Apogee Weblog: Google.de a Parked Domain?

With all the trouble I'm having with Google and parked domains, I had a good laugh this morning hearing that Google Germany (google.de) was a parked domain for a few hours. I don't think it's a hoax. These are all reliable sources: Search Engine Land, Search Engine Roundtable, Google Blogoscoped, TechCrunch. Multiple stories on Techmeme. I actually wish it had been a parked domain for longer. Would have been interesting to see if Google still believes what their customer support reps have been telling me:

In the meantime, I do want to let you know that we include sites such as the ones you mentioned as part of our search network. Using Google's contextual targeting technology, AdSense for domains shows AdWords ads on parked domain name pages. We've found that AdWords ads showing on parked domain name pages often receive clicks from well-qualified leads within the advertisers' markets. As a result, the return on investment for these pages can be comparable to that of search pages. To determine the value of traffic you've received from parked domain name pages, we recommend you monitor your conversion rate.