actively promotes themselves with sexist advertising campaigns. They are free to do as they wish and I am free to suggest that supporting a company that promotes themselves in this manner is also supporting the attitude in our culture that 'women==objects for our amusement' and is rewarding them for adopting that attitude for profit. [addressing a sibling comment] Yes, the actors in the ads are willing participants...and that matters why? One useful way we have of responding to corporations is by not participating in their activity if we do not agree with them. And yet, this ability is horribly underused. Don't like sexism? Don't support companies that rely on it. Don't like violence? Don't support companies that participate in it? I just find it interesting where people draw the lines.
- rapcal 16y agoUnfortunately all my domains are with GoDaddy. Moving them ASAP. It is unacceptable for such a big company to have its CEO involved in something like this. For years we've been discussing social responsibilities of the enterprise (I've been on it since 1998 here in Brazil) and then we see something like this. If it has the potential to make one disappointed and wonder if she shouldn't give up the fight, it also makes one see that discussing the social impacts and actions of businesses is still tremendously important and necessary. I'm proud to be on the right side of the fight. And I'm ashamed of having my domains hosted with the slaughterhouse registrar.
- dc2k08 16y agoI found an email in my inbox today from a competitor who are taking advantage of the PR disaster by offering a discount and a charitable contribution to anyone wishing to transfer their domains to them over this. Here's a screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/za7G6.png http://i.imgur.com/za7G6.png
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- craigmccaskill 16y agoGoDaddy has now lost all current and any future custom they might have had from me.
- efnx 16y agoThis is the final straw for me, godaddy has a horrible UI that looks like a toplinks page and functions much the same I presume. I've been wanting to move my domains from godaddy for years, but haven't due to laziness. What are the best alternatives?
- monochromatic 16y agoThis was a reasonable post when it was about it was stupid to mix up GoDaddy's corporate image with this stuff. But this: > It's a good thing that I have all my domains with another registrar or I'd be forced to move them. is way over the top. Nobody's forcing you to do anything. If you choose to buy into the "CEO image = corporate image" thing, then fine, move your business elsewhere. But I kind of thought the point of the post was that it's kind of silly, but yeah, people do conflate those things.
- kongqiu 16y agoGoDaddy is essentially 100% owned by Bob Parsons. I've heard that their marketing department dislikes the Super Bowl ads almost as much as the rest of us, but the final call rests with Bob.
- jrspruitt 16y agoI don't think its any more stupid than them trying to associate scantily clad women with a domain name registrar. At least he actually has something to do with the company. It might be different if the models actually helped you fill out the forms, but they don't, they have nothing to do with the process, except creating a memory associated with the company name. It is a live by the sword die by the sword situation when it comes to brand identity.
- c2 16y agoI guess I'll be the lone discenting voice and say I don't think it's that bad. Bob Parsons has always run his company the way he wants, and he has particular freedom to do so since he has zero investors and is the sole owner. He does certain things for shock value, such as the super bowl commercials, which by the way caused outage with a completely different demographic of people. Slaughtering an elephant might offend some of your sensibilities, but hunting in Africa is wide spread and as long as the elephant is not endangered, I don't think your outrage has a leg to stand on. The elephant was used as food and now crops are protected. There are much worse things going on in America's food industry then this. In fact if anything if that elephant could feed the village I'd say this was actually a good thing. I can understand how this might offend vegetarians but even then, it's not like the animal was wasted.
- dpcan 16y agoThank you. Agreed. He fed a village (or more), saved the crop, and it looks like the people there find this to be a noble act. Our U.S. grocery stores have stock piles of meat stacked in open refrigerators, butchered behind closed doors. Animals are fed and bred to be slaughtered so we can have a juicy burger and fries. Out of sight out of mind I guess. Now... MAYBE the CEO of a hugely popular brand should not have participated in such an activity and filmed it for sake of his company, employees and customers, but I'm certainly not moving my domains over this. There are probably employees there that don't like what he did either, but I'm not going to punish them for the actions of 1.
