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IN CASE YOU’RE wondering, that means, “Where is my blog?”
In retirement, it’s important to keep busy doing things you enjoy. For me, that’s blogging. It’s fun and I learn from readers’ comments.
On Aug. 17, I received an email addressed to “Karen” saying my site’s domain was expiring. Who’s Karen? It must be a scam, so I ignored it. The next day, my blog couldn’t be found.
I logged on to the domain seller and paid the fee. The firm charged my American Express card—twice—but nothing happened. I called. The company’s voicemail was full. When I emailed, my message bounced back.
I clicked on the link in the original email to “Karen.” It was a Chinese site and, after I clicked to translate the site into English, I found my domain wasn’t listed. Turned out the nonexistent email address at the original domain company was for the same Karen named in the e-mail I’d received.
I contacted the company that hosts my blog. The folks there referred me to yet another organization, where I found my domain listed but with no way to activate anything. Who were they, what did they do, how were the Chinese involved? It seemed there was an international plot to shut me down.
The only thing to do was to call one of my sons. He tried the sites I gave him and concluded somebody sold my domain to somebody else, or turned it over to somebody else to manage, or something like that. In the meantime, my words of wisdom were missing from the blogosphere.
“You need to get a new domain,” my son advised. I did, but since my original domain was still out there, I had to swap to QuinnsCommentary.net from .com. To activate the new domain, I received instructions that weren’t in Chinese, but could have been as far as I was concerned.
This blogging looks easy, but once you slip into the abyss of what makes it all work, some of us are in deep trouble. It helps to have a son who’s a software engineer.
You might want to consider filing a US Trademark for “Quinnscommentary.com” and “Quinnscommentary.net”. The cost is about $250 and you can do it online. When granted, a trademark owner can make a Digital Millennium Copyright Act claim with the Domain Name registrar which supersedes the claims of any domain name owner. I’ve used this technique in the past, and it is very effective to stop cyber squatting.
Thanks for the idea.
Make sure you add the small superscript “TM” symbol next to the names when you use them. You will need to change that to the circle R symbol after you get the registered trademark. It takes about 4-6 months.