I own the domain scheherazade.org (also pizzamarathon.info, but that's neither here nor there), and have for several years. Actually creating a site with the domain has long been a "someday it would be nice to do something with this, but not today" kind of idea. Basically, I have been unwilling to actually DO anything about it, postponing indefinitely the work of figuring out what kind of a host I need and how to register the DNS or whatever else needs to be done and/or paying someone to do all that for me, let alone developing content and a site. It's not that I imagine this is all that hard I just get sort of overwhelmed and paralyzed by the idea of comparison shopping or learning the tech talk just to get it done. Although I kept saying I would sit down one rainy Sunday and figure out what I needed to do and call my tech-savvy buddies about it I have managed not to for years.
And then Typepad came along and made it so damn easy and fun to have a reasonably pretty looking daily-changing website that lo and behold I find that I HAVE a web presence and am fairly invested in it.
But wouldn't it be cool if the URL for my blog was www.scheherazade.org?
Here's the contest: The result I want is to have this blog hosted at www.scheherazade.org . I want to skip the step about learning how to do that, or considering options and making decisions about gigabits or bandwidth or DNS hosts or whatever the heck all that crap is. I'm not stupid or tech averse (Would you believe once long long ago I was a network administrator? Does it help if I mention I was a bad one?) I just am emphatically not interested in fiddling around with the jargonny side of things and am finally willing to admit that. It's like the engine of my car -- I just want it to work, I don't want to have to learn how or why it works. The person who can help me do that the most completely and easily and inexpensively and quickly, with the least amount of participation and fussing and learning of the underlying technology by me, wins a prize.
I may have to have a mini-contest to determine what an appropriate prize is. An afternoon picnic sail on my sailboat? An autographed picture of the one-eyed, three-legged wonder dog? The top-secret URL of my ex-boyfriend's blog? A hair-raising driving adventure in my Passat and the right to take home your very own collection of yellow periwinkle shells? A strawberry-rhubarb pie with rhubarb from my garden? Suggestions welcome.
suggestions for the prize or the site?
prize: solely the pleasure of typing in "www.scheherazade.org".
blog tool: movable type. easy directions, etc.
host: wwww.dreamhost.com. Can't recommend them enough. :-)
Posted by: Katherine | March 29, 2004 at 08:23 PM
Typepad has a Help section on its site on "Domain Mapping" which should be what you need. And there's also some stuff on the Everything Typepad site about domain mapping.
Posted by: Jim | March 29, 2004 at 08:55 PM
You should be able to ask the folks with whom you register scherazade.org to direct it to civpro.blogs.com. Should just take a quick e-mail, nothing more.
I'd second Katherine's recommendation of Dreamhost, if you want to host it yourself. They're really fantastic. (MT installation can be a bit of work, but Six Apart'll do it for $40.)
Posted by: Matthew | March 29, 2004 at 09:31 PM
See here: http://www.typepad.com/resources/2004/03/domain_faq.html
Posted by: Andrew | March 29, 2004 at 09:37 PM
I'd probably do the domain mapping thing.
But if not, you can throw me a bit of money and I could add you to my hosting. :)
Posted by: A. Rickey | March 29, 2004 at 09:55 PM
TypePad makes domain mapping really easy. Check the link from Andrew. If I could figure out how to do it, anybody can! Steve
Posted by: Prof. Bainbridge | March 29, 2004 at 10:39 PM
I had not idea so many others here were on Dreamhost. After the chaos of Monday, though, I'm not sure I'd recommend them.
MT installation is simple (at least, it was for me) and I would offer some additional plug-ins as well (Markdown, MT-Blacklist, etc.)
Anyway, for the simplest-route requested, I'm with Andrew, Jim, and the good Professor: upgrade your TypePad and point the domain at this existing blog. Spares the trouble of moving all the legacy entries, and keeps Six Apart in business.
Posted by: pjm | March 30, 2004 at 09:18 AM
So, I think you should set up a subdomain like stayofexecution.scheherazade.org and map that to your typepad blog.
Then you can keep your domain free for selling H.O.T-shirts and Icons CDs.
Posted by: win | March 30, 2004 at 01:40 PM
Hi S. I use godaddy.com. They are very inexpensive and have outstanding service and support. I host three sites there (one personal and 2 business) and I park several domains there (for free)(and this is very nice as I use the domains for email purposes only). Come over, bring your laptop (do you have a wireless card?) and we can get you all set up over some good wine (and crabcakes if I'm feeling inspired).
Posted by: ijk | March 30, 2004 at 10:43 PM