Re: [PLUG] administrivia: PLUG domain names, and donation requests

["Michael C. Toren" <mct@toren.net>]

Hi,

Thank you to everyone who responded, both publicly and privately.  The
feedback has been very helpful.  Generally speaking, three points have been
raised in the discussion:

In regard to the cost of the current registrar, Darxus and I feel that for
the time being it's worthwhile to stay with Gandi.net.  The cost is EU$12,
which translates roughly to US$15 at current exchange rates, overestimating
a little to account for periodic fluxuations.  While cheaper registrars
exist, they're generally only cheaper by a few dollars, and we've been quite
happy with Gandi over the past few years.  Their user agreement is one of
the best I've ever seen, stating explicitly that the customer owns the
domain name and that the registrar is simply acting on their behalf, their
web interface has remained uncluttered and consistent over the years, and
their email notification system and support has worked wonderfully.

In regard to renewing the COM and NET domain names in addition to ORG, we
feel that it's a good idea to do so in order to maintain PLUG's electronic
footprint.  At the moment, COM and NET simply redirect to phillylinux.org.
(plug.philadelphia.pa.us also redirects, however there's no fee associated
with philadelphia.pa.us domains.)

Lastly, in regard to accepting donations online, my intention was to accept
donations only in person and at public meetings in order to simplify things
and give a greater sense of openness.  As it seems there are at least a few
people who would like to contribute via PayPal, what I'll do is accept
PayPal donations only if less than $50 is raised tonight.  At about $50, we
can extend the renewal date for all three domains to at least March of 2006.

Thanks,
-mct

-- 
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/,\$_/xg;s/X/(0..7/g;s/P/print+/g;eval' #     Michael C. Toren <mct@toren.net>

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