Last Friday, the 3rd November, I decided that I would not renew the ‘wordpress’ Premium account.
I’m not doing that much work on my site, and it’s certainly not worth paying the ludicrous sum of $A129.00 per annum for it, I doubt if anyone would waste money advertising here anyway. Furthermore that amount will buy me 3 bottles of Wild Turkey, which is more to my liking, was going to say taste, but I’ll leave the corn to Leslie the Colonialist.
Saturday morning my email had the following from ‘wordpress’ (notice I am no longer capitalizing the name) Here is a photo of this email:
I decided to go on-line for a chat with one of their “Happiness Engineers”! Have you ever heard of such a ridiculous title for a call centre rep?
Yes indeed, that’s what they are, “Happiness Engineers”; well let me tell you the bloke ‘I chatted’ to left me far from happy. and if you can be bothered to read the transcript of said conversation, you’ll see why! 👿
To say my blood was boiling, would not be an exaggeration. The temerity of these people.
It has been some years since I became LordBeariOfBow, or ElBoB, as those who are not couth, are wont to say, and for those who have no idea how I was elevated to the nobility, the following link will take you to an account of that historic day:
Now somehow I am not elBob, that is OWNED by wordpress, and if I don’t cough up $A129.00 by the 8th of December they will, if they can, SELL ME OFF!
Yet these parasites have never bought me, I HAVE PAID THEM! for 4 or 5 years. and they claim ownership of my name? I’m sure POTUS would approve!
If you care to go on-line to see how much it cost to register a ‘DomainName’. you’ll find this;
Getting a domain name involves registering the name you want with an organisation called ICANN through a domain name registrar. For example, if you choose a name like “example.com”, you will have to go to a registrar, pay a registration fee that costs around US$10 to US$35 for that name.
So the parasites wish to charge me $A129.00 for something that they have pirated/stolen from me, when the going price for a domain name is many , many dollars less.
I have arranged for Copyright on my name of LordBeariOfBow and I suggest that wordpress.com might be well advised NOT to try selling it. It belongs to me LordBeariOfBow 
🐻
LordBeariOfBow 
Oy, my curmudgeonly friend. The link you gave for the curious and uneducated to find out how you became OurLord, doesn’t take us anywhere.
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Well Pamela got there and left a very nice comment.
You need to try harder Yvonne, how else can you expect the pleasure; I’ve just tried it myself and it went straight there; perhaps you need a new computer. I hear Harvey Norman have some good specials going but I wouldn’t buy from that nasty little greedy man.
Try this instead
https://lordbeariofbow.com/2012/05/11/the-origins-of-lordbeariofbow/
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So, now you’re pitting one reader against the other, are you? I’m highly competitive, so now I retire to a corner, sulking. Darn Pamela …
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Yes but did you get to the post?
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Yeah, yeah, I got to it, and left a snarly comment. You’re not the only one who can get grumpy, you know. I was in a good mood until all this stuff started up.
I hope you’re over your snit with WordPress. Dispenser tried to pit your feet on the straight and narrow, I notice.
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He sent me into a state of depression that I’d kick the 🐱 if I had one, then I’d have the wrath of Pamela to put up with, she is rather fond of her 🐱 🐱 🐱 🐱 🐱
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I understand your frustration, but Brian explained it correctly. Your “premium package” included converting your URL from lordbeariofbow.wordpress.com to lordbeariofbow.com — removing “wordpress” from the name. It will revert to lordbeariofbow.wordpress.com if you do not renew the premium package.
Not having “wordpress” in the name is sort of an ego thing for some of us. It makes it look like we are an independent entity rather than one of millions of WordPress-hosted blogs.
Everyone on the internet with a website has to pay a small annual fee to a domain name registrar in order to maintain exclusive use of a name — if not to WordPress, then to someone else. If you want to maintain exclusive use of the name lordbeariofbow.com, you’ll have to pay someone. That’s just the way the system works. I hope I’ve managed to clarify rather than further confuse.
