I've had a lot of people emailing me wanting to know whether I intend to sell http://www.BindiIrwin.Com or auction it off at Ebay. The answer is neither.

The reason I purchased it was to keep it out of the hands of advertising agencies. The sort who love to collect these sorts of popular domains and make pages full of unpopular links.

Those people seeking to make money are known in the industry as "Cybersquatters." I've been advised by a few people that I can make serious money from this domain and that I even have a convincing case in court to retain it. Taking an 8 year old to court over a domain name that I only payed $6.95 for is simply not my style. It's only drawing interest because of her fame anyway. If I was the judge I'd award it to her.

The other popular domain extensions(dot org and net) disapeared very quickly afterwards. Tom Cruise actually took a professional Cybersquatter to court over http://www.TomCruise.Com and after 10 years got it transferred to himself. Bruce Springsteen was less successful and lost his case to get http://www.BruceSpringsteen.Com away from the same guy.

I contacted a reporter the other day who forwarded on a letter to the Discovery Channel for me. She is going to contact me once they confirm having sent it to Terri Irwin's business manager John Stainton. Now that some time has passed by and the memorial service is over I have asked if Terri Irwin wants the domain and if so to please reply with details on transferring it over to her posession.

It has had over 41,000 visits since I registered it 3 weeks ago. On 17th September there were 211 people simultaneously viewing the page when the Courier Mail ran a full front page story on her. Imagine how popular it will be in 10 years when Bindi is leading Croc Safari's!

Here is an example of an ad agencies idea of a fun website.
http://www.terriirwin.com

Ugh!

Good on you Wayne :)

It's going to break my heart to let it go. I've never owned such a successful domain name. I don't own any websites but I enjoy running forums and like to buy popular domains to redirect them to free forums like ezboard or proboards. Most domains only get about a thousand hits in a year. This one went straight to the top of search engines.

Google search: Bindi Irwin
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Bindi+Irwin&btnG=Google+Search
Number 6

Some weird things are happening with the Yahoo search engine. Must be some kind of glitch. Only Wikipedia gets a mention on the first page of results. The rest are all mine. Freaky.
Yahoo Search: Bindi Irwin
Currently numbers 3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,18,23 are all domains of mine! All I did was redirect them to http://www.BindiIrwin.Com !
Again number 6 is actually BindiIrwin.Com behind YouTube, CNN, Animal Planet and Australia Zoo.

That's pretty amazing considering I don't even have a website for it. Like I said it simply goes to a free message board which gives me unlimited bandwidth in exchange for a dicky little banner ad.

I was referring to the Google result when I said that it was number 6 behind YouTube, CNN, Animal Planet and Australia Zoo.

Here's the Yahoo Search link if anybody is interested.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Bindi+Irwin&fr=yfp-t-500&toggle=1&cop=&ei=UTF-8

This is going to be such a hot celebrity domain name in a few years. Bindi is already the most famous kid in Australia and has a movie lined up already. I suspect that one day she'll be the most famous Australian in the World but ofcourse anything can happen over time. Maybe she'll become a hairdresser or something instead. Whatever she chooses to do with her life I wish her the best with it.

I have no idea how long it will be before I get a reply. Hey, maybe the Irwin's and their manager won't want it.

:)

Why wouldnt they want it? But you know they might just think you are up to no good. I suppose they have had all types of people contact them of late and are very careful. Oh well time will tell.

I'm not surprised they are difficult to contact and it hasn't been very long. Only yesterday I emailed the reporter to thank her for her help in trying to reach them. I sent a polite letter to Australia Zoo after purchasing the domain to let them know. Kind of forgot that the Australia Zoo website has been very busy and I expect they have had a lot of condolence messages so my own probably hasn't been read yet.

I used to work at Australia Zoo as a volunteer with the Crocodile Team and met Steve briefly a couple of times. I've visited the place countless times taking groups of tourists on day trips. I've known for a very long time that Bindi is a talented kid and a chip off the old block. I can't imagine her ever wanting to do anything but become a third generation crocodile hunter. That's how I knew to grab the domain before everyone else had realised it's inherent worth.

We need highly respected figureheads in the wildlife protection business. GreenPeace hasn't got any. They have done more harm to the image of environmentalism than good. Painting fur seals, stopping back burning and protesting clean nuclear energy to name but a few silly mistakes. We don't want Domestic Terrorists like PETA trying to push their ill thought out tree hugging logic down our throats. We want real Wildlife Warriors. How could I really do anything else? I live on this planet too. At a time of Global Warming and an uncertain future need heroes. I reckon Bindi could some day become a sort of hero to people seeking a leader in the Wildlife and Environment movement.

