One thing we've had to do is pick a URL. The obvious choices, althouse.com and annalthouse.com, are not available. Whoever owns them is demanding a ridiculous amount of money — $33,500 and $888, respectively (with no mechanism for making a counteroffer). I don't know what is going on there, but if the point is to squat and then sell, shouldn't you make the price something within reason? I don't accept switching the .com to .net for either "althouse" or "annalthouse," because I think people would accidentally go to the .com, and who knows what horrible things someone might put there. In any case, I don't want to drive traffic to those bastards, whoever they are.
So the predicament of the unavailability of the obvious forced us to brainstorm. When I IM'd my son John about it, he immediately suggested althou.se. I didn't even know what the .se meant. Well, it means Sweden. But who cares? There's no embarrassing association with Sweden that concerns me. There's the issue of giving the false impression of being Swedish, but that's a very retro concern, I think. (Am I wrong?) The hip approach — am I right? — is to look at all those country codes as a source of letter combinations to form short, spiffy URLs like althou.se.
Discuss!
ADDED: In the comments, there's a lot of fretting about using .se, but check this out:
Following in Twitter (T.co) and Overstock’s (O.co’s) footsteps, Amazon has picked up the domains A.Co, Z.Co, K.Co and interestingly enough Cloud.co in a deal made with Colombia-based domain registry .Co.A.Co, Z.Co, and K.Co will probably be used for Amazon, Zappos, and Kindle. But, anyway. You see my point. The country-based top-level domains — I'm told "country codes" isn't the right term — are being used now for their letters. This is the trend. I'm on trend, people.
While .Co originally gave Twitter the T.Co domain name for free in order to spread awareness about the brand, Amazon has actually purchased these from .Co for an undisclosed price. In comparison, Overstock’s O.Co rebranding was the first negotiated .Co purchase deal, for $350K...
The genesis of the .Co domain is through Colombia, and while country codes usually take a hit in Google rankings, .Co is part of a unique set of cclds (.tv .me .co) which are treated like gtlds or generic domains like .com .net .org.
.Co is about to hit its 1 millionth domain registered in little under a year of service (.com is at over a hundred million) and is about to set up a stable pricing plan for one letter and two letter domains....
पोस्ट्स
२२५ टिप्पण्या:
225 पैकी 1 – 200 नवीन› नवीनतम»My sister for a while had an email address at sci.fi, which I really liked.
How about alt.house?
Except of course that you might be subject to Swedish/European laws concerning "hate speech". Or whatever the derivative flavor of the month is.
Nah. Go with AlthouseCafe or MeadeHouse.
WV: whaza, as in "althou.se? WHAZA???"
ed has a valid point.
The .tv extension worked out well for the islands of Tuvalu.
Unfortunately "hou.se" is not available. If you could get it you could turn "alt" into a subdomain.
alt.hou.se
and
meade.hou.se
For the sweet potato blog.
Or would it have to be:
alt-house or
alt_house
Why not Althouse.mad since it seems you and Meade have come to like living in Madison this last year.
Sorry, but this is where I make my living, Althouse.
If you want consulting, you'll have to pay me like my other clients.
I was hoping the guess of "cruelneutrality.com" was correct.
Seriously though. I would keep it as far from your last name as possible simply because of what you said in your post. People can get misdirected to who knows what.
I would also do test Google runs of anything close to what you choose, just to make sure there isn't something really bad Google will flash-up when someone searches for you.
alt.house as proposed by plainjane would be a natural and avoid the embarrassment of any association whatever with Swedes or Sweden.
#1althouse
@ed and Mathmom.
Interesting question.
I would bet that any laws regarding content would be based on the physical location of the server, not the domain name.
Or, the laws might be based on the corporate location of the company that owns the server.
I have some ideas, but you're going to have to pay me first before I let you have them.
Agree with you on the issue of the .coms - you shouldn't have to ransom your name. Let them hold the bag, although your point about "horrible things" is well-taken.
Ann Althouse said...
There's no embarrassing association with Sweden that concerns me.
Aside form selling guns to both sides in several wars...
Discuss
I'm so verklempt.
No.
Is $888 too much to pay for annalthouse.com Really?
Using TLDs of other nations isn't all that unusual.
I remember when the Moldova TLD came out - .MD Heh heh - Doctors were buying them up.
Alt.house is not an option because you cannot have aribitrary top level domain names (the bit after the last dot.) ICANN controls the creation of these, and you have to select from one of the ones available. In addition to the .com, .net, .org, .gov, .mil that we are familiar with, there are also ones for each country, and .se is the one created for Sweden.
The wrinkle with these is they are administered by the respective governments, so sometimes you have to meet certain qualifications. (Italy's .it TLDN would certainly be a lot more popular than it is if they did not require the registrant to be a citizen or business of Italy, for example.)
old posts are still missing their comments..
