I am having communication problems with the good people of Canada. There is a problem with my registration of airbag.ca. I'm not sure if they want me off their 'lands' or just clarification of registration information.
The domain you all know and love may come to an abrupt end if I am unable to break the language barrier and smoke a peace pipe. Otherwise it's curtains for this Canadian domain.
Should that unfortunate event occur you can find this site via a new domain: airbagindustries.com — an address I had set aside for an entirely different purpose, to be announced at a later date.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
May I be so lacking in social akills as to ask: what kind of problems?
Ah. I wondered how you managed to get a .ca... they do have those rules about Canadian residency and all that.
If worse comes to worse, instead of losing it completely maybe I can help, as an intermediary or something.
If .ca is taken away you can always take .aw from Aruba. :-) I'm from there and I still got to register an Arubian domain just in case. It will sure stand out from the regular .com and .org
Domains are a once in the year headache, if I didn't keep an eye on mine I would have lost it. They didn't send any reminder to prolonge it or anything. Although some domain spammer did send me a post all the way in Holland te ask me to register it with them.
Just tell them you're Canadian at heart.
If you need a Canadian to register the name for you (and then pass on admin and control to you) let me know.
Coincidentally, I had just thought "Wait a minute, he's from Orange County, California, why does he have a .ca domain?" as I was typing in your URI a few seconds ago. It had never occured to me until then.
Strange.
From my experience, the Canadians themselves don't care, but your registrar _does_.
Just talk to your registrar and tell them some bullshit excuse. Worked for me with my now stagnant aeronaut.ca domain.
I'm all for you having a Canadian domain, it makes you more like one of us! Although I can understand if the registrar doesn't like it.. Just start posting every second entry in French with reference to Canadian culture and you'll be fine.
I don't have a problem if the Canadian government wants their domain back — I'm not a citizen. And I only wish I could live in Vancouver.
There might not be a problem at all but the registrar I used isn't helping me clarify what the Canadian Internet Registration Authority is asking for.
Good lord I am dense - I always thought .ca stood for "California." I am sorry Canada.
I am on a couple of boards right now - if I do find anybody Canadian that might be able to help I will definitely forward them to you.
Are you one of those American stealing all our good stuff again! Just kidding, but you know there was a time when even us Canadians had a hard time registering a .ca name.
What do the people at typographi.ca have to say about this?
Yeah, I was a bit charmed when I saw the .ca and thought "Hey a Canadian!" But then I found out the whole Orange County CA thing... But I still love the site and the posts. As Neil said, if you need a Canadian registration, let either of us know. Glad to hook up and keep the site alive.
Oh, and as Eric mentioned, I don't really care, but the registrar does.
Hmm I'm a bit slow too, I always thought the .ca stood for California. Its kinda cool that the Canadians are all for helping you out.
New header looks great. Good job. I also always had a subconscious belief that .ca resembled California, rather then Canada, which I always knew.
I liked the triangle header better.
You're not planning on a massive redesign along the lines of Bowman and Shea are you?
Just when you are starting to get used to the neighborhood, people go and rebuild their houses...
Not sure if I'd trust that Shea kid's offer for help. Last time I asked him for help with something was with this little "css garden" idea I had...and look where that got me. :)
Seriously though, Greg -- good luck with the domain woes. Hope they get ironed out.
I had the weird problem with registering my domain name, too. The company that previously had it was lay in renewing it, and I snatched it, and I got an email from the owner (it was a small business) saying that I couldn't do take his domain from him. I never responded to him, because his threats were pretty hollow, all I do know is that I get emails now asking where people can find the "Valdok associates". All in all, it was quite funny.
Hey Greg,
You may remember me I emailed you a while back about the domain. If you are looking for someone to get it for you and "hold on to it" to make sure you keep the .ca we all know and love, please feel free to contact me. I have sent you an email along the same lines as this comment.
Hope for the best.
Thanks Jeremy, if it comes to that I'll let you know.
