Anyone reading the Hull Daily Mail today may well believe the character assassination of the creator of the website HU17.net. Who in their right minds would want this man within a hundred miles of the beautiful town of Beverley after this?
There is certainly some truth in what the Hull Daily Mail has printed. Paul Smith has had some dealings with people involved in the adult industry in the past, and has coded some of their websites. He has also taught many of them how to update their own sites, and this looks like being a huge mistake, as the content is then completely out of his control yet still carries links to his website company.
However, as the Hull Daily Mail states several times, Paul Smith is supposedly personally behind “thousands” of hardcore websites. It also states that he has earned a mere £12,000 per annum and incurred several hundred pounds of losses in his business. Something doesn’t quite seem to add up there.
His meagre salary is no reflection of the effort he put into trying to build up his website business, which was immense, but more a reflection of the struggle he had to find suitable clients. He tried to stick to fairly strict guide-lines, but it is obvious that once his work was done, his website templates were updated with content that was very much outside his chosen field. Paul owns a total of 112 domain names which cover every website he has made over four years of every kind. Almost half of these have been dormant for many months. It’s a mystery where the figure of 3,991 websites comes from, but as an exaggeration, it is exceptional.
The paper also states several times that Paul Smith agreed to make a website for one of their reporters who were posing as an Escort. The truth is that Paul agreed to discuss the possibility of building a site, but as the HDM says Paul acknowledged that the term’ Escort’ covers such a wide range of possible services. He made it clear that he would agree to absolutely nothing until he had a chance to establish the moral code of the individual in a meeting. Obviously, this meeting never happened as it was fabricated by the reporter as a way of obtaining an interview for the paper.
Paul has already received very enthusiastic support today from people, not only those that know him and know what an honest and hard-working man he is, but from complete strangers who have visited his HU17.net website for the first time as a result of the HDM’s article. They can see through the newspaper’s angle, and are just making up their own minds to just what sort of person Paul Smith is. Just as he has done over the last nine months, he will continue to dedicate every waking moment to the creation of good and varied publicity for free to ANYONE in Beverley who invites him. He has created HU17.net to reflect the beauty and life of this stunning town because he loves it.
There’s more I could write, and probably will, but I don’t want to waste any more of my time looking at this deeply upsetting publication to find issues with what they have written. There are things going on in Beverley today that are much more important, and I will support Paul in his coverage of them.
Keep up the good work Paul, your pics are fantastic.
I am absolutely speechless at what the Hull Daily Mail has done, just wanted to post here to show my support!
What is especially ridiculous is that the Hull Daily Mail are promoting this “bounce back” campaign, to support local businesses – then they go and slate somebody like this, it is absolutely appalling.
As an on and off freelance web designer I can completely emphasise with Paul – it is a competitive marketplace and very hard to keep going. So what if he chooses to create websites of an adult nature? It is not illegal! At the end of the day these people need websites, you are naive if you think it doesn’t go on – why not take on the work if it pays the bills? In a recession like this you cannot necessarily afford to be picky about who your clients are.
I completely agree that the underlying motion here is the popularity of this website? Hopefully it will backfire and work out in your favour. The majority of sensible minded people will see this story for what it is – an attempted character assassination.
Hopefully a full apology will be issued, and some good will come of this for you.
All you need to know Paul is in the unprecedented response in the comments section.
People across the political and social spectrum who are usually at each other’s throats have united in their condemnation of the HDM and their disgusting vilification of you and your business.
As many people have pointed out the HDM are quite happy to run adverts for prostitutes (sorry… escorts). I’m not a religious man but one of the good lines in the bible is ‘let he is without sin cast the first stone’ or as I like to think of it it… ‘you bloody hypocrites’.
Support you 100% Paul. Just put my complaint into the PCC. Shocked to see how low they go, I think it could back fire on them and discredit the HDM. Found good use for my copy of the HDM paper though, as run out of loo roll. keep doing what you do best mate.
When I heard about this I immediately thought it was a cheap and easy way to discredit what they will see as a site taking away their online readership. They hated the community site thisisull.com with a passion another one “they” saw as a rival…It’s funny when a member of the Northcliffe Media group with however many waged employees fancy offices and awardwinning this and that after their name, has to resort to attacking much smaller sites with little or no financial clout. They recently lost a number of online readers with the loss of Hullvibe so I imagine all the smaller sites will be attacked in turn.
