So every few days, I get an email from somebody asking me what happened to the site which, in and of itself is quite interesting because since there was no site until just a day ago, that means, these people had to have gotten my email address from somewhere. Sure, I recognized a few names from prior correspondence but there has also been quite a few I haven’t recognized.
So what happened to the old site?
Something pretty stupid actually…
The domain expired.
Huh?
Oh yeah… But it gets better… UnknownScreenwriter.com was one of about 6 domains I had registered on the very same day back in October 2005. All these domains were on AUTOMATIC RENEWAL from my PayPal account. So far so good.
So come October 2010, I wasn’t worried about the domain since I knew it was on automatic renewal… And, even if it had NOT been on automatic renewal, here’s the deal… Your registrar is supposed to give you a 30 day grace period to allow you to renew… Maybe with a late fee but you are supposed to get a grace period.
I just happened NOT to be home on the date of expiration… But when I got home, the emails already started coming in asking about the site. I did some checking to see that the domain was now “parked” — so I logged into my registration account and saw that ALL the domains had in fact been renewed EXCEPT for UnknownScreenwriter.com.
Hmmm.
So further checking revealed that the domain had been swooped up by a domain broker. Huh? These are guys that buy and sell domains on speculation. What I did not know was how he managed to snag my domain instead of it getting renewed. All the other domains in that same account were renewed so why not UnknownScreenwriter.com?
I emailed the registrar to no avail… I’ve been using them for YEARS and have always gotten a timely response until now.
I also opened up correspondence between the domain broker and myself… They want $2900.00 for the domain and while I can easily pay to get it back…
Fuck’em.
Now don’t get me wrong… I accept much of the blame here and I even offered to give them a nice tidy profit for the domain to pay for all their trouble [sic] but they are sticking to their $2900.00 price.
Fuck’em.
So here I am… Back in the saddle with a new domain. Should be fun. I’ll try to make it fun anyway.
Unk
Fuck’em indeed. Companies like that usually sell the expiration info or do the brokering themselves. All in an effort to squeeze every last dime off us simple folk. Hey, it’s the American Way!
Have no fear UNK, the name may have changed, but the meaning stays the same.
Ah… THE AMERIKAN WAY. Almost forgot about that.
Unk
So, there is no limit to ownership anymore is there? Brokers everywhere. I didn’t know there was domain names brokers. Soon, someone will chop your arm off, ask money to get it back and if you can’t pay, they’ll send some repo men. Oh wait, that sounds familiar.
Glad to see you’re still on the web.
[...] could go on and tell you more about this change of address and what and why and so on but hey, he says it best himself. The site is quite empty at the moment but it’s always good to keep an eye on it. I wrote to [...]
bastards. how lame. Good to see you online though. came to check up on something and you were gone! Quick interweb search and I gotcha again. I sit on the f’em side, too.
That’s all well and good, UNK, but what about all the posts? They’re a treasure trove of wisdom, information and insight — an invaluable reference site for the craft. I hope to God you saved them somewhere. Example: I clicked your link to find your post on onomatopoeia (s?) and it was nowhere to be found! I googled you and fell upon this blog. Did I miss something in your new posts? I don’t see anything explaining what you’re going to do about the old posts. If I had the bucks, I’d pay the $2900 for you. This is a disaster.
Vince,
Absolutely… I have ALL the old posts… The problem is that they are in database format and I gave uploading the old database to this new one a try but much of the text was obfuscated.
I have since taken the old database and culled all the posts from it but I’ll PROBABLY have to REPOST them individually here as I get the chance… But yeah, I have everything.
Unk
So the rumors of your death were greatly exaggerated?! That’s good news.
I thought something had happened to you when I didn’t hear back.
Hey Unk
Awesome, and now you have get on CNN as being the best blog out there and best screenwriters, I bet you are a first-rate writer about to land a deal
You can do it, you have 100% brain and talent.
Your past blog was great and looks like you are back in action, I know one day you will make it big time.
Keep up the vision and thanks for your vision and sharing it.
Andrew
Thanks, buddy. Hope I can give back one day with a kick-ass screenplay that would never have been were it not for your wisdom and knowledge.
Unk, if you haven’t done so already, lock your domain at your new registrar. That will prevent domain-jacking.
Hey Yodunk, so glad to see you back, I thought you were gone forever and was getting the shakes…
Hi buddy,
I have updated my links accordingly. Thanks for providing your useful words of wisdom to aspiring screenwriters – so that producers like me can find GOOD material (as opposed to the other stuff out there.)
Please keep writing.
Jason Brubaker
Filmmaking Stuff