I'm not trying to be an asshat but, what part do you people not understand? . ca is for Canadian citizens. (see cira.ca for info) If you or your regiter made a mistake, you have to deal with the consiquenses. As for Canadians offering to bootleg thier sovereignty, and I understand they mean well but please... It's equivalent to suggesting an American wear a Canadian patch on thier backpack while travelling. I use .ca because I want to represent myself as a Canadian, because I am a Canadian. I don't use .us or .co.uk because I'm not a US or UK citizen. Please don't mistake me for anti American because I'm most certainly not, I love our niegbours to the south like a brother, I just don't want my brother weraring my cloths. I'm also interested in protecting our unique identity, and if anyone should be able to understand that, surely an American can. I also would like to point out that playing by the rules is a good thing and professionals should take a little pride in that and promote it, sorta like designing with standards instead of using shoddy hacks as suggested by some.
Anyway, good luck with your site, it looks great .....
P.S.
Speaking of asshats, Matthew Kelley —, he's bosting about taking advantage of someones misfortune? what's up with that, did he really need voldok.com that bad.
I've come across the .ca issue a couple times. I actually initially believed Airbag to be a Canadian site because of the .ca domain. But I've noticed a couple California individuals using .ca. I've also gotten job offers from California headhunters because they think they mistook .ca to mean Cali.
While I'm pretty cool with Airbag continuing to use the .ca domain, in the end, it dilutes the purpose of the .ca domain to identify Canadian sites (imagine porn sites registering all the .edu domains!).
Tell them you're from Maine. It's practically Canada anyhow.
I do look for the .ca domain to identify sites, but my site has a .com domain because I purchased it before .ca domains were available to the general public - and I think there's a lot of us who are in that situation. Getting someone to be your "Canadian" address should solve all your problems though.
Sure, posing as a Canadian will solve all your problems? What's the matter with you? Like Canuck said "What part do you not understand?" .com has nothing to do with geographic location so anyone can use it regardless of where they live. On the other hand .ca is for bonified Canadian citizens, period. Would you think it's OK to lie and use .edu when you're really a porno site? -a great point made by Snook?
e.g. Alcahol is for adults, getting an adult to buy it for someone under age is simply wrong.
I'm sort of embarassed by some of these "Canucks" posting. We can buy .usa domains? Whats the big deal with a great website having a .ca? I certainly don't have a problem, and I think 8.5/10 Canadians would agree. ;)
We have to say that as a global journal sponsored by an enigmatic Albertan aristocrat we are amused and only slightly disturbed by this discussion.
(I really don't want to be change our name to Typographicom, but if we must, so be it.)
A lot of fuss over nothing. Anyway, I always though that California was just another Canadian Province due to the large population of Canuck actors living and working down there.
As a Canadian who has been on the 'net since
95 (and currently hold the nasty.cx domain), I can honestly say, "Who cares if he has a .ca domain?"
Part of Internet culture is to disregard geographical location; when you can exchange information in realtime with someone half a world away from you, what does geography matter? In the end, people are people. Where they are from, or what TLD they use is irrelevant.
Part of the CIRA requirement for Canadian residency is the ancient holdover of CanCon from the CRTC (for the 'mericans in the audience, the CRTC is the Canadian equivalent of the FCC, and has required a certain percentage of Canadian artists in all broadcast media since 1970).
Cancon has been hailed by the CRTC as a wonderful thing for Canadian artists -- it protects them and allows them to flourish, they argue, by always providing them a place to air their works (be they music or television).
Yet, the opposite has happened. Our culture is bombarded by US media and entertainment, and the Canadian produced series get drowned out.
The few Canadian-produced series out there may be of good quality but are often region-specific (Train 48, for example, or North of 60), or center themselves on quite antiquated ideas of what it is to be Canadian.
In answer to the two "Canucks" above: before you continue attacking Greg for siphoning off a uniquely Canadian property, ask yourself what have you done to protect it? You've likely had -- or had friends -- who religiously watched the end of X-Files, Friends, Frasier... did you watch the last North of 60?
Funny -with the posts about growing up in Alaska and now being merely 10 miles from Disneyland I had thought of your .ca as a stop-on-the-way thing. I stopped there on my way too, by way of Kindergarten at Sir Arthur Currie School in Montreal.
So you were never in Canada?
