In a tribute to the old trades and crafts, wireless rumor mill dotcomscoop is launching a Web site.
Previously a newsgroup for cell-phone users based on the UPOC network, dotcomscoop founder Ben Silverman decided that there’s something to be said for throwing up a Web site.
While most media labors in the other direction – a magazine starts a Web site and finally adds a wireless element – 25-year-old Silverman, who works at an Alley-based content dot-com, said the channel had become so popular he wanted to expand.
“Thanks to Sprint you can only send up to 80 characters using SMS [short messaging service]” he said yesterday. “This way I can add a bit of context. Who knows? Maybe I’ll start a print magazine next.”
Although dotcomscoop members can send messages to everyone else instantly, most “lurk” so as to keep the noise down – just like in most Newsgroups.
Rather like the Drudge Report, tipsters target the point man – in this case, Silverman – in the hope he will launder their gossip.
And although most Scoopers have had a fun fall sending in or reading updates of dot-com cutbacks and burnouts, Silverman claims the medium isn’t just for bad news. “If you’re in the business you need to know who’s gone, yes, but you also need to hear about what sort of deals are going down, where the money is, so you can do business, yourself.”
As for whether UPOC’s owners mind one of their most popular properties branching out on its own, CEO Gordon Gould told The Post he was pleased with the move.
“Newsgroups have always spun off Web sites; it just spreads the word about us as a platform. The reason more folks have never launched their promised wireless updates is it took our 30 engineers a year to build the technology,” Gould said.
While WAP [Wireless Application Protocol] and PDA-enabled sites are common (users take an imprint of a site with them), dotcomscoop’s editor likes running unchecked rumors over the Short Messaging System because of its sheer speed.
Silverman reckons that news that is over “three or four hours” old is not worth sending out across wireless networks.
He also says it’s not just Internet companies that will be featured on the site.
“It’s not just about dot-coms, I’m interested in telcos and entertainment companies, too,” he said.