HDM are hugely out of order with this ‘story’. The upside, is I’ve come and checked out this web-site, and whilst I’m no Beverlonian it looks great! As a Hull lass and one of many who will be giving the HDM a wide berth from today, it would appear there’s a gap in the market for a HU1.net type of site…?
Keep up the good work!
I guess the HDM have lost a few readers today through showing how to be hypocritical journos.
Hello Paul and HU17.net
Myself and ‘NO SOUP!’ Productions would like show our disgust at the article published about you and your website and want to show our support for you and your work. You have built up an amazing resource for all things about Beverley and offer free publicity to people like us who cannot afford the ridiculous fees for publicity. You are a key member of the community and a lot of people appreciate your work.
Thanks
x
Paul, I’m glad to see you have had so many messages of support from your local community. I’m going to add mine to those, the HDM have massively shot themselves in the foot over this “story” and will be made to pay for it eventually.
http://newsdiscontent.wordpress.com/2010/03/04/same-old-daily-mail-always-smearing/
You have an excellent case for libel, and my advice would be to go for the guns and get this story pulled from their websites and a full front page apology as an absolute minimum. I’ve passed this story along to a few MPs who will give it more publicity, and Twitter is abuzz with activity as is facebook!
All the best
Steve
So glad to see you have all this support – and so you should, you have done nothing wrong. What hypocrisy from the HDM which carries ads and takes the revenue for call girls and sex chat lines! Cheap sensationalism, and anyone can see it for that. Keep up all the excellent work you are doing to promote Beverley.
Hey, I’ve just read about this ‘scandal’ on The Register. I really can’t see what all the fuss is about myself, at the end of the day how I see it, you’re just doing a job, as long as it’s all legal and above board then who’s it hurting? It’s not as if you’re forcing people to visit the site.
I’d say keep up the good work, I think your site design is quite good myself.
Rob
P.S. If anything it’s made me want to visit Beverley when I’m next up north.
Congratulations on making The Register
Chin up. Although you’re probably already looking at these options, place a formal complaint with the paper, and seek legal advice.
By the way, you’ve got yourself a ton of free advertising at least from this. Good luck in the future with your business, being self employed is a hard life, but can be very rewarding.
Paul, it is not a huge mistake to have contributed to the construction of a client’s website. You never have control of anybody’s website once it’s constructed and yo have instructed clients how to maintain it themselves. Don’t be ushered into taking ANY kind of backward step on this. This is SCANDALOUS, what the Mail have done. It is a flagrant assault on your civil liberties as a private citizen of a free democratic nation, whose entire economy relies on the entrepreneurialism of private investors and small business such as yours.
SUE! SUE THEM ALL!!! I can almost see the amount of names on the petition already!
we’ve all known for a long time that the Hull Daily Mail is a wretched rag, but this latest stunt is…jaw-droppingly wretched! how they can lay claim to any form of integrity after this is beyond me (and i mean any kind of integrity, personal as well as professional)
not much else i can do, except state my support, and add HU17 to my browser favourites.
don’t let ‘em grind you down!
My sympaphies that you have been treated in such a shoddy manner. You may want to ask Hull Daily Mail deputy editor about the story below. It would be particularly interesting to ask him what the woman in question did for a living…
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=37536§ioncode=1
I couldn’t believe what i was reading today, and don’t think id ever buy a copy of that trash after what they have written. Id get more sense reading The Fortean Times!!
Hope they get whats coming to them for this.. I’m also thinking about writing to them myself as they keep publishing my band photos and not crediting me anywhere!
Paul, I don’t know you, but the HDM should be ashamed of themselves. You are running a business, you are trying to make money – what is the issue there? Are people jealous? Yes probably. Would people rather you be unemployed and claiming benefits instead?! You just can’t win in this country!! I congratulate you for your entrepreneur skills and talent. I hope you make even more money now you have free promotion for your other website – serves them right!!
ear Mr Smith of [HU17.net] time to consider legal action and sue the HDM for blatant defamation. Better still go straight to the top, bypassing Northcliffe Media and bang on the door of the Daily Mail and General Trust Head Office and stick a rocket up the arse of Martin Morgan, CE, or Lord Rothermere for allowing one of their subsidiaries to go so far downhill as to be scraping barnacles.
Good luck Sir and keep up the good work with your website business.
(For some strange reason the HDM wouldn’t let me post this comment against the said article hmmm!)
I am very angry at the behaviour of the HDM.I wish you every success and hope you have the good sense not to let these fools upset your life.
