This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 1998, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Everything you have ever wanted to know about Mormon temples -- but had no one to ask -- now can be answered with the click of a mouse.
``For the past couple of years, the site has contained hard-core pornography, negativism, lewd remarks, and evil material about the LDS faith and people in general,'' said Osborn, an Orem resident who initially went to mormon.com to research data for a church project and instead found an anti-Mormon site.
``I was shocked.''
So, Osborn, a bishop for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, decided to do something about it.
Osborn began e-mail negotiations with the Arizona-based owner, and after 2 1/2 months, the Utahn purchased the domain name -- http://www.mormon.com -- for ``a large sum of money.'' (He remains mum on how much).
He removed the negative information and constructed a site that since March has contained ``dozens of headings with dozens of pages of positive information for both members of the LDS Church and others interested in information about the church.''
``God bless you for your sacrifices that you have made to clean up this site and make it what it is today,'' said Richard Clark, one of hundreds of Internet surfers worldwide who have clicked onto the resurrected site. ``This is why God allowed mankind to create the technology to be able to have the Internet.''
Years ago the name mormon.com was easily registered by a man in Arizona. He simply paid a fee to own the domain name.
``There are literally hundreds if not thousands of combinations of church-related names for Internet sites,'' Osborn explained. ``It is up to the viewer to determine if the information provided is consistent with the teachings and doctrines of the LDS Church.''
Osborn, who served an LDS mission in Taiwan and earned a bachelor's degree in Chinese at Brigham Young University, was no stranger to business ventures. He started Osborn Video, which would become a major international video production, duplication and manufacturing company employing 100 people.
He sold Osborn Video, but now owns SeaStone Companies -- a holding company that has invested capital into everything from medical buildings to the Zuka Juice franchise stores in Denver.
``I spent a lot of money out of my own pocket to purchase it, develop it and manage it,'' Osborn said of the website.
``Long-term we would like mormon.com to generate enough funds [through online] advertising) to break even. But I didn't do this as a profit venture. Right now it is strictly a charitable donation for a good cause.''
Shortly after the purchase, Osborn sent out an e-mail asking surfers to browse the various sections and links to other Mormon sites -- including lds.org, the official site of the Mormon Church.
The first few days after Osborn announced he had sanctified the site, several dozen surfers visited it. Now, it receives thousands of hits daily. People from 45 countries already have visited.
``Judging by the growth curve we are on right now, we expect that within a year we will have more than 100,000 visits a day,'' Osborn said.
What do visitors find?
Instructions on how to translate missionaries' e-mails from abroad into English. Or, into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish -- and vice versa. The how-to's of converting kilometers into miles, Celsius into Fahrenheit, plus information about missionary work, scriptures and genealogy also is included.
Mormon Church officials do not sign off on the information provided on mormon.com.
``This is a completely unofficial site,'' said Osborn. ``But we do our best to keep it as consistent as possible with the teachings and principles of the church.''