Wow, some people just don't read I guess. I am in no way attacking Greg personally. Where did you get that idea? Greg stated that his registrar made the error and if indeed he had to give it up he would. Sounds like a reasonable guy to me, and he can hardly be faulted for the incompetence of his registrar. That solved, I hope I live long enough to see a world with no borders, geographical or philosophical, but that's highly unlikely (have you watched the news lately). In the meantime we have to live within the existing set of variables.
There's a big difference between ideaology and reality. For example, I pay for my internet service from an internet provider, if I don't like their rules I can go somewhere else. And because I pay for it, I don't want someone with your ethical rational surfing on my wireless bandwith from their boogie van parked outside in the alley. (of course I have security features enabled to stop such theft) Sure I wish everything was free but that's simply childish daydream'n at this particular stage of human evolution.
"Who cares if he has a .ca domain?" CIRA cares, they own it, those are the rules. If you don't like the rules, at CIRA and are a Canadian citizen, or for that matter, someone from another country with a business in Canada, you can become a member and voice your opinion in a lagal and democratic way.
For the record, CIRA was formed in 1998 and has nothing to do with the CRTC.
As far as the the rest of your blither blather about stupid television shows, that makes absolutly no sense whatsoever and has zero to do with this subject. This is about professionals abiding by the rules, and rules are everywhere if you take a minute to look around. I'll bet you don't want anyone stealing stuff from your site in the name of free lov'n internet culture do ya. Oh, here's a quote from your site "copyright © 2000-2003, darren james harkness. be a good kid, don't steal". One might also say, be a good kid and don't lie on your domain application.
For someone who brags to have been on the net since 95 (I gotta ask, who really cares? it's an irrelevant and unnecessary bit of info poorly deigned to give you credibility) and refers to themselves as a "web guru", you should take the time to familiarize yourself about the different domains and the rules associated with them so you can sound like an ethical, well informed professional when dealing with clients. And that my misguided friend is what I'm tizalk'n about. You might also spend more time making your website cross browser compatible, (which it isn't) and less time watching the X files and spreading misinformation. But hey, it's freedom of speech and that's a rule we can all agree on, well most of us.
Dudley Do -Right
Wow, it's interesting the comments that are coming out here. I believe that this site has the right to have a .ca or a .uk domain if he wishes.
What someone touched on, and was completely correct was the fact that the internet is about breaking down borders, and setting our populations free. If I wanted to buy a domain of a different country, it's okay, we are all of the same community. The internet community.
At least, thats how I feel.
Screw this border stuff. Let's just all move to Tokelau and get free .tk addresses!
Greg, don't let the Canadian government get you down - I love the new header image. And Canada.
I believe that Greg should have free house and a free car and that no one should have to work and that there's no tax's and we never have to die or get sick or have to do anything responsible. yeah !!! ignorance sho is bliss....I'm going to eat a whole can of hydrogenated whipping cream.
Alaskanians don't count?
Ich bin ein Canadian.
george bush, Alaskanians do count! But we only count mooses. And sometimes bears. Maaaaaybe salmons. And we're all practically Canadiananians anyway. Or Russians.
For what it's worth, count me as another Canadian who thinks .ca domains belong to us. I like being able to identify fellow canucks by the tail end of their URL, and taken to extremes, a lot of us would be miffed if we discovered non-Canadians were poaching all the catchy domains (just think of the frustrated Canadian airbag salesmen reading this right now). As we say up here in Canada, "obey the rules."
As a Canadian, I'm embarassed at the flak you're getting over this from some of the other Canadians commenting here. I agree that it's nice to be able to count on the .ca in a domain name as an indicator that a site (or it's owner) is Canadian - that's why I have a .ca domain name. But I don't really have a problem with a non-Canadian having a .ca domain name. If you want one badly enough to go through all the crap CIRA will put you through to get it, go for it!
As for the poor Canadian airbag salesman - "you snooze, you lose".
Sarah, don't worry about the flak I asked for opinions and I'm happy to receive them.
I'm too lazy to read through all of this, but has anyone said that this flapdoodle is just a bunch of ca-ca?
Dudley - I'd like to reply to your comments privately, but sadly you have not posted a single shred of contact information.
Point: CIRA owns .ca domain: Sure, CIRA has complete and total privelege to dictate who can lease a .ca domain. No argument here. My opinion on the matter is that anyone should be able to. Here's a link to the definition of "opinion".