- StavrosK 16y ago> I'm certainly not moving my domains over this. Me neither. I'm moving my domains because this reminded me of the silent, seething rage I have for Bob Parson's face. When I go to a site that registers and manages domains, I don't want to see your face. I also don't want to see ads about how great your company is. When I buy a domain, I don't want to wade through five pages of bullshit you put up in the hopes that I won't notice some default or will misclick somewhere and inadvertently buy your useless services. I just want to register and manage my fucking domains. Seriously, GoDaddy is the expertsexchange of domains.
- HowardRoark 16y agoThere can be no explanation for this. I think we should all boycott GoDaddy.
- jrspruitt 16y agoI would agree with most on here, this is par for the course considering the companies branding already, which is pretty cheap low rent stuff. He's coming across as the "dickish" "most interesting man in the world" here. And I agree it should be a game warden duty to handle such situations, for the same reason McD's wouldn't allow old food to be eaten by employees, because it would increase the chances of there being more "old food." But the thing that really bugs me is the end, why not have it properly butchered and dispersed that way? Instead of something that reminds me of Bum Fights. Class is obviously not part of their branding in anyway.
- ChuckMcM 16y agoFollowing in the footsteps of Thomas Edison? [1] I've never been a fan of the phrase "Any publicity is good publicity." But damaging the brand? I don't know that it rises to that level. Because the guy slaughter's elephants you think he can't maintain a credible domain registry? Now if he was running a shelter for abandoned big game animals, sure it would be a challenge but this is the guy who uses large mammary glands as a marketing tool. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_%28elephant%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topsy_%28elephant%29
- kreek 16y agoHere's the NameCheap transfer offer http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/ http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/
- baggachipz 16y agoWell, GoDaddy is getting mentioned on HN and Reddit, so... mission accomplished? Personally, I got fed up with their insulting commercials, horrible interface, and crappy service long ago. I've since switched registrars and haven't regretted it for a second.
- ericmoritz 16y agoGoDaddy is one skanky company. Buying a domain is a chore. You have to walk through a minefield of up sells. The ads are gross. All that hassle is just not worth the couple dollars I save every year.
- mgkimsal 16y agoNot sure you really save anything anymore. I've moved most to omnis.com - renewals are < $9 - even less with bulk discounts. GoDaddy is now >$10 for renewals unless you scavenge some coupon. No coupon needed at omnis.com.
- jonknee 16y agoThe part that struck me the most odd is he claims that this is the most fulfilling thing he does. He must be pretty hard up for fulfilling activities.
- forensic 16y agoHe sees himself as the hero of the village. Practically a superhero to these Africans. You don't see how a massive narcissist would find that fulfilling?
- AndyKelley 16y agoI don't see how he'd find it more fulfilling than being CEO of a massively successful tech company.
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- tikna 16y agoCan't believe this thing. I bought a domain name just 5 minutes back, and now I am feeling disgust. I have around 60 domains with godaddy, and after watching this I don't think I will go for any more. Let the unimportant ones expire this year, and I'll transfer the rest to somewhere else. Can someone suggest me a good registrar?
- technomancy 16y agoIt's almost as if Achewood's 2011 predictions are coming true three months early: http://achewood.com/index.php?date=01052011 http://achewood.com/index.php?date=01052011
- NZ_Matt 16y agoI blame Disney. Killing an Elephant that is clearly a pest is no different than the thousands of businessmen that shoot Deer and Tahr for sport every year. Dickish move by Bob tho, he's truly testing the adage that "any publicity is good publicity".
- VladRussian 16y ago>Killing an Elephant that is clearly a pest from the point of view of any super-human civilization, humans are clearly pests of the planet Earth, not an intelligent civilization to have contact with.
- LudoTheGreat 16y agoTechnically it was two shots...
- mayank 16y agoAs someone who has worked with ecologists in the field on a number of wildlife projects in rural Africa, I find this to be truly repugnant. There are many ways of controlling "problem elephants" other than killing them -- in fact, killing an elephant is almost never an option. If the villagers don't have the financial resources to implement non-lethal control measures, I'm sure Bob Parsons does.