Yay ;)
I got my first domain before I even started blogging. Back in the early 00's, buying a ".com" was kind of the hip thing to do. I wanted to do something revolving around my nickname since second grade - Frog. I also was thinking of doing music, so Sonicfrog seemed like a natural variation.
And then I did the search via Go Daddy.
Sonicfrog.com was already taken. And who ever had it was using it to advertise for some local North Dakota city counsel candidate! It was just one page saying "Vote For So-And-So"!
What a waste!
Luckily, ".net" was fairly new to the scene, and Sonicfrog.net was available. I didn't have the issue with already having an on-line identity, so, in a moment... I became Sonicfrog.net!
The .se extension does not remedy your concern about possibly sending traffic to the wrong URL. “Althouse” is your brand. Period. People will always check althouse.com before they learn better. That’s the way the web works. So if you’re willing to divide your name, then .com is always best, such as alt-house.com, which is available. .se is just another fly in the ointment.
But before you buy, I hope you have a competent dba who will insure a clean migration. Your archives are nothing to sneeze at and moving to another platform may cure your Google ills while simultaneously creating another set of problems that you should contemplate beforehand.
I registered probedroid.net for while, but let it expire.
I love althou.se. You're blonde so kind of look Swedish. Work it. Descendant of Hamlet. Warrior queen.
I say damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, make a slight career alteration and go with the .xxx domain.
@ Shouting Thomas and @Timothy:
Geez, I thought we were all family.
How mercenary.
Garbo in Queen Christina was a Swedish chick. You don't want to mess with them.
Note that my choice is about pushing the trend forward, not being safely conventional.
.se doesn't really say "Sweden" to most people. It's just a way of making the URL as short as possible. In that way, it's better than althouse.com.
As for paying $888 for annalthouse.com -- sorry. I don't ever like annalthouse.com that much. It's cumbersome and boring. If althouse.com were $888, I might be tempted. But I'm glad it's not. I would pay $100 for althouse.com. That's about my limit. I mean... screw them.
"I love althou.se. You're blonde so kind of look Swedish. Work it. Descendant of Hamlet. Warrior queen."
Don't know why Hamlet is in there... but yeah, that's my attitude. I think the first association most Americans have with Sweden is: beautiful blonde women. What are the other associations? Ingmar Bergman?
I mean... screw them.
Exactly. Go with the .xxx
There's no embarrassing association with Sweden that concerns me.
Ah, but there is one in Illinois.
I don't like annalthouse.com either...too close to animalhouse
So, the URL privacy holding company is in Australia. That might mean, but does not necessarily mean, that the owner of the URL is in Australia.
But, Ann, althouse.com has a link to a URL broker with instructions on how to make an offer for the name, so I was unsure how that fits with your statement that there was no mechanism to make a counter offer.
Did you go down that path? Maybe we could put together a fund so your commenters could help pay for a reasonable offer.
I see "annalthouse" and my mind reads it as "anal outhouse" or something like that. Not sure if that's a plus or a minus here, but something to consider.
Sweden associations: Alcohol and drug consumption, depression, the Nanny State par excellence, lack of personal initiative, men being shamed into sitting down to urinate, and IKEA. I could go on.
Here is the 'whois' look up:
Domain althouse.com:
Whois Privacy Services Pty Ltd
Domain Hostmaster, Customer ID : 88460292893513
PO Box 923
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 AU
Administrative contact:
Technical contact:
Billing contact:
Whois Privacy Services Pty Ltd
Domain Hostmaster, Customer ID : 88460292893513
PO Box 923
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 AU
Phone: Phone: +61.730070090
Fax: Phone: +61.730070091
Record dates:
Record created on: 2004-11-27 19:04:18 UTC
Record modified on: 2010-11-17 23:00:01 UTC
Record expires on: 2011-11-27 UTC
Nameservers:
ns2.hitfarm.com:
64.40.102.32
ns1.hitfarm.com:
72.51.27.54
Go for it. The possibility of hooking up with an Ikea link and getting a cut of that action would be much more profitable than Amazon.
(They're not exclusive tho, you could do both.)
For my wife's business we faced a similar problem. Her name was actually being used by another so a seemingly awkward alternative was chosen. But it was .com and and most of her "hits" are from links or search engines anyway.
I hardly ever type in an address. Just keep it simple and make sure its friendly to search engines.
The make Volvos, dont they?
I ask because maybe they dont assemble them there.. dont know.
I would pay $100 for althouse.com. That's about my limit. I mean... screw them.
Ha. No surprise. Says the woman who splits a bagel with her husband, sits for hours in a cafe taking up space and doesn't leave a generous tip.
Seriously. Nothing wrong with being trifty and not being held hostage for your URL name.
Go with something other than your personal name. I'm sure there are plenty of other creative titles that can evoke the character and content of your blogging.
A forward thinking blogger would have already purchased the URL(s) and held it, just in case.
I wouldn't discuss my choices of URL in a public forum, if I were looking to change, because someone will just go ahead and snap up the ones you discuss. Just sayin'
.org .com .net are all well known and trusted extentions. .se maybe not so much.
