Another Site Owner Forgets To Renew

[Badger]

seems the officials in Augusta forgot to pay for renewals and ended up paying a high price......

AUGUSTA - When is your name not your name? When it is a domain name on the Internet.

When a good portion of city commercial revenue relies on tourism, having the right information available to the public is crucial. Internet connections are a big part of many city and tourism communication systems. Losing that link can be devastating.

Augusta city government and tourism got a kick in the pants when people started calling about a problem with its Web site.

Web searchers were confused to find a bevy of generic business locations, not even in Kentucky, at the Internet address that had been the official Web site for the Kentucky town, www.augustakentucky.com. It had linked searchers with the Kentucky river town for the past two years.

City government offices eventually discovered the problem and immediately tried to correct it.

"We first noticed when our e-mail stopped working," said Augusta City Clerk Gretchen England. "When we called to find out what the problem was we found out that the domain name had expired."

With a little searching, the name was located at an on-line domain auction site.

"We were the only bidder, yet every time we bid it would immediately say we were out bid. Who else would want Augusta, Kentucky but us?" said England.

Ultimately, England found out that the domain name had a winning bid of $750.

"I do not know who ended up with it, but it wasn't us; we never bid that high." said England.

England recreated the history of the Web site domain name, as best she could recall.

Augusta's official Web site and domain name was created when Vicki Bogucki was in office as tourism director. A private credit card may have been used to establish the account for the domain name. For whatever reason, the information on continued payment to maintain the domain name was not directed to the city or tourism office, said England.

"Whatever the reason, we have a new domain name and everything should get back to normal shortly," said Phil Weber, director of Augusta Tourism.

Searching for information on Augusta, in Bracken County, now has to be all lower case and include the abbreviation for Kentucky, http://www.augustaky.com.

source :: www.maysville-online.com

 

[chimaera]

Some mean Israeli snapped it up ...

This made me laugh though!:

"We first noticed when our e-mail stopped working,"

 

[fonzie_007]

It is their own darn fault. If they were smart, they would have paid the guy $1,500 and got their site back. This just demonstrates that you should always have auto renew on all of your domains you would not want to lose.

 

[maroulis]

that's funny... replaced with augustaky.com LMAO

 

[Midano]

D-oh!

Who else would want Augusta, Kentucky but us?

D-oh again. Sonce when the domains are case-sensitive?

now has to be all lower case

 

[JMJ]

"We were the only bidder, yet every time we bid it would immediately say we were out bid. "

This is the part we should be concerned with.

 

[maroulis]

^^^^ that's just plain ignorance on their behalf... probably one more proxy bidder named POOL_XXXX and it never occured to them that people bid w/proxy names....

 

[dgridley]

My thoughts as well.. another example of the ignorance that originally cost them their domain..

D-oh!
D-oh again. Sonce when the domains are case-sensitive?

 

[cache]

the new name is shorter, is it better?

 

[dgridley]

The new name is the one I would have regged originally..

the new name is shorter, is it better?

 

[fonzie_007]

the new name is shorter, is it better?

I don't think so. I would guess many people do not even know KY is the abbreviation for Kentucky. I would also guess that people would go to a search engine and type in "augusta kentucky" or "augusta, kentucky" not "agusta ky".

I think the longer name was better in this situation.

 

[JMJ]

augusta, KY Population (1990): 1336

I doubt there's many people looking for it. lol

 

[dgridley]

I rarely type the entire state name in a search.. I always use the abbreviation first when coupled with another term..

I would guess many people do not even know KY is the abbreviation for Kentucky. I would also guess that people would go to a search engine and type in "augusta kentucky" or "augusta, kentucky" not "agusta ky".

 

[fonzie_007]

I rarely type the entire state name in a search.. I always use the abbreviation first when coupled with another term..

You aren't the average websurfer though. I could be wrong, but I would guess the average websurfer has a lower education and knowledge of state abbreviations than you.

 

[Grrilla]

I rarely type the entire state name in a search.. I always use the abbreviation first when coupled with another term..

I am even more impatient. I would type Augusta and than quickly scan through the listings for something Kentucky. (I didn't say this was smart or faster).:hehe: If it's not on the first or second page, than I'll go back and type the state- it's about 50-50 on the full or abbreb. ie California- CA, Iowa- Iowa Rhode Island- RI New York- NY.

 

[timmaay]

but I would guess the average websurfer has a lower education and knowledge of state abbreviations than you.

but if their so dumb can you expect them to spell kentuki correctly
I constantly get asked to spell the Wisconsin part of my email address and I wish i had a shorter version.

i think it's great they didn't feel like they had to repurchase this domain for 4 figures and feel they have a better domain now than before.

 

[dgridley]

That statement scares me.. I'm basically self-taught as I quit school in the 10th grade at age 16...

I would guess the average websurfer has a lower education ... than you.

 

[Grrilla]

FWIW - WTshows 77/da for Augusta, GA and 150/da for Augusta Georgia. (Augusta, Ky/Kentucky was too small of a sample).

That statement scares me..

Yeah Dave. It scares me too. :lol:

 

[Ray]

wow.. a tourism site couldnt afford 150$?

 

[stscac]

People live in Kentucky!?!?



More people there than in my state.

-Steve