Word just in from Rediff: apparently it was an elaborate hoax – a rather well executed one at that, and we should have suspected it when we noted the login powered by JA Highslide (Joomla Art).
Just to be sure, we before putting up this story, we had also done a who-is lookup on the domain from http://www.pknic.net.pk/, and gleaned the following details:
Domain Name: rediff.com.pk
Registrant: Rediff, Daniyal Waseem, Address 34 Oxford Street, London
Create Date: 2008-05-27
Expire Date: 2010-05-27
Agent Organization: Nexus Technologies
Technical Contact: Nexus Technologies, Arsalan Mahmud, Islamabad
It appears that someone has gone to elaborate lengths to spoof the Rediff site. Our apologies to Rediff and to our readers for the inaccurate story carried.
Original story:
So it looks like it’s time to look overseas and address a different geography: NASDAQ listed Rediff.com has launched a website targeting citizens of Pakistan; the site is appropriately named Rediff Pakistan. The site has an interface quite different from that of Rediff.com, and it perhaps conforms to the Rediff redesign that CEO Ajit Balakrishnan mentioned a few days ago. Rediff has also opened an office in Lahore, Pakistan.
Some of the content is Pakistan specific, while other segments appear to be pages from Rediff.com, with a wrapper: Take a look at Astology, Matchmaker, Q&A and Photos.
Other segments like Showbiz and Music are specific to Pakistan, though the music segment is still being populated. Interestingly, the site has a separate login…apparently powered by JA Highslide (Joomla Art).
Interestingly, while Rediff doesn’t have an Urdu site, they are using Google translate to enable different languages, including Arabic.
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14 Comments until now.
Nikhil, How irresponsible can you get?
Please stop this nonsense.
This way you will lose credibility.
Please check the authenticity of the site before publishing such rubbish.
This is not a rediff site . Someone in Pakistan just copied the entire rediff site
Nikhil – you are an idiot
you again proved your idiotic action by reproducing the stupid news you generated – why the hell don’t you remove it from your stupid site?
Nikhil,
I sincerely recommend a longer new year holiday. All this blogging has affected you. i also suggest lose some weight and walk around a bit rather than parking yourself in front of the laptop.
Also get a grip. breaking a story is not like losing virginity. So dont be so desperate next time!
Your well wisher and advisor.
nikhil,
take this as a sincere advice.
please don’t break your reputation in your mission to be the first to break stories!
you could have at least get in touch with rediff before publishing this story. after all it’s a listed company and you know how such news may affect investors. but u don’t own rediff’s share, perhaps if you did you might have been more careful!
love you
what a parting gift you had from the year 2008! wish the next year be more kind to you!
Happy New Year!
perhaps you should not have blogged during holidays!
The hot chics on the site got the better of Nikhil. When you see such pics, checking the authenticity of the site should be the last thing on your mind.
May be we need a medianama.com.pk
This site has fast become the IndiaTV equivalent on the web. My last visit to this unreliable site. How can you not figure out it was a fraud site?? Are u based in India?
We do get a lot of breaking news and appreciate u for tht but plz chk sources bfre reporting and as sumbody pointed out please don’t try to become indiatv of the web
LIABILITY DISCLAIMER
Thursday, 25 December 2008 22:05 administrator
THE INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PRODUCTS, AND SERVICES INCLUDED IN OR AVAILABLE THROUGH THE REDIFF PAKISTAN SITE/SERVICES MAY INCLUDE INACCURACIES OR TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS. CHANGES ARE PERIODICALLY MADE TO THE REDIFF PAKISTAN SITE/SERVICES AND TO THE INFORMATION THEREIN. REDIFF PAKISTAN AND/OR ITS RESPECTIVE SUPPLIERS MAY MAKE IMPROVEMENTS AND/OR CHANGES IN OUR SITES/SERVICES AT ANY TIME. ADVICE RECEIVED VIA THE REDIFF.COM.PK SITES/SERVICES SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON FOR PERSONAL, MEDICAL, LEGAL OR FINANCIAL DECISIONS AND YOU SHOULD CONSULT AN APPROPRIATE PROFESSIONAL FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE TAILORED TO YOUR SITUATION.
REDIFF.COM.PK IS AN AUTONOMOUS ORGANIZATION AND HAS NO ORGANIZATIONAL LINK TO REDIFF.COM OR NASDAQ:REDF, REDIFF.COM.PK IS PART OF NAXAF INTERNATIONAL INC.
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