- Untitled 16y ago> As someone who has worked with ecologists in the field on a number of wildlife projects in rural Africa, I find this to be truly repugnant. Really? You know that the majority of ecologists support Elephant Culling (killing elephant family groups wholesale from helicopters)? > There are many ways of controlling "problem elephants" other than killing them There is an oversupply of elephants and an undersupply of space. Killing a lone elephant bull is no problem. I find it sad that a lot of damage is done to the ecosystem and to other animals (which may not be as pretty as elephants) because some groups (such as PETA) opposed elephant culling. How long does it take for a tree to grow? How long for a beautiful Baobab? Do you know how quickly an elephant fucks up a tree? Elephants are not an endangered specie –they are often a plague (due to limited natural predators, long life expectancy and the availability of water). And unfortunately due to stupid laws (making hunting difficult and other requirements) it is very expensive for private game farms to have animals. I fail to see how anyone opposes elephant culling can label himself as an ecologist. --PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE--: http://hubpages.com/hub/Elephant-culling-in-Africa http://hubpages.com/hub/Elephant-culling-in-Africa
- mayank 16y agoI'm not an ecologist and didn't claim to be one (I'm a computer scientist), and my comment wasn't about the benefits of elephant culling. As a last resort, yes it can sometimes be necessary, but there was no indication that it was necessary in this case. I'm opposed to lethal measures when there are other ways, and my point was that Bob Parsons could easily have paid for a relocation program had he wanted to, and won a lot of goodwill for himself and (perhaps more importantly) his brand in doing so. Instead, he's alienated a lot of potential customers, even from just this thread and the 178 current upvotes of the story's title. Let's be realistic here -- this wasn't a planned "cull", this was a once-in-a-lifetime hunt for a rich guy.
- awesomea 16y agoThanks for putting this out there. Just transferred my domains and hosting away from GoDaddy. I won't even get into how I hate the needless killing of ANY animal. There are almost always alternatives.
- rokhayakebe 16y agoYou have to wonder who is/are the animal(s) here?
- jodrellblank 16y agoCould be worse... "The last license to hunt Bushmen was reportedly issued in Namibia by the South African government in 1936. " - http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0102/feature6/ http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0102/feature6/
- knofun 16y agoI don't think this will have any tangible effect on GoDaddy's brand except for maybe a slight increase in visibility via the free press you are giving them right this second. As far as actually shooting the animal, I'm not an African game warden so I can't give any scientific or even remotely educated comment. That being said, the only facts I know are these: Bob Parsons shot and killed an elephant in a completely legal way, and was so proud of what he did that he had a professional make and edit a video which he then posted on the internet. The people in the video seem grateful and excited that he has done this. They are also wearing godaddy hats. This morning, a lot of people who weren't there are passing judgement. I guess I'm just confused as to the source of the controversy?
- d2 16y agoWhat I find most distasteful is the lie that he "saved a village and fed them". That's just bullshit. There are more guns in Zimbabwe than most other parts of Africa. If the locals really wanted that elephant gone, it would have been machine gunned by two guys arriving on foot. What really happened here is that a hunting party arrived, killed an elephant and left the carcass for the locals to eat. What a hero. PS: I spent my childhood and early 20's in South Africa and we hate this great-white-hunter tourist shit, but it sure pays the bills if you're the driver guide or booking agent.
- Untitled 16y ago> PS: I spent my childhood and early 20's in South Africa and we hate this great-white-hunter tourist shit, but it sure pays the bills if you're the driver guide or booking agent. Uhm... no. Do you know how much money hunters bring into rural areas? Do you know what a big shitload of game farms they fund? I would argue that American hunters are the biggest boon for animal conservation. I see many farms being turned into game farms. In certain areas you cannot throw a rock without hitting a game farm. American hunters put their money where their mouths are and pay serious $$$. The so called "animal rights groups" pay basically nothing and expect animal nirvana.
- d2 16y agoThere is no hunting in the Serengeti just north of Zimbabwe and consequently it's the only place in Africa you can see a full wilderbeest migration. Game farms have fences and are basically zoos that let you shoot the animals. They are not a form of conservation.