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It’s certainly not an ego thing Susan, is an anti ad thing , as I’ve said in reply to other comments made, I have an aversion to them, which probably borders on the fanatical. and if the WP did happen to put ads on my stuff I’d have no say in the content.
You haven’t confused me at all, PT, but that @#$(*& disperser Emilio is doing his best to send me to the funny farm 😈
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Oh no, I didn’t mean it was an ego thing for you. I meant it was sort of an ego thing for me. (I hate to admit it, but I really, really didn’t want “wordpress” in my URL.) And I detest the ads too. They are placed according to a computer algorithm and, as I learned the hard way, not only spoil the look of your blog but can come off in extremely poor taste. See “Ouch, WordPress lesson learned.”
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I’m tempted to renew my premium after reading what you say PT, I don’t do much work, and I suppose it’s fair to say neither do you, we’re both in the same boat regarding ads, and how our posts look to those that do follow what we do. I have ’til the 8th December to make up my mind,
I might give my self a birthday present, not mine of course, the War Offices, birthday, but I feel I deserve a present :twisted
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Brian,
stick it to the bastards.
Neill.
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If you read all he stuff that Emilio aka disperser’s thrown at me I haven’t a leg to stand on!
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“Happy” is a quaint euphenism for those under the influence of mind altering drugs.
I think you may have a strong case to either sue the pants off them, or report them to the FBI for pushing illegal substance to their “Happy” workers who seem to be beyond understanding the simple terms of private enterprise, ie a service for which you have paid in full. All stinks of being Un-Amerrican. These activities do attract FBI attention.
Stick to you guns m’lod, and god bless America and bless the FBI’s fight against all Un-American activities.
Ira
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You’ll get on Ira 😀
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I don’t see what the problem is . . .
I own disperser.wordpress.com for free and for life. I paid a fee to map the domain name to dispersertracks.com. I wasn’t going to map it but it was included with the package. By the way, I bought the package to consolidate the “no ads” option, additional storage, and font customization.
I chose dispersertracks.com because disperser.com was taken.
I think your anger stems from a fundamental lack of understanding as far as what you bought. You could have bought lordbeariofbow.com outside of wordpress (probably for about $10/year or something like that) and then have it mapped to your wordpress account (probably for a fee). The Premium package includes other stuff that when bought separately adds up to about 1.5 times the plan fee. They throw in the domain name because it’s cheap to get.
Now, if you let the name lapse (cancel your subscription through WordPress), the name is freed up again. I’m guessing you can buy it on your own because I doubt there is a big demand for lordbeariofbow.com.
But, lordbeariofbow.wordpress.com (your original site before buying the premium plan) remains. For free.
For that matter, note that you or anyone (even me) go out and buy any of these:
lordbeariofbow.net
lordbeariofbow.ip
lordbeariofbow.org
. . . and more. I checked and they are all available and it would cost me 99 cents for each one of those and then, if I wanted to, I could pretend to be you. Why anyone would do that, I don’t know.
Here’s WordPress’s page on all that:
https://en.support.wordpress.com/domains/
Here’s a comforting thought I have for me: after I die and stop paying for the site, the blog will revert to the basic plan and it will remain up and running until someone deletes it. Or, WordPress goes out of business. Or, the world ends. At least, that’s my current understanding.
Here’s an interesting blog post:
https://thedeliberatemom.com/what-will-happen-to-my-blog/
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I forgot to mention . . . WordPress won’t sell lordbeariofbow; it just goes back into the domain pool. WordPress doesn’t own it any more than you do. All you have is the exclusive right to use it as long as you pay for it. Domain names are managed by an organization called ICANN:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN
You say you’ve arranged to copyright Lordbeariofbow, but . . .
. . . you can trademark a name — granting you protection in business matters — but you generally can’t copyright it:
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2010/01/08/5-things-that-cant-be-copyrighted/
That would be US law, but AU has similar wording:
Click to access ShortGuidetoCopyright-October2012.pdf
Now, lets say you could copyright it . . . I can still buy Lordbeariofbow.com if you stop using it. I just can’t represent myself as you or do stuff on your behalf. But, I could, for instance, have a site with that name where I post a picture a day of my little pinky. Not sure why I would do that, but I could.
