Photojournalism Column 
Jim Colburn...Don't Ask
 
Your Name Avaialable Now! 
Only $75.00!

Your name. YOUR name. You've probably had it most of your life and probably like it a lot. Even if you parents had a strange, sick sense of humor and called you something like River or Sunshine at least you're used to it. If you do like it and want to use it on the Internet you'd better haul your ass over to Network Solutions (http://www.internic.net) and fork over $75 for the first two years of domain name registration (Visa, Mastercard and American Express accepted) because your name might not even be yours any more. If you've got anything approaching something normal for a last name then you'll probably find YOURLASTNAME.COM already gone and now owned by someone that'll sell it to you for "only" $1000 and up. So go for FIRSTNAMELASTNAME.COM instead, but buy it now as they're going fast.

The potential for fun with this is sky-high but Network Solutions has certain qualms about registering certain domain names. When I did a search on BULLSHIT.COM I was told it was available.... Just think about it.... A business card that could TRUTHFULLY say "If you want to see bullshit on The Net go to WWW.BULLSHIT.COM..." So I quickly tried to register the name only to be told that they just flat out wouldn't do it. No way, no how, not now, not never.

You can register a friend's name and give it as a Christmas present, a graduation present, a bribe. That good looking, computer-literate woman that you've been trying to date could (I say could) be convinced by the new line "It's your name and I thought you should have it." Then again you could register the name of someone that, er, isn't quite so close just to keep it away from them.... Imagine an ex's surprise when he or she discovers that not only is there name already registered but THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL THEY'LL EVER GET IT.

I'm okay. I've already registered JAMESCOLBURN.COM as a domain. I had to settle for COLBURN.NET since some insurance agent in Buffalo beat me to COLBURN.COM. I managed to registered CHRISTINECOLBURN.COM for my daughter for her future use which lead to:

Me: "Guess what honey? I just bought you a domain name!"
Her: "What's that Dad?"
Me: "Never mind, you'll thank me when you're older...."

And she will too.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed are barely my own much less my employer's so don't blame Time Magazine, Time Inc. or Time-Warner for anything written here. If you have to blame somebody how about that British Leica collector with NO sense of humor who thought I was the Anti-Christ and that my last column would lower the value of his cameras..... HEY BUDDY! THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA!
 

 

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