A Lesson In Lazy Domain Name Management

Here’s a domain-name cautionary tale: George Bush, like many presidents before him, is having a library built and named for him–it will be at Southern Methodist University in Texas.

And like most libraries, this one has a foundation set up to raise funds and promote awareness.

And that foundation, the George W. Bush Library Foundation, had purchased a domain name for the library’s website.  Fittingly, the domain is GeorgeWBushLibrary.com.

Well, seems they forgot to renew the registration for that domain, and it expired.

Now, you may not know this, but the Internet is full of people who are out to get you.  One such group is known as “domain squatters.”  They monitor lists of domains that are about to expire, and they pounce on them when they do.  Then… they sit back and wait for the original owner to realize what happened and then offer to sell the domain back at an outrageous price.  And they make millions doing this.

Well, that’s exactly what happened to George W Bush’s library domain.  It expired because the foundation wasn’t paying enough attention to it.  A squatter scooped it up–some company called Illuminati Karate–and then offered to sell it back to the foundation… for $35,000.

And the foundation did it.  They paid $35,000 to get back a domain that would have cost them $10 to renew on their own.

The lesson?  Pay attention to your domain names and their expiration date.  Or better yet, let us manage your domain name–we set all our domains to renew automatically so they never expire.  Or buy your domain name for multiple years in advance… you can buy in 5 and 10 year blocks.

Last thing–watch out for domain expiration spam.  It’s a new game for scammers to send unsolicited emails that make it look like your domain is about to expire and you should renew automatically by clicking.  And once you click you lose your domain.  The way to avoid these is to know where your domain is registered and how to reach them.  If you ever receive an email about your domain expiring… immediately call the company where your domain is registered (it might be us here at Keystone) and inquire… never click a link in an email like that.  You might regret it to the tune of $35,000!

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