In fact, I could do that now with Lordbeariofbow.org and there’s not much you could do about it.
That is why most companies will buy up all the names that are permutations of their own names. That’s why in the early days many people made a lot of money by getting domain names like IBM.com (for example) before the company had a chance to lock them down and then they sold them back to the company for a lot of money.
Read this:
https://www.cnet.com/news/what-did-google-pay-the-guy-who-briefly-owned-google-com/
Again, you are assuming WordPress wants to sell your domain name to someone else, but — as I said above — if you stop paying for it, anyone can buy it, but not from WordPress. I could buy it, for instance, from GoDaddy or any other registrar, and not just here in the US or Australia, but anywhere in the world.
All WordPress does is offer the service of registering the name on your behalf and mapping it to your WordPress account.
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You’re a real downer aren’t you? That bit in the post e the cost is the cost by that ICANN mob. P’rhaps I should let it go to them and then pay them their 10 – 35 dollars instead of WP 129
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Don’t shoot the messenger, and I’ll repeat . . . WP is not charging $129 (AU) for the domain name. These are the plans:
https://wordpress.com/pricing/ (these are for $US)
I’ll explain it one more time, but then I need to stop and do something productive. And, I’m not trying to be a downer. I’m trying to get you calmed down and to stop feeling like a victim.
So, this is what I used to pay with ($US)
$30/year – no ads
$20/year – additional storage
$30/year – custom design (fonts and stuff)
$60/year – HD videos support
Tota: $150/year (US dollars, not the fake Australian stuff).
Now, I pay $99/year and all that is included and I get free themes (which I don’t use), and they throw in a custom domain name, and chat and e-mail support instead of forum (other users) support.
By the way, do they offer the personal plans over there? They are much cheaper and you get to keep your domain name.
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No they don’t! the cheapest is the 129. The reason I buy it is it’s ad free.
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You are throwing me into a state of depression, and I trust you are suitably ashamed!
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*Sigh* . . . this exemplifies what I said in the other post . . . having friends comes with a cost. And, let’s be clear; it’s a cost to me, not you.
You are swearing at me for giving you information — information that apparently you didn’t have or chose to ignore — and are directing your anger at me like if somehow I have the power to make things right but I’m refusing to do so.
You, apparently, WANT to be mad and claim victimhood and revel in faux indignation. Nothing I said above should make you depressed because it’s all information you can use to 1) proceed forward with a plan, and 2) realize that it’s not the big deal you thought it was.
Now, you’re saying that it’s the ads and not your name is the problem. Well, did you check if you can just pay to not have ads on the site? Maybe that’s not an option over there, I don’t know.
The point is that your choices are limited. You can stomp your feet and hold your breath in the hope the universe will bend to your will, or, you can behave like an adult and realize that you are getting mad about stuff you should have known all along and that you agreed to.
If it makes you feel any better, you are not going to see those ads as long as you look at your posts while logged in. It’s only your readers who will see them, and if they have any brains at all, they will ignore them like they should ignore ads on every site one visits nowadays.
Look, ElBob, you’re supposed to have learned something in all them years you lived. I’ve heard you complain about younger generations as not having what it takes, as not having grit, as not being informed, and for wanting everything handed to them (like most socialists), and now you are acting the same way despite a number of people on this thread having explained to you how things are.
Take a deep breath and consider if all this is worth it. Worth getting mad, worth bitching at others, and worth your time and consideration. Also, decide if you want a free blog or one you pay for. Beyond that, my advice is to get riled about other stuff, like the length of my posts and the fact that a lot of what I say apparently taxes your attention span. Oh, yeah, and my sometimes deliberate jabs aimed at getting your panties (that’s knickers, to you) all in a bunch.
Yes, I’m mixing sarcastic humor in with what is genuine advice. Also, I’ve exhausted my patience with this topic. There’s a reason why I didn’t want children, and it’s a bit late now for me to learn how to deal with that type of recalcitrant behavior.
