In a word; domain squatting twats.
That’s 3 words but you get my meaning. When looking for a domain name I obviously checked out www.benellis.com first which is already very capably occupied by Ben Ellis, film director. Top marks to that esteemed member of the Ben Ellis community.
My next visit was www.benellis.co.uk which has been registered and is an empty wasteland on the internet, not only that but an embarassing gap in the Ben Ellis canon. I sent a letter to the registrants address but received nothing back. Philistines.
With the two main options unavailable I had to revise some of my domain purchasing pet hates, most notably; I hate hyphens and I refuse to buy anything other than .com’s or co.uk’s.
This could be hosted on www.benellis.mobi or www.benellis.me.uk but I have more class than to stoop down to that level of desperation.
I would have relented on the hyphens for www.ben-ellis.com or www.ben-ellis.co.uk but they’re being violated by domain squatting twats. May those poor souls be rehabiliated and let back into the Ben Ellis community soon.
I don’t speak leet but using numbers as letters is an idea to get some more domain name options, especially if you’re not an established entity and have the freedom to wiggle about and use some artistic licence. I also liked the idea of using numbers to help make an interesting logo for the site.
I thought about using ‘1’ for the ‘i’ but the two ‘e’s as ‘3’s is enough.
I actually really like www.b3n3llis.com now. Even if benellis.co.uk became available, I’d refuse it and let some other pillar of the Ben Ellis world grab it and establish it as the tower of BenEllisdom it is so surely destined to become.
So, that’s about the the long and the short of it. Not terribly interesting or groundbreaking, merely relevant.