For anyone still accessing our site through FlamingSword.Biz domain name, this may be a good time to revert to MichaelNetzer.Com, and also update any such links. FlamingSword.Biz is about to expire and I've decided not to renew it, due to a bureaucratic nightmare that Yahoo! (through which the name was originally purchased) has in place for the transfer of .BIZ domains.

The entire issue of domain name renewal, as presently structured by the web registry service, attests to a particular institutional abuse. It appears abusive to force domain name holders to make annual payments for maintaining ownership of a name they've already purchased. Once a stake is claimed for a name and it is purchased, it seems fair that the name remain the property of its owner, without the need for an annual renewal fee. If the registrar claims an expense for the name's listing and routing to a DNS server, well, it is understandable that such a fee be requested. The current situation is not so simple, however, because the fees one pays for this service are intertwined with the actual ownership