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As you may be aware, some email customers have experienced email downtime in the last 24 hours. We had to restart many mail servers, and it took longer for some mail servers to come back online than others due to load on the servers varying, but as of approximately 10AM Pacific time this morning we had all servers online.

However, due to all the backed up mail during the downtime that was attempting to be delivered, load on two servers remains too high and is causing further issues. Because of this load, we need to perform emergency maintenance to move customers on these two servers to volumes with more capacity. This will impact a small number of our total mail customers, but we still expect several thousand customers will be impacted for 12-24 hours while maintenance is performed.

As soon as we begin to move customers off the two servers with high load, the other currently impacted customers on those two servers should see improved service for email again.

We apologize about the issues and will work to complete maintenance as quickly as possible.

Background on the .XXX TLD

ICANN has been debating the creation of the .XXX TLD for years and repeatedly delayed making a decision on it, but as of the most recent ICANN meetings in March, the .XXX TLD was approved.

The .XXX TLD has unsurprisingly been a controversial one, and during the debates over approval various adult industry groups and family-oriented and anti-pornography groups came out in opposition to .XXX. Adult industry groups fear that they could be required to move their sites to .XXX domains and lose value from their current brands with .COMs and other TLDs and risk being heavily filtered. Conservative groups including the Family Research Council argued that giving adult sites their own TLD legitimizes Internet pornography and makes it more widely accessible. However, other family-oriented groups also support the .XXX TLD for the same reasons that many adult-industry groups are against it.

Meanwhile, ICM Registry has portrayed the intention of the TLD as providing an adult TLD that is completely voluntary but will allow adult sites to brand themselves as such. However, some of the adult industry fears about the domain’s viability may have merit, as India has already blocked all .XXX domains, and other countries, search engines, and social networks could potentially do the same.

So, should Dotster offer .XXX?

We want to hear your thoughts and the background behind them. Leave a comment about whether or not you think Dotster should sell .XXX below.

The first features Dotster small business customer Sweetpea Bikes based out of Portland, OR. Owner Natalie Ramsland was a blast to work with to produce this visually stunning 30 second spot.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The second commercial is fairly light-hearted and shows a contrast between two auto mechanic businesses. The point is simple: If your business can’t be found online, you don’t exist.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The application fee to register a domain during Landrush is very affordable – just $10. If you are the sole applicant for the domain you register, you will be charged $325 plus $34.99 for additional years of domain registration beyond the first (the standard yearly price for registering a .CO domain on Dotster). If others put in an application for the same domain, the registration will be awarded based upon an auction between you and the other applicants. Those applicants that don’t win the auction will not be charged for any fee except the original $10 application fee.

While Landrush may not be for everyone, if you have a valuable .CO domain name you don’t want to miss out on, Landrush is definitely your best bet at securing that domain. If you prefer to save some money but still want to make sure you get a jump on the competition for registering your .CO domain, Dotster is offering pre-registration for the general availability phase where everyone can register a .CO for $34.99 per year. Pre-registration means we’ll submit your registration to the registry as soon as general availability opens on July 20th. Pre-register today so you won’t forget to register your .CO domain when it’s available – we’ll do it for you!

Choose either Landrush or Pre-registration for general availability – It’s up to you! Either way, secure your .CO domain today!

Take your accumulated knowledge, your interests and passions, and your various other skills and combine them to start a business. Becoming an entrepreneur is easier now than ever. To promote and find an audience for your idea, you can start with as little as a website. Online social networking allows you to make the connections and initial contact your business idea needs to get off the ground.

If you’re not ready to jump in head-first with a business idea, it’s easy to start a side-project. Register a domain name and set yourself up with web hosting. From there, you can build a basic website using WordPress, our SiteBuilder, or any other website building program. There are hundreds if not thousands of website builders available to choose from. Once you create a website for your business idea, you’ll have an easy place to refer people to for more information.

Starting a business is anything but easy. However, it’s surprisingly simple to get momentum behind your idea with a good website and some online and offline networking. Starting your new business as a side-project is a viable way to explore a business idea without sinking all of your time and resources into it.

If you’re a graduate with a great business idea (or for that matter anyone with a great business idea), get your idea off the ground today with a website! If you are job hunting, you can stay motivated and focused by having a side-project that you enjoy working on. Plus, it will allow you to build your resume, learn new skills, and even if you choose not to pursue the idea to completion, it might just give you the edge you need to land your next job.