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I’m sorry you feel like that I’ve been having a quite chuckle, and haven’t been getting my ‘knickers in a knot’, which sounds a bit better than panties in a bunch even you must agree 😀
It’s nice to know you care, you’re probably the only one who does so much for the well being of this poor old refugee in a strange country 😈
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And, what do you mean I’m not couth? ElBob is a perfectly good name and one you should wear proudly.
. . . I wish I had a good set of initials like diem3 or ElBob.
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I notice that Derrick rather likes the ElBob too, think I might get an ElBob site up and running
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I do rather like ElBob. I don’t object to WordPress in my site.
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It’s not that I object to it Derrick, what I object to is that they can place ads in it over which I have no control or say. I abhor ads in any shape or form. 😦
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Ah! I see. I agree
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Wild Turkey??? That’s a bit of rough for you, eh?
Well, about the domain name, what PiedType says. I paid for a dedicated domain name (pamelaswritelife.com), but during my two year hiatus, I stopped paying. It simply had “wordpress” added (pamelaswritelife.wordpress.com). Frankly, I did not have the money to spend on what was an ego thing, and as far as I can tell, everything works the same on my site.
Oh yes…and you’re an April baby? I’m 21 April, so we’re practically birthday twins. (That was a plaid herring to this conversation, but I tend to do that. Maybe that’s why I upset so many people–in this country anyway.)
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It’s not an ego thing Pamela, it’s an ad thing I have a violent objection to ads, and especially ones which I have no control over.
The Turkey is not rough I’ve been drinking it for yonks love the stuff. 😈
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Yes, I dislike the ads as well. If I could afford it, I would have a personalised site for that reason.
I associate Wild Turkey with the southeast US, an area with distinctly…well…southern habits. That’s all.
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I have some followers from the South, who are very nice people, theres good and bad everywhere; even Australia, look at me for example,
By the bye what part of the US do you call home? I have Colorado, PA. Florida, Hawai’i regulars and occasionally one drops by from Kentucky………
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You just scrape in as an Aries, so you were extremely lucky. 😀
If you’re upsetting people then you know you are doing something right; I’ve tried to make an art of doing it 😈
I never realized you were in your 80’s 👿
I think f you as quite young in fact 😀 🐱 🐻
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Well, I’ve been told I look younger than my years…(coy blink)…if I live for several more decades, I could make my 80s…
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I’ve been told that too, probably because I don’t feel or act my age.
Thankfully. 😀
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Neither do I. Thankfully…
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Oh, so true. It’s just that I’ve lived within that region and…oh my…
I live in a state that prides itself on being independent, and, indeed, was it’s own country for a day or two back when. It is also a place where gun lovers walk into churches and shoot the congregation. I’m living in Texas currently.
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and they once had a Governor known in the civilized world as ‘The Executioner’ he liked to have those on death row put down . over 150 I believe. He went on to be the worse POTUS ever until the present incumbent ousted him from the Number 1 slot, His pals call him Dubya!
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Texas is a leader in prisoner executions. But then in the 1980s they let a bunch of convicts out, including serial killers, who killed more people. Yes, I remember when Dubya was elected, I just kept whispering, “Don’t let anything happen ” over and over… then one September day in 2001… dump is a study in disaster. But I won’t wind myself up tonight, because there’s a hint of a possible rant, and that would be frightening…
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Dubya can’t be blamed for 9/11, he can be held responsible for the ongoing wars in which the US and as a consequence Australia is involved.
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No, no. Not to blame, of course not. I meant that I did not want anything serious like that to happen with him in the office to have to deal with it.
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Oh yes…congratulations! You know more about the us than do most Americans!
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Whoa, prices are high by you. For $129. I could get 5 of the 750ml bottle of Wild Turkey 101.
I just get the free wordpress – tight budget here.