I am very angry at the behaviour of the HDM.I wish you every success and hope you have the good sense not to let the fools at HDM upset your life. I am heartened to see the support you have from the public.
Best wishes, Barney
The HDM are like all traditional journalists they fail to really understand what the internet is all about so they revert to a stance of primitive protectionism. They are scared shitless and they are failing to adapt.
Keep in mind this is the same editor John Meehan that over-reacted so badly to the BBC’s plans for local news.
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=40081
This is the same company that destroy local jobs by grouping their sub-editors into news factories, and then they wonder why local people create their own websites to fill the gaps.
Essentially what the dinosaur Northcliffe group think is that local news is their property.
In the internet age, this analysis doesn’t stand up at all. If they had any sense they would be promoting internet entrepreneurs not denigrating them.
Keep up the good work. I’d wager with your experience that your website skills and local knowledge are probably a hundred times better than any one working at the HDM.
PAUL THERE SCARED OF A BIG COMPOTION LOOK WHAT YOU HAVE DONE YOU HAVE SINGLE HANDEDLLY MADE A WEB SITE ALL ABOUT BEV AND I THINK THAT IS TOTALLY AMAZING IT MAY TAKE FROM 10-100 PEOPLE FROM THE HDM TO MAKE A WEB SITE AS GOOD AS YOURS IS SOO ILL BE BACKING YOU ALL THE WAY PAST IS THE PAST MATE SOO THERE GUNNA HAVE TO GET OVER IT IF THEY KNEW YOU LIKE I DO THEN THEY WOULD KNOW WHAT A STUPID MISTAKE THEY HAVE MADE YOUR SUCH A GREAT GUY AND YOU DONT DISERVE THIS SOOOO …… GOOD LUCK
The report by the HDM was totaly dispicable and i sincerly hope that you make money/website hits/gain from this shameful story as much as possible. They have lost a reader in myself and you have gained one. I hope you are not too badly affected by all of this.
Cheers,
Mike
I’ve got a scandal for you. Northcliffe Newspapers (the publishers of Hull Daily Mail) regularly accept money to advertise sexual services.
I can prove this in just one paragraph, never mind a badly written front page of a piss-poor rag…
The Stuff4Sale website is owned by Northcliffe Newspapers. When you search for ‘Escorts’ in Hull (under ‘other’), you get this: http://www11.xpresssites.com/northcliffe/marketplace/s4s/item_details.jsp?_RND=695538392
What sordid people! If only we could alert concerned Hull residents to these alarming practices, eh?
I’ve already expressed my thoughts on HDM’s board and they match the unanimous chord sung by everyone. This is the first time I have heard of HU17.net and my only concern is that I didn’t find this sooner – easily my local web newspaper of choice now. Bye bye Hull Daily Mail, hello HU17!
have never visited your site before but after seeing the disgusting article the Hull Daily Mail published on you. I wanted to give you my support and best wishes, you have the support of a whole community keep strong!
Brilliant site design by the way!
Sadly I don’t think you’ll win with PCC or with lawyers, as HDM did publish the truth, albeit in an absolutely cowardly way, utterly hypcritical and filled with nudge-nudge-wink-wink insinuations that are practically borderline libel. They’ve done a number on you, but thankfully people aren’t fooled, as the commenters here and on their own articles have proven.
There is a way to get back at them to ALL residents of Hull who are unaware of their hypocrisy.
Here’s more smut, directly on Hull Daily Mail’s own website…
http://classifieds.thisishullandeastriding.co.uk/ThisIsClassifieds/www/default.aspx?p28=thisishull&p24=GeneralClassifieds&p25=GeneralClassifieds&p2=&p3=000006&p4=000000&p5=000000&p6=X0100&p7=&p8=thisishull&p14=&p9=03/03/2010&p10=04/03/2010&p13=1&p12=Date&p16=Results&p18=000006&endParam=1
I think you should do a poster campaign about Hull Daily Mail peddling this “sick” “pornographic” “filth” (written in their style, obviously), and stick it round town just to humiliate them to their offline readers. Taste of their own medicine.
Just found HU17 (Bet you can’t guess how ;o) ) I say this is a top local site! I will be having a beer or three and food from some of the places I found here over the next week or so.
Will probably have my lunch time chips wrapped in the Hull Daily Mail.
Keep the faith. You have a great site. I hope everyone using the site to advertise or promote themselves stays with you.