What do you actually do Wayne. Its ok if you dont want to say but you sound very interesting.

Me? Nobody special.

http://www.myspace.com/universedaily

Interesting :)

Hey Wayne,

You listed one of your interests as "Vandalising Wikipedia". Why?

Don't you agree with it's aims or do you just do it for fun? Aren't there enough d**ckheads out there who simply destroy something for their own self-gratification, and why would you waste your time just adding to that?

Glad to see that not only I get hate mail Wayne :(

Just heard all about BindiIrwin.com on today tonight wayne so you did give it to Oz Zoo what was the outcome what did they say about it and how did you finally get to hand it over. Did you speak with Terri. I didnt hear the whole story on TT.

I like the whole idea, it's quite amusing, and fun to watch. Wayne is right about not letting the advertising agencies getting their hands on it. I don't like greedy and selfish people like that. Wayne also agrees to hand it over to teri Irwin, which is a very decent and noble thing to do. I admire your courage and strentgh, and willingness to do the right thing. I know lots of people would have loved to get their hands on it aand abuse it, but you decided to hand it back, which makes you a hero.

Yeah I cant see the problem when Wayne first put the story on the forum before the TT story he was saying that he had contacted OZ ZOO to hand it over to the irwins. I think a lot of people try to see the worst in some things. The whole steve irwin death put a bit of the "Protective Lioness" in a lot of people so everyone thought that Wayne was doing something wrong. I absolutely thought it was a good thing he was doing. Not for a moment did I think he had alterior motives etc. although I dont have a suspicious mind.

Hi lluvatar,
I don't like the way admins at Wikipedia run roughshod over newbies, lie and generally assasinate peoples charactors. Usually after banning them so there is no hope of a reply. All I ever do is add links and make the odd improvement to articles and for that I'm called a "vandal". A vandal is somebody who smashes topilets and graffiti's trains. It says on the front page of Wikipedia that anybody can edit it. It also says in the tutorial that new users should feel free to dive in and make changes. What it should also say is that if you accept the offer then you will be charactor assasinated by the fourth rate hacks and self proclaimed administrators running the place.

It was a Wikipedian named Andrew Lau( user netsnipe) who fed the lisleading information to smh. Hence all the references to wikipedian quotes. He did it out of revenge. Petty and extremely stupid. I hope he likes Wikipedia as much as he professes because its as close to a real media source as he is ever likely to get now. Major tabloids don't like being lied to.

Bindi Irwin Cybersquatter not a Cybersquatter
http://www.perthnorg.com.au/2006/10/18/bindi_irwin_cybersquatter_not_a_cybersquatter/

Media Watch called me after that one was published.

Wikipedia: The Encyclopedia where anybody can be charactor assasinated.
http://www.perthnorg.com.au/2006/10/20/wikipedia_the_encyclopedia_where_anybody_can_be_charactor_assasinated/

This one has Wikipedian Admins Netsnipe and Antandrus scared silly they might be prosecuted. Apparently it is against the law to give misleading information to the press. There is a brief reference to it in this threatening email I got from FAIRFAX the other day.

Letter from FAIRFAX
http://projectorion.proboards28.com/index.cgi?board=stories&action=display&thread=1161391117

I'm just going to keep telling the truth until I get my retraction at smh. I'm currently visiting message boards all over the net telling people what really happened.

I'm genuinely curious as to your objectives and motivation here Wayne.

The original SMH article said nothing that wasn't strictly true - even you will have to admit that - so why all the fuss?

You can visit as many message boards as you like, it won't change the facts.

You are in a no-win situation here. Hey, if the truth be known, nobody actually gives a flying fig about you, the web site, your history of Wikipedia vandalism, the long list of web sites you seem to have accumulated for no particular reason etc etc.

Just accept that what you are doing is not normal behaviour, benefits nobody and therefore is seen to be odd, but ultimately of little consequence.

Have a great day.

who the heck is this pericles guys. what you said made no sense at all... if you didn't give a fig then why bother to post here, and tell us your opinion, guess what? none of us give a rat's ass about you either. for heaven's before you start an argument get your facts straight. Wayne gave the website back to the Irwins, then what is the problem here? He did a great deed, knowin Wayne, it's something he would do. I he wanted money from this he could have since he was smart enough to pull such a thing. get real!