- Untitled 16y ago> Zimbabwe and consequently it's the only place in Africa you can see a full wilderbeest migration. The biggest problem is space (for wildebeest migration for example). You need large places - in many countries it is not possible. Some private game farms can get quite big (easily over 20,000 hectares). And yeah, it may be small when compared to large parks but it still fulfills quite a few functions. One example is ensuring genetic diversity - more space for animals, more genetic diversity. Another is breeding programmes - a good example is breeding of buffalo that is free of Bovine TB (Bovine TB is dangerous for humans, spreads to domestic cattle and threaten buffalo populations.
- powertower 16y agoLet's see who this outrage is coming from: 1) Someone who has never gone hungry for a single day in his/her life. 2) Someone who has consumed 100s of chickens, many cattle, and many other animals so far... Most of which have been literally tortured all their lives. 3) Someone who has never gone to Africa to help, but sits around all day posting his/her opinion on how things there (and everywhere else in the world) should be done. I'll give you a secret. Want to change the world? Change yourself. It's the only way. Stop complaining. Stop finger pointing. Stop exerting yourself on others. But yes... I do agree that it would have been best for GoDaddy to not post this.
- elliottcarlson 16y agoYou are making some broad assumptions of a large community. Some of us have indeed gone hungry for multiple days in our lives. Some of us have gone to Africa to help. "Stop finger pointing. Stop exerting yourself on others."
- powertower 16y agoMy assumptions (in the post) are across society in general, and not specific to the HN commenter pool. Though I see how it can be read that I'm commenting about the readers in this thread.
- fjh 16y agoAllow me to point you to these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring Not to mention that you are making an awful lot of unwarranted assumptions about the outraged people.
- powertower 16y agoYou are using the above as buzzwords. Making a valid and logical declaration based on personal experiences with the society he/she lives in is not a logical fallacy. A logical fallacy is incorrect reasoning. An opinionated, consumption-oriented, and selfish society is not one that produces people that have: 1. Either fasted, or have gone hungry (even the povery line class has been able to eat - a lot of food is cheap and there is also government and community help). 2. Do not consume animal products. 3. Truly help others (or anyone but themselves).
- jaysonelliot 16y agoI have thirty domains registered with GoDaddy. I'm taking all of them somewhere else now - just need to figure out who the best competitor to go to is.
- Kilimanjaro 16y agoI hate godaddy to death, guys, but I use them because they offer most tlds around the world easily (me, ly, at, to, etc)(that's the only easy thing they do) If you can name at least five registrars with world wide reach please do so, so we can have a better option next time.
- rishi 16y agothe worst part about this is that it totally worked on me. I now know about their video.me product.
- navs 16y agoGoDaddy will need an extra sexy ad campaign to calm the crowd. Maybe Danica Patrick will ride an elephant. Elephant killing aside, I can't use GoDaddy's hosting/domain control panel. Settings feel buried under layers of links and is just confusing.
- jrockway 16y agoI doubt that even a video of Parsons raping small children would affect their sales. As long as they are slightly cheaper than other registrars and offer the same functionality, they will always have customers. People don't vote with their wallets, and have very short memories anyway. (DNS is something I consider too important to delegate to the lowest bidder, but I am apparently a minority.)
- forensic 16y agoIt's strange that people will pay $5 for a cup of Starbucks for the convenience and atmosphere, but insist on saving $3/year by going with the most obnoxious DNS registrar. You couldn't pay me enough to have to put up with the GoDaddy bullshit. I have no idea why anyone does. It basically costs nothing extra to choose a registrar that respects you and provides a non-ridiculous interface.
- Artagra 16y agoWell, I'm pretty sure this won't be a popular response, but anyway. Firstly, I'm not really referring to this specific case. I think the video is tasteless and in many ways vile. However, I want to comment specifically on trophy hunting. In my opinion, allowing big game hunters to pay for trophy animals is an important and integral part of animal conservation. In many impoverished African countries, their is little to no government funding to conserve animals. Yes, there are risk factors. But personally, I believe the additional amount of animals that are killed due to the argument of excess demand is a lot less than the number of animals saved by the increased funding for poaching prevention. Furthermore, I believe the economic benefits of this to the local community hugely improve the lives of the local people (who I believe are a lot more important than the elephants, as important as I think the elephants are), and that this improvement will decrease poaching. To summarize: - I agree that Trophy hunting can have negative effects. - However, I believe the positives of Trophy Hunting offset the negatives in two major ways:
- ddemchuk 16y agoThis is going to have about as much effect on GoDaddy's userbase and bottom line as did all of the privacy concerns last year with Facebook. A sliver of a fraction of GoDaddy customers will ever see that video or even hear about it. Most people buy domains there because they have hot chicks in super bowl commercials.