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Turkey 101 costs $A64 for a 700ml bottle here. All our bottles are 700ml and that’s at Dan Miurphys, the cheapest booze outlet in Australia
The last time I bought the 101 was in 2008, long time ago now; when I came back from the USA. I got 2 x 1 Litre bottles, for less than $A60 from the ‘Duty Free Shop’ and they threw in a bonus ½ litre bottle plus a ‘Wild Turkey ‘ bag that held the 2 big bottles. I still use that bag.
Most of what we pay goes on ‘Import Duty’ the government likes their chop, and transport. The Bourbon we get here is all imported already bottled, not like the Scotch which comes in barrels, is watered down with Australian water and bottled here ‘under bond’.
I find that the 101 is a bit ‘big’ for me now;
Makers Mark has gone to pot, tastes like Jim Beam and probably is, and we only get the 40%/*80% now, so I’ve told the War Office who usually buys me 2 bottles of Makers M for Christmas that this year “Please don’t get me MM I’ll have the Turkey instead and not the one you eat.” 😀
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Good for you. With those prices, I take it there aren’t too many alcoholics in Australia – who could afford it?!!
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There ae plenty of alco’s here GP, they spend whatever they have on booze.The really desperate will even drink ‘metho’ (methylated spirits watered down) which eventually kills them.
Also the average/minimum wage here is pretty high even for those without much qualification
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I am now feeling confused and sad and worried about domain names and whisky and whiskey and the price of good booze. But never mind, I’m sure it’ll work out in the end.
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It usually does 🙂
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I used to be a serial complainer about WordPress but eventually I decided that there is no point because they simply don’t listen. I also accepted the fact that as I don’t pay for anything that they are within their rights to ignore me!
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They’d listen if you want to pay them a compliment. True!
I only paid so that I didn’t have to worry about ads. Silliest thing I ever did 😦
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I can live with the ads – it’s not me that sees them!
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They always seem to haunt me 😦
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Oh my, Lord BofB. 😦 I hope this all works itself out. Parasites would upset me, too.
When I started on WP in 2012, I just decided to do the freebie site and not pay them any $. I’m easy and cheap, so so far, so good. 😛 😀
If HUGS would make you feel better, I have HUGS to give and they are free!
(((HUGS))) 🙂
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I love hugs and feel better already Thanks Carolyn 😀
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Oh good! 🙂
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BTW: The little boy picture of you…SO cute! 🙂
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That was taken in 1936 after I had my first ever haircut. But don’t let looks fool, you I was apparently a stubborn little monster; and I’m delighted to state quite categorically, that I haven’t changed in 83 years 😈 😀 🐻 🐱
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I think that’s great! I think we are all that same little kid we were when we were only 4 or 5 years old. 🙂 I know I am. And I’m okay with that. 😀
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And why not? We have to live with ourselves so what makes us happy is what counts, sounds a bit selfish I know, but if I’m happy it’s more pleasant for those around me, and if it’s not Tuff! 😈 🐻
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I wish I could be of help related to this WP stuff. But, like Winnie the Pooh “I am a Bear of Very Little Brain”. 😀
I hope you are having a great day, My Lord BofB!!! 🙂
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I’m a masochistic 🐻 I think, our Emilio is trying to tar me to shreds
You can call me ElBob if you like it’s easier, and it will make him even more big headed as he came up with the name 😀 🙂
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Ha! Well…ElBob is a very nice name! 😀 He did a great job in coming up with it! 🙂
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I must admit I rather enjoy the name; just hope he doesn’t try and flog it to me. Or patent it or something,
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Well you learn something every day. Now I get why WP were suggesting I could reconfigure my domain name and be “hosted” by WordPress. I already have a separate website using that domain name, hosted by my website developer. Don’t bother figuring that out – I’m basically thinking aloud. But I just checked and the WordPress Personal Plan is still available, A$60 a year and ad-free. There is only 6GB Storage Space and you can’t upload videos, neither of which would bother you as your posts are usually all text.
