TorrentReactor Reportedly Buys, Renames a Russian Town

baronvoncarson and a few other readers sent in the unconfirmed report that the Russian torrent site TorrentReactor had bought the Russian town of Gar for $148,000, on the condition that the town rename itself Torrentreactor.net. Torrent Freak notes circumspectly that TorrentReactor has been known in the past for — how best to put this? — publicity stunts and hoaxes. And Torrent Freak at the time of writing had no confirmation from any Russian authority that the purported cash-for-renaming deal is genuine. Here is the announcement on TorrentReactor's site, which contains this explanation of how Gar was chosen: "We've picked a few thousands of godforsaken places around the world that are close to operating nuclear reactors to make a connection to the name of our company. The list was numbered and a random number was picked by a generator. The number 377 was a lucky one for Gar village. We think it was a good choice since Gar citizens are very kind and generous people." The whole (purported) transaction is reminiscent of the dot-com boom, when in 1999 the not-yet-launched Half.com offered $100,000 to a small town, Halfway, Oregon, if it would rename itself for the company. It did. The record is vague as to whether the money was ever actually paid, as Half.com was acquired by eBay just over a year later.

Alright, not bad.

[Anonymous Coward]

At-least this town will be non-associated to other communities and surely is non-incorporated to the State.

I love free towns, almost as-good as a township, and has a worthy style of living that can put itself on the map just as did CB Radio, homebrew beer, free-range livestock, and Water Electrolysis/Joe Cell.

Umm what?

[Arcorn]

What's the likely hood of the town actually agreeing to this? If they were pretty much bankrupt it would make sense but how would the people in the town feel about having it renamed to a website name? Stop reporting crap kdawson.

Slashdot participates in hoax

[DNS-and-BIND]

By the very act of considering this News For Nerds, and posting it on the front page where millions will see it, Slashdot has participated in this hoax. If it's not verified, and it comes from a known perpetrator of hoaxes, and it smells funny, why the heck is Slashdot or any other media outlet even paying attention to the story? It plays directly into the hands of the hoaxers!

I hope it's true.

[blind biker]

It would add a bit of color to this grey, lifeless IT world.

Re:Umm what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well heck by that logic I ought to be able to by just about any US city for a measly $100,000. They are just about all bankrupt.