The Crazy Canucks
Podcast

TiVo Podcasts by John Biehler on Flickr

When we first started this podcast, the concept grew between all of the original cast of TCC, and everyone had their contributions. Format, ideas, how we’d do the podcast technically, meeting up to record, and so on. But when it came to the name of the podcast, that really came from our dear Alanah. She not only thought up the name, but, like any good person with an online mindset, checked to see if the .com domain name existed.

Low and behold, The Crazy Canucks was born. (Not the most exciting story of how the name came to be, but it is what it is.)

Canucks Open Practice by Miss604 on Flickr

Sometime around last year, the account with the domain registar that Alanah used to register our .com domain name expired. The domain was still valid for a time after that, but as it turns out, losing your account with the registrar loses your ownership to your domain, at least that’s the story with this company.

And even though Alanah tried repeated attempts to contact them about her account the domains that she owned through them, she was ignored. Along with losing out maiden domain name, Alanah also lost CanucksandBeyond.com in the process.

About a month ago, I decided to try to get our site back up and running in the hopes that the original cast members of TCC might be able to gather together while our Canucks push deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Contacting the registrar who last held the keys to our domain, I came to discover that the domain had been transferred ownership at their own doing because we know for certain that Alanah never gave her consent for such things.

As it turns out, the domain is now in the hands of domain reseller, also known as a squatter, who has parked the URL with a page that allows you to contact them with an offer for the domain. Following the rabbit hole, I decided to see how much it would be to get it back.

Rolling out a $50 offer for a domain that could be registered through most registrars for about fifteen bucks, I thought I would be in the ballpark of what they would want. Anyone who has been apart of this podcast can tell you that we’ve probably spent way more than the cost of all of our podcasting adventures on alcohol consumption alone.

The Crazy Canucks (J.J. and Dave literally on a bus) by Miss604 on Flickr

And on a side note about the alcohol consumption, have you been on the bus with this team as much as we have? The Canucks will drive you to drinking just to handle all the ups and downs of being a fan.

Now back to the URL, I received a reply to my first offer of $50.

John,

Thank you for your offer to acquire the thecrazycanucks.com domain. My name is Chris, and I am the broker for this domain.

While your initial offer was below the minimum reserve set by the seller, I recognize that people oftentimes enter an arbitrary dollar figure into our online form to see whether it will elicit a response. In your reply to this email, please indicate whether you would like to submit an increased offer, or have me get back to you with more information regarding the projected selling price. Let me know if you have any questions at all. Thank you!

Of course I replied to say that I would like to know what that minimum offer would be.

Hi John.

The list price set by the seller for the thecrazycanucks.com domain is $2,500 USD. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are able to meet the asking price, and I will help you to secure the domain.

You can also reply to this email with a counter proposal, as all reasonable offers will be considered. Please let me know how you would like to proceed. Thank you!

$2,500 compared to the almost $25 it took for us to originally register it.

Was it worth it to go through all of the negotiation and hassle of completing a deal that had the potential of being even more headache than it had to be? Could we even be certain that we’d get the domain once it was all complete? We didn’t even want to bother with a counter offer at this point.

So here we are with the new domain, protected for years to come, and registered through a place that isn’t nearly as shady as the story above presents. And because we don’t like playing that way, we’ll withhold the name of that business but can say they’re local to the metro Vancouver area, which is even more depressing to the overall story.

Please update your bookmarks and tell your friends that it’s TheCrazyCanucks.net now!