The Domain Name Thread

[James Gryphon]

The .xyz domain name, while it might work for now, is probably not the best for the very long-term.

Now, that's fine with me; I picked it up for something like .88¢, as much so I could get used to working with domain names as anything else. I wasn't thinking we'd for sure actually use it as our main name.

It does lead to the question, though, of what we should use going forward. I thought it was worth asking and getting some input here, since it is a webmaster thing (and my responsibility), and also related to the entire community, since you'll see this name just about every day.

Here's a few domain name possibilities, some of which the Staff have talked about in the past. Let me know what your thoughts are.

LoamhedgeAbbey: This is available, in both .com and .org flavors. It goes hand-in-hand with the official Redwall site's address, and the domain extension would make it look more official than this one. My main complaint is that it's awfully long for a domain name (loamhedgeabbey.org is only a little shorter than soopergrape.com/RAF). It also has the same flaws inherent to the Loamhedge name.
Mossflower: Available in .net or .org. A good Redwall-themed name, and reasonably short. Good domain extensions make it an all right pick. Great concept if we're looking at expanding past the forums. I think there's potential here. I'm not sure if it would have the absolute most "search presence" (attract as much attention and clicks from viewers as possible), but I'm certain it would look better than an .xyz page.
RedwallOnline: Available in .net or .org. I came up with this name mostly because I felt it had a very official sound to it, which I thought would be a plus to our odds of getting clicked on search engine pages. It's longer than some of our other options, though. It's also a little superfluous (obviously a website is online).
Loamhedge (besides .xyz): The best extensions are taken, but I might be able to find a .uk or something. Fatch does have a point, though, when he says that "Loamhedge" is probably not searched as often as something like "Mossflower" is.
Redwall.web: Not yet available. The .web suffix is coming out sometime soon. I could conceivably snipe this address the moment it's available. I'm not sure how much inherent presence the .web extension will have; at the most, I expect it to be like .net, something of an also-ran, and probably below .net since it was released so many years later. Still, it's better than .xyz or most other suffixes we can find. Redwall is also a great name to have in our domain name, and it's reasonably short.
Redwall.uk: Not yet available. Because of the way the .uk extension was set up, the company that owns redwall.co.uk has the exclusive right to purchase this name, for a period of time. If by the end of that time they haven't done so, we can look into getting it. Unfortunately, the date of release is June 2019, so it won't matter to us for some time. From my understanding of how it works, we might also need a UK resident to serve as middleman.
An acronym/abbreviated name (rwabbey, lhabbey, rwonline, etc.): We could conceivably get a good acronym or abbreviation for just about anything we want to say, if we put it together right. A good one should be shorter than any of our other options. On the downside, I suspect it doesn't have as much 'presence' as a full name would.

If you have any other good name ideas, I encourage you to post them here as well.

(There's no need to worry about the transition from this site. The search engine stuff should update before too long, and the move wouldn't be painful, as it isn't like moving servers. We've actually already moved from loamhedge.xyz to www.loamhedge.xyz, and I don't think anybody noticed.)

[Fatch of Southsward]

I personally would back Mossflower or Redwall. In terms of attracting more members, those kinds of names are probably more frequently searched, rather than Loamhedge or xyz.

Seeing that you pay for it, and those might be more expensive, I definitely would support you going with what you think is best though!

[Ashleg]

I support Loamhedge/Loamhedge Abbey since that's what this place is called.

The Redwall forum is dandy, but this is Loamhedge, the Redwall forum.
Not Redwall itself.

And Mossflower especially seems off track.

[James Gryphon]

Well, I don't see that what the forum is called now has to be a major factor. If we set up a larger site that includes more than just the forum, it wouldn't be very confusing for the forum to be named something else besides what the domain is... in any case, if it came down to it, we could simply rename the forum.

That might sound heretical, but the fact is that it wasn't always called by this name. I originally set it up as the "Redwall Abbey Community Forum", and changed it to simply the "Redwall Abbey Forum", the same name as the old forum, a short time after. I only named it "Loamhedge" as part of my effort to get people to let it die, after the original forum was back and people (@Delthion) wouldn't quit coming here. After the old forum died instead, I never got around to changing it back, and when I brought it up Matthias figured it'd be just as well to leave it be so as to maintain a distinction between here and the original forum.

So, it isn't like it's a name born out of great circumstances, or that we're giving up any glorious tradition by switching to something else, if we chose to do that.

[Ashleg]

Everyone's used to Loamhedge.

You should just change it to .com if you don't like the XYZ thang.

But I think it's good.

[Groddil]

I'll back anything so long as it isn't school blocked (like .xyz and I think .biz)

Maybe LoamhedgeAbbey..com or RedwallOnline.net?

[James Gryphon]

@Ashleg: Well, I would have if I could have. But all the main domain extensions are unavailable.

I do think we have to switch to something better than .xyz, for Groddil's sake as much as anything else.

If we're going by what names are searched for (like Fatch mentioned), Mossflower is more likely to come up than Loamhedge (Mossflower being a great book, and Loamhedge merely an okay book).

[Groddil]

@Ashleg: Well, I would have if I could have. But all the main domain extensions are unavailable.

We have to switch to something better than .xyz, anyway, for Groddil's sake as much as anything else. The question is just what that'll be.

If we're going by what names are searched for (like Fatch mentioned), Mossflower is more likely to come up than Loamhedge (Mossflower being a great book, and Loamhedge merely an okay book).

I believe there's already a Mossflower forum, but it's dead, and shouldn't prove problematic.

[James Gryphon]

If there is one, fortunately (for us), it doesn't seem to get good results. I've found there's probably half a dozen other Loamhedge forums scattered in the top few pages of Google.

[Groddil]

I try not to worry too much about other forums, so long as they're not busy (which, sadly, is the norm in the Redwall community nowadays). I've found there's probably half a dozen other Loamhedge forums scattered in the top few pages of Google.

Yeah, most of them are all dying.

[Hickory]

None of the Redwall names. It makes me think that the RAF aren't coming back, and while that's something we should think about, I don't want to. LoamhedgeAbbey.org sounds good, though.

[Kitsune]

I would support Redwall or Loamhedge names (not a big fan of RedwallOnline though), but Mossflower would be too many names in one to two years in my opinion.

[The Skarzs]

Personally, I want to keep to the Loamhedge because I do want the original forum to come back online, and want there to be a difference between the two.

[Cornflower MM]

......
If we're going by what names are searched for (like Fatch mentioned), Mossflower is more likely to come up than Loamhedge (Mossflower being a great book, and Loamhedge merely an okay book).

Oh I agree, Mossflower is a wonderful book. So is Loamhedge. Remember, some people really like the book.

Now. Most of what I think has been said already but I'll sum up:
I'm definitely not a fan of RedwallOnline.
I'm not a fan of any of the Redwall names, because then it's like the other forum's not coming back and there should be a distinction between these two forums.
Mossflower seems waaay too off track, because really. IF we expand, what would we do? Set up a shop? Copy/paste the obituaries? Unrealistic to my mind.
LoamhedgeAbbey seems best to me. .org or .com. (Although, for the record, I prefer .com)

[Chipster of Noonvale]

...