Greetings Folks! Background: My email hosting is by 1and1.co.uk (and many thanks to Bev for suggesting 1and1 last September -- the service has been very good).
I created the domain name "wlandres.net" for this purpose, and that domain is registered with 1and1.
I have just received a letter from "Domain Renewal Group, Domain Name Renewal Service", telling me:
"As a courtesey to domain name holders, we are sending you this reminder that your domain name registration is due to expire in the next few months [September, in fact ... ]. When you switch today to the Domain Renewal Group, you can take advantage of our best savings. Your registration for wlandres.net will expire on September 5, 2011. Act today!"
This, on the face of it, looks like a blatant attempt to poach my registration with 1and1 from 1and1. Do other people get this sort of ***t?
And, for what it's worth, the "small print" on the back of the letter is the smallest print I have ever seen! Measuring and counting on the longest paragraph, I find 7 lines of print on 13mm of paper, which comes out (if I've done my sums right) at 5.25 points/line of print (1 point = 1/72 inch). Allowing for inter-line spacing (aka "leading"), that's a close approximation to 4-point type size!
If I put on 2 pairs of glasses at once, I can just about read it. Counting the characters in a sample line, I get 322 in one line across A4, length 20.4cm.
I don't think they want me to read the small print ...
Any comments?
Best wishes to all, Ted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) ted.harding@wlandres.net Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 28-Apr-11 Time: 08:23:22 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
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Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:23:28 +0100 From: ted.harding@wlandres.net To: main@lists.alug.org.uk Subject: [ALUG] "Small print" ... !!!
This, on the face of it, looks like a blatant attempt to poach my registration with 1and1 from 1and1.
Yes.
And, for what it's worth, the "small print" on the back of the letter is the smallest print I have ever seen!
lol ... nearly. I used to have a work disclaimer which said "Disclaimer, change font size to read" and the rest was in font size 1 ... it saved load of "space" when reading long emails. It just looked like quite a few lines :)
On 28-Apr-11 07:36:09, keithjamieson@hotmail.co.uk wrote:
Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:23:28 +0100 From: ted.harding@wlandres.net To: main@lists.alug.org.uk Subject: [ALUG] "Small print" ... !!!
This, on the face of it, looks like a blatant attempt to poach my registration with 1and1 from 1and1.
Yes.
And, for what it's worth, the "small print" on the back of the letter is the smallest print I have ever seen!
lol ... nearly. I used to have a work disclaimer which said "Disclaimer, change font size to read" and the rest was in font size 1 ... it saved load of "space" when reading long emails. It just looked like quite a few lines :)
That's fine -- in electronic media! For instance, I could send a PDF document in font size 1, with instructions to view it (e.g. with Acrobrat Reader) at say 1600% zoom factor. Provided the text was done with fully rescalable vector font outlines, the zoom would cause no problems.
But if someone sends me a printed letter on paper with instructions "change font size to read", then I'd be inclined to write back saying I couldn't read it, but will keep it for posterity.
Cheers, Ted.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) ted.harding@wlandres.net Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 28-Apr-11 Time: 08:49:15 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
On 28 April 2011 08:23, Ted Harding ted.harding@wlandres.net wrote:
I created the domain name "wlandres.net" for this purpose, and that domain is registered with 1and1.
I would have to say, in all honestly, this may have been a bad move. For starters, from personal experience, if you move a domain to or have registered a domain with 1&1, you're going to have a fun fun time attempting to move the domain to another registry or if you move hosting elsewhere and want to update nameservers/DNS records. This was several years ago, so 1&1 *may* have improved - but I'm still not confident enough to trust them with a domain name.
I have just received a letter from "Domain Renewal Group, Domain Name Renewal Service", telling me:
This is because your home address details are available on WHOIS. If 1&1 allow you to use some method of privacy mode for your contact details on WHOIS, do it. Or move to a domain registrar that offers WHOIS privacy protection - if 1&1 allow you do so.