- michaeldhopkins 16y agoThis is perfectly acceptable, and all the bravado about moving domains looks silly. Obviously, the local citizens (tour guides) in this video didn't want to tell the warden about the elephant. Additionally, I have no doubt the owners of many registrars do objectionable things. The devil you know...
- Artagra 16y agoWell, I'm pretty sure this won't be a popular response, but anyway. Firstly, I'm not really referring to this specific case. I think the video is tasteless and in many ways vile. However, I want to comment specifically on trophy hunting. In my opinion, allowing big game hunters to pay for trophy animals is an important and integral part of animal conservation. In many impoverished African countries, their is little to no government funding to conserve animals. Yes, there are risk factors. But personally, I believe the additional amount of animals that are killed due to the argument of excess demand is a lot less than the number of animals saved by the increased funding for poaching prevention. Furthermore, I believe the economic benefits of this to the local community hugely improve the lives of the local people (who I believe are a lot more important than the elephants, as important as I think the elephants are), and that this improvement will decrease poaching. To summarize: - I agree that Trophy hunting can have negative effects. - However, I believe the positives for animal conservation of Trophy Hunting offset the negatives in two major ways. - Trophy Hunting decreases the ease with which poaching takes place by funding anti-poaching measures. - Trophy Hunting decreases the extent to which poaching takes place by improving the situation of the local communities. So if you are pro animal conservation, and pro human rights, you should be pro Trophy Hunting. IMHO.
- motters 16y agoThis merely ensures that I will never use GoDaddy's services, and I'll also advise others not to use them.
- sdizdar 16y agoSo it is ok to have show on cable TV where people shoot animals for fun (or our politicians doing that) and but we are disgusted of killing animal for food and protect the crops. This is good very PR move because it hits the center of hypocrisy in wester societies: our "love" of animals.
- logjam 16y agoI will be on the phone with each and every person I know who has a domain. We will discuss whether or not they happen to be using this cowardly imbecile's business. I will describe this horrible little gutless advertising stunt. We will work to switch them over to another company immediately.
- Aetius 16y agoTogether, we can end violence against elephants!
- SeoxyS 16y agoGoDaddy had a positive brand before? I didn't realize there was anything left to damage.
- raarky 16y agook, so who can recommend a good domain company I can transfer all my domains to?
- nhangen 16y agoNamecheap: http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/ http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/03/30/elephants/
- ALXfoo 16y agoLook at all these passionate discussions. Positively and negatively charged, both sides full of fiery opinion. I thought this was supposed to be a terrible publicity stunt. I say it worked.
- Montagist 16y agoGoDaddy damages it's brand daily by overcrowding it's servers to the point where they crawl. Hating animals is just the icing on the cake. Haha
- mapster 16y agoBad taste, up, down, left, and right. He removed any reverence of the hunt, respect of the animal. Just him, his orange hats, his gun, his camera, his killing, his audio track of choice, his vacation video. Ugly rich guy video #93,275
- olegious 16y agoNever using GoDaddy again. I'm not a vegetarian or a leftist, but glorifying the murder of an endangered species is sickening.
- olegious 16y agoJust finished transferring all my domains.
