On Wed, 21 Mar 2001, Roger Whittaker wrote:
I'm sorry, Michael, but it also really bothers me that the site has a pop-up advertsisement on it for UK2.net - again I don't recall this having been discussed.
Let me clear this up once and for all: I registered the domain names osie.org.uk and osie.org shortly after BETT 2001. I did so simply in order that, when the time came to discuss names, the relevant domains for OSIE would be guaranteed to be available. I don't know how many people on this list will have tried to find names that fit all the criteria: a) Easy to remember b) Fairly unambiguous group name <-> domain name mapping (consider e.g. B&Q <-> www.diy.com for an example of what should be avoided) c) Domain name available d) Not already a registered company name e) Not a registered trade mark but it's not a trivial task. Item (c) in particular can be problematic - it is very hard to guess which domain names do or don't exist without searching for the specific domain name in question. There is also the risk that a domain name can easily be snapped up by someone else at any time. The solution is to register possible domains *before* deciding for definite on a name. You can easily spend hours choosing a name only to then find that the domain name is already taken - much better to register the domain first so that you can then propose the name secure in the knowledge that the domain is available for use. So, I registered the domains osie.org.uk and osie.org. With UK2.net, who (IME) provide an extremely good hosting service for virtually no cost. Since there was no guarantee that the domains would ever actually be used, I left them pointing to the only mildly suitable content I had available at the time: the Fen Systems Resource Library (which, if you care to examine it, contains no references to Fen Systems and no links (other than for feedback) to the Fen Systems main site). I did not pay to have the banner ad removed - it seemed pointless for a domain that was only registered to ensure that the name was free! I used osie.org.uk in a few e-mail addresses for posts to uk.education.schools-it; this was done in order to ensure that it did not (wrongly) look as though Fen Systems was organising the March 12 event. At no time have I *ever* publicised the web addresses www.osie.org.uk or www.osie.org. Kevin pointed out that some people were looking at www.osie.org.uk, even though I had never asked people to or publicised the web address, and suggested that, rather than the Resource Library, it might be appropriate to put some kind of placeholder page up. Since this seemed like a reasonable idea to me, and since no-one else objected, I did so. The UK2.net banner ad remains in place because I have not paid to have it removed - the site is *not* public and, AFAIK, we still haven't even decided for certain which domain(s) we will use. I hope that clears a few things up. If the temporary presence of a pop-up advert on a non-public site which no-one should be looking at with a domain name that may still be discarded offends anyone, then I will pay the £25 to have it taken off! :-) Michael