Tag: domains

Google by Joe WilcoxSep 30, 20174:23 pm

I Got to Giggle About Gaggles

Sometimes I can only laugh at the strangeness of Internet domain trading and squatting. In August 2015, I registered, for two years, the dot net, org, and xyz extensions for gaggles. The com was taken. I grabbed gaggles to create an email address for people to contact me to support my then-in-progress exposé about Google. With the sound geese make in mind, I sniped at the search entity’s new parent company and alphabet.xyz domain.

Last month, I let all three expire. I own too many domains that are too costly to keep for the value they give: None. Had gaggles.com been mine, though, I would hold them all. More renewals are passing by, or have gone. Meanwhile, I got to giggle about gaggles, because someone else snatched up the dot net and would like me to buy it back. Eh, seriously?

Web by Joe WilcoxDec 28, 201410:49 am

Bye, Bye, Network Solutions

Yesterday, I initiated four transfers that formally end my customer relationship with Network Solutions. When the process completes, all my domains will be with GoDaddy. The end is long-time coming. I registered my first domain, editors.com, with what was then InterNIC, managed by the U.S. company, in August 1995 (I regrettably, in retrospect, sold the web address a decade ago).

Customer service and costs are main reasons for the registrar change, which is quite the turnabout. Three years ago, on December 29, I joined the “Dump Go Daddy Day” bandwagon, moving my domains to NetSol for affordable $6.99 each plus $6 private registration. Now I am absolved of my original registrar.

News Media by Joe WilcoxAug 6, 201411:11 am

WTF is the Right Domain Question

I must thank Todd Bishop, whose tweet about a GeekWire story alerted me to the then forthcoming .wtf domain extension, which is now available. Generally, I think these dot-com wannabes are just plain stupid, but someone wants them—or ICANN decision-makers believe so. I ignored every domain registrar solicitation to grab one until .wtf.

My first concern is brand protection. I’ve pissed off more than a few fanboys over the years and I worried about someone snagging joewilcox.wtf and using that as a platform against me. You should worry, too, if you have any kind of brand to protect. “What the fuck?” is right. If your name is your brand, grab .wtf before someone else does.

Web by Joe WilcoxFeb 14, 20143:21 pm

Now This is Security

I called GoDaddy today and got a welcome surprise. There’s a new policy for phone requests. If 2-factor security is enabled, the caller must give the six-digit code sent by text message to access the […]

Web by Joe WilcoxNov 2, 20124:28 am

Network Solution’s Auto-renew Scam

A year ago when everyone dumped GoDaddy I transferred all my domains to Network Solutions—for each, $6.99 plus $6 private registration. At the time, I confirmed that, like GoDaddy, I could batch renew and get a big discount.

Something strange happened in the last 48 hours; there are unexpected charges, from Netsol, on two credit cards: $37.99 and $107.99, and I can make no sense of them from Domain Manager.

Web by Joe WilcoxApr 12, 20108:58 pm

Bunny Bows: An Easter Story

On Easter Sunday, I won back at auction bunnybows.com, which I lost in early 2008. There’s something appropriate to reclaiming the bunny domain on Easter. I would have blogged then, but bunnybows.com wasn’t officially released to me until today.

Web by Joe WilcoxApr 12, 20066:28 pm

The End Begins

Last night, I moved my domain to a new host and started setting up a new Weblog using WordPress. Please note the new URL and new Webfeed. If you subscribe to my TypePad feed, please, […]

Web by Joe WilcoxMay 16, 20044:03 pm

Strange, But Liberating

This week I agreed to relinquish my original domain name, editors.com. The new owner says he will use the domain to establish a site for editors and writers to commiserate. Oddly, I don’t care much how he uses the domain. When I acquired editors.com in August 1995, I had in mind to create some kind of writing site. Instead, the domain established a single e-mail identity that hadn’t changed for almost nine years.

Relinquishing a domain used primarily for e-mail is lots of work. Besides notifying a couple thousand people of the change, I have to track down every website I ever established a log-in or purchase account and change the identity or default e-mail address—many cases they’re the same.