http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5524587
FAIR contended that the domain names were registered and the parody site was created without its knowledge by Allen Wyatt
Wow, did FAIR really make such a ridiculous claim? I don’t believe this for a second. The talking heads at FAIR are a really tight group and Allen Wyatt is just as much a part of FAIR as its President Scott Gordon. I find it virtually impossible to believe Allen had been pulling this stunt without at least nudging elbows and giggling about it with the rest of the pack.
In his ruling, Kimball rejected the claim that FAIR was cybersquatting, the practice of registering domain names to profit from the goodwill associated with someone else's trademark or to extort payment by selling the name to the owner of the trademark.
Well, if making money off of it was the only way they’d be breaking the law, then I agree. I doubt FAIR was making any money from it. But then, that was never the intention. It is absurd to say FAIR didn’t “profit” from this in some sense, since its sole purpose is to dissuade people from the arguments of the anti-Mormons, and since they are tripping over themselves, losing the battle, they have to stoop lower and try to make sure people never read the anti-Mormon arguments to begin with. Only a “Kimball” judge could be blind to this obvious fact.
Nor was any of this intended as a mere “parody.” You do not put that much time and effort into a parody unless you want to advertise it and reap from the benefits in a laugh. He didn’t advertise it to any of his friends at FAIR, so he says. Nor do you put that much time and effort and money into purchasing thirteen domain names for the sake of a giggle. One domain name would have served that purpose. It is perfectly clear to anyone who knows Allen and the entire FAIR lot that the intention was to cause confusion and hopefully divert a would be LDS fence-straddler from the Tanner’s website. Sometimes it just takes a click of the finger guided by a temporary sense of curiosity and a Mormon is trapped in that world of information they would otherwise know nothing about. Of the millions of visitors to the Tanner’s website there are probably hundreds of curious Mormons. Of those hundreds perhaps dozens would have become inactive or leave the faith due to the information presented by the Tanners. The Tanners boast far more converts from their efforts than FAIR ever will.
So Mormons are all in support of open inquiry and they do not feel information can do damage? Yeah, right.
Apparently Allen feels that everything the Tanners post online is “deception and lies” and regular Mormon folks need him to save… er… um, “steer” them away because they are too stupid to think critically for themselves.
And then there is the spiritual factor. In Mormon thought one hits a wall of evil spirits just by reading material critical of the “one true Church.” Allen felt he was doing a religious service for the world wide web.
Incidentally, they are crowing and howling over at FAIR about how they defeated the Tanners. Yea, milk it for all it is worth. Victories over the evil anti-Mormons are very hard to come by, so I can see why they are trying to over celebrate this relatively pointless event. Juliann just called nana “unbelievably stupid” for saying both boards should just go back to business as usual and drop the subject.
You have obviously never been sued. That is a unbelievably stupid thing to say. It has nothing to do with what anyone believes...this was a misuse of the legal system and one of the most emotionally destructive things you can be involved in. There was zero chance FAIR would have lost and I'm sure she only went after Allen to get to her real target, FAIR. If Allen had lost it would have been because he broke a law, dear, not because he was persecuted or "right in his beliefs".
Juliann seems to have missed the point of the entire spectacle, and wishes to play the victim card. Cry us a river Juliann. The legal matter draws attention to FAIR’s dishonesty. I doubt the Tanner’s really expected to win anything. Several people grilled Allen Wyatt on the FAIR boards a few years ago when this first happened. And I was not the only Mormon to do so. Ultimately it would have been in FAIR’s best interest to have kept this out of the media spotlight, but I am sure there are many Mormons whose moral compasses are functional, who can see how dishonest Wyatt was. There were at least three or four who was criticizing him on FAIR’s own message forum. How many SLT readers will feel the same?