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3/11/11

Godaddy? No, daddy.

I'm sorry.  Not even Danica Patrick in a string bikini can save my opinion on this website.  Maybe if she lost the bikini....

I woke up Thursday morning feeling inspired.  I have a little money chilling in paypal, and it's burning a hole in my virtual pocket.  It's not enough to buy anything decent (it's under $20), but it's enough to buy a domain for my blog.

Yes, Pinocchio is trying to turn into a real boy.  I want a real website!

I pick out a name I like, and buy the domain.  I fill out all the forms, pay via paypal, and *ding* I have a website address!

Cool!

I configure all the settings from blogger to my new site, do all the DNS data to get it to switch over, and test it a few times.  It's workin nice...

My good mood turns into a great mood.  I start designing things with the new website address on it.  Cards to leave around internet cafe's?  I've seen in done before, but the 'wtfamidoing' tag seemed too long.

Not any more.

Get it?  Idaho's a red state!  Hahahaha!!

My marketing brain starts to tick.  I've been doing marketing for 6 years in a previous life, so I start thinking about how to get my blog's website better known.

But eh, it's time to go to work.  Oh yeah, I have a day job.  Dammit.  Granted, I like this job, but there are just some days where a 9-5 doesn't thrill you (mainly the days that end in a 'y').

This week has been, well, unique.  I'm only 3 weeks (ish) old at this place, and my boss is out of town on personal business.  She's available by cell/email, but not in the office, not answering the phone, and not helping walk-in people.  The other girl in the department has been off because of a surgery.  That leaves me, the newbie, alone to handle everything on my own.

Eeps.

Oh yeah, add a few interns and a student worker into the mix.  One intern is badass, and knows how to keep herself busy.  She sees what needs to be done, and does it.  The others, not so much.  Handholding is a term I debate using, because even that seems a little understated at times.

So I'm going solo in the office scheme.  But wait!  Today I'm not in the office for the afternoon!  I get to drive 30 miles to the BYU campus, and fish for more interns for the next semester.

(BYU-rant blogpost coming soon.  There's just too much to share, and I've only been there twice.)

Back to the main story.  I'm on campus, where cell reception is nil, and all the 'pop' machines (not soda.  pop.  ugh.) have no caffeine.  Better still, they don't take money.  There are little slots for "Mormon Mastercards" but not cash.  Grrrr.

My good mood is fading.

IT'S MEET THE STUDENTS TIME!!  yaay...

Most of them were cool kids.  Upbeat, sharp, and friendly.  There were one or two who asked me what Ward I belong to (slang for church) and then gave me dirty looks for not being a part of the cool-kids-club.

Mood levels fading even more.

My phone buzzes.

It's godaddy!

Come to tell me that things are going smoothly?

NO!  OF COURSE NOT!

"We don't like the data you gave us, so we're freezing your account.  Your website is now locked, and we're refunding your money."

What?

....what?

...wow.

Little did I know that my blog was still redirecting to the now-frozen site.  It was essentially dead for the majority of the day.

Granted, I was on my blackberry, but you get the idea.


Thanks godaddy.  I have 45 pageviews today (Thursday) instead of my normal count in the 200's.  My viral versus viral contest is borked now, since people can't vote on a site that's dead.  I make $10-20 a day on ad revenue, and today it's only 10 cents.

Grrrr.  I need a drink.  And bewbs.  And a bj or something.  Or maybe another domain host.  iPage, here I come!
Please Share it! :)

28 witty retorts:

Astronomy Pirate said...

Yeah, I tried checking earlier and saw it was a new address that was dead. Sounds like a crappy day. BYU doesn't seem like the brightest campus though, they did suspend a star player for having sex with his girlfriend. DUMB. I'm needing to advertise more and probably buy my own domain soon too. Any reason godaddy gave you problems? I'll avoid them if I can.

Unknown said...

what the hell, i am thinking about getting a domain as well and now i will avoid GoDaddy

kitkat said...

so sowi bout the bad day :/
woah you rich kid!..u make 10 to 20 dollars a day on ads?.. i make nada!,lol

D4 said...

godaddy doesn't sound like fun.. also a side note, too much red seems dangerous, keep some friendly in there :)

Rebecca said...

i have no clue how to work the whole domain thing so i just keep it simple

Unknown said...

but...but...the ad's have half naked women! How can the web site be evil?

Julie Ferguson said...

Sorry to hear about your crappy day. I had a yahoo domain for awhile and didn't have any trouble with them. Best of luck on whoever you go with...

Allison said...

You can buy a domain name through Blogger using Google, and it configures everything for you. I know it's not difficult to set up, but it's kinda nice to know that your $10 is buying you more than a name...

Hannibal Lecture said...

"We don't like the data you gave us, so we're freezing your account. Your website is now locked, and we're refunding your money."