Just wanted to put on a message of support for Paul, after reading the article I looked at the website for the first time and think it’s fantastic. Well Done. We should be proud that someone wants to show off all the delights of Beverley. The HDM should apologise for the slander they have published. I am 100% behind you Paul..
You’d think a so called ‘newspaper’ would have better things to do than personal attacks on people who have done nothing wrong.
I’ve just filed a complaint with the press complaints commission under clauses 1,10, and 13 – perhaps it would be good if everyone else were to do the same.
Oh look, the Deputy Editor of Hull Daily Fail – Mr David Bourn – used to work at the Norwich Evening News, and what happened?
I believe the public have a right to know what HDM’s David Bourn did, so here’s a tale of how he was arrested and had to resign…
Hull Daily Mail deputy editor had to resign in police arrest and violence scandal. The poster campaign has got legs!
BTW, I’ve been submitting HDM’s shameful smear campaign over on Twitter, got a good retweet out of it, submitted it to TechDirt.com who have a massive audience who love this sort of thing, and begged Graham Linehan (@Glinner) to cover it on Twitter account. Fingers crossed!
As someone who has been a victim of an unfounded HDM vendetta, I know what it feels like. Keep your chin up
The HDM tried to slaughter my company when we had done nothing wrong. they have an agenda and don’t let the truth get in the way of what they want to print. DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU READ IN THE DULL DAILY FAIL.
Paul, I dont know you from a bar of soap but I recognise an obvious injustice when I see one. You have my heartfelt support, and I hope the people of Hull see through this pathetic attempt by a local rag to fabricate a story out of nothing. Have you investigated your legal options regarding damages? I’d be amazed if you dont have a solid case here.
Regards from Belgium
As an amateur football manager of almost 11 years I have had a continuous struggle trying to increase the amount of publication for ALL amateur football teams in Hull and surrounding areas with the Hull Daily Mail. The coverage had gone from average down to, for the want of a better word, crap! They have turned their backs on the thousands of lads and a number of women who take part in local sports. HU17.net has finally given local sports the coverage they deserve and highlighted the fact that the HDM simply do not serve local people anymore.
I no longer buy newspapers – the reason? The late Jade Goody labelled by ALL the press as a ‘Racist ignorant pig’ on one page after her Big Brother racist blurt and after her tragic death the same reporters suddenly referred to the “racist pig” as the “Essex princess”! All the press do is sniff around looking for a story, like a pig after truffles and I simply refuse to put my money (even if it is only twenty or thirty pence a day).
I have been in John Meehan’s office (HDM editor), he offered me a job as did Roy Woodcock (now editor of The Journal) – wow hasnt he done well! I was originally offered £50 to cover two pages of sport in the Beverley Advertiser which now simply doesnt cover sport whasoever, never mind any news! I am so glad I didn’t take him up on his paltry offer. I would rather sweeproads than be a reporter – (no disrespect to any ex-roadsweepers meant).
Having met Paul through my football team I was fully aware of his background and what he USED to do – he didn’t tell me I already knew and I used to wind him up about it. Well done him, right or wrong, the porn industry is a massive industry. I know one person in Beverley who has lost £70,000 trying to promote such sites – so not all involved win! Paul has simply shown savvy business skills, took his money and done nothing illegally. All sites set-up where requested by other people and Paul never forced anything upon anyone. He served those asking for domains. It is a simple attack on a rival that will only benefit from this illegal attack on an innocent person. I hope you speak to your solicitors Paul although looking at the responses on both websites I think you have already ‘won’ the battle.
Well… well… well… As an ex-Beverley lad and a fellow web monger I have to say well done!
I refuse to read the Hull Daily Mail when I go home to see my folks – it’s ridiculous how they try to do the East Riding area down and you have borne the brunt of it this time. So, some people with adult sites may or may not have employed you in the past – big deal!
You must have got a whole bunch of traffic to your site, the story is on theregister.co.uk. This news item was pointed out to me by one of my friends who lives in Paris. There really is no such thing as bad publicity. Hat’s off to you. Whatever the HDM’s plan was, it has backfired on them.
The HDM story made me laugh. A lot. For their usual sensationalism of what is, to be fair, just the standard stuff of the web.
Nice site by the way.
Gah, looks like Hull Daily Mail staff are reading this comments and removing content from the very links where I’ve exposed their websites carrying adverts for “escorts” (prostitutes). They’re resulting in a blank page, so I hope some of you have done a screengrab as evidence. If not, a scan of the physical paper (which I believe has adverts for “massage” services and sex chat lines) will do to highlight their hypocrisy.
