{"id":109447,"date":"2015-09-17T19:43:19","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T01:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/commercial-demons-website-comes-down-at-9-rs-request\/"},"modified":"2015-09-17T19:43:19","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T01:43:19","slug":"commercial-demons-website-comes-down-at-9-rs-request","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/commercial-demons-website-comes-down-at-9-rs-request\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercial Demons website comes down at 9-R\u2019s request"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"This
This screenshot shows the home page of the website www.durangodemons.com, a commercial website that promised to document the doings at Durango High School. The site was taken down Monday at Durango School District 9-R\u2019s request.<\/span>Ann Butler\/Durango Herald<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

When DigitalTown Inc., a Burnsville, Minnesota-based company, announced it was creating a website called www.durangodemons.com, red flags went up at Durango School District 9-R.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe immediately began to inquire about the legitimacy of the website within the district and our athletics department, and they were all unaware of the site,\u201d said Julie Popp, director of communications and marketing for the district. \u201cThe school district also started to work with local authorities and contacted the website owner to take it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rob Monster, CEO of DigitalTown said the website was taken down within 30 minutes of his company\u2019s being contacted by 9-R.<\/p>\n

The website would have generated profit through selling ads on the website and \u201cDurango Demon\u201d gear, although everything on the website when it was up Friday was generic and did not use any Durango High School logos.<\/p>\n

\u201cTechnically, the site is in the public domain, and it belongs to the community, not the school district. But rather than create a ruckus, we cooperated with the school district.\u201d Monster said.<\/p>\n

DigitalTown presents itself as a partner with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association in its news releases and on its website, but the NIAAA does not list the company as either a partner or sponsor on its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy communications coordinator talked with NIAAA (Monday), and they said this is an ongoing problem all over the country, so it\u2019s widespread, it\u2019s not just us,\u201d Popp said.<\/p>\n

The district was particularly concerned about confusion in the community, Popp said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want third parties to impersonate us,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s against our policies, and it\u2019s also against the law. But representing themselves as an official source of information around our athletics is a concern. Also, the fact that the site was promoting donations and sponsorships directed for our athletics, our schools and our school district is misleading, when people should just give it to us directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

District 9-R has been considering a website for its athletics department, she said, and now a local Web developer has offered to create one gratis.<\/p>\n

That might be a surprise to DigitalTown. Monster believes the district is reviewing the www.durangodemons.com site and his company through its administrative process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would need access and control over content and messaging to the community of any website,\u201d Popp said, \u201cespecially as we\u2019re embarking on an endeavor to raise funds for the stadium at Durango High School.\u201d<\/p>\n

abutler@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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