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Don't talk about AIM/iChat/ Screename!

As many posters here can back me up, the Screename service has reached new heights! (actually, lows!)

The other day, I was having problems with an old account, Joshua D Thomas (just a nice, simple Screename, my name :)). Anyway, the quick fix was to make a new one..

So, I started a thread to assist me, after trying nearly 20 combos of my own.

I hate having random digits, numbers on my email addresses, so if I can't have just my name, I refuse, and go somewhere else.

Dogbone (poster in this thread), actually posted some really good ones, and would you believe it, I think 1 address out of at least 10 wasn't actually taken.

Someone suggested I have JDT, which I would love = taken. Then another posted suggested JayDeeTee (my initials, verbally, I dunno how else to say it :confused: ).. even that was taken.

Its madness. But I finally got one, just a little long.... deep breathe before saying it out loud...:eek: ... Joshua David Thomas. :D
 
MisterMe said:
You don't understand what happened? Allow me to clue you in. Your domain company declared the domain unavailable because it wants you to pay for the name. Check for dogpeepee.com. I'll dollars to donuts that it is unavailable.

It wasn't my domain hosting company that wanted me to pay over the odds, they only charge $20 for the bi yearly registration fee. The company that wanted to auction the name to me is a company that said they owned it. When I typed the name I was after in a browser I was redirected to their website which auctioned off names. In the end it was too much trouble. I checked whether the name was taken by doing an availability search in a few registries all over the world and they all said it was taken.

But a couple of weeks later when I did the same search it was suddenly available everywhere? Is this a coincidence or is it some kind of elaborate scam. Did the auction company really own it? if not how was I redirected to their site. Also how come it was listed as unavailable through all the other hosting services that also offer domain registration. It seems that the auction company *did* own it but it must have only had a couple of weeks to go before it ran out and became available again. Coincidence or scam? I don't really know.
 
This is kind the reason i got my own domain. It looks good on a resumé, travels with me, and damn it looks cool! i have about 10 email address that are @willsisti.net
 
A nice simple email address is something to hold onto...

first name last name @ domain com is the way to go. Luckily I have a nice simple home & work email address. Makes giving your email to a friend or something much easier.
 
m-dogg said:
A nice simple email address is something to hold onto...

first name last name @ domain com is the way to go. Luckily I have a nice simple home & work email address. Makes giving your email to a friend or something much easier.

Yeah, that's never been a realistic possibility for me unless I do set up my own unique domain, as both my first and last names are so common, they're easily already taken everywhere. :eek: ;)
 
clayj said:
Ditto what everyone else has said here... short domain names are cool if you can get them (I have "clayj.com"), especially since you can then have a short e-mail address (mine is "clayj@clayj.com"... it has the added distinction of being MY name at MY domain and it's easy to remember).
So true.

In my case, in the early days I was very lucky to get my first and last initial, which also happens to be my nickname.

It's a dot com address.

The total characters. including the @ and period, is 10.

Short and sweet! :D
 
I wanted to launch a new male lubricant and call it Man Slide (yes, I'm totally serious), but alas, it was taken and trademarked, too. :rolleyes:
 
dogbone said:
Can you explain to me how it works that a non existent domain diverts to an auction company, and also how come that a check on the domain shows it as 'taken'?

That's what happens when someone who previously registered the domain fails to renew it. After a short probationary period to allow the person to reclaim the domain, it goes up for auction. If nobody wants it the price will come down, and eventually it will get sent back into the general pool of domain names.
 
we have anness.org, so I have steve (at) anness.org. As for AIM names and my own personal domain, I have an amateur radio callsign, and I have never encountered it already have been taken. I hope to get it as a personal website in the near future.
 
dogbone said:
Can you explain to me how it works that a non existent domain diverts to an auction company, and also how come that a check on the domain shows it as 'taken'?
IIRC, Network Solutions was caught running a similar scam. Any prospective domain name entered into the search gets registered to the search company. Then the search shows that the domain name has been claimed. The person conducting the search is asked to pay the owner of the name for the rights to it.
 
I don't understand how domain speculators make money. To grab a domain that someone might want, they have to pay annually for it as long as they hold it. They can sell it for a profit if somebody comes looking, but they have to make enough money on that sale to cover all of the domains they hold that nobody ends up wanting. They have to have either a large markup or a great success rate to make a profit, and I'm puzzled how they manage that.
 
I'm thankful I got Plymouthbreezer - but that was at least 6 years ago.

Anyway, e-mail is an outdated internet technology in my opinion, as there are so many alternative forms of communication (such as webforums, myspace/blogs, and instant message clients) that tend to serve most people as far more convenient.
 
Doctor Q said:
I don't understand how domain speculators make money. To grab a domain that someone might want, they have to pay annually for it as long as they hold it. They can sell it for a profit if somebody comes looking, but they have to make enough money on that sale to cover all of the domains they hold that nobody ends up wanting. They have to have either a large markup or a great success rate to make a profit, and I'm puzzled how they manage that.

You just have to be very selective. Type in firefox.com and see what happens. You'd probably be a rich man if at the beginning of the internet you had the nouse to register bigbusinessname.com
 
Plymouthbreezer said:
Anyway, e-mail is an outdated internet technology in my opinion, as there are so many alternative forms of communication (such as webforums, myspace/blogs, and instant message clients) that tend to serve most people as far more convenient.

They all have their place but I don't see any of those alternatives replacing email, especially not for business.

Posts on webforums/blogs/wikis are akin to group emails without the privacy. Occasionally useful but certainly not ideal for private matters. Yes, you can password protect posts but how is that possibly more convenient than sending a direct email?

IM is great IF you're both logged on at the same time. And IM does not lend itself well to longer, more considered conversations.

All the alternatives you mentioned have their place and are useful in the right circumstance but, like I said, I don't see any of them replacing email as the main tool of communication for most people.
 
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