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Who writes the Rotten.com library?

posted: 08.Aug.2008 by Robeus Robeficarum.

Ok, here it goes. I have spent quite some time reading the library, always enjoying their well-educated rants and humor. Although a site not perfectly sourced --but well documented--, it is clever, funny and well-written. Who is behind it?

Rotten.com's Alexa ranking is 4,413. Compare that with Coca-Cola's 9,564. Note, a lower ranking means higher popularity. Check, Google's ranking at 2. (Note that Yahoo holds number 1).

The easy step: their domain is registered to SOYLENT Communications. (PO Box 4436, Mountain View, California, 94040-0436)

Two conclusions:
1) Ok, I get it. They like their privacy. Which makes the task of finding out who writes their articles rather difficult.
2) They are not an extemist group living in some slum. The Google campus is headquartered around the area.

Additional information provided:

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
      DELL, THOMAS		vincenzo@area.com
      PO BOX 4436
      MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA 94040-0436
      US
      1-877-818-3159 fax: 123 123 1234


   Record expires on 22-Jul-2018.
   Record created on 23-Jul-1996.
   Bulk whois optout: N
   Database last updated on 8-Aug-2008 18:41:36 EDT.

   Domain servers in listed order:

   ZONE.AREA.COM                216.218.218.18
   ZONE.RWX.COM                 204.203.92.133

A simple reverse IP domain check yields the follwing results. Their server, 216.218.248.145, has these sites: rotten.com, unicum.rotten.com, www.fuqqer.com, www.rotten.com. Those servers are located in Mountain View, as well, according to MaxMind's database.

So what? Here's the funny stuff. One of rotten.com affiliated (?) websites is pornópolis. Although it has a PO Box in San Jose, the administrative contact name is the same, Thomas Dell, who might not exist but in paper. The email address is dell@goonsquad.spies.com, obviously fake (in fact, every mail I've sent to it has bounced with a non-deliverable error. The site itself, GOONSQUAD.SPIES.COM, is non-existent). Another possible to contact the rotten.com staff is through their email, staff@rotten.com, found in one of their pages.

Another site, Fetishmaximus, has Vincenzo Hostmaster as technical contact (PO BOX in Mountain View). That's a weird name. However, the site area.com does exist, and it is quite a mistery in itself:

A javascript code loads one of three different kind of area formulas: those of the triangle, square and hexagon. Refreshing the page loads them at random.

I checked the domain for other affiliates sites like pennypostcards.com, dailyroten.com, and nndb.com; they have in common Soylent Communications.

So the whole key is Soylent Communications. Their front page is minimalistic (sepeaking at code level). They host their own websites and they market themselves as 1) heavy traffic hosting solutions, 2) image archive licensors, 3)software development.

One thing to note, though. However they are, they certainly do not host any advertisement whatsoever. Revenue for their websites must come through: 1) hosting, licenses, software development, subscriptions (pornopolis), and their selling of merchandise. I totally agree with their contempt for ads.

Now, these guys won't blow off their cover and reveal their secret identities. According to them, the New York Times, CTV, The Guardian, Agence France Presse, Le Monde, have contacted them and they all have been shunned. Le Monde went as far as asking them to come forward.

Jason Scott must assuredly worked as part of the rotten.com staff. Here's his bio. Did he write some of the library articles? Perhaps. He certainly has the lexicon to do so.

How about Tristan A. Farnon, self-proclaimed cartoonist at leisuretown dot com? He is, apparently, the fearless leader writing editorials in the gaping maw. His NNDB bio is rather short.

They posted a staff photo, by the way. Is this a prank? What is this? Should you have insight into the identities there, you can always spread the word with me and the world.

You always learn something new everyday, no matter how inconsecuential it might be. Here's some trivia I want to share. I found it when reading their 'legal correspondence': Did you know that the Coca-Cola bottle was first used commercially as early as September the 1st, 1916? Awesome.

Links: Rotten's legal mail.

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