What the hell did they even mean by that?

Unknown said...

I can't believe they still do the whole "What ward are you in?" crap!!

So sorry about the website fiasco, that sucks, but I am sure you'll get it all worked out in the end!!

Shelby Fox said...

I just bought a domain for another web project I'm doing. Go Daddy was by far the most expensive site. I ended up paying $4/month and got a free domain, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited space.

BluHost is pretty good.

Anonymous said...

Aw sorry bud... your picture with the gorilla was hilarious though. Anyway, I'm sorry, did they say why you were shut down?

Rachel Neilson said...

NIce, I wanna get a domain too! You get 20 dollars a day?!

Mooner Johnson said...

Lost. I wondered what happened to you. I was worried maybe some nearsighted Mormon dude had drugged you and taken you for his sixth wife.

Shitball gets you all unwrapped and removes the hood at your wedding and goes bonkers.

They do need to drug the women and kidnap them and shit, right? The girls don't go quietly in the night into slavery, do they?

I'm on Who's-yer-GoDaddy and they treat me OK. Glad you made it back.

Chris said...

Godaddy uses women in their advertising...you cant hate on that, can you?

Unknown said...

@Rachel: Pff, not anymore. Yesterday and today are pretty much nil. And granted, I'm not pulling this money out of the screen and into my wallet, but I made $155 in Feb from blogging. At my current rate in March, it should be double. I guess I'm just fortunate.

@Mooner: I'm a target, but not for marriage. Mormons have hound dogs, and I'm sure some of them have sniffed out my blog. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a price on my head...

@Chris: I'm hating the game, and not the players. If Danica Patrick wants to come visit me for coffee/lunch/spooning to apologize, I'd accept it.

UPDATE: I wrote gd a nasty email, and told them this was absurd. They told me my paypal info didn't match the info I gave them, which was BS. I told them I was taking my business elsewhere. Within 20 minutes, I get an apology email from them, and a statement saying they were un-refunding my refund, and my domain is back and unlocked.

I guess I'm lostinidaho.me once again... DAMN YOU GO DADDY!!!

Q said...

Wow, that's jacked up! Sorry to hear about the lost revenue. Speaking of revenue, I'd love to make $10-$20/day on my site, so fill me in on how to do so!

I will stay away from GoDaddy. I'm thinking of getting my own domain, but I don't know where yet.

Unknown said...

@Q: I wish I knew. I'd bottle the recipe and sell it to the multitudes. I'm just fortunate I guess.

Well, that's not entirely true. I read all the adsense tips they supply. I googled 'how to make money blogging' and followed their advice. I seem to be doing ok for myself...

And I'm also amused that a good chunk of people are focusing on that part of the story. =P

The Reckmonster said...

I had a site with GoDaddy and I HATED it. Annoyed the piss out of me. Never again. I hope your problems don't continue!

OH, BTW...I have an award waiting for you on my bloggie! Check it out when you get a chance. =)

Eric P said...

Wow, I've been preparing to get a domain name as well...looks like I know where I WON'T be getting it from. I can't believe that happened after you paid and set it up and everything. What a farce.

On My Soapbox said...

Buuuuuut, if a BYU grad comes to work for your company, won't they have to go on a mission or something? Forget hiring a female BYU grad. They probably won't be long for working. Can you tell I don't like that cult? I try to be respectful, but then they try to shove their religion down my throat, i.e. they are not respectful of me.

THE SNEE said...

After reading that, I'm definitely putting off Domain building, though it does have a certain je ne sais quoi fantasy appeal. BTW, I read your comments over at Psycho Carnival and thought I'd check out your blog. You're funny. Glad I did.

Jay said...

great story, looks like a fun blog. following. :)

THUNDERCAT said...

OOOhhhhhhhh I would be so pissed the fuck off to the point where someone would get physically harassed! Preferably an employee for GoDaddy!

Mike said...

I've heard some dodgy things about this website. I guess this proves they're true.

Jeremy [Retro] said...

this info might help, i bought a domain from go daddy... they give you a free set up page with some free perks. i have several blog accounts and made one main advertising page that is a dot com. this way if i shut down a blog, the dot com stays the same and then i will update it. and i am not sure if i traffic to the blogs is changed, but people have a better feeling when they visit a dot com over a long something-something blog dot com..

so my point is maybe you can use the domain name as a secondary start point and put a link on it. this way you don't lose your money.

i hope this makes some sense.
my main site:
jmhdigital.com

jeremy
iZombie

Rich said...

Yeah, godaddy is kind of a cheap site, and they give a lot of trouble. I considered them once because they have the serendipity blogging software, but that one becomes such a hassle before long

Con Queso said...

How about a domain that gives BJ's in a can...that was filled with Coke? haha. laughed at "mormon mastercard"

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