SeattleWiki:Coffee shop/Domain registration

From Seattle Wiki

[Moved here from Coffee shop]

The seattlewiki.org domain is, as of 2005-02-17, registered to someone at a post office box in Massachusetts. Additionally, the registrant, admin, and tech, telephone numbers all appear to be invalid. None of these facts lends credibility to the site, and the invalid contact information may be putting the registrar, Go Daddy, in violation of ICANN guidelines.

What's the connection between Seattle and Matias Pelenur of MA? --Pmocek 14:44, 17 Feb 2005 (PST)

I met Matias at the Seattle Wikipedia meetup, and there were people there who've known him for some time before that. I don't see what the trouble is if he uses a Marblehead PO Box for the domain registration. If you need to contact him, I recommend dropping a note on his user talk page. DanKeshet

Pmocek, I understand your concern about the seattlewiki.org domain information. I registered it a while back using an old PO box, even though I do currently live in Seattle. I just don't want to expose my personal information (address, phone number, etc) to the public. There is no good free solution for this yet, and I didn't want to pay GoDaddy or any registrar money to hide my real address. Hope this makes sense. matias 17:10, 17 Feb 2005 (PST)

That's good enough for me, but a better long-term solution should be developed, since ICANN rules require your registrar to maintain valid WHOIS information, and you're currently preventing them from doing so. I've seen discussion of GoDaddy charging customers for providing them with bogus WHOIS information, so you might not end up saving anything by having lied to them instead of paying the extra $0.66 per month for their private registration option. Also, what happens to any/all community-contributed content if you ( Matias) let the registration lapse or just decide to shut the site down some day? I suppose it's all licensed in such a manner that anyone who cached a copy could legally re-publish it at will, but maybe the site could be hosted by the city somehow. I'd feel more enthusiastic about contributing to a body of community information if it wasn't privately held, and I can't be the only potential contributor who feels that way. The current setup works for now, but these are issues to consider. --Pmocek 23:58, 17 Feb 2005 (PST)

Maybe it could be hosted by Seattle Community Network. It's straight up their alley in terms of service it's providing to the community. Are you paying for it out-of-pocket right now, Matias? Would that make you feel more comfortable, Pmocek? DanKeshet 00:27, 18 Feb 2005 (PST)

I'm not familiar with SCN, but a brief glance at their Web site makes me think they're exactly the sort of organization that should host such a project. Maybe it would be good to let SeattleWiki build some momentum and mature a bit, then approach them about adopting it. --Pmocek 08:53, 18 Feb 2005 (PST)

I'd be perfectly happy having SeattleWiki hosted by Seattle Community Network. I am paying out of pocket right now. I believe Jmabel is involved with SCN in some way or another, so maybe I'll ask him what he thinks. --matias 09:10, 18 Feb 2005 (PST)