For a limited time only, save 15% on your entire order at Dotster.com with no minimum purchase* by using coupon GRAD15 at checkout.

*LIMITED TIME OFFER. GRAD15 coupon and offer expires June 6, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. GRAD15 coupon is good for 15% off new products and services. No minimum purchase required. All renewals on products and services after the initial discounted period will be charged at the current standard list price for the selected period. Coupon is not valid with certain TLDs, renewals, transfers, custom website design, .CO pre-registrations, Sunrise registrations, Landrush registrations, other coupons, or special pricing.

Use coupon EARTHDAY during checkout.

Save on Domain Names, Web Hosting with SiteBuilder, and more!

*LIMITED TIME OFFER. EARTHDAY coupon and offer expires April 25, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. EARTHDAY coupon is good for 15% off new products and services. No minimum purchase required. All renewals on products and services after the initial discounted period will be charged at the current standard list price for the selected period. Coupon is not valid with renewals, transfers, custom website design, .CO pre-registrations, Sunrise registrations, Landrush registrations, other coupons, or special pricing.

At Dotster, we haven’t sold .CN domain names for a while now as well. However, we continue to offer all of our other domain extensions to Chinese customers. Here’s why:

Recently, China changed the requirements for .CN domains and now requires that registrars provide more information and additional paperwork to the Chinese government for each domain registration. Regardless of how we feel about providing sensitive information to the Chinese government on customers who register .CN domains, we don’t make enough money on a .CN per-domain basis to cover the additional time and expenses required to meet China’s new registration requirements. As such, we have discontinued selling .CN domains in recent months and have no plans to resume selling them with the current registration process as it is.

This is the situation that most registrars are in, and most will likely stop selling .CN domains if they have not already. Chinese citizens can still register any other TLD without the restrictions or extra requirements for .CN, so we’re happy to continue providing domain registration services to China outside of selling .CN domains. How about a .ASIA instead?

WordPress.com

WordPress.com allows you to create a blog for free that is hosted by wordpress. There are free templates and basic customizations available to make your blog more personalized. However, the blog address is a subdomain of wordpress.com (i.e. yourblogname.wordpress.com) rather than your own domain (yourblogname.com).

WordPress.org

WordPress.org is a much more robust blogging solution with huge advantages over a standard wordpres.com blog. WordPress.org allows you to download the actual WordPress application – the same one that powers all the WordPress.com blogs. You can then easily install it (using their famous 5 minute installation) on your own hosting with your own domain to make the blog fully personal.

Outside of the affordable cost of hosting and a domain name, everything else you need is free! The WordPress application is free, and there are thousands of themes, plugins, and extensions available to make the blog fully customized for your needs. If you’re knowledgeable enough, you can create your own theme or edit a theme that someone else created. The functionality of WordPress is greatly extended with the addition of plugins (which wordpress.com blogs cannot use). Plugins do everything from speeding up your blog to optimizing it for search engines or even creating polls for use in blog posts.

With all the added benefits of wordpress.org and a self-hosted WordPress blog, there’s little reason to settle for a wordpress.com blog. If you go with a free blog on wordpress.com, you’ll likely find yourself outgrowing it’s functionality in short order. As a basic blogging platform it’s a good start, but it’s worth it to install your own WordPress. If you currently have a wordpress.com blog and want to move to self-hosting your blog, you’re in luck – wordpress.com has an easy export feature that allows you to create a file to import into your own blog for quick transfer of posts, pages, comments, and more.

Check out Dotster’s blog hosting plan and get started with a WordPress blog on your own domain today!

In Apple’s case, this certainly isn’t the end of the world as they have ample funding to buy all those domain names from their current owners for however many hundreds of thousands or even million dollars they might cost. However, for your average new company, small company with a new product launch, or individual with a great idea, paying large sums of money for a domain name is out of the question. This is why it can be critically important to include domain name availability searches as a part of any product or business name brainstorming.

When naming, try to find a .com that’s available, though for more common names you may have to think about settling for a .net or other alternative if you’re set on that particular name. When you include domain searching as a part of the early-brainstorming for a name, you can include that in your decision-making to come up with a great name that also has a domain available to register. If you wait until later to check the domain name, you may find yourself torn between a name you’ve become attached to and finding out the domain is unavailable.

Once you’ve got the perfect name in mind, make sure you register the domain before someone else has the chance. Dotster makes it affordable at only $15.95 per year for a .com and $8.99 for a .net!

Find out more about Dotster and how we can help improve your search presence with Domains, Web Hosting, and more.