Now be nice. What will we be called?

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

I was just wondering what we will be called as "Countryside" is copyrighted? I was thinking (which always gets me in trouble) of Country Homesteaders then realized that many haven't made the move physically yet and might feel left out. How bout the Modern Homesteaders? Lets hear some suggestions but also keep in mind that Chuck does have the final say. I also want to congragulate you Chuck or should I be offering my sympathy?

In regards to some of the old threads with all they did I just wonder if maybe instead of an automatic delete we might just have in the title some warning and then it would be up to the individual wither or not they would enter that thread to read the posts.

I have been feeling a little guilty as I was afraid that my thread on the subject of maybe moving the forum might have been one of the straws that broke the camel's back I sure hope not.

-- gail missouri ozarks (gef@getgoin.net), February 19, 2002

Answers

As a move from Lusenet to another hosting service is considered to be inevitable, I think that choosing a name that can be registered both as a domain name as well as a trademark, makes sense. Of course this leaves open the question, who will own these?

-- BC (desertdweller44@yahoo.com), February 19, 2002.

Countrysighed

-- pc (pc@?.com), February 19, 2002.

I LIKE countrysighed - good one!

-- Debbie (debbie@msi-soft.com), February 19, 2002.

"Country State of Mind" ?? That's where I like to spend most of my waking hours! :)

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), February 19, 2002.

Countrybackside

-- paul (primrose@centex.net), February 19, 2002.


Ok, one question. If countryside is dropping the forum, who will be paying Chuck to maintain the site? IS countryside dropping the forum- I believe Ken said if no one can be found to fill his former role as moderator, countryside would drop its commitment. Does that mean that, since Chuck oh so gratefully stepped forward, they are still going to drop the forum, thus making a name cange necessary? My vote for site name: how bout "Homesteaders" and leave it at that. You dont have to actually be on a homestead to practice the ethics, and it would surely give people an upfront picture of what we are about.

-- Kevin in NC (Vantravlrs@aol.com), February 19, 2002.

"Heart of Country" Now that is nice!! Or "Country Heart".

-- Irene Burt (renienorm@aol.com), February 19, 2002.

Countryfied

-- Audie (paxtours@alaska.net), February 19, 2002.

Countryside is not going to "sponsor" the forum anymore. That changes virtually nothing, since they never had a financial commitment to it in the first place. They do "own" the name "Countryside", however, so we will need to eventually change at least the name of the forum. They are graciously allowing us to continue using the name for the time being until we can figure something else out.

We will most likely need to move away from the LUSENET venue, for several reasons.

  1. We cannot simply change the name of the forum here on LUSENET and keep the archives intact very easily, due to the way the LUSENET software works.
  2. The LUSENET forums may very well collapse under their own weight at some point, since they are not being actively maintained anymore by the venerable Mr. Greenspun. This could be years from now, or days. No one can say for sure.
  3. Lastly, moving to another venue would allow us to slightly modify the forum for the better, possible allowing a search engine, etc. The changes would probably be more on the Admin side than on the "look and feel" side, however. If we move to another system I could automate much of the tedium that caused Ken to get burned out. For instance, I could make the software REQUIRE posters to categorize their posts, and could have it check each post against a list of "bad words" and change any it found to asterisks or [expletive deleted] or whatever.

At any rate, as for costs, if we move the forum it would end up costing a little bit of money, but probably not too much. Perhaps we could finance it with the sale of backup CD's , or get "sponsors" by allowing limited plugging of folks businesses on the forum (for instance, maybe Countryside Magazine would give us a little support in exchange for a post offering subscriptions now and then) If worst came to worst, we could simply ask for donations. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Keep suggesting names, we'll find one that fits just right!

How about Homesteadhelp.com?

-- Chuck (reply@mission4me.com), February 19, 2002.


"Old McChuckie had a homestead" ? WAIT-- I can do better than that--- "Animal Farm" No, how about "HomewiththeStrange" or "Nowhere left to run" but my alltime favorite is-- Chickens,Cows, and Children. Thats a little better than "Lots, stock and smoking barrels" Have fun !

-- Joel Rosen (JoelnBecky@webtv.net), February 20, 2002.


You crack me up Joel ... you really do :8)! Good one!

-- Phil in KS (pemccoy@yahoo.com), February 20, 2002.

I was playing around at Network Solutions and found these for you to think about.

countryhomesteaders.com. I like that one.

modernhomesteading.net

homesteadhelp.com

cshomesteaders.com

homesteadersforum.com

homesteadingtoday.com

4thehomestead.com

thehomesteaders.net

All those are available.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), February 20, 2002.


What ever we change it to, I think we can't get too cutesy or we will not pickup the newbies or those that get "lost in the shuffle" should we relocate. The name should reflect exactly what we are about -- homesteading.

