High Wired: Don’t get scammed

Summit County Site of the Week: Mountain Living Blog

Earlier this week as I finished reading an entry I’d found on one of my client’s blogs, I thought to myself, “Wow. This is really good. I know she’s my client and some people might think I’m just trying to do her a favor here — but I’d truly like to share her writing with others.” So I am!

Joanne Hanson, a local Realtor, keeps a regularly-updated, well-written, Summit County-focused blog at www.MountainLivingBlog.com. Unlike many of the blogs I come across as I explore the web each day, her blog offers entries that are consistently genuine, thorough, and informative. Although I’d visited her site to read a specific entry, I ended up reading her past eight posts or so simply because I found her writing enjoyable, relevant, and easy to read.

Not restricted to the world of real estate, Joanne blogs about various aspects of Mountain Living, including local attractions and events, dining out in the county, arts and culture, and pertinent news topics (such as pine beetle infestation).

I recommend taking a look next time you’re surfing the web.

Random Website Picks of the Week:

1) www.bustaname.com — Via their handy-dandy (and free!) Word Combiner tool, bustaname.com helps you search for and find good domain names that a) aren’t already taken yet b) can still easily be memorized. If you’d like, bustaname.com will help you manage your domain names as well.

2) www.showmypc.com — View remote PCs or invite others to view what’s on your own computer screen. ShowMyPC.com offers an open source (i.e. free!) remote-PC-access application, which acts as “an alternative to subscription based sites like WebEx or GoToMyPC”.

3) www.idreamofcake.com — Though my company’s name is timeforcake and though I do indeed love cake, I promise I have absolutely no affiliation with this website. I just enjoy the beautiful cake photography. These cakes are works of art.

They made me smile. They might make you smile, if you like cake as much as me.

Online Scam of the Week: Domain Registry of America

If you’ve never heard of the Domain Registry of America (DRoA) before but one day you find that they’ve sent you a letter, go ahead and recycle that letter without opening it.

The DRoA uses unethical tactics to trick people into thinking that if they don’t send money immediately, they’ll lose their domain names, causing their websites to be shut off permanently. The letters they send out are often disguised to look like invoices, with warnings like “FINAL NOTICE” or “EXPIRATION NOTICE” stamped across them — yet they’re nothing more than junk mail.

Thee DRoA even includes tiny-type clauses in their solicitations that essentially ensure that those who mistakenly fall for their scam and sign up for service will find themselves legally bound to stay with them for at least 60 days. Oh, and if after 60 days these people would like to then switch to a previous or different registrar, they’ll require that transfer costs to be paid as well.

There have been thousands of tricked consumers, thousands of complaints, and even several court cases against the DRoA. To see an example solicitation and to learn more about how they try to trick people like you and me into sending them money, take a look at the following links:

• http://tinyurl.com/2wubb4

• http://tinyurl.com/3x2qsv

• http://tinyurl.com/2dr952

• http://tinyurl.com/2slufq

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Based in Frisco, eRin pheiL is the primary creative force behind timeforcake (www.timeforcake.com). She can be reached via phone at (970) 668-0709 or e-mail at info@timeforcake.com.