as posted in the news article comments etc. etc., I've now bought the domain riscos.me.uk. and being the generous sort I'm considering using it to provide email addresses and web redirects to anyone who wants them - for free of course.

In order of ease, I could do...

1. email redirects - something@riscos.me.uk mapping to your existing email address, so if you move ISPs you can keep your cool email address and not have to tell people you've moved. I'd do this by hand originally, but it would be fairly simple to set up a script so you can log in and change it yourself in realtime.
2. Web redirects - http://(www.)riscos.me.uk/something/ which as above redirects to your existing website, but can move with you. This could be a straight redirect, or using frames the URL in the browser window could be made to appear to be your riscos.me.uk address. This is slightly harder to achieve as it would probably require the web server to be restarted, although a custom 404 error script wired into a database might do the trick.
3. Subdomains, e.g. http://(www.)something.riscos.me.uk/ - these would be trickier as it would require changes to the DNS server on another machine, the DNS to propagate so people can find the site, the web server restarted etc. This kind of effort for free would probably only be worthwhile if it was used to give worthy causes free webspace, and not just have a webspace free-for-all. "Worthy" could have a looser definition than the current TIB rules though.

http://hosted.iconbar.com/ - free guest books etc. are also a possibility.

Hi folks,

as posted in the news article comments etc. etc., I've now bought the domain riscos.me.uk. and being the generous sort I'm considering using it to provide email addresses and web redirects to anyone who wants them - for free of course.

In order of ease, I could do...

1. email redirects - something@riscos.me.uk mapping to your existing email address, so if you move ISPs you can keep your cool email address and not have to tell people you've moved. I'd do this by hand originally, but it would be fairly simple to set up a script so you can log in and change it yourself in realtime.

Web redirects - http://(www.)riscos.me.uk/something/ which as above redirects to your existing website, but can move with you. This could be a straight redirect, or using frames the URL in the browser window could be made to appear to be your riscos.me.uk address. This is slightly harder to achieve as it would probably require the web server to be restarted, although a custom 404 error script wired into a database might do the trick.

Subdomains, e.g. http://(www.)something.riscos.me.uk/ - these would be trickier as it would require changes to the DNS server on another machine, the DNS to propagate so people can find the site, the web server restarted etc. This kind of effort for free would probably only be worthwhile if it was used to give worthy causes free webspace, and not just have a webspace free-for-all. "Worthy" could have a looser definition than the current TIB rules though.

Right, that should be enough to get the ball rolling. Good idea? Bad idea? Don't give a rats ass? Let me know.

I thought that it was instant for additions, as they aren't cached anywhere, I thought it was only changes, which may be cached everywhere, which took time to propegate?

It's been my experience that it can take 24 to 48 hours for subdomains to propagate from ArgoNet to, say, a Demon dialup customer, although as my server uses the ArgoNet one as primary DNS the changes to the web server here can be made right away.

The answer is probably to run my own DNS server, but the sticking points at the moment are that not only do I have to be certain that this server can run named without problems - security issues, the fact that the server might have to move again soon, and of course I haven't set up my own name server yet - but I also need someone else like Jase or Andy to get their own servers set up properly so they can act as the secondary. Those boys have proper 1U servers in a proper hosting facility, which if the leased line here is changed I'm going to have to do as well.

email redirects

Cool. Would you be able to have that address pointing to multiple other addresses?

Web redirects - http://(www.)riscos.me.uk/something/ which as above redirects to your existing website, but can move with you. This could be a straight redirect, or using frames the URL in the browser window could be made to appear to be your riscos.me.uk address. This is slightly harder to achieve as it would probably require the web server to be restarted, although a custom 404 error script wired into a database might do the trick.

Sounds equally cool and useful, - although (somewhat stating the obvious) identical to a function provided by Stubbsy at riscos.org.uk. Still, you can never get too much of a good thing

Right, that should be enough to get the ball rolling. Good idea? Bad idea? Don't give a rats ass? Let me know.

I give 2 a monkey's to see a rat riding an ass...

Cool. Would you be able to have that address pointing to multiple other addresses?

Sounds equally cool and useful, - although (somewhat stating the obvious) identical to a function provided by Stubbsy at riscos.org.uk. Still, you can never get too much of a good thing

Right, that should be enough to get the ball rolling. Good idea? Bad idea? Don't give a rats ass? Let me know.

I give 2 a monkey's to see a rat riding an ass...

But I like the idea of the free guestbook!

Cool. Would you be able to have that address pointing to multiple other addresses?

Yeah, no probs. A comma separated list would do that.

You've just got one devoted fan then

Sounds equally cool and useful, - although (somewhat stating the obvious) identical to a function provided by Stubbsy at riscos.org.uk. Still, you can never get too much of a good thing

Ah, I thought that was for a small fee, but I've just looked and it's not is it? See, this is why I need people to tell me if it's worthwhile. Or maybe he'll be too busy with AU to do that in the future

I doubt that, but I can't remember which method he uses for the redirect, so there might yet be room for some diversity. But I think you should do it anyway.

I give 2 monkey's to see a rat riding an ass...

I'll raise you a monkey's uncle...

I'll throw in half a camel's hump...

In order of ease, I could do...

1. email redirects - something@riscos.me.uk mapping to your existing email address, so if you move ISPs you can keep your cool email address and not have to tell people you've moved. I'd do this by hand originally, but it would be fairly simple to set up a script so you can log in and change it yourself in realtime.

Web redirects - http://(www.)riscos.me.uk/something/ which as above redirects to your existing website, but can move with you. This could be a straight redirect, or using frames the URL in the browser window could be made to appear to be your riscos.me.uk address. This is slightly harder to achieve as it would probably require the web server to be restarted, although a custom 404 error script wired into a database might do the trick

All in all, I'd definately say go for it.