There are allegations that one of the Marketing Managers at kmart, I will leave his name out for now, posted a website bashing Okemo. Nothing is confirmed yet but evidence gathered seems very conclusive. I really don't know if Alan Wilson is stll running kmart but if he is there is no way he would have been aware of this. Again, the facts have not been confirmed and are just allegations at this point.

The Rutland Herald has just been alerted and we will soon find out if this is true. They won a Pulizer Prize a few years ago, probably Vermont's best paper plus kmart is just up the road.

The site in question is http://okemonotorious.com

There's way too much work there for it to have been created by anyone without a strong mission and powerful web development software... pictures, video, man... this looks pretty damn sleazy...

Strat, you probably know more about this I do. The domain name was registered thru myprivateregistration.com in Australia.

There's a thread about this on the TGR forums. It is definitely a K-Mart marketing guy that put this together. I honestly don't see what the big deal is - Okemo is flat out lying and K-Mart is calling them on it, albeit in a rather underhanded way.

Strat wrote:

There's way too much work there for it to have been created by anyone without a strong mission and powerful web development software... pictures, video, man... this looks pretty damn sleazy...

It appears to be hosted by Yahoo, and somehow affilliated/connected to W3C (World Wide Web Consortium).

The domain must have JUST been registered, as it is not yet in the Whois directory. This one will be interesting to watch!

Tin Woodsman wrote:

There's a thread about this on the TGR forums. It is definitely a K-Mart marketing guy that put this together. I honestly don't see what the big deal is - Okemo is flat out lying and K-Mart is calling them on it, albeit in a rather underhanded way.

Tin, I can't believe your saying this.....you have complained about the credibility of ski resort marketing departments for years, and rightly so. If this is true it will damage further the good ski resort marketing departments that are making an honest effort to restore the faith that has been lost over the years. I have no problem with kmart calling out Okemo but to do it this way is just plain wrong.

There is already talk about Okemo suing ASC. The owners of Okemo are very respected and well known operaters in the ski resort biz world and person that did this will find out he picked the wrong bird to pluck.

BushMogulMaster wrote:

Strat wrote: There's way too much work there for it to have been created by anyone without a strong mission and powerful web development software... pictures, video, man... this looks pretty damn sleazy... It appears to be hosted by Yahoo, and somehow affilliated/connected to W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). The domain must have JUST been registered, as it is not yet in the Whois directory. This one will be interesting to watch!

It is in the whois directory, that's how it was so easy to find the name of the person who posted the site, alittle more digging resulted in his name with resume.

ski_resort_observer wrote:

It is in the whois directory, that's how it was so easy to find the name of the person who posted the site, alittle more digging resulted in his name with resume.

I just found it too. Wasn't in the first Whois lookup I used.

Direct WhoIs link for those who want to see....

http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=okemonotorious&tld=com

So ASC gets a windfall from selling Steamboat and this is how they start to spend it. Classic.

****************

Needless to say, this is looks like a new form of viral marketing. Designed to make it look like people, instead of corporations, are talking positive or negative about a product. It will be interesting to see where this goes. I'm not completely offended yet, but I probably need to give kmart more time. So far its just aggressive. When kmart's marketing makes there own mistep they will get theirs. Anyways, kmart can talk bad about other ski areas, but in the end its still an overcrowded mess of a mountain.

So ASC gets a windfall from selling Steamboat and this is how they start to spend it. Classic.

****************

Needless to say, this is looks like a new form of viral marketing. Designed to make it look like people, instead of corporations, are talking positive or negative about a product. It will be interesting to see where this goes. I'm not completely offended yet, but I probably need to give kmart more time. So far its just aggressive. When kmart's marketing makes there own mistep they will get theirs. Anyways, kmart can talk bad about other ski areas, but in the end its still an overcrowded mess of a mountain.

ski_resort_observer wrote:

BushMogulMaster wrote: Strat wrote: There's way too much work there for it to have been created by anyone without a strong mission and powerful web development software... pictures, video, man... this looks pretty damn sleazy... It appears to be hosted by Yahoo, and somehow affilliated/connected to W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). The domain must have JUST been registered, as it is not yet in the Whois directory. This one will be interesting to watch! It is in the whois directory, that's how it was so easy to find the name of the person who posted the site, alittle more digging resulted in his name with resume.

Alright, the plot thickens... the name on the whois search is indeed a Killington employee, but the addresses and "myprivateregistration.com" are fake... myprivateregistration is a "well known phishing and internet scam service provider" according to this post on Scamfraudalert.com... I'm not sure how all this links together but it's certainly very, very fishy...

Strat wrote:

ski_resort_observer wrote: BushMogulMaster wrote: Strat wrote: There's way too much work there for it to have been created by anyone without a strong mission and powerful web development software... pictures, video, man... this looks pretty damn sleazy... It appears to be hosted by Yahoo, and somehow affilliated/connected to W3C (World Wide Web Consortium). The domain must have JUST been registered, as it is not yet in the Whois directory. This one will be interesting to watch! It is in the whois directory, that's how it was so easy to find the name of the person who posted the site, alittle more digging resulted in his name with resume. Alright, the plot thickens... the name on the whois search is indeed a Killington employee, but the addresses and "myprivateregistration.com" are fake... myprivateregistration is a "well known phishing and internet scam service provider" according to this post on Scamfraudalert.com... I'm not sure how all this links together but it's certainly very, very fishy...

Interesting... very VERY interesting. I'll have to research this one some more.

WHOIS wrote:

Domain Name.......... okemonotorious.com Creation Date........ 2007-01-12 Registration Date.... 2007-01-12 Expiry Date.......... 2008-01-12 Organisation Name.... Dwight Eppinger Organisation Address. P O Box 99800 Organisation Address. Organisation Address. EmeryVille Organisation Address. 94662 Organisation Address. CA Organisation Address. US Admin Name........... PrivateRegContact Admin Admin Address........ P O Box 99800 Admin Address........ Admin Address........ EmeryVille Admin Address........ 94662 Admin Address........ CA Admin Address........ US Admin Email.......... contact@myprivateregistration.com Admin Phone.......... +1.5105952002 Admin Fax............ Tech Name............ PrivateRegContact TECH Tech Address......... P O Box 99800 Tech Address......... Tech Address......... EmeryVille Tech Address......... 94662 Tech Address......... CA Tech Address......... US Tech Email........... contact@myprivateregistration.com Tech Phone........... +1.5105952002 Tech Fax............. Name Server.......... yns1.yahoo.com Name Server.......... yns2.yahoo.com The previous information has been obtained either directly from the registrant or a registrar of the domain name other than Network Solutions. Network Solutions, therefore, does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness. Show underlying registry data for this record Current Registrar: MELBOURNE IT, LTD. D/B/A INTERNET NAMES WORLDWIDE IP Address: 68.142.212.118 (ARIN & RIPE IP search) IP Location: US(UNITED STATES)-CALIFORNIA-SUNNYVALE Lock Status: clientTransferProhibited DMOZ no listings Y! Directory: see listings Data as of: 14-Jun-2005

The "Organisation Name" is Dwight Eppinger, who is a marketing manager at Killington. A page on the Killington site refers to him as, "Interactive Marketing Manager, Dwight Eppinger."

It all fits the bill. An interactive marketing manager would probably have the knowledge to throw something like that together. I wonder if he realized the possible repercussions of his actions?

What an idiot to put his name on the domain reg.!! I would have gone with "Default User" or something similar.