An actual misunderstanding or ?

[Kip Powick]

Tabloid calls student 'wave rat'

By JOE FRIESEN

A Toronto student who was called a "wave rat" on the front page of yesterday's New York Post says he never intended to profit from the sale of a tsunami-related domain name.

Josh Kaplan, a 20-year-old industrial design student at the Ontario College of Art and Design, found himself in the middle of a media-generated storm yesterday.

A New York Post article said that Mr. Kaplan had coaxed an American woman into giving him the rights to the Web address www.tsunamirelief.com under the pretext that he would set up a site for charitable donations.

Instead, she found the site up for auction on eBay, with an asking price of $50,000 (U.S.).

Mr. Kaplan said the whole thing has turned into a giant misunderstanding.

After obtaining the domain-name rights from Michelle Tirado of Southbury, Conn., he said, he designed a website that linked visitors wanting to make donations to the Red Cross site. None of the funds came to him.

Then, after discussing the idea with his parents, he thought it would be a good idea to sell the domain name on eBay and donate the proceeds to the Red Cross.

"I thought there was a potential to raise some money," he said.

He set the initial asking price at $50,000.

"I could've set it at anything, but I figured let's see where it'll go. It didn't cross my mind that what would happen would turn out like this."

In yesterday's New York Post, Ms. Tirado said she was shocked to see the domain name for sale and claimed Mr. Kaplan had misled her.

Ms. Tirado is a freelance journalist who also sells domain names for a profit. She intended to sell the website for $99, but donated it to Mr. Kaplan who she said told her he would use it in support of an international fund-raising effort.

Mr. Kaplan said site administrators at eBay contacted him and told him that their site was not the appropriate venue for a charitable auction.

He then took the domain name off the market, but not before it caught the attention of Ms. Tirado, who spoke to the New York Post.

Mr. Kaplan contacted Ms. Tirado yesterday morning to confront her about her comments.

"I said to [her] that you have to be totally insane to think that I wanted to profit from this," he said.

"As a socially responsible designer, this is what I thought I could do."

Mr. Kaplan's mother, Linda, said she was horrified by the story. Her son woke her up at 4 a.m. to show her the front page of the New York Post on their home computer.

"It was hideous," she said. "Especially that 'wave rat.' Just hideous."

She said she and her husband had encouraged their son to go ahead with plans to sell the domain name to raise funds for relief efforts.

"This is absolutely a nightmare," she said. "My husband and I thought it was a great idea. Just get a fabulous amount of money and then donate the money."

Yesterday was Mr. Kaplan's first day back in classes after the winter break. He said it was difficult to comprehend that his story was appearing on U.S. television networks and attracting the attention of news media across the continent.

"My phone has been ringing off the hook," he said.

"I just kept telling myself that it's the New York Post. They're a tabloid magazine and they want to write the worst possible story."

Mr. Kaplan said he intended to donate the profits from any possible sale to the Red Cross.

[Seeker]

If you could see the description on Ebay you might get a better idea about the true intent. Did he state the proceeds were destined for the Red Cross up front or is this something he came up with after the fact?