My Website Takes You to WHAT?
How to Avoid Finding Your Domain Pointed to Porn
By Susan Gable
It's a total nightmare. Clichéd, but true. You type in your webaddy, and suddenly, stuff you really didn't want to see pops up before your disbelieving eyes.
Can people actually do that?
And why in the world is there a porn site at YOUR domain name?
The easy answer is greed. And...oops, you made a tiny mistake with big consequences - you forgot to renew your domain name registration. Now some cybersquatter has taken it over in the hopes they can get you to pay way more than the going rate to get it back. But...why porn, you ask in a frazzled voice?
Simply to apply more pressure to you. Aren't you embarrassed at the type of stuff now displayed on your monitor? I mean, for Pete's sake, romance authors face enough disrespect without your addy bringing up that, right? Not to mention it offends and upsets your fans. And you.
It's blackmail, pure and simple. And yes, you do have the legal right to the domain name, but...do you have the money to fight it? It will cost you at least $1,000 to fight this in court. Possibly more. I know a lot of writers are not exactly making mega-bucks. $1,000 is a lot of money to us.
When this scenario happened to a fellow author, I sought advice from my husband, an IT guy for a television station, who's had a similar situation happen to him at work.
He said, first and foremost, PREVENT this problem. Make sure you pay to renew your domain name well in advance. Check your paperwork and see when your domain name registration expires. If you can't find your paperwork, or you're not the owner of your domain name (someone set it up for you) you can go to www.internic.com or www.register.com and look up the information about your domain name. This is also how you can check to see if a domain name is available. (Helpful if you're looking at starting a new website, contemplating a pen name, or looking for an alternate domain name because the cybersquatters have already hit you.)
What should you do if your domain is already pointing to something way more naughty than nice? My DH's advice, if you don't have the money or inclination to fight it (which takes time as well as money, don't forget) is to pretend that you don't care at all. As in, ""Frankly, my skuzzy cybersquatters, I don't give a damn!" Don't let them know that you are even remotely interested in getting your name back. In a year, when they haven't managed to make any money on the domain, hopefully they'll let it expire. Because after all, what they want is to make money.
Meanwhile, you go to www.snapnames.com and back-order the original domain name. This means as soon as that domain name lapses (there is a built-in grace period built) this company will immediately register it for you, and you'll own it again.
The other thing you do is register a NEW domain name and re-direct your website there. Be sure to keep this domain name registered, even if you manage to get back your original name, because really, you don't want your fans stumbling into icky stuff that they're not expecting. If you end up with both domain names, you can have them both point to the same website. (i.e. if someone types in www.fabulousauthor.com or www.fabulousauthor.net, which was your secondary addy when the squatters took over, they both go to your same website.)
Yes, this is going to be a major pain-in-the-neck. Yes, you're going to have to do all new promo, and let your readers/fans know that you have a new webaddy. (I'd even tell them why, so that they're forewarned.) Yes, this totally stinks.
Your other choice, of course, is to cave in to the extortionists, contact them, and see how much they want to fleece you for in order to reclaim your domain name.
So, do your best to make sure it doesn't happen to you. As soon as you've finished reading this, go and check when your registration expires. Put the date on your deadline calendar, and make sure you do NOT miss this deadline!