Posted on 04/18/2005 1:35:54 PM PDT by infocats
"You do not need a domain name to operate a website on the internet."
Just as long as you never intend to make money off said website.
If you build a site at geocities.com/mysite, you might have problems getting into directories. And, it doesn't look as good. And, if you later get a website, then you're going to be listed in search engines for ever as geocities.com/mysite, and you're going to have to always keep that site and include a link to the new site. And, you might have trouble transferring google's opinion of your old page to your new page.
I use namebargain.com to register. It's probably a dollar or two more than some others, but I've never had a problem with them. That too is largely unsupported. godaddy.com is, I think, the same price or even more for .com names, and I avoid them for some reason I forget, some controversy or other. OTOH, namebargain is owned by register.com, and some people (including me, but what the hey) might want to avoid them for that reason.
Both namebargain and godaddy have an extra feature where you can cloak your WHOIS (except to people with subpoenas, of course).
Just as long as you never intend to make money off said website.
I stressed that point because a lot of people seem to think domain names are a must.
Many people do not want a domain name or any promotions via search engines.
For example I have two websites. One has a domain name and presently is getting 800-900 visitors a day and ranks high in the search engines.
The other website has no domain name and I use it to post pictures or information to a discussion newsgroup that will not accept any type of attachments.
The only people I want to go to that site are people on a particular newsgroup. I give them the IP address to access the second website.
If Darkwolf is just going to exchange family photos with friends and family he does not need a domain name since he can e- mail them the sites IP address.
If he is doing something else like spreading information or making money he should get a domain name and hope some search engines willl pick up his website. - tom
Thank you Tom. Yes, I intend to use it to promote magazine appearances of my stories and such.
I'm thinking this is going to be more complicated than I thought...but then everything short of hitting the power button is, computerwise, to me.
Maybe. But then again, nothing worthwhile is obtained without a little elbow grease.
Besides, after a short while, you'll be an expert and all the barflies will oooh and ahh as you regale them with tales of surfing the high seas of the 'net...three sheets to the wind at 4am whilst slingin' HTML code with naught but a Pentium II on a dial up. Arrrhhh.
True. I've been working on one of my novels for 20 years. (I've written about a dozen during that time. None published, only short stories and essays published. So I have expended more than a little elbow grease.)
"Besides, after a short while, you'll be an expert and all the barflies will oooh and ahh as you regale them with tales of surfing the high seas of the 'net...three sheets to the wind at 4am whilst slingin' HTML code with naught but a Pentium II on a dial up. Arrrhhh."
I dunno, I think I'll be clinging to a dinghy...
I envy your stick-to-itiveness. I love to write. Crafting something that moves you, word by word. But I lack your dedication.
I have not yet decided or dared to make it my livelyhood...or even my number one hobby.
I've written some short stories. A couple of them are actually pretty good...by my estimation. Maybe someday I'll stumble on a really inspiring idea for that Great American novel.
Some years ago, I read some advice for budding writers;
"The first output is nothing, the habit everything." You seem to have conquered that aspect. You will succeed. Stick to it.
Yes... you'd need a domain nameserver like this one to point your domain back to your own computer's address.
But then you're not limited to just serving web pages, and you're not limited to just 5 Meg. You can post pictures of all your favorite events.. and conduct guided tours of your favorite spots for your friends. You can have a mail server if you want one, and you can have as many e-mail addresses on that mail server as you want. You can experiment with serving Internet Radio and other audio streams if you like. You are limited only by your imagination and technical expertise. And, as you observed. the (Linux) software is free.
In my experience, I ended up starting to sell after years of writing and NOT waiting for inspiration to strike. Because the ideas come as you're in the process of writing. In fact, every one of the books I've finished I was 100% convinced were dead at some point. I mean deep in my heart I KNEW it was done and I couldn't write another word. But eventually I learned that that is part of the process.
There are some good books on writing but the three best ones are David Morrell's Notes from a Writing Life (best technical points about the process); Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing (best practical ideas, which amounts to "stop talking, just sit and write 2000 words each day"); and The War of Art by Steve Pressfield, which focuses on the #1 writing enemy--Resistance.
Nothing can replace getting a page or two written every day.
Marking. . .
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