Domains
Got a note today from someone asking if they could have the domain name kith.org for use by a nonprofit low-income housing group. I had to decline, just as I had to decline a similar request a while back from a group that helps abused kids. I'm sure they're both worthy causes, but this domain name is so tightly twined with my life at this point that it would be seriously disruptive to give it up. I linked to both groups from my about kith page.
Also got a note today from PairNIC telling me that my domain name was due to expire in 60 days. I went and renewed quick, you betcha.
Made me wonder whether the folks at bibliotech.org and/or bibliotech.com had given up their domain names yet. That was one of the first domain names I came up with (after living for some years in a house we referred to as "The Library" because of all the books we had), and I was sad to see that both forms of it were taken; but I figured chances were good that whoever had the domains would never use them, and would eventually let them lapse. No such luck. Particularly odd given that neither domain has ever had a website.
And all that reminds me of a run-in I had with someone when we were checking domain names while deciding on name for the magazine. (We held a naming contest, so there were a lot of names to check.) There was one name that I liked an awful lot, but it was taken, so I dropped the owner an email to ask (very politely) whether they were interested in selling it, and saying if they weren't, I apologized for the intrusion. I got back a thoroughly nasty note from the lawyer of the store in question, telling me in no uncertain terms that their client would sue me if I tried to steal their domain name, and that there was no way in hell that they would ever consider selling it, and how much was I willing to pay for it, anyway?
I discarded the first several responses that came to mind; I think in the end I just didn't reply to the letter. Don't mess with lawyers. I'm sure the lawyer smugly thought they'd solved their client's problem, and I'm sure the client thought they'd gotten off easy, having to pay their lawyer only a couple hundred dollars (I'm guessing) to get rid of the scary nasty evil person who came to steal their domain name.
Anyway, I just checked, and the domain's still in use by the same company. Oh, well.
I'm babbling. Could I be avoiding editing? Most likely.