I manage a domain for my wife, charglennmd.com, and register it (along with many others) at gandi.net for $24/year. Perhaps cheaper elsewhere, but gandi seems trustworthy and stable, and I prefer to spread my assets across hemispheres.
My wife got a letter from "MARKETING SERVICES" aka Domain Networks of Hendersonville, NC offering an "ANNUAL WEBSITE DOMAIN LISTING" for the low, low price of $289 :-( My wife is not clueless, but she still asked me to explain what the letter was about. I worry that many business owners have nobody trustworthy to ask. I also expect her to outlive me (her father is 105 yo), and face the predators alone. I presume the domainnetworks.com business model is trolling for fools, or perhaps uninformed employees who don't know better. I wonder if this could be construed as mail fraud. Perhaps Portland's computer geek community should find a sponsor for an auditorium, assemble a panel of patient computer "experts", and invite the Portland-area public to attend and ask questions. We can be stronger together if our neighbors are better informed and appropriately wary. Keith -- Keith Lofstrom [email protected]
