After careful analysis of the available data, we are convinced that separating our grassroots website from RonPaul.com would be counterproductive. There are literally hundreds of thousands of inbound links directed to specific articles, videos and blog posts at RonPaul.com that would all be misdirected if you put up a new website at the domain.
Also, we have many email addresses, social media accounts, t-shirt designs etc. linked to the domain (in particular the popular Facebook page “RonPaul.com”) that we would have to change or abandon. In short, such an abrupt change would lead to chaos on the Internet and - at least temporarily - disrupt the message of liberty.
To avoid these complications we’d like to offer you an alternative domain name, RonPaul.org, for your new website at no cost whatsoever. Please don’t use a monstrosity such as “RonPaulsHomePage.com” as is being speculated on the forums. RonPaul.org is an attractive, high quality alternative, and it won’t cost you anything. (Other than the annual renewal fee; all domains have to be renewed each year and that costs about $10 per year.)
If you do insist on obtaining RonPaul.com (it is the best Ron Paul related domain name), we could relocate our grassroots site elsewhere and sell you the domain name at its current market price of $250,000. That would include a copy of our 170,000 strong RonPaul.com email list; these supporters proactively signed up for our email updates, they expect and welcome frequent communications, and they are completely “untapped” in terms of donations. This means that you (and/or Campaign for Liberty) could easily make back the purchase price in a matter of days. Only you can put this list to its best possible use, which is why we’d include it as a free bonus with RonPaul.com.
It’s worth noting that Paul hadn’t registered the domains in 2008, which is why the fans who built the current site bought them instead. Considering that they would’ve arguably been more valuable when he was running for president, it’s strange that he wants them now. What’s crazier about this situation — that his supporters are trying to charge him $250,000 to ensure some T-shirts don’t have broken links or that Paul, who generally is anti-government-intervention, is trying to get the UN involved?
If you can’t beat them, sell your domain: Canadian band The Tea Party, popular in the ’90s, is considering selling their TeaParty.com domain — which could net as much as $1 million dollars. Why? Well, it appears that the other Tea Party has damaged their brand name. “So much damage has been done to our name by the political movement that we’re considering selling,” notes bassist Stuart Chatwood. So why not cash out? The band, which reunited earlier this year, has nothing to gain but money from a domain name change. To them, the best-case scenario would be to sell to someone with liberal interests and deep pockets, like Jon Stewart or Arianna Huffington, but we’re assuming that if the right suitor paid the right price, they might bend. In other news: LOL.
So, we did have a right to be concerned that people would misunderstand our post about Libya and bit.ly and act like we were being flip when we really weren’t. However, the source for such concern hit the wrong target. Sorry notnadia. :/
We live in a real, global environment. “How will Libya’s political situation effect my personal, shorthanded Twitter links?” True story.
I had a feeling someone was going to make a rebuttal like this, so I may as well respond. All this is not to say that this is the main issue at stake here (or that bit.ly were particularly wise in getting a domain from the Libyan government), but there is a real technical question here that people may be concerned about. We were wondering it ourselves, so it was worth looking into. Another way to frame this: Do we really want these cutesy domain names to help fund (and bring attention to) the Libyan government, who clearly have some major human rights problems? Because that’s where it’s going – to the Libyan government.
(Source: shortformblog)
» Expanded usage elsewhere: While North Korea is keeping a tight lid on internet usage within the country, many foreign reporters in the country this weekend noted that they could actually use the internet on THEIR OWN COMPUTERS. Before, they had to use officially designated computers to do that. (By the way, check out the design on this site. Epic.)
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