Regards,
Martyn
Martyn Drake wrote:
I would have to say, in all honestly, this may have been a bad move. For starters, from personal experience, if you move a domain to or have registered a domain with 1&1, you're going to have a fun fun time attempting to move the domain to another registry or if you move hosting elsewhere and want to update nameservers/DNS records. This was several years ago, so 1&1 *may* have improved - but I'm still not confident enough to trust them with a domain name.
They hadn't the last time I took a domain off them. I feel that few registrars are worse commercially (NetworkSolutions and Freeola come to mind - I find 123-reg/fasthosts/livedns annoying technically) and I'm sure there are still several ALUG members like me who can sell domains to you. Of course, the big monkeys may have a cheaper initial fee, but you might find yourself stuck in the cage with them...
I have just received a letter from "Domain Renewal Group, Domain Name Renewal Service", telling me:
This is because your home address details are available on WHOIS. If 1&1 allow you to use some method of privacy mode for your contact details on WHOIS, do it. Or move to a domain registrar that offers WHOIS privacy protection - if 1&1 allow you do so.
Mine does, but remember that you should only do that for non-trading domains. Firstly, distance selling regs require you to tell people where you are anyway; secondly, hiding from WHOIS is a big red flag for anyone who checks your website before buying from it, as in http://www.generatesuccess.co.uk/how-to-check-web-shops-for-basic-security/8...
Hope that informs,
On 28 April 2011 10:58, MJ Ray mjr@phonecoop.coop wrote:
They hadn't the last time I took a domain off them. I feel that few registrars are worse commercially (NetworkSolutions and Freeola come to mind - I find 123-reg/fasthosts/livedns annoying technically) and I'm sure there are still several ALUG members like me who can sell domains to you. Of course, the big monkeys may have a cheaper initial fee, but you might find yourself stuck in the cage with them...
I recall moving some of my domains to an ex-employer and consequently had to pay THEM to move the domains away from them when they started to chimp things up. Outrageous and unethical for an automated process IMHO. (Mind you - said ex-employee told me "if it's on the Internet it must be free" having nabbed one of my photos from my own hosted online gallery and used in a national print campaign).
I find 123-reg.co.uk works for me these days - generally do not have a problem with them despite them being a part of the Webfusion family.
Mine does, but remember that you should only do that for non-trading domains. Firstly, distance selling regs require you to tell people where you are anyway; secondly, hiding from WHOIS is a big red flag for anyone who checks your website before buying from it, as in http://www.generatesuccess.co.uk/how-to-check-web-shops-for-basic-security/8...
Good point indeed - I just remembered that if you are trading and need SSL certificate (the insured variety - not the cheapy £9.99 validated by domain only kind) for the business, most SSL providers will require that if you do use a WHOIS masking service to (a) unmask it and (b) make sure the WHOIS address matches the registered company address that is also required for the SSL certificate. I can't tell you how much this delays matters when registering SSL for customers who have enabled WHOIS masking.
Martyn
On Thu, Apr 28, 2011 at 08:23:28AM +0100, Ted Harding wrote:
Greetings Folks! Background: My email hosting is by 1and1.co.uk (and many thanks to Bev for suggesting 1and1 last September -- the service has been very good).
I created the domain name "wlandres.net" for this purpose, and that domain is registered with 1and1.
I have just received a letter from "Domain Renewal Group, Domain Name Renewal Service", telling me:
"As a courtesey to domain name holders, we are sending you this reminder that your domain name registration is due to expire in the next few months [September, in fact ... ]. When you switch today to the Domain Renewal Group, you can take advantage of our best savings. Your registration for wlandres.net will expire on September 5, 2011. Act today!"
This, on the face of it, looks like a blatant attempt to poach my registration with 1and1 from 1and1. Do other people get this sort of ***t?
Yes, I get the occasional one, I *think* it's from the same people. I have a dozen or so domains registered for various reasons.
-
Chris G -
keithjamieson＠hotmail.co.uk -
Martyn Drake -
MJ Ray -
ted.harding＠wlandres.net