Point: CIRA/CRTC: True, CIRA is not connected with the CRTC, however one of the CIRA mandates is to have a Canadian government representative. This role is current filled by Malcolm Andrew with Industry Canada, who formerly worked for the CRTC (Source). In addition, CIRA is also involved with the CRTC in ENUM (a protocol being worked on by the IETF (Source). As a telecommunications entity, CIRA falls under CRTC jurisdiction.
Point: Copyright information on my site and cross-browser issues: And you accuse me of talking about things that have nothing to do with Greg's post? I'm not keen on replying to this troll, but here goes: a) professional site uses copyright. Linked personal site uses a Creative Commons license, which allows for reuse of material (By Attribution, No Derivative and No Commercial use). Site is cross-browser supported on IE, Mozilla, Opera, and even Lynx. Cannot test Mac browsers, but no bad reports from friends who have them. Validates HTML 4.01.
Now, until you actually respond without a pseudonym, I'll assume this discussion's over between us. (Besides, I honestly can't take seriously the opinions of someone who's clearly not willing to stand behind them).
And Greg - my apologies for further cluttering these comments. Feel free to delete this and related comments from the site.
Darren J
(a link to the definition of opinion)
I'm so glad you took the time to look up the word opinion. Now you can probably understand the difference between your opinion and the actual rules of the game. What you wish CIRA was, has nothing to do with CIRA.
(Point: CIRA/CRTC: True, CIRA is not connected with the CRTC)
Just like I said. The rest is conspiracy theory and at the end of the day it doesn't matter. If you are a member you can run for a position regardless of where you worked in the past.
(Cannot test Mac browsers)
Like I said, it's not cross browser compatible.
(I'll assume this discussion's over between us)
You should never assume anything, well you know what happens.
(And Greg - my apologies for further cluttering these comments. Feel free to delete this and related comments from the site.)
You are one ass kissing self appointed guru 95. I think Greg can decide on his own, what to do or not to do with his site but I'm sure he appreciates your keen interest in his day to day business. But seriously, are you starting to see the pattern. Greg controls his site, CIRA controls .CA, you control your site and everything has rules and those rules must comply with the rules of the state, province, country, constitution or charter etc. Just like CSS. The point is, we have to abide by the rules.
(not posted a single shred of contact information)
To be honest, I have enough friends and I'm not looking for any pesky pen pals and I get plenty of email as it is. I'm also not looking for personal gain by posting my site on blogs. I rely on good code and good content for SEO.
If you dream that one-day there will be one giant .earth for all mankind and the lion walks with the lamb, well brother I'm with you all the way, but in the meantime CIRA is for Canadians or Canadian companies. Period. Deal with it.
...................................................
Sarah
If you want one badly enough to go through all the crap CIRA will put you through to get it, go for it!
Tunderr'n blue, what are you talking about. Registering with CIRA is as easy as sitt'n in a rock'n chair.
(As for the poor Canadian airbag salesman - "you snooze, you lose)
That Canadian airbag salesman will be getting another crack at it pretty soon because Greg simply doesn't qualify to use it. Sorry all you PC, US ass kissing, wanna get my site listed on a more popular blog, fools. Deal with it. In the mean time all of us honest blokes will try to enjoy our legal rights before the whole thing is polluted with posers. (again I must say- Greg is innocent of intentional misrepresentation here and I will also reiterate, this has never been an attack on Greg personally or the US of A, it's about responsible business practice.)
(As a Canadian, I'm embarassed at the flak you're getting over this from some of the other Canadians commenting here)
I'm embarrassed at the ignorance and childishness of my fellow Canadians. Maybe I've accidently stumbled into a teenage web master wanna be forum for spoiled Canadian techno hippies ? I'll bet dimes to Tim Horton's donuts that none of you ill informed fools take the time to vote either and have all kinds of BS reasons and simpleton ideology to try and justify that irresponsibility too.
Well, it's been time well wasted but I must bid you kids farewell because I have to go back to grown-ups world. Good luck with your unprofessional lives. In time you will yourselves become adults and will have to follow the rules too and when that day comes, think of me- Dudley Do Right, "Part of our Heritage"
Introducing Typographicom, Corporate Typography News Since 2004. Thanks for the new home Greg.