Don't know why Hamlet is in there...
Scandinavians all look alike.
Will you be joining the Swedish Bikini Team anytime soon?
WV: suscess -- this is a bad omen for the new URL.
You can do better. No one will find you there if looking by URL. Like looking for a company in the wrong country
You are strongly associated with many things, but Sweden is not one of them. That's just confusing. The objective should be clarity about your identity above all else. There have been a lot of better alternatives offered by your commenters.
And Althou.se hAils Australian.
You can attempt to offer through the broker linked at althouse.com, or better than that, you can write the technical contact at this email address:
88460292893513-54d0e3@whoisprivacyservices.com.au
and make an offer.
But I wouldn't offer much at all because you have other good options and we're following you, not your URL.
Here's another "whois" entry to althouse.com. This one has the aforementioned email address.
Domain althouse.com:
Whois Privacy Services Pty Ltd
Domain Hostmaster, Customer ID : 88460292893513
88460292893513-54d0e3@whoisprivacyservices.com.au
PO Box 923
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 AU
Administrative contact:
Technical contact:
Billing contact:
Whois Privacy Services Pty Ltd
Domain Hostmaster, Customer ID : 88460292893513
88460292893513-54d0e3@whoisprivacyservices.com.au
PO Box 923
Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 AU
Phone: Phone: +61.730070090
Fax: Phone: +61.730070091
Record dates:
Record created on: 2004-11-27 19:04:18 UTC
Record modified on: 2010-11-17 23:00:01 UTC
Record expires on: 2011-11-27 UTC
Nameservers:
ns2.hitfarm.com:
64.40.102.32
ns1.hitfarm.com:
72.51.27.54
(The Crypto Jew)
You people are very, very, VERY sad…Althouse is talking about an “.se” address, meaning Sweden and NOT ONE OF YOU has mentioned the “moose” or “the huge molars of Horst Nordfink”, or the sacking of those who wrote the credits….
Where is ScottM when you need him? I’m POSITIVE he would have made some reference by now!
Professor,
Your .net/.com issue extends to the .se domain, if perhaps to a slightly lesser extent. If you pick althou.se, then I'm sure someone would buy althou.se.com and there's the potential for those same "horrible things".
When Sweden inevitably starts the next World War and Holocaust, do you really want that association?
If you go to Bing and type in "Althou.se" it redirects you to right here. So maybe the ".se" issue won't prevent people from looking the site up with a search engine (I assume that's a worry).
villavecchia.com is taken.
If we are supposed to dis and cuss in the same comment then that signal would be to dis.cuss.
althou.se.com is already owned by the owner of se.com, as I understand the hierarchy, if he wants to use it.
I assume se.com is owned as of long ago.
Control what you can - getting 'althouse' in the url, seems key, for search-reasons (there are other ways to get your site to the top of the search engines - web folks, help me out, here). Who cares about the rest of it? Anyway, don't most the regulars here, bookmark your site anyways? And links, pffft, who cares, as long as it gets you there...
"se doesn't really say "Sweden" to most people."
Of course it does.
You don't want to have to be explaining for the next zillion years that you aren't really based in Sweden, you just thought "althou.se" was neat-o. It's like how you have to keep explaining why you voted for Obama. It will get old real quick.
annalthouse.com looks like "anal thouse", whatever that is.
althouse.net? ann-althouse.com?
althou.fe has a greenfleeves touch, if there were a country for it.
Look hip, break a hip, whatever...
A point of order, Joe. It's The Huge Mølars of Hørst Nørdfink. If you don't cross the o's, those pale fish-eaters get cross.
Be clear. Be patriotic. Be inclusive. Be inviting. Be accurate.
Be althouse.us
The Sonicmate, who is much more IT savvy than me, thinks that it's illegal to squat on a domain of a person's name. We've been following the in's and out's of all things interwebs for a very long time (even got to sit in the audience of the fabled "Tech TV" show once) and that rings a bell for me too. Since you "probably" have connections to IT lawyers, you might want to look into that.
.se says Spain to me. Not sure where that's coming from.
If someone Google's "Althouse" or "Ann Althouse", I wonder how far down Goodle will put Althou.se in the search results? Does it matter? Do you care?
.se is ez
I think ed was right on with this comment:
Except of course that you might be subject to Swedish/European laws concerning "hate speech". Or whatever the derivative flavor of the month is.
I am not a lawyer, but I'd be more concerned about losing the althou.se domain because of "hate speech" than I would of any other legal ramifications of Swedish and European law. So if you go with althou.se, I'd also grab a more obvious domain in case you lose your first choice.
I thought that it was going to be edgy.
I demand greater edginess!!!
(Nah, I'm just kidding. Do whatever you want.)
althouse-meade.com
althou.se
Don't like it.
Whats wrong with althouse.edu. I mean your ARE a professor and we do learn a lot here.
Does this really make any real difference?
People already here have you in Favorites (or something similar), others come via links, others just Google.
