The Real Ryan J. Parker

For what seems like forever now, I’ve used the iGoogle home page to keep updated with the latest from the RSS feeds I subscribe to. Over time I’ve had a tough time keeping up with all of the subscriptions, but I never really felt moved to try anything else.

That changed, however, when my iGoogle feeds stopped updating properly.

Today I finally imported the RSS feeds into Google Reader, and I’m in love. The interface is great. I can quickly navigate to the content I’m looking for.

If you’re stuck in the stone age like I was with the iGoogle Homepage, it’s time to give Google Reader a shot!

Now that FeedBurner is owned by Google, you would think they’d have time to fix their math.

For example: I have 14 people subscribed to a feed using SendMeRSS, yet FeedBurner only counts 4. I know it’s 14 because SendMeRSS lists the number of subscribers in every e-mail that is sent out. Yes, I’m one of the 14 because I want to know if it’s ever broken.

Also, Google’s feed fetcher only reports 7 subscribers, yet FeedBurner counts this as 14. I know it’s 7 because the Googlebot comes to my site first before being re-directed to FeedBurner.

I figure this is just a parsing issue, but conspiracy theorists could suggest that Google wants to make it look like everyone is using their service.

Regardless, I just want to have an accurate subscriber count. Is that too much to ask for?

What another nonsense TLD: .info.

Hopefully by blacklisting .biz and .info I can keep Akismet happy.

While we’re on the topic: anyone actually own and/or use a .info TLD for a legit purpose?

Tags: .info, spam

Does anyone use .biz for a legitimate commercial service?

After much interruption, I’ve finally added the .biz TLD to my WordPress blacklist. This shouldn’t affect any real commentators, as it seems no one uses this TLD for legitimate purposes.

I guess the point of this post is to see if anyone has heard of anyone using the .biz TLD for a legit business. I haven’t, but there has to be someone out there, right? I mean, that’s what it was created for, right?

Or, more likely, .biz is simply another way for domain registrars to try and sell you yet another domain you don’t need.

To prove the point, just look at a recent post from Guy Kawasaki on how much it cost to build Truemors:

I spent $1,115.05 registering domains. I could have used GoDaddy and done it a lot cheaper, but I was too stupid and lazy.

I registered 55 domains (for example, truemors.net, .de, .biz, truemours, etc, etc). I had no idea that one had to buy so many domains to truly “surround” the one you use. Yes, I could have registered fewer and spent less, but who cares about saving a few hundred bucks compared to the cost of legal action to get a domain away from a squatter if Truemors is successful?

Let’s assume the website becomes a smashing success. Is it really worth buying these domains even though that domain isn’t really worth anything? These squatters aren’t impacting your bottom line very much, are they? Gotta respect Guy, but I don’t follow this logic.

Lastly, have you ever or do you ever plan on buying a .biz? I hope not–you’re blacklisted.

Tags: .biz, spam

Apparently ICANN recently agreed to reduce the registrar transaction fee from $0.25 to $0.22, retroactive to July 1st, 2006.

As such, your registrar owes you $0.03 per domain year you registered from July 1st, 2006 until now.

For me, this meant a refund of $0.57 for 19 domain years registered since July 1st, 2006.

Now if only my registrar, GoDaddy, provided a high yield savings account, that $0.57 might turn into $1.00 someday.

I guess I’ll just have to put it towards a future renewal.

How much ICANN fee money did your registrar refund to you?

Tags: icann, registrar, fee, refund