Mastodon April 2009 – Josh Hrach

Don’t let ‘Domain Renewal Group’ fool you!

To be quite honest, I am not too fond of paper.  I take all notes in digital format, either on my cell phone, or via plain ol’ notepad on my laptop.  I don’t even own a printer anymore.  That said, I typically don’t get much in the mail, either.  Except for a Guitar Center advertisement, which I’m fine with.

Today, I got something much more interesting.  Looking at the letterhead in the corner of the envelope, I already had an idea of what I’d be looking at.  I had received a letter from the Domain Registry of America a few years back that looked very similar to this.  So, my first thought? “Here we go again!”

Domain Renewal Group

Opening up the letter, I saw exactly what I had intended to see: a letter telling me that my domain is expiring soon and that I should transfer it to them.  For a nice fee, of course!

drg2s

Domain Renewal Group letter

Now, why do I title this about mail like this fooling you?  It’s simple: this is not from your domain name registrar!  The appearance of their letter, though, makes it look like a bill requiring payment or else you will lose your domain (though they say that it isn’t a bill in the letter).  But, the appearance could fool you, right?  That’s the intention.  That is an example of something called domain slamming.

All I ask is that you read the contents of the letter before making a decision!  You can typically find cheaper domain name providers, which may include the current one you are using.

I actually did check out the Domain Renewal Group’s website.  While they do seem to include web hosting, there are a pair of things on their site that would make me not use them:

  1. Their site copyright is through 2007.  Have they not touched their site in over a year, possibly even two?
  2. Their FAQ (under the Support tab).  Why does it talk about the Domain Registry of America?  Oh, they must be connected.  Or they ripped off DROA’s content for themselves, though given DROA’s track record, that wouldn’t be very smart

This is only the second time I’ve received such a letter in the mail.  However, what kind of people are they targeting?  If you’re knowledgeable about your hosting provider and domain registrar, then you would probably not want to just change all that based on a letter in the mail telling you that your domain name is expiring.

So, really, like with anything, the best defense you have is to be well informed.  In this case, so long as you know who you host your site with and who manages your domain name, then you should be safe.

Side note: While I felt that this post should be used to inform people and give a ‘warning’, I decided not to use the words scam or fraud.  Given that such letters have been able to continue for years, it must still still qualify as legal.  However, given the ethical concerns of such a process of domain slamming, I felt I’d just give some information that can, hopefully, make the reader more informed about what a letter like this involves.

New Site Coming

At least, I’d like to think that I have a new site coming.  Well, I have several new sites coming.  But, when it comes to this site, it’s a new design that I’m talking about.

The last couple versions of JoshsPadd have been darker, though I was proud of the last version when I created it years ago.  At least, I was of the design.  I never did get around to really making a site out of it.

Now, I’m going for a brighter look.  Something professional, sleek, and hopefully attractive.  Just like me! (At least, that’s what I think…)

How will the new site look, exactly?  That hasn’t been created yet.  All I do know is that, soon, a new site will be there.  The splash page is a little sample of the kind of look that I’m going for (and borrowed from a splash page I made for another site I recently did).  It hopefully will be something people like.  And if not, then I may have to tweak it a bit (depending on who the people are that I ask).

But if anyone has ideas on how my new site should look, let me know!  This is going to be a my portfolio site, showcasing work I’ve done and being about me and what I do.  So, any ideas to add? I’d love to hear them from you, no matter how you choose to contact me.

Introducing The New Blog

So, this is my new blog.  Plain and simple.  I can’t say I expect for much to come from it, but then again, I’m seeing this as a work in progress at the moment.  So, call this the WIP Blog.  Jerenspeak.  Better yet, let’s call it Jerenspeak Beta.  I think I’ll keep it named that for a while.  After all, it never hurts to keep things in beta for years.

What do I expect to do with this blog?  Probably ramble about various things, from cool websites and games to neat gadgets and music.  Oh, and I’ll probably talk about new sites I’ve put together, ideas, and what not.

And, should anyone have any suggestions on something really cool I should talk about, I have no problem with that either.  Whether you contact me through this blog, my site (Coming Soon), Twitter, whatever.

Let the blogging begin!  Or… continue.  Or whatever.