.li.ke .it
Apparently there's an Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act
Ann, While we're talkin', go put a down payment on a house...before the hucksters get there.
Whoever owns them is demanding a ridiculous amount of money — $33,500 and $888, respectively (with no mechanism for making a counteroffer).
You sure their not teaching in Wisconsin?
(The Crypto Jew)
ScottM I don’t have the “character” to make the funny “O”’s.
But thank Yhwh you're here...STILL not one mention of Llamas, or Alpaca's-a close relative of the llama, or the danger of moose bites, or even the telofon sytem........
"I think the first association most Americans have with Sweden is: beautiful blonde women. What are the other associations?"
I once went to Goteborg, to pick up a Volvo at the Volvo factory. So Sweden to me means blonds and Volvos.
Nude Katy Perry
You'll get a ton of hits.
Being a virtual expatriate sounds preferable to the real thing, even more so if the choice is Sweden. Althou.se would fit in on the blondness scale, but not so much on the rest of Nordic-ness. And WI has some features in common with SE -- mostly flat, really cold in the winter, lots of snow and ice, crazy kids flinging frizbies at 30 below.
This was interesting: "I don't ever like annalthouse.com that much. It's cumbersome and boring." Cumbersome? It's efficient and easy to remember; typing a few extra strokes doesn't add up to cumbersome. Boring is really the problem. So, boring to the eye, to the ear, to the what exactly? I think it's the flip side of efficiency, where simple and predictable (ususally thought of as good things) are transmuted into tiresome and familiar (today's inner circle of aesthetic hell).
Here more than elsewhere: different strokes, different folks.
I had pagliagetspwned.com in the office pool. So it looks like I'm out five dollars.
I completely agree with the annalthouse thing. It's a non-starter, in large part because it's front loaded with "annal" which is misspelled but still offensive. It's not worth the $888. But Althouse.com, on the other hand, was worth some negotiation. Just because it wasn't "easy" to find the owner and enter into negotiations, doesn't mean it couldn't be done. I would suggest that it was worth at least trying.
althouse-meade.com
Nah, that reads as 'Althouse minus Meade' to me.
Not just anyone can get an .edu address. You have to be a school. I don't think even Kahn could get one.
Ann,
althou.se is fine. You have built a strong community of readers and linkers. They will follow you to whatever url you choose.
Have you considered abandoning the blogger blog posts, keeping them here as a kind of museum, and starting your new blog afresh?
Lem said...
old posts are still missing their comments..
Yay ;)
Boo.
urpower said...
I love althou.se. You're blonde so kind of look Swedish. Work it. Descendant of Hamlet. Warrior queen.
Hamlet was Danish and warrior queens tend to be Teutonic or Greek (Amazon).
Although, if Meade goes to Bob Belvedere's post about Die Walkure, he may get some ideas for next Friday's Meadhouse role-play.
WV "doggly" I dassent...
althouse+meade.com
althou.se is cutesy. I associate you with cutesy even less than with Sweden.
annalthouse has alway looked like anal something... aalthouse would only be slightly better. I'd think Alcoholics Anonymous or AAA.
My request is that you choose software that uses numbered comments.
You have to do what you want to do. Doing something to try to be hip or to start a new hipness comes with no guarantees. Please yourself.
I consider myself somewhat edgy (at times) and don't understand why the se is "edgy".
Am I missing something?
Is Sweden edgy?
althouse.us is available.
WV: wastrie, a pastrie that goes strait to the waist
I vote for "althouseblog.com"
What are the other associations?
I cun't beleeefe-a nubudy hed menshuned zee Svedeesh Cheff. Bork Bork Bork!
Also, as punctuation the .se encourages a sibilant s. That's the attitude too. Gaying up the world just a little bit.
1) .com still matters a lot. If you tell someone "just go to her blog; it's called 'althouse'", most people will first try althouse.com. Others will Google it, and in time (probably not very much time), your TLD will matter less and less, but for now, I'd try hard to secure a .com or .net address. A few hundred bucks for some squatter might be worth it, especially for a quicker transition.
2) .se is way too Swedish. It's not like .tv; Tuvalu has successfully turned that into a universal-sounding ending.
3) However, over time and in general, your selection won't matter all that much, as long as it's not too unwieldy (I think althou.se is pretty unwieldy). People don't type in URLs nearly as much as they simply click on them. I often start typing the URL I want, expecting the browser to do a quick-fill that I can click on or hit Enter to accept...but I think my behavior is probably not very common.
althouse.us
Like Bagho said.
Be inclusive.
wv flookem
Umm. Something to do with Sweden?
A cruelly neutral way to nuke 'em?
Never thought I'd say it, but I *will* miss wv.
Was the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo Swedish?
That's the only think I know about Sweden.
And hot blondes with big tits.
Is Sweden edgy?
No, that's Norway. You know, all the fjords and whatnot.
