ID:274067
 
I just figured I'd let y'all know that it's pretty cheap nowadays to have your own .com site. (Of course most of the good short names are taken already, but if you're clever and patient, there are still a lot of good names available.) For those of you who already know all about this... move along, nothing to see here.

The basic things you need are:

1) A domain name, purchased from a domain registrar
2) A domain hosting service

Item 1 reserves the rights to the name for you. Item 2 gives you storage space for your files and lets people look at 'em by typing www.spatz.com or whatever.

For a long time Network Solutions had a monopoly on domain name registration, so domains used to cost $35 a year. Now that there's competition, you can get 'em for $15/year or less. Check out some of the sites on the official list: Domain Registrar List

(I'm told that you can also switch an existing domain from Network Solutions to a cheaper service, but I haven't tried it yet... that's next on my agenda...)

There are plenty of services out there that will host your domain for free. Typically they automatically insert an ad banner or popup window into your HTML pages, and they may limit the maximum size of files you can upload. (Personally I find banners much less intrusive than popup windows, but the choice is yours.) If you don't want ad banners or popups, you can get domain hosting fairly cheaply nowadays... $10/month or less for a small site. Here's a site to get you started (there are many such directories on the Internet; this is just the first one I stumbled across): Hosting services list

(More advanced services, like hosting BYOND worlds, probably won't be available from a free hosting service. Of course, the Hub is free for everyone, at least for now; and after the coming deluge of new BYOND users, hopefully there will be many sites that offer inexpensive world hosting.)

For help designing your web page, check out HTML Goodies for lots of free advice.

Hope this is useful to someone!
Thanks for the note about cheaper domain name registration -- I didn't know about that!

As long as we're passing along tips, I'll mention that I'm VERY happy with my web site hosting service. They are not free, but for only $5/month you get great service, a fast website, and no popup BS.

You can check them out at:

http://pair.com/
Dang it! All of these sites classify me as a minor (I am, after all), so I can't register a domain in my own name. I highly doubt my mom would be willing to have everything addressed to her...

I'm going to have to wait a 2 and a half years before I can register my own internet domain in my own name. And I've been waiting forever just to get my darned driver's license... =P

Oh, here's something weird; TUCOWS, Inc., a Canadian company, charges in US$... weird, huh? (I'm sure most, if not all, of you have heard of TUCOWS somewhere before...)

The cheapest price I found in the few seconds I looked was $7.95... problem was, it was only for ISPs or Domain brokers. Oh well... I'll keep looking.
In response to Spuzzum
Dang it! All of these sites classify me as a minor (I am, after all), so I can't register a domain in my own name. I highly doubt my mom would be willing to have everything addressed to her...

Bad deal. But just because your mom owns the site doesn't mean you couldn't be the webmaster and control all the email accounts and other hassles associated with the site. Which would mean that, after the initial ten minutes of filling out forms online (with your help), she wouldn't have to deal with anything for another year, or more if you pay up front for multiple years of registration. Just tell her you're making an investment in your future!

Actually, though, everything I've read lately suggests that ICANN, the organization that controls the top-level domains, will be adding new TLD's sooner or later. By the time you're old enough to own your own domain name, there will probably be new TLD's with a lot of good names available. Including spuzzum.whatever, which is already taken in the .com area--no doubt by those damn powermongers at the Spuzzum Chamber of Commerce! Or maybe it's Microsoft, reserving the code name for their next version of Windows...

Still, no matter how many TLD's ICANN creates, I suspect that having a ".com" domain will be desirable for a long time to come, just as it's desirable for affluent New Yorkers to have an apartment on Central Park West (like Dana and Louis in Ghostbusters).

FYI:
Here is the raw whois output for spuzzum.com:

vc enterprises (SPUZZUM-COM-DOM)
6630 - 123 street
surrey, bc v3w 0w1
CA

Domain Name: SPUZZUM.COM

Administrative Contact:
rupinder sohi (RS95-BR) [email protected]
Phone- 6048715454
Fax-
Technical Contact:
rupinder sohi (RS95-BR) [email protected]
Phone- 6048715454
Fax-
Billing Contact:
rupinder sohi (RS95-BR) [email protected]
Phone- 6048715454
Fax-

Record updated on 2000-01-23.
Record created on 2000-01-23.
Database last updated on 2000-06-07 03:45:47 EST.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS.BULKREGISTER.COM 216.147.43.234
NS2.BULKREGISTER.COM 216.147.1.164
In response to Guy T.
On 6/7/00 5:50 pm Guy T. wrote:
Dang it! All of these sites classify me as a minor (I am, after all), so I can't register a domain in my own name. I highly doubt my mom would be willing to have everything addressed to her...

Bad deal. But just because your mom owns the site doesn't mean you couldn't be the webmaster and control all the email accounts and other hassles associated with the site. Which would mean that, after the initial ten minutes of filling out forms online (with your help), she wouldn't have to deal with anything for another year, or more if you pay up front for multiple years of registration. Just tell her you're making an investment in your future!

