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huhtenberg
It would've been very impressive if this incident were a staged PR stunt.
thenextweb
Don't think it is and it would be a major PR fiasco if that turned out to be true...
ashleyw
Maybe, but it could turn into a nightmare with search engines, I don't think they'd risk that.

Hope they get the domain back, people like the guy who hijacked it makes me sick.

PStamatiou
Changing my gmail password right now.. k thanks.
jrockway
I think I would pay the $2000. With hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue on the line, it seems like a good investment. Plus, once the hacker cashes the check, he is that much easier to trace.
olefoo
Giving in on something like this means you will be victimised again later on. Once you start paying the danegeld it's hard to get rid of the dane.
jrockway
The idea is to make it easy for this guy to be arrested, not to make a habit of sending random people money.

I don't buy things advertised in spam, but I keep getting it anyway.

This sort of scam is like spam. It is easy to perpetrate the scam and hard to be penalized for it, so it isn't going to go away. Send a few emails and you have a chance of someone mailing you $2000 and probably not getting caught. Not a bad deal for the criminal.

Hexstream
"it isn't going to go away"

With people like you who give in swiftly, no, it isn't going to go away.

loowee
I agree with you HexStream.
Hexstream
It also mean "I" will be victimised (whether or not I give in).
alex_c
How would you know you'll actually get the domain back if you pay the $2000? I doubt the hacker would be willing to use escrow or anything like that.
jrockway
Wow, is this Reddit. I like how I am being downmodded for posting something that people disagree with.

I will keep my thoughts to myself in the future.

paul9290
That sucks... it seems if you are featured on their great site it funnels to larger tech sites.

HOpe they get everything straighten out.

A PR stunt ...anything is possible..maybe, but I doubt it!

jws
This is not blackmail. Blackmail is when the villain demands money to refrain from releasing injurious or compromising injurious information.

This is better described as stealing and ransoming the domain name. If it becomes popular, then perhaps we can coin the term "namenapping".

But it isn't blackmail. (Well… arguably the revelation that they use GoDaddy as their registrar is pretty embarassing, but that was public information already.)

jamesbritt
"This is not blackmail. "

Nor are the people involved hackers, "Criminals" would be correct.