(The Crypto Jew)
Ignorance is Bliss:
“The Kaken smushen” *bork*BORK*
"Althouse" is your brand, and it is important that your brand be easily identified and accessed. You don't see Pep.si or C.oke or McDon.alds or Bu.sh or Oba.ma anywhere. Brands are brands.
OK. I'm done. You know that we love it here, and will still come here regardless of the name. But I'm still pushing for Althouse.com as the new name (regardless of the cost). Isn't the purchase of a URL a legitimate business expense, anyway?
And speaking of names. And with deep respect to your blog. What ever became of Altmouse? For a brief time, there was some cute humor there.
Sorry but it's not edgy at all. It's nerdy smart but to an excessive degree and that makes it just plain dumb.
Try to explain it to someone else in a 30 second elevator ride. And use a someone who is not into blogs all day like we are.
To be Titus-edgy, it would have to be something like althouse.tits
fjords-yea!
Which of those Nordic countries have kringles?
Althou.se looks dumb and lazy.
Nobody is going to say "hey, this blog looks Swedish--I've just got to go there!"
Althouse.us seems logical and professional.
do althouse.tits.
That is perfect!
Please, for me?
Hmmmm Swedish hate speech laws? Damn, I might stop buying meatballs at Ikea if they mess with Althouse over that.
A bitter experience with Asko front end loading washer burned me on ever buying another Swedish appliance (and probably on Volvos too). As a Danish friend said, "What do you expect, everything from Sweden sucks."
"But I'm still pushing for Althouse.com as the new name (regardless of the cost)."
$33k is a pretty big regardless.
ET1492 said...
Not just anyone can get an .edu address. You have to be a school. I don't think even Kahn could get one.
And her, a law professor...
PS For me, it would merely be redundant.
Almost recursive.
Titus said...
I consider myself somewhat edgy (at times) and don't understand why the se is "edgy".
Am I missing something?
Is Sweden edgy?
Not for about 50 years.
PS All kinds of meanings to the word edgy.
Wow, never let it be said that Althouse's commenters are blindly following sycophants. We don't like something, we let you know it, don't we?
(Not me specifically, I guess; I really don't care. But other people sure hate this.)
- Lyssa
Meade would have to get a job.
ass.u.me nothing.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
I think you should work in the World Champion Green Bay Packers somehow.
"But I'm still pushing for Althouse.com as the new name (regardless of the cost)."
$33k is a pretty big regardless.
The seller has to be concerned because he has one chance to sell to the only likely buyer, and she is in the market, probably, only one time right about now.
So $33k is entirely out of the question, and $3k is too.
The holder can hold forever if he wants. Once althouse goes with the new name, he's lost all his leverage.
I'd offer $33 dollars
fwiw I like althou.se a lot, but agree with DBQ and Dolan about annalthouse...it's your name, better snap it up.
Seriously, I thought MathMom had a good idea: AlthouseCafe.
I mean, you're richer than God, for pete's sake.
"$33k is a pretty big regardless."
Absolutely, and I agree completely. But $5k or $10k might be worth thinking about, or negotiating over. It's a capital expense, to build a new home.
Be clear. Be patriotic. Be inclusive. Be inviting. Be accurate.
Be althouse.us
Or altho.us/e
/e can be a redirect.
altho.us is available.
"althouseblog.com"
If it's available... + 1
"I mean, you're richer than God, for pete's sake."
I assume God has taken a vow of poverty.
Wow, never let it be said that Althouse's commenters are blindly following sycophants. We don't like something, we let you know it, don't we?
(Not me specifically, I guess; I really don't care. But other people sure hate this.)
- Lyssa
Do hope the irony of the comment was not lost on Lyssa!
Don't give a shit about being hip although catchy names are easy to remember. I like the AlthouseCafe or MeadeHouse suggestions. You're always having a cafe of some sort.
"Quayle said...
I vote for "althouseblog.com"
This or ProfAlthouse.com
"I don't know what is going on there, but if the point is to squat and then sell, shouldn't you make the price something within reason?"
Despite having worked your blog for years, you are still charmingly naive about how the Internet internals work.
When I think of Sweden, I think of Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Franzen, and Kronwall.
So that's a pretty positive association, at least for me, a wingnut in more ways than one.
However: Quayle's suggestion of althouseblog.com seems safer. The .se extension and the divided name might confuse search engines.
But this really isn't that big of a decision. Most of your traffic is probably through links from other blogs. Don't sweat too much over this.
I would offer that guy with althouse.com a very low amount, like $200 or so, and see if he goes for it.
Whatever you do, it can't come too soon -- blogger keeps eating my comments. (Yeah, I can hear you all saying "That's a shame" in that Seinfeld tone. Assholes.)
$888 aint much. see how much your followers are willing to donate? i am in for $20
You know, I thought you were going to name it "Althouse Café" or something.
althouse.us
Clean, inclusive.
Your name up front
Us the commenters following
You and your country clearly identified
No need for more edge
It is what it is.
Better than .com
So there's no chance for cruelneutrality.com?
Tim W.
