Maggie's Farm

From an old buddy of mine in Oregon:

Hi, Doc -

Well, piss.  I'm extremely upset about two things:

-- I was wrong

-- You were right

And that's enough to piss off ANYBODY!

I'll say.  I cringe at the mere thought.

Like a lot of people, my friend always assumed that because his last name is somewhat unusual, he'd always be able to pick up his "name.com" domain whenever he wanted.

He also thought he'd never actually have a use for it, in the sense that he doesn't have any kids, so it's doubtful he'll be posting pics of his cute grandkids a few years down the road, plus he doesn't have any interest in blogging.

Then he went to some kind of 'crafts school' for a month and is now gearing up to sell online some of the nifty things he's turning out, like lamps and chandeliers.  But he doesn't want to commit himself to any one genre in a business sense, like using "JimsCustomLighting.com" for the domain, so what he really wants to do is — you guessed it — use his real name.

And — you guessed it — the domain is gone, gobbled up by the domain harvesters.  It just goes to some "This domain is for sale" page.  And, in many cases, you don't actually get to buy it from them for a mere $4,999.99, you lease it from them on a yearly basis extending from now until the end of eternity.

And then there's this (names have been changed to protect the innocent):

I just don't get it.  Did they pre-register it because of all the James Bellywhumpers out there, knowing one of us would be along any minute?  I typed a few variations into the browser about a year ago and they were all available (it went to Bing).  Did I tip my hand?

Ya got me.  You wouldn't think that Bing (Microsoft) would actually sell its list of searches with the word ".com" in them to some domain harvester, but, on the other hand, it's not illegal to harvest domains, so it probably wouldn't be surprising to find out the domain harvester in this case is owned by Microsoft.

As it is, my friend isn't sure what the hell he's going to do.  Probably end up using "JimsCustomDoodads.com".

So if you ever think you might want your own domain name, now's the time.  Nor do you have to actually do anything with it, like build a temporary web site to 'hold' it.  And most web hosting companies will automatically re-bill you each year so you don't lose it.

I've been designing web pages since the web was one month old, have used a lot of web hosting companies over the years, and my pick of the litter these days is BlueHost.  Unlimited bandwidth, unlimited storage space, unlimited email boxes, a whole shitload of helper programs, and all for a lousy $6.95 a month.

The direct link is here.  If you want to read a bit more about BlueHost and get some ideas on conjuring up an available domain name (like using hyphens), read this, then use the link on the page to get to BlueHost.  If the domain's available, GET IT.  You're not signing up for a 1-year contract or anything.  If you later decide you don't want it, they'll pro-rate it back and refund you the difference with no 'disconnect fee'.

If you're interested in firing up a blog site (elections are coming up!) or web site, please...