Actually, though, everything I've read lately suggests that ICANN, the organization that controls the top-level domains, will be adding new TLD's sooner or later. By the time you're old enough to own your own domain name, there will probably be new TLD's with a lot of good names available. Including spuzzum.whatever, which is already taken in the .com area--no doubt by those damn powermongers at the Spuzzum Chamber of Commerce! Or maybe it's Microsoft, reserving the code name for their next version of Windows...

I knew about spuzzum.com. When I typed it into InterNIC, fully assuming it wasn't taken, and then it suddenly popped up. I went to the website, but all it is is a bunch of search stuff and MP3 babble. And they're soiling my name with that?! =)

I was planning on swiping www.spuzzum.net. Easy to remember. And the best looking host so far looks like HiSpeed ($19.95/mo., gives huge bandwidth, unlimited throughput and storage space, unlimited email aliases, and 25 POP3 accounts.). As for registrars, I'm still looking.
In response to Spuzzum
I was planning on swiping www.spuzzum.net.

For a moment I thought that wasn't right, but I was wrong! From the FAQ at internic.net:

What are the rules for registration of .net and .org names?

They are the same as for .com. Traditionally, however, names in .net have been used by organizations involved in Internet infrastructure activities and .org is frequently used by not-for-profit organizations.


And BYOND (which no doubt will play at least some part on your site) is definitely aiming to influence the Internet infrastructure. Good idea! I better go register it quick just to irritate you. :)

(That's not entirely a joke. Of course I wouldn't do that, but a while back I wanted to register fradd.com and kept putting it off. And then--as you discovered with spuzzum.com--someone came along and registered it. Now who the heck, besides me, would want a stupid name like that? Oh well... I snozt, I lost.)
In response to Guy T.
(That's not entirely a joke. Of course I wouldn't do that, but a while back I wanted to register fradd.com and kept putting it off. And then--as you discovered with spuzzum.com--someone came along and registered it. Now who the heck, besides me, would want a stupid name like that? Oh well... I snozt, I lost.)

That's why, the second Deadron started being a regular gaming name for me, I got the domain.

Shortly thereafter, someone with an AOL account named "Deadron" impersonated a lawyer and attempted to get me to cease and desist.

That was a bad idea.

He's sorry he did that.
In response to Deadron
That was a bad idea.

He's sorry he did that.

I read that first thing this morning, and it's been bouncing around in the back of my mind ever since...
In response to Deadron
He's sorry he did that.

Note to self: Don't P you off =)
In response to Guy T.
On 6/8/00 11:19 am Guy T. wrote:
That was a bad idea.

He's sorry he did that.

I read that first thing this morning, and it's been bouncing around in the back of my mind ever since...


When I told this guy to knock it off or I'd do something about it, he dared me to do anything and said I was a coward if I didn't.

Well, impersonating a lawyer is a major federal offense.

So I found and contacted the lawyer he was impersonating (yes he used an actual lawyer's name).

I contacted the state bar in his state.

I reported him to AOL's fraud division for committing federal crimes on an AOL account.

And, up my sleeve was the fact that we figured out his address.

His last message to me was:

"Touche."
In response to Deadron
I'd say that probably caused him some acute discomfort. Though it's hard to say for sure... dang kids these days...

Well, so much for my plan. Now BYOND newbies won't have to be terrified by the urban legend of "Deadron's Chipper/Shredder."
In response to Guy T.
On 6/9/00 12:41 pm Guy T. wrote:
I'd say that probably caused him some acute discomfort. Though it's hard to say for sure... dang kids these days...

Well, so much for my plan. Now BYOND newbies won't have to be terrified by the urban legend of "Deadron's Chipper/Shredder."


I believe he lost his AOL account -- which probably meant that his parents found out why... It ain't a chipper/shredder, but I'm happy about it.
In response to Spuzzum
Spuzzum.com is now up for sale... but you know what?

MINIMUM $300 USD! No matter what planet you're from, there's no way in the 666 planes of the Abyss that I'm paying that much just to get a dotcom...

Geez, how the heck do they think that they'll get that much from a mid-teenager. The most I'd probably pay is like $50 CDN, and that's pushing it.

Heh, I'm going to start trying to P them off by offering less than 20 bucks, just to see what happens ;-)
In response to Spuzzum
MINIMUM $300 USD! No matter what planet you're from, there's no way in the 666 planes of the Abyss that I'm paying that much just to get a dotcom...

Hmm. Well, now that I think about it, their minimum isn't as unreasonable as it seems. The name "Spuzzum" is less than 10 letters long, easy to remember, catches your attention, and is registered as a dotcom instead of a .net or .org. It would be great for a business-oriented big bucks corporation.

But I'm not a business-oriented big bucks corporation, and there's still no way I'm paying that much ;-)