In other news.. Popular law blogger Ann Althouse has been quoted as threatening to leave her native United States for Sweden should Barack Obama be reelected president.
Insiders are baffled by the disputed assertion, claiming her vote for president Obama in 2008 as proof of her genuine liberal bonafides.
People have suggested test runs. There are several ways to do that. The first is a simple url access by browser. That's the safest if you really want to. Another is to use a domain searcher - *do not* do this. Squatters hook into those and snare domains if you don't immediately buy. Happened to me and it to five years for the domain to free up.
My suggestion. Sit and ponder. Make a list of your favorites in descending order, purchase hosting - *then* and only then, acquire your domains immediately, with no query. If it fails, move to the next favorite until it succeeds.
Safest method.
PS: There's a new domain designator that opened up. Might be interesting - ann.althouse.xxx.
"But, Ann, althouse.com has a link to a URL broker with instructions on how to make an offer for the name, so I was unsure how that fits with your statement that there was no mechanism to make a counter offer."
I'm not doing the details here, but I'm told the dollar figure is fixed in this case.
What Mama said. I still like .com, but the logic of .us is good. I like Mama's argument.
FWIW, companies that have trademarks can force squatters off of URLs.
Too bad the prick who owns althouse.com is in Australia. If he lived in the US, I could have went over to his house and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
caplight -
"How mercenary."
To quote Althouse, "It's the way of the web!"
When ranking search results within a particular country, Google DOES take into account the country code of the domain (.se). If you select a .se domain name, then be prepared to do very well with traffic from Swedish visitors but not nearly as well with American visitors.
It seems like a bad idea for too reasons.
1) IMHO, it's more weird than edgy or clever.
2) It's not a good name for expanding upon, growing, and eventually selling. Obviously, we're not talking about a HuffPo sort of sale. But, w/ a lot of work (perhaps in the post lawprof years), and a mind toward expansion beyond a single voice blog, it does seem like a Malkin level sale could be possible. Though I don't know if the effort would be worth it. What did Malkin get paid?
howalthouselost.us
You can appeal to ICANN regarding the squatter who owns annalthouse.com. This is a procedure which many celebrities and companies have used to force domain owners of websites to hand over domains which are being held for ransom - which is essentially what the holder of annalthouse.com is doing by squatting on it and then asking for a high price.
You're not on as firm a ground with "althouse.com" as that is not your full name; however, the case with ICANN for annalthouse.com is very straightforward and is pretty much a slam dunk.
CafeAlthouse.com
wv: matines
check out http://ace.mu.nu/ and ask Ace how to get a .nu domain. He had a post once about it but the .nu domain is a pretty open domain and apparently restricted enough to keep spammers and the like from buying domain names.
AltMeade.com
wv: win audde
AltCastle.com
AltCasa.com
wv: avalke (Swedish?)
What does ".nu" stand for?
No amount of money spent or cleverness in naming, can come close to a vortex inducing Clinton Breasts type post.
InstAlthouse.com
AltCafe.com
Don't cut off your nose to spite your face, Ann. Who cares what goes on at those other sites? Althouse.net is the best answer. Several of the websites I frequent have squatters on the .com domain, and I end up on those bogus sites occasionally. They all look just like althouse.com looks now.
Meadehouse.com is a good answer too.
Professor, according to WHOIS, althouse.com is set to expire on Nov. 27, 2011. At that point, you should be able to snap it right up.
Also, do you have any possibility of relief thorugh the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act?
"The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d), is an American law enacted in 1999 and established a cause of action for registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name confusingly similar to, or dilutive of, a trademark or personal name. The law was designed to thwart “cybersquatters” who register Internet domain names containing trademarks with no intention of creating a legitimate web site, but instead plan to sell the domain name to the trademark owner or a third party."
That may be worth looking in to.
Try something like this:
ann_althouse.com
ann.althouse.com
Original Mike said...
Seriously, I thought MathMom had a good idea: AlthouseCafe.
Not a bad idea, when you think of it.
Remember the post about a month ago where people were suggesting alternate names for the open fora - restaurant, bistro, brothel...?
Nail down a bunch of them and you always have a few in the wings if you get ticked at the current host.
KitaIkki said...
AltMeade.com
ctrl.alt.meade
Original Mike said...
What does ".nu" stand for?
Niue - wherever that is.
I just noticed something. The bastards squatting althouse.com are hiding behind whoisprivacyservices.com.au. That registrant is in Australia, but it's just a front for whoever actually registered the domain.
How dishonest is that?
"You're always having a cafe of some sort."
Yeah, and I've always put the accent mark on the e.
"ProfAlthouse.com"
It has the syllable "fault" in the middle of it.
We considered professoralthouse.com for about 30 seconds. Not only does it look stodgy, the word "oral" is right there in the middle of it: Profess Oral...
What the hell happened to my prior post? Goddamn Google Blogger; I put in one very legitimate link in the comment, and stupid Blogger eats the post.