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They’ve never mentioned the $60 option to me just like to grab the ton plus 👿
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I say nothing, nothing 🙂
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There are some who don’t ! No names, no pack drill, 🙂
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Sounds like gobbledy-gook to me. No logic; no true explanation of anything; just repetitious language that can drive you crazy. It’s probably a good thing you weren’t talking with him in person. And, like John, now I’m wondering what I’ve gotten myself into….which is my problem, not yours. I do have one question, suggested by Gwen’s comment above: Would they let you move to the A$60 a year, ad-free plan? That doesn’t solve everything, but….
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Look at it like this:
Say you a piece of property. It has an address and everything. You pay a yearly tax to live there plus some fees for utilities and stuff.
At some point, you decide you no longer want to pay for utilities and what’s this tax stuff? No, you should be entitled to live there forever at no cost and still have all the utilities and access to roads and things.
The county (or equivalent entity) says, No, I’m sorry, that’s not how it works. If you want, you can move to public housing, but you don’t get a plot of land with it, and your services are restricted. Plus, because it’s public housing, the building will have billboards on it and stuff. In fact, your balcony is part of an ad for hemorrhoid cream.
At this point, you get with like-minded people and start yelling and screaming that it’s an outrage. Why, you paid for your property. It’s yours. It has your name on it and everything. Everyone agrees and all of a sudden, everyone has free homes and utilities.
Sounds great, no? Why, yes. Yes, it does. That system has worked well in . . . well, gosh, I can’t think of a place where that’s working well. Or, even working at all.
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The part I don’t understand is that WP can sell the name of Brian’s blog. It seems to be an open invitation for someone to impersonate him—though that would be quite a feat! I know it isn’t his proper name, but can you explain that piece to me?
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I’m waiting for a logical answer 😦
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But not holding your breath, right? 🙂
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My thoughts entirely Elouise and nothing that Emilio says will make me change my mind. Who are these faceless people who can just go and steal somebody’s ideas?
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Yes. It’s not his name in perpetuity; it’s never been his name; he’s renting it and can continue doing so only as long as he pays for using it.
Anyone can register a domain name as long as it’s not being used. I explained it above but, to put it simply, you could go and right now register dispersertracks.org if it’s available (I think it is; I have dispersertracks.com registered in my name). That doesn’t make you me and it would not be legal for you to represent yourself as me.
In the case of web names, no one else can use a name as long as you are paying for it. Brian is paying for lordbeariofbow.COM but is not paying for that same name using .ORG, .NET, .AU, and countless others.
I think the hangup here is some sort of ego thing with the name.
Imagine I register XYZ.com and then no longer want to pay for it. Does it seem reasonable that now no one can use XYZ.com?
The other hangup is the mistaken belief that WordPress is selling his name. THEY AREN’T.
Once Brian no longer wants to pay for it, that particular arrangement of letters is no longer assigned to Brian and it goes back into the pool of available names. WordPress has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with that name. And, to be clear, Brian does own lordbeariofbow.wordpress.com. That’s his, for free, and no one else can use it. Ever.
If Brian stops paying for lordbeariofbow.com, that name disappears from the ranks of registered names, and if after that someone comes along — say, me — and asks WordPress if that name is available, WordPress goes to ICANN and says something like:
“Hey, ICANN; there’s an idiot here that wants the domain name lordbeariofbow . . . is anyone currently using that particular arrangement of letters?”
“Nope! They can have it for $2. It’s available as a .com, .org, .au., .net, and many more.”
“No, this idiot wants the .com only just so he can annoy some old guy in Australia.”
“OK, fine. Give us $2 and it’s his.”
The mistake here is thinking that Brian bought permanent rights to the name lordbeariofbow. He only bought the rights to tack the .COM suffix to that name and, again, he has that right only as long as he pays for it by renewing it every year.
I linked above the case where Google didn’t renew their domain name and lost the use of it for a couple of minutes. They had to buy it back from the guy that snapped it up while it was available.
Here’s another way to look at it . . . there is an Emilio D’Alise who posts videos on YouTube of him playing the guitar. That guy is not me. He just has the same name but he lives in Europe. He is perfectly free to have the same name I use, but what he can’t do is come here and say that he is me.