“…your reward will come in the final act, when each of the characters gets the chance to don their sexy outfits and show what they can do with a pole.” – Hull Daily Mail article on pole dancing show, July 2008.
“Gwenap is so entrenched in the city’s psyche, it has become the focal point for the region’s sex industry.” – A favourable Hull Daily Mail article on sex shop, April 2009.
“When it comes to sex, the pregnant actress – who next stars with Mike Myers in The Love Guru – is quite liberal” – Hull Daily Mail article on Jessica Alba’s sexual roles, May 2008.
“The owner of an iconic sex shop in Hull is calling on budding entrepreneurs to come forward and take it over.” – Another favourable Hull Daily Mail article on the same sex shop, June 2009.
The Hull Daily Fail is a disgrace and there are already over 350 people who think so, there isn’t a single comment on their website supporting their story. I think they will sincerely regret this. You have come out of this the better person and you have done nothing wrong. Good luck to you mate!
what a fab job you do in and around Beverley.
cannot believe the discusting actions of the Hull mail they should be ashamed! and issue a public apology.
keep up the good work the people of Beverley love you.
BACKING YOU ALL THE WAY PAUL!!
The HDM have got it ALL wrong,,your a nice guy / friend / neigbour!!
Keep up the good work and don’t let it get you down, youve got the whole of Beverley on your side!!! Well Done!!
It is a mockery of a sham of a sham of a mockery.
Shame on the paper and their double standards…..
Paul – we’ve got facebook groups up and running. It’s a way of supporting you. But I also want to use them to force the HDM into making a public apology.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=336217853923
It’s simply really – don’t buy the Mail until they apologise folks….if you ever want to buy it again that is.
Just emailed the editorial section to voice my contempt at their ‘story’. I do hope you go for the scrotum with this one, they are a disgrace and become more like the National Enquirer every week.
So someone’s making money in a recession, well am not surprised that made the front page. Good luck to you, they themselves make money out of the adult industry. I bet they don’t scrutinise what their ‘escorts’ get up to once an ad is placed with them. I’d like to see Angus Young and the rest of his editorial team’s home computers examined, I bet the sites they’ve been on would make great news! Looking foward to the front page apology, and then to see their shoddy team down the job centre or coming to you for work on HU17.net!
Hull Daily Mail website is refusing to publish comments about the nocturnal habits of its Deputy Editor David Bourn. I’ve posted this above but just for good measure here’s the link again (from a reputable source). The woman involved was not his wife, or his girlfriend, or a friend…
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=37536§ioncode=1
Nicely done Paul – the hdm have shown themselves to be utter fools and obviously somewhat fear you poaching their readership – which is frankly awesome. Keep up the good work chap – and keep the faith
I am with you 100% Paul!
HDM’s keeping all things local whilst they are laying off whole departments left right and centre and advertising their own Escorts columns, just hypocrisy.
Just another example of shoddy, sordid reporting that tries to grasp ratings that is resulting in the demise and lack of confidence in the local press.
Just flush the HDM away and put it out of it’s misery.
I hope everything works out well for you Paul!
In response to the appalling attack on Paul Smith I have cancelled delivery of the Hull Daily Mail and binned the Beverley Advertiser. In future I will keep up to date with local news via more reputable media and especially http://www.hu17.net. Keep up the good work, Paul!
Just to echo what everyone else is saying, what a POS the Hull Daily Mail is.
It’s easy to cause outrage by using the phrases TEENAGE GIRLS, but 19 is teenage, so is 18. Both are over the age of consent and not illegal.
But that doesn’t sell papers.
But muckraking goes both ways:
David Bourn of the HDM in a bit of bother!
http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=37423§ioncode=1
From a fellow developer
HDM is a disgrace! You deserve an apology.
Great to see the support – keep up the great work with HU17, it’s a fantastic site.
Traffic must be going through the roof – I’ve just added a backlink for you on my site in support
I had no idea of the existence of this website until I read that malicious piece of journalism in the Hull Daily Mail yesterday. Rather than apologise, the Hull Daily Mail continued in its attempts to discredit a law-abiding individual with a further article today.
I called the Hull Daily Mail today saying that I wsihed to cancel my subscription to their publications. I got a telephone call in reply from the Assistant Editor (Paul Hartley) attempting to justify the Hull Daily Mail’s position on this story. He said to me that the Hull Daily Mail is not going to let this story lie and that there will be further coverage in tomorrow’s HDM.