Professor, what I was saying before the post disappeared was that Whois showed the althouse-dot-com address registrly as expiring on Nov. 21, 2011. And separately from that, I suggested that possibly under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, you might have an avenue for relief (the link was to the Wikipedia article on that act). I thougth this because of this paragraph:
"The Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d), is an American law enacted in 1999 and established a cause of action for registering, trafficking in, or using a domain name confusingly similar to, or dilutive of, a trademark OR PERSONAL NAME."
My emphasis. Anyway, those were 2 possibilities I laid out in the now eaten post: See about hopping the URL when it becomes available, and seeing if that act gives you any outs.
----
And Google: To hell with you and your platform. I'm sick of seeing spammers get through with bullpucky all the time, yet legit links to addresses for information get eaten. Your "Do No Evil" pledge is getting more and more ironic by the minute.
Oh, and then my first post reappeared. What the heck? I swear, it was gone when my second on posted.
I think a simple althouseblog.com or something similiar would work best.
I am now certain of the fact that I don't want annalthouse.com.
I've been mocked about annalthouse on Twitter, and I've had enough. My first and second name should not be connected like that.
@Tibore Your comment was flagged as spam. I went in and checked. I released it.
There. I just released another one of your false-spams, Tibore.
I've always seen the annal but did not see the oral.
Not sure what that says about me.
"You can do better. No one will find you there if looking by URL. Like looking for a company in the wrong country."
Who looks by URL?
Google "althouse." Isn't that what any normal person would do? Who tries to guess the URL?
And very few people know what "se" is about.
My idea is that it will look cool in the address window and people will think: oh, that's amusing/weird/concise.
Flagged as spam for linking to Wikipedia. God bless Blogger (*rolls eyes*).
Gee Ann you shouldn't be talking about this publicly, just do it, or someone will steal the next one out from under you.
Someone stole my name URL by reserving it ahead of my renewal and a few days passed before I caught it. I was just a small time blogger but people still do that to you. I emailed the new owner, in Czech Republic, but never got any answer.
Seriously, professor, it's dumb stuff that Blogger does that makes me glad you're wanting to leave it. The service has simply grown to the point where its reached its level of incompetence.
I don't think the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act is of any use to me when the squatter is somebody in Australia.
garage,
".se says Spain to me. Not sure where that's coming from. "
From backwards thinking? No surprise, no surprise at all.
pbAndJ,
"It's not a good name for expanding upon"
Ahem:
althou.se/x
When I think of Sweden, I think of
Gravlax, Swedish Fruit Soup, Herring and Socialism
Whatever name you decide on....don't say it on the net until you OWN it.
"And very few people know what "se" is about."
I think you're wrong. I would think it's pretty common knowledge (maybe not that it's Sweden, specifically, but that it is a country domain).
"Seriously, professor, it's dumb stuff that Blogger does that makes me glad you're wanting to leave it."
Lately, when I try and post a comment, Blogger has frequently refused because I don't have cookies enabled. Worse, it calls it an "error".
It's not an error, Google. It's a choice.
thealthouseblog.com
althouse.newmedia.com
newmeadiablog.com
Actually, professor, the registrant of the address is probably not the same as the actual address holder. From their page (www whoisprivacyservices dot com)
"When a domain name is registered, your personal information is associated with the domain name including name, address, phone number and email address. This data is available to the public via a Whois Lookup.
Currently the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) requires that the mailing address, phone number and e-mail address of those owning/managing a domain name to be made publicly available through the "WHOIS" directories. However, that policy enables spammers, direct marketers, identity thieves, or other attackers to collect personal information from these records.
If this concerns you, we have a solution, Whois Privacy Services. Rather than your private information being displayed, domains using our Whois Privacy Service will return unique details to protect your identity."
That said, the mere fact that they're a privacy protection front will make locating the registrant difficult. So it may not be worth it to bang on that door.
Still, though, that doesn't change the fact that the registration will expire in November. I'd investigate with whatever domain registry service you choose to work with and see about landing that URL once it frees up. You'll have to beat the squatter to the punch, but given that he/they registered it way back in 2004, there's a chance they'll be lax about monitoring this, and you might be able to snap it back up with only the standard registration fee.
I'd say it's worth considering.
Just bear in mind that if I type "althouse' without the dot, my browser will automatically try "althouse.com".
A lot of browsers do that.
I don't see the problem, though.
Perhaps the owners of the Althouse.com site will eventually agree to sell you the URL for a reasonable price. I don't see a huge problem with that, so long as the price is modest (few hundred dollars at most).
Then, you can redirect. I'd still keep Althou.se. It's better.
NOT ONE OF YOU has mentioned the “moose”
A Møøse once bit my sister ...
Ann,
My suggestion is that you use some variation of the following:
http:// www.provocative and perceptive.com. Lets face it you embody both traits and the words are both memorable and accurate.
Besides, Hope and Change are already taken.
