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An Introduction
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Hello everybody, and welcome to the first public edition of The Finger Cramp.
In case we haven't already met, my name is Ricardo. I'm the main elf here at adomainwithaverylongname.com. I do most of the day to day management of the site. Occasionally you'll see the minor elves pop through to break the monotony.
The goal of this newsletter is to keep you updated about what's going on here, and discuss bigger issues that are relevant to internet, and thus to you. As I understand it, many of you are curious about where we are, who we are, and why we're here. So here are the top questions we receive.
The adomainwithaverylongname.com FAQ
1. Why such a long name?
Our original goal in '98 was to push the boundaries of the internet naming system, which was limited to 26 letters, and just plain mess with people. After a few months, everyone we ran across--on and off line--wanted an e-mail account @adomainwithaverylongname.com, so we partnered with everyone.net and opened our mail server to the public for free.
Yes, we are aware that our domain is unwieldy from a business point of view. Honestly, we like it that way. It helps keep our e-mail customers interested, while filtering out hosting users who need more handholding than we offer. Our hosting service is competitive enough that the customers we want are willing to seek us out through word-of-mouth.
2. Do people actually use these addresses?
I wouldn't have thought so, but apparently they do. Usage continues to rise, and the number of unique users of the site continues to grow.
As a matter of fact, so many people were using the site that we had to change hosts. Our old hosts just weren't stable enough to keep our e-mail users happy. Eventually, we started providing our own hosting service, and now things couldn't be better.
3. Do you actually use these addresses?
Well, to be honest... no. We all have shorter e-mail addresses for everyday use. In fact, that's what makes our free addresses so cool: when you get new mail here, you can have an alert sent to your normal address. Makes things a lot simpler.
4. So, where are you located?
That's a tricky question. We're online. I [Ricardo] am currently living in Northern Virginia. Most of the staff comes from California. The mail service is based in the Silicon Valley. And the domain hosting servers are co-located in Dallas and New Jersey.
5. How do I know it's safe to trust you?
First of all, you can trust that your credit card information will be safe because we never ask for it. Payment for hosting accounts is always done off-site on secure, insured servers run by eBay's Paypal. Paypal users (both merchants and sellers) are subjected to strict screenings. That way you can trust us, and we can trust you. You can also choose to pay through the mail, with a money order.
Besides, our domain hosting accounts come with free trials. You don't pay until you're satisfied.
6. How do you keep prices so low?
Well, the free e-mail service is paid for by advertising. As much as people complain about advertising, many free services couldn't exist without it.
As far as domain hosting, we keep prices low by buying space and bandwidth in bulk, and breaking it up into reasonable chunks. We also minimize labor by weeding out customers who don't really know what they're doing. Experienced webmasters don't need our help, and so we can focus on other things.
The most important thing is that we don't make unrealistic promises. Other companies out there promise "unlimited" bandwidth and hundreds of megs of space. The truth is, bandwidth and space aren't free, even to us. Any company promising unlimited megs is going to go bankrupt, leaving its users in the cold. Our plans are inexpensive, but they're also sustainable.
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