Meme First has an interesting comment string going on Oddjack, the former Gawker Media gambling site, now owned by an anonymous publisher. Since the word in the beginning was the site was to be shuttered, there has been some speculation of late as to who is operating the site, which is clearly active.
Felix at Meme First points out that the following words were posted by Oddjack’s new writer on December 18, 2005:
For now the full disclosure on the new Oddjack is that it is a blog with information on gambling, it accepts and displays advertisements from online gambling companies. These advertisers receive more mention and more attention than those not advertising here.
Uh oh, blurring of editorial and advertising.
Gawker’s publisher, Nick Denton, ends speculation as to his firm’s possible involvement in the continuation of the site with this comment, the first in the string:
Hey, Felix — when we said we were closing down Oddjack, we received a few approaches, from people wishing to buy it. One of those panned out, and we sold the site, domain name and archive included, a couple of weeks ago.
After some discussion of scruples and such by other parties, Denton returns with aplomb:
Please don’t ever suggest that I’m interested in blog ethics, whatever they are. I think I may have once suggested a committee on the subject, but that was just mischief-making, bait I hoped Jason Calacanis would take. To pose as a blog ethicist is a losing proposition.