The references to country type living has changed over the years - being a mean for a type of decorating, cooking, etc. -- not for homesteading/farming. If someone has just discovered homesteading (those are the ones who need the help the worst) or someone is looking to hook up with other homesteaders, they will be doing thier search for "homesteading" or "homesteaders".

Type in "country living" or simular and you get way too many hits - all related to everything from drapes, decorating magazine, paints, etc. Even "farming" is way too far away. Some homesteaders are farmers but farmers do not a homesteader make.

I think it needs careful consideration what we are about-- ESPECIALLY if we change our site and get our own domaine. We want folks to find us...so we need to show up in the search engines!

-- Karen (mountains_mama2@hotmail.com), February 20, 2002.


I like "countryhomesteaders", but as you can see it's hellaciously long. I'd like to keep "country" in the name for the sake of search engines. "Homestead" is also good, but you could equally well use "smallholding" or "hobby farm" or "small farm" or many others, so I don't think you should get hung up on "homestead", even though it is one of the accurate terms. There are many people here because of the "country" aspect, and not too many because of the so-far non- existent "homestead" name.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 20, 2002.

You're right Karen. So many domain names are allready taken, so carefull thinking will help others to find the site. It takes about 6-9 weeks, some sooner, for the search engines to get the new name into their database. My own domain took about a month for them to start showing up, and now all the sub-domains except the newest one pop right up. Once a name is picked, you won't want to change it. I really liked "homesteaders.com" or "thehomesteaders.com" but of course they are allready taken. Dot net used to be for charitable orginazations, but I don't think it matters anymore. Mine is dot net. The com or net dosen't matter when someone searches in a search engine.

When I am searching for information, I type "forum" along with my subject sometimes, and can find the forums that way. I don't know if other folks do that or not.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), February 20, 2002.



I went over to Google and put in "homesteaders" and "homesteading", and neither one of those turned up much. But put in "country homesteaders" as 2 words, and the whole page is about homesteading. "Small holdings" brought up a lot also, but mainly in the UK.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), February 20, 2002.

Hello all-

I don't know if this is "kosher", but how about "Countrysiders"? The domain name countrysiders.com is available, if that's of any interest. It's not their registered name, but a lot of us use that term, so....

Just my 2 cents : )

-- Kristin, in La. (sevenstonestile@earthlink.net), February 20, 2002.


Maybe Dave is lurking, and will say if Countrysiders is allright or not to consider. Of course I like it because I have loved the magazine for so long.

-- Cindy in KY (solidrockranch@msn.com), February 20, 2002.

"Countrysiders" has my vote. Might even go for "Homesteaders_at _heart".....

-- TonyG (xx@xx.com), February 20, 2002.

How about "Rumps . . . Stumps . . . Pumps . . . Dumps"? That covers a lot of the topics we talk and advise each other about. And RSPD sounds kinda cool too.

Well, at least I thought this was funny. :^)

-- j.r. guerra in s. tx. (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), February 20, 2002.


Countrycider. Always a couple of sour apples, but most are nice!!
Homesteading could be included in the keywords for searching, so that if someone wanted to search for homesteading sites, the forum would come up even if it's name was Rocket Science and Pig Farming.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), February 20, 2002.

How 'bout "THE SIMPLICITY MOVEMENT"

-- woodsbilly (coleenl@penn.com), February 20, 2002.

Countrysteaders. I rest my case. Further applicant sayeth not.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), February 20, 2002.

I like Gail's suggestion of Country Homesteaders. We are all homesteaders whether in the city (as I am at present), or in the country. Those of us who are in the city right now hope to someday move to the country. We have a love and respect for the country and the homesteading lifestyle. BOTH (country AND homesteaders)would attract anyone interested in either.

I also like Chuck's suggestion of Homesteadhelp.com. A little shorther than Country Homesteaders but to the point of what the site is all about.

Shouldn't the decision be made fairly quickly since so many others are starting new forums and these names may rapidly disappear ?

Blessings,

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), February 21, 2002.


What about " country lovers " or, " country friends " , how about "downhome living " ... just off the top of my head...LOL

-- Kristean Thompson (pigalena_babe@yahoo.com), February 22, 2002.

Kristean (and others) - search engines are a reality, and a lot of people end up here because of them, who aren't really looking for countryside subjects at all. We need to give some thought to how others might think about the words we choose to label ourselves, or we could be buying unnecessary trouble. I see quite a few posts the rest of you don't, because I'm time-offset from you, and the posts are gone again by the time most of you are looking. "Country lovers" would be one I'd advise against. I'm not sure whether it stayed or went - it was over the time when Ken was quitting, but there was a silly rather than obscene post from someone who'd obviously stumbled across us while surfing the tip of a search engine, and didn't find at all what he was looking for. Our thread was titled "Cats eating chicks". Can you picture his disappointment?

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), February 23, 2002.

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