I mean, honest, this is not all that difficult. If you buy a ticket to use a seat on a plane or a train, once you are done, they sell that space to someone else. Brian is asking that since he parked his ass on that seat for a while, no one else can ever use it again.
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It is my name, I ‘designed’ it and have told how and why, WordPress has nothing to do with it except to extract money from me to place it on line. They can never claim ownership of it as I never sold it or relinquished my my right of ownership of it. They are making money out of something that is not theres. You may be happy with that but I’m not,
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It’s like talking to a wall, only I get the feeling the wall would have understood by now.
FSM, I hope I don’t get this obstreperous when I get older. I guess for some one childhood is just not enough.
I’ll try once more . . . All you are buying, and its not from them, they are just the intermediaries, is the right to add .COM after it.
Now, you can stomp your feet and hold your breath, but I will also tell you that unless you copyright it (and you can’t) anyone can use it.
In fact, I have half a mind to register lordbeariofbow.net just so I can post this conversation there. No doubt, I would receive sainthood for the patience I’ve shown. A veritable martyr, I am, suffering at the hands of the misinformed.
Old people . . . much worse than children . . .
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I think I’ll have to look into Gwen’s suggestion, I think that WP are downright immoral, but disperser/Emilio doesn’t. I think if he voted he’d be a GOP baby
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Of all the real windmills you could choose to fight, I don’t understand why you choose an imaginary one. But, if you insist on fighting it, at least fight the actual culprits, and as I keep saying, it’s not WP.
But, if you think they are immoral (a loaded term, but OK, let’s go with it) why stick with them?
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Just think I’ll go to sleep and not wake up
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I used to design websites and do content ( in the early years)
People just don’t understand how the registry and the .com/.org./net….all of them work.
I registered my .com myself not through WP. It’s easy and cheaper. Registery/paying WP to do so simply “reserves” the name as long as you pay. Had several .coms registered and used one with my company, but have let some go recently. Yep, someone could pick those up if they wished.
Internet is not print. Rules of copyright/ownership are different. It’s not meanness or evil-ness – it’s just how it works. Business. (And WP figured out a way to make money by registering for people instead of people doing it themselves.)
Why I’m telling you this is stupid. You clearly know and have tried to explain.
My blog is just basic WP with added storage (which is a little annoying to pay for extra since they make money off my blog in ads.) I hate the ads, but not enough to pay to eliminate them or to use my .com
It is what it is. They run this game and make the rules.
And “Happiness engineers” ? right.
(And now let’s follow LordBear’s suggestion and glaze over for a bit in honor of yelling into the wind for the halibut)
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I think that I’ll let the .com go and then get my wife to buy it from WP she might get it at a good price. Would that work/be possible do you think? Probably get another lecture from disperser/Emelio now
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Real possibility for lower pricing if they see a “new” player.
It’s been a while since I worked with copyright laws – there are so many and location makes a difference (World wide, North American only and the like)
But if they can copyright Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse, you should be able to copyright a character “LordbeariOf Bow”…not to be confused with Paddington Bear or Yogi. HA HA
Not sure how “intellectual property” might play …
So sad that when people (especially real estate agents in this area) See the ads for a “free website” and sign up only to discover they can’t take their website/ the name with them if they decide to change hosting companies since the company registered/secured your domain name and now it belongs to them – they just allow you to use it as long as you pay them to host your website. It is a little shady and misleading for companies to do that, but common practice – and traps the unwary.
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I’m not a lawyer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express . . . no, wait . . . it was a Comfort Inn, but still . . .
Those examples you mention are characters in an artistic work. Interesting side note: one of them is responsible for continued changes in Copyright Law (https://artrepreneur.com/how-mickey-mouse-keeps-changing-copyright-law/).
Copyright is generally applicable to works of authorship although there are some gray areas when the entities involved have a lot of pull (money). Trademark applies to commerce, so if Lordbeariofbow decides to sell t-shirts with the phrase “Socialist Royalists Rule!” he could then apply for a trademark . . . which still wouldn’t safeguard his current domain name.
