Again With the Domain Names: neocolours.me.uk

[Kamil]

In case it won't get noticed at the end of the other thread I own that domain name now and we are free to use it at our leisure, or we can continue to search for viable alternatives, also at our leisure.

I'm still waiting for the people who own http://neocolours.net to get back in touch with me, but so far no joy. If they haven't written back by the end of the week I'll probably recontact them, but I don't want them to think I'm too eager. >.>

So, yes. http://neocolours.me.uk is ours if we'd like to have it. It's not pointing at anything at the moment, but that can be changed quite easily if we decide to keep it.

I own it for the next two years and it's only $9.99USD per year so it shouldn't be a huge burden to keep, nor will it be a crushing disappointment if we decide to go with something else, or if Sam reappears and shoos us off of his space.

Thoughts?

[Wingsrising]

Sure. It's here, we have it, may as well use it and stop dithering.

That's my vote, anyway.

[Ierosbats]

Personally, I find me.uk a little goofy.

I mean, I guess technically there's nothing wrong with it, but for some reason... eh. Can't say I'm a fan, so I voted no.

[AngharadTy]

I still like it. It makes me think of Homer: "Beer me, Marge!" And anything that makes me think of Homer is good.

[Aqua]

I think "me" sounds odd and sounds more like a personal website than a cool fansite with a big community, but I'd settle with it. *shrug*

[oogabooga]

If we decide to go with it, I'll get used to it. I think it's an improvement over most of the options we were coming up with, and now we have the bonus of already owning it

[bonecrivain]

I'd like to hold out just a tad to see if .net is a possibility, but I voted yes on me.uk anyway. It's short, it's pretty nice, and it's easy to remember.

[Deku]

I voted no, I agree it sounds a bit goofy. But I guess if we have no other alternative in the end it'll be okay...

[thelonetiel]

I say go for it. We can't hold out forever, and even if we end up settling for .net at a later date, we can use it as a redirect for the new URL.

And, I can't think of anywhere else to put this, but, has anyone looked into the Neopets fansite agreement? I'd feel much better about advertising us if I knew we were legally in TNT's field of vision.

[Enriana]

On the one hand, for reason's Aqua mentioned, it seems a bit weird... but a page explaining that it was either this or neo-colours should make everyone okay with it.

It is, after all, just a URL and doesn't <i>have</i> to mean anything except saving us $888. I also think that much longer in limbo isn't good for the community, so let's get on with it.

[Kantark]

It has the word 'Neocolours' in there so it's good by me

[Madge]

I think it's wonderful - it keeps the word Neocolours, keeps the uk part, and at the price of it being a slightly unconventional domain name.

It's beautiful, it's not vastly different to the old URL, and I am *so* glad that Kamil went out there and just bought it because we've been dilly-dallying far too long.

Neocolours is almost back! Take that, downtime demon!

[Joeno]

Let's go for it.

Not because it's the ideal solution, not because it has all the qualities I'd normally want, and not for any other reason mentioned.

No, let's go for it because we've got it now, it's something we can use, and it'll get this whole deal over with for now and allow us to focus on (IMO) more important stuff.

[Akjara]

And, I can't think of anywhere else to put this, but, has anyone looked into the Neopets fansite agreement? I'd feel much better about advertising us if I knew we were legally in TNT's field of vision.

I found one here and the only thing I'm not certain about is the very first of the restrictions:

"You will not do any of the following: Modify or otherwise create derivative works from or depicting the Neopets Names and Images"

No clue if such things as the tweaking of the mouth of the Ice Zafara falls under that.

[Joeno]

First of all, none of us has signed that agreement at the moment, so until that time we are held to the standard Neopets terms and conditions.

I've got no idea who will be the person who has to officially sign this - I suspect I may be approached, but Jazzy and Kamil could be as well.

Now, I'm no lawyer, so don't take this at legal advice, but as said, I'm likely to be one of the people who'd have to interpret this. The basic points that are important to us are:

* We can't put ads on the site, free or paid-for. A small thing, but worth keeping in mind.

* For full compliance, we may have to put a small copyright notice at the bottom of the forums, as I've done on the main site. I'm not sure whether we'd have to, but this is a case where it's easy to add compliance, so why not be on the safe side?

* Modifying images. This is a difficult point which would probably create the most problems. I remember that this was an issue with the old site as well - technically, our banner is not compliant with the agreement, because it modifies Neopets art. I get the impression that this is not always a huge issue, since Neopets hasn't gone after minor infringements of this. I suspect it is intended to prevent people from posting images of Acara's having their heads cut off with their innards falling out and a lot of blood covering everything, rather than minor changes, but in general it's worth being careful about.
I'm inclined to read this as meaning that the webmasters can't post modified images, but that it is not always possible to get specific users to do this, and that any problems with this would come down to that we cannot host such images and will not set up an official section of it, but that people can make their own. In other words, we will not have a place on the site "How our users think this pet could look better.", but posting an occasional image on the forums to give an idea of how this could be done is okay. Again, I'm not a lawyer, and we'd have to ask the legal department if we ever want to be sure, but that's the way I'd interpret it.
At the same time, we'd also have to agree on one thing - if Neopets would ever contact us and ask us to remove those images, there's one very simple and straightforward resolution - the images will be removed. No arguing, no buts or ifs, if they don't want users posting such images on the forums, they don't get posted. But that's a bridge we'll cross when we get there.