So, I've decided to start my own website. First, I chose a name. Okay, let's keep it simple: greybob.com. So I go to see if it's available,
and I get to this site:
What the hell? Well, after some snooping around on that site, I discovered that it's some sort of service that redirects requests to registered domain names to other sites. Here's the example from the site itself:
At this point, I'm tired, I'm frustrated, and I'm quite frankly, desperate. So I sent this email:
Now, I was was just venting my frustration... I wasn't really expecting a reply. But then I got this email:
"Ticket?" So now they have me in some virtual queue? I have to wait to get an answer? What the hell kind of service are these people running, anyways?
What the hell? Well, after some snooping around on that site, I discovered that it's some sort of service that redirects requests to registered domain names to other sites. Here's the example from the site itself:
Hover is a simple service that allows you to redirect your domain name to multiple websites. You can use Hover to point other people to the various web pages you have created.
For example, rather than sending someone a URL that looks like this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kksy5dDKOzQYou can use Hover to create "shortcuts" that look like this:
http://awesomelawncare.com/tips
At this point, I'm tired, I'm frustrated, and I'm quite frankly, desperate. So I sent this email:
I was going to register a website with the name www.greybob.com. However, when I searched to see if the name was available I was redirected to a site hosted by your service. It appears that the registrant is not using it for anything. I was wondering if there is any way for me to contact the registrant and possibly exchange the domain so that I can use it for my site.
I have been using the internet handle "greybob" for about 6 years now, and many of my friends and associates who would want to visit my site know me by this name. I find it frustrating that I would have to possibly register the site as the secondary .net or .org domains, because the primary .com domain is being taken up by a redirection page that doesn't actually redirect to anything. I find it very annoying and equivalent to cyber squatting.
Now, I was was just venting my frustration... I wasn't really expecting a reply. But then I got this email:
Thanks for your request. It is currently being reviewed by the Hover team.
You will be notified at this email address on every update made in this ticket and any reply you make to these notifications will be added to the ticket for us to respond to.
If you already have a Hover account you can also check the status of your request through our website. Please click on http://help.hover.com/tickets/38062 and log into your Hover account to see this ticket.
"Ticket?" So now they have me in some virtual queue? I have to wait to get an answer? What the hell kind of service are these people running, anyways?