- imechura 16y agoI needed to purchase a name today. BTW, I found this... GODADDY.COM TRADEMARK LIST Below find a list of Go Daddy's registered and pending trademarks. Please note that these brand guidelines apply to, but are not limited to, the following marks. Registered Trademarks Blue Razor® Blue Razor Logo Black/White Bob Parsons® CashParking® Cool Name. Hot Prices.® Daddy® Domain Alert® Domain Name Aftermarket® DomainNameAftermarket.com® Domains By Proxy® Domains By Proxy Logo with Star Domains Priced Right® Express Email Marketing® Go Daddy® Go Daddy Head Logo Go Daddy Logo with Star GoDaddy.com® GoDaddy.com Logo GoDaddy.com Logo on Black GoDaddy.com Logo with Tagline Go Daddy Auctions® Go Daddy Cares® Go Daddy Connections Logo Go Daddy Girls® Go Daddy Hosting Connection® Go Daddy Marketplace® GoDaddy.tv® Hot Prices. Serious Support.® Mad Dog® Mad Dog Domains and Cattle Company® Mad Dog Logo Make A .COM Name With Us!® Online File Folder® Quick Blogcast® Quick Shopping Cart® Radio Go Daddy® SmartRegistration® SmartSpace® SSL Certificate Logo Starfield® Starfield Logo StealthRay® The Web is Your Domain!® The Web is Your Domain! Logo There's A Name For People Like You!® Traffic Blazer® Traffic Blazer Logo Transfer Concierge® Turbo SSL® Verified by Starield Secure® Verified by Starfield Secure Logo WebSite Tonight® Wild West® Wild West Domains Logo on White Your identity is nobody's business but ours.® Pending Trademarks 4GH™ Claim Your Domain™ Data Center on Demand™ Data Widgets™ Domains, websites & everything* in between!™ Domains, websites & everything* in between! Logo Dream Design Team™ Dream Design Team Logo Expert Hands™ Go Daddy Savings Network™ GoDaddy.co™ GoDaddy.co Logo GoDaddy.com SSL Seal Logo Social Visibility™ Video.ME™ We Make Websites Easy™ Web Professionals' Day™ Website Protection Seal Logo
- drivebyacct2 16y agoWhat amazes me is that anyone here cares about GoDaddy, and as much as it pains me to imagine, there are probably people here that do business with GoDaddy. It's a shame really. Your loss.
- dools 16y agoIn my opinion, the animal cruelty side of this pails in comparison to the total and utter obtuseness of playing an AC/DC track over the top of a bunch of people who are clearly starving scrambling for a hunk of meet like some post apocalyptic nightmare!! It doesn't really surprise me coming from this guy because the he is obviously obtuse (NASCAR sponsorship, Pamela Anderson ads etc.) but I found the graphic pictures of the slaughtered elephant far less confronting than the fact that he turned the life or death struggle of these desperate people into a sideshow spectacle for his PR exercise.
- CWuestefeld 16y agoI haven't watched the video (I'm at work now), but are elephants currently protected? I recently read about a program where African elephants are being sterilized because the populations have grown so large that they're becoming a problem.
- bitwize 16y agoRemember when Acclaim seriously considered advertising its games on tombstones? Yeah, way to top that in the lack of taste department. Guess who I'm not registering domains with.
- matthewslotkin 16y agoIf Bob is so invested in selfless help, why doesn't he drop some cash and build a fence to permanently keep the elephants out? Also, to those suggesting that killing this elephant is chill because it fed a lot of people, I'm pretty sure there are more cost effective ways to feed people than mobilizing an elephant hunting squad.
- neutronicus 16y agoGoing falconing is on my bucket list, so I can't get too angry.
- pdx 16y agoI cringed seeing the neighboring villagers trampling the same field that the elephants had been trampling. Talk about unintended consequences.
- esmevane 16y agoI see that most of the folks here are choosing to discuss the morality of this video; some are electing to defend, and some showing disapproval. What I'm finding odd about these reactions is that, viewing other people's reactions (outside of the delicate shell of opinion here), the clear conclusion is that this is a PR disaster. From the Twitter search alone, in the last 2-3 minutes, my feed has gone up easily hundreds of entries, all of them agreeing about their distaste for this event. Isn't that where the real knowledge is, here? Whether or not you agree that this was a bad decision, it undeniably harms the brand in what could be a catastrophic way.
- fourstar 16y agoGodaddy sucks and has for... ever. I've been with Namecheap and I'd recommend them any day.
- hncommenter13 16y agoObviously late to the discussion, but surprised no one has posted a link to this famous Orwell essay: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_an_Elephant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_an_Elephant
- dennisgorelik 16y agoThere is no bad publicity.