You'll have to beat the squatter to the punch, but given that he/they registered it way back in 2004, there's a chance they'll be lax about monitoring this, and you might be able to snap it back up with only the standard registration fee.
Fat chance.
Not anymore, after all this conversation on the internet about it.
As an Oden, married to a Gustafson, I heartily support Sweden involvement.
But, at the same time I also like Meadehouse or a creative title: maybe www.donotboreme.com
No one would be talking about Sweden if she didn't happen to mention it in this post. So all this talk about how the blog shouldn't be perceived as associated with Sweden has no relevance to anything.
Looks as though althouse.net is available for a reasonable price.
Without looking, how many can remember her current URL?
@MarkG: I can. Maybe because in the early days I typed althouse.com several times (from a public computer) and then had to go searching.
@ Mark.
I can. Mainly because I have had to type it in when using different computers that don't have my favorites bookmarked.
888$... a lot of money...:)) Miss Althouse I think has over 2000$ ads on this blog and she says he can't pay...:) There are domains for even 2-3 million dollars, which bring traffic just for being registered with an empty web page!
Anyway althou.se is a bad idea. I just read a SEO book and they say it is not good to use play-like domains as this one. Also .se is not good for SEO, .com is best because search engines like Google give more credit to search results on it, especially if there are international searchers and maybe USA ones. This kind of domains are more regional oriented, better for the sites written and searched by the people of specific countries. .se I think is more recommended for a Sweden Miss Ann :D
(The Crypto Jew)
Paddy is a Moose bite, painful?
I think it's safe to say that anyone who's such a fan of this blog that they've committed althouse.blogspot.com to memory in order visit it on multiple computers as efficiently as possible (rather than taking a couple extra seconds to Google "althouse" and go to the first result) is also capable of remembering althou.se.
Althouse said...
I didn't even know what the .se meant.
You've answered your own question.
althou.se is an optical delusion (sic).
Given what Prof. Althouse went through with google, I registered my lightly traveled Blogspot blog's .com equivalent. Thankfully, sprinkleofcocoa.com was available. But I just have it pointing at Blogspot right now (you have to setup the A and CName settings from your domain registrars control panel, and tell google to use a domain (or subdomain) for your blog. That way it says www.sprinkleofcocoa.com in the browser URL field when people are on my blog. Later on I'll see about migrating it to another service provider or my own server. Right now I just want the search engines and my friends used to the new domain.
And maybe I'll write a post every now and then, it's been a couple months.
I just registered althou.se and I'll sell it to you for $887. A bargain!
I agree with JAC.
There is no, nor there has ever been a secret deal between Althouse and the Swede's involving efforts to drive traffic to that small kingdom.
So.. my message to you Sweedeners is.. please stop.. you are embarrassing yourselves.
We do not have time for this kind of silliness. We've got better stuff to do.
.se is short for sexy, not Sweden. Duh!
TheAlthouseWoman.com
A title with provenance.
I give it to you for free.
(The Crypto Jew)
Althouse, if you move will “J” and “Jeremy” be invited along for the ride? Or will they be left behind? If the latter, I urge you to move post haste.
I love althou.se, short & to the point! Very clever!
Oh and with the new website, we'll finally get user registration and troll-banning! Yay!!!!
I remember, many years ago when your blog was in its infancy, emailing you to say that I thought you should call the blog alt.house, punning on the then-still-in-at-least-distant-memory names for Usenet newsgroups. Boy, would that seem antiquated now.
Well, your blonde and blue eyed. Close enough to being Swedish for most men's tastes.
And, then you can go MEADE. Has that been taken, yet? Meade.Althouse. Or Althouse.Meade.
Have the thieves of your name gone all over the place with "stealing" your identity?
You know, I think you should give them a lawsuit for their claims! They are not you. And, they can't claim to be you. Let alone name combos to produce porn sites.
Oh. And, then there's "Mad.Althouse." Or? ProfessorAlthouse.
Or? Just "Meade.s.fancy
Andyoualawprofessor!com
ProAlthouse.com
Faltless
I know UW hires some wackjobs, but I assume you're not a con.
I like the initial "although" to the proposed URL althou.se.
I think the concessive suits this blog nicely.
Although . . .
Check the update to this post. I am on trend, baby!
BTW, I own althouseblog.com so I have a safe, conservative fallback in case I get cold feet about living on the edge.
Check the update to this post. I am on trend, baby!
Streets ahead, in the parlance of our times.
WV: holetard. <---- I think this is the real reason you are abandoning Blogger/Google.
Check the update to this post. I am on trend, baby!
I just bought Althou.co!
Wait ...
I just sold MormonTabernac.le!
(and the choir is comi.ng)
Eric Muller said... "I remember, many years ago when your blog was in its infancy, emailing you to say that I thought you should call the blog alt.house, punning on the then-still-in-at-least-distant-memory names for Usenet newsgroups. Boy, would that seem antiquated now."
Yeah, I remember that. I was going to bring that up myself. Since there was also "house" music, it would seem like a group discussing that.
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