It’s not just hosting companies that can hold a business hostage . . . if I’m quick enough to snatch up a domain name of a company who got lax with its renewal, I could make myself a bit of coin. There are people who got rich doing just that (fewer now than in the early days).
. . . but now, you’re just encouraging ElBob’s fake indignation and imagined victimhood. I think we owe it to ourselves to be honest with people harboring illusions (delusions) lest they get so worked up that they pop a vein or two.
Here’s another article on the subject:
https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2010/01/08/5-things-that-cant-be-copyrighted/
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While I digest all this a quick note:
It should read “Royalist Socialists Rule” I was a royalist before becoming a socialist!
Now back to more trivial matters.
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I was going more for the strength of conviction than timeline but whatever floats your boat is fine with me.
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do you get pleasure/enjoyment out of confusing this poor old Englishman/Australian
❓
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Oh, it’s not something I think about . . . I find your confusion threshold is low enough to hit without any deliberate effort on my part.
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How can I argue against such logic ❓
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From past experience in these matters, I know that logic holds no sway with you, so I’m sure you’ll find a way.
. . . gosh, I love this kind of banter . . . I could do this all day, but I do have other interests I should attend to and other people to annoy.
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and here was I thinking I was special and there you go ruining my day telling me THAT! 😥
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I thought Socialists eschewed the very idea of being special or privileged or somehow recognized as having merit above that of anyone else.
. . . sure seems to me you are much more in the royalist camp and only pay lip service to that whole socialist notion.
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I’m an interesting sort of bloke when you put it like that don’t you think ❓
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“sort” is an apt descriptor, but now I’m thinking you’re just trying to crank up your page views for this post.
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I had sort of the same situation with a blog I run for my publisher. I didn’t want to pay the $100(US) for the premium plan any longer, and when the premium services expired, the blog was locked. I’d assumed that the blog would automatically revert to the free blog I’d originally set up. When I contacted wp, they said for the blog to revert to the old free blog, I had to tell them i wantd to cancel the domain name. And I couldn’t do that without permission from my publisher, and the publisher wasn’t answering my emails.. Meantime, wp told me of another option – I could pay $48 for a personal blog for the publisher, but even that I didn’t want to do. (I mean, why should I? It wasn’t my blog. On my own blog, I just do the free thing, ads and all). Anyway, it eventually it came down to my paying them $18.00 for just the domain name, no premium services, no ad removal. By then, I was so sick of the matter, I paid and in a matter of minutes, the blog was back up and running. Makes me glad I never went with a domain name for my blog.
And yes, a domain name is only yours as long as you pay for it. I don’t even know if wordpress owns the domains or if they get them from somewhere else. (My website domain comes from GoDaddy, and I pay for it ten years in advance.)
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Im now more confused than ever. They haven’t mentioned any $48, or $18 options, just keep pushing me for $129.00, I’d happily give the $18 US just for the domain name, to shut them up and get some peace
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Email them. Tell them you don’t want the premium business plan. Ask them about the personal plan or just the domain name. Or try going to the dashboard and on the left side look for something like “upgrade”. If you click on that, it should offer some options. I can’t see it on my phone, but when I go online later I can look for the right wording.
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Go to your dashboard. One the left hand side, you will see “plans” Click on “plans.” It should give you a variety of options, including the personal blog for a lot cheaper than the premium plan. If you just want to renew the domain name and not upgrade, at the top of the page you will see “domains.” Click on that. You should see a list. (There might only be one, I don’t know.) Then click on “primary domain.” It should tell you when your domain expires and how to renew. At least it should. If it doesn’t tell you how to just renew the domain, then email them.
The problem with domain names is that even if your name is copyright protected, anyone can use that domain. In the beginning of the internet, a lot of folks registered brand names and then held those names for ransom, making the companies pay big bucks to reclaim their name. .
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Thanks Pat I did what you suggested and there is the personal one for half the price and I will take that immediately and I thank you for the help; I really appreciate your and everybody else’s help 😀
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Glad to help. For your purposes, you won’t notice a bit of difference between the two plans.
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I think Im now on the personal plan at half the cost Thanks Pat 😀
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