- juddlyon 16y agoHow can you damage a trashy, publicity-stunt-driven brand by shooting an elephant? You can't. GoDaddy is light-years ahead of the competition in terms of marketing. He may have lost several thousand bucks do to some discerning geeks, which is not the GoDaddy customer anyway. Nothing to see here.
- raganwald 16y agoIt's not a crime to kill an elephant. It's bigger than all that. It's a sin to kill an elephant. Do you understand? It's a sin. It's the only sin that you can buy a license and go out and commit. That's why I want to do it before I do anything else in this world. Do you understand me? Of course you don't. How could you? I don't understand myself. Clint Eastwood, "White Hunter Black Heart" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100928/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100928/
- Gaussian 16y agoSo, Bob, how many customers is one dead elephant worth? Next time you could leave the film crew at home maybe? Or would that subvert your whole point?
- karolisd 16y agoIt's not April Fools?
- damoncali 16y agoIt's brilliant. They just drove away hordes of geeks - you know those pesky techies who only buy the loss leaders without loading up on the profitable stuff?
- rdouble 16y agoI thought this sort of thing died off with Teddy Roosevelt, so it was interesting to learn what kind of people still do it.
- Tyrant505 16y agoHi All, Having been involved in wildlife conservation for nearly three and half a decades and trying to address human-elephant conflicts for nearly 16 years what I can say in all honesty is that elephant control is a double-edged sword. There are no utopian answers or solutions to these issues either. When it comes to human-elephant conflicts unlike in the proverbial biblical story where the lion and the lamb lied down together, people and elephants cannot do the same. One has to give away to the other. I think in regard to Bob Parsons’ affair everyone is too focused on what he did on the basis of the moral implications of shooting an elephant as pertinent to western sentiments and emotions and how elephants are perceived in the west. I really wonder how many even paid the slightest attention or took notice of the farmer whose sorghum field was destroyed or gave thought to how he and his family is affected or for that matter the protein starved and raggedy rural masses that descended on the elephant once it was shot. The average Zimbabwean is living in abject poverty and I doubt their perspective of elephants is anywhere close to that of the people of the west. Western colonization has destroyed traditional African life to such an extent that they are now living in-limbo where they are neither, westernized or Africanized and have lost their connections to their own environment and nature. These are some of the repercussions for the damage that has been done to them. Most of them live hand to mouth - only caring about their daily survival. Since I live on both sides of this divide – I’m fortunate to see both sides of this coin but also it is frustrating because these completely opposing perspectives can be a huge hindrance to addressing these issues in a realistic manner. For example if we can step outside the western mentality box and look at it from a different perspective (from a poor Zimbabwean farmer’s point of view) – probably Bob Parsons is in fact doing a huge favor to the farmers. African elephants are not a threatened species in any imminent danger of extinction. In fact they are now too many elephants in the Southern African nations. But from a South Asian and western perspective Bob Parsons has done the unthinkable – which is to kill an elephant and then glorify it by putting it on public display! For that he should be ostracized and penalized. There is no glory in killing an elephant considering it is humans who have created the situation where they too are fighting for survival. If an elephant has to be killed then it should be done with dignity, respect and with the empathy it deserves. The cost to immobilize and relocate a problem bull elephant in Sri Lanka cost on average US$5,000. In Africa it could be more considering the vast distances that need to be covered. I’ll try to get this information. In Sri Lanka trans-locating problem animals is a futile exercise since you are basically transferring the problem to another area. For example if earlier the problem bull was terrorizing a 50 square mile area – after it is translocated it terrorizes a 500 square mile area because now it’s trying to find itself back to its home territory. Welcome to addressing human-elephant conflicts in the truest sense. Best, Ravi Corea - There will be a site for this but this just was emailed to me, trying to keep speed
- SideSwipe 16y agoAny chance this is just an April Fool's joke with a whole lot of time put into it? :P
- fecklessyouth 16y agoI guess I'll leave this here: http://mashable.com/2011/04/01/bob-parsons-elephant-story/ http://mashable.com/2011/04/01/bob-parsons-elephant-story/ Caution: Ignore if you prefer the stereotype of an exposed rich white game hunter.
- sigzero 16y agoWhere do I think he went wrong? Passing out the hats. I was fine up until that point. This isn't for a GoDaddy commercial. Sheesh.
- beyonder 16y agoI feel for the hungry guys shown in the video but still looking at the way those guys are cutting the meat and hovering over the dead animal's body just reminds me of a quote from matrix by Mr.Smith: Humans are parasites.
- Aetius 16y agoLet's count the ways in which the media, twitter, and even HN can be hypocritical: Driving cars that pollute the environment and force the US to wage continous war to secure oil. Supporting a food industry that is killing us. Support raising my taxes so you can live a better life. Use an inordinate amount of energy, water which is scarce. Live wonderful lives with nice furniture, clothes, etc that are made by really poor people the world over. Take trips all over the place, using more oil. Sit at home watching TV and being entertained instead of being productive and fixing problems (yes, this too is a sin). Have bad children that will grow up to be murderers, theives, leaches, and knownothings because you're too busy whining about some guy hunting an elephant. Have supported tons of politicians that serve to further their own interests and that of their corporate sponsors. I could go on and on and on before I finally get to: Legally shot and killed an elephant which was destroying crops in an African country. If I switched my domains from GoDaddy for this, I'd pretty much have to withdraw from American society for good, in order to be on decent moral ground.
- tikna 16y agoI dropped a mail to GoDaddy regarding this. Here's the response from their side: ---------------------- Our Office of the President has responded to your request, details of which are described below: Dear Sir/Madam, Thank you for taking the time to express your opinion about Mr. Parsons' recent trip to Zimbabwe. As you may be aware Mr. Parsons has also made several comments regarding this on his Vlog at BobParsons.me which you may wish to review. We hope this information will be of assistance to you in making any final determination about your relationship with GoDaddy.com. We thank you again for your time and feedback. Regards, The Office of the President ---------------------
- girlvinyl 16y agoWhether or not someone agrees that killing the elephant in this particular circumstance was warranted, I definitely feel like a CEO going into a foreign country and culture, killing an animal and making it into a publicity stunt is offensive and distasteful. It also seems like many other CEOs would have been crucified for doing this. But for some reason Parsons is getting much less flack than would the CEO of Wal-mart, Monsanto or McDonald's. Why is that?
- rlf 16y agoI think many of you are missing the point. One could argue both for and against killing the elephants. I think what's important here, and this is just a guess on my part, is that 1) I believe that Parsons was using this as an excuse to kill some really big wild game in Africa to show how "manly" he is; and 2) he clearly enjoyed it as evidenced by the big smile on his face in the pictures. For comparison, American Indians used to kill buffalo but I don't think they gloated over it as Parsons is doing. They had reverence for the buffalo and demonstrated that by using every bit of each buffalo they killed. Parsons, on the other hand, just did it for the thrill of the kill and that, to me, is wrong. By the way, I moved all of my domains off GoDaddy last year. I got tired of paying above-market prices just so that GoDaddy could create those lame Super Bowl commercials. Also, their UI sucks.
- logjam 16y agoHaving grown up around guns and hunting, I can tell you this guy's story just sounds worse and worse. Laws and hunting ethics generally precludes use of artificial illumination to hunt by, cf: http://www.africahunting.com/hunting-africa/1321-namibian-ph-charged-hunting-leopard-artificial-light.html http://www.africahunting.com/hunting-africa/1321-namibian-ph... http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10366_37141_37704-31392--,00.html http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10366_37141_37704-3... No "fair chase" here. Somebody quoted Parson's as claiming it was completely dark as he lay in wait for a hungry elephant to walk right into a field of, well, elephant food. If that's the case, he either used artificial illumination to shoot, or there was no very good way for him to tell whether he was shooting a cow with calf, a calf, or even one of the villagers he now so adamantly (after he gets called on it) and frankly unbelievably insists was the true mission of this hunt...a mission that just happened to come complete with film crew and GoDaddy logo for everyone. Sounds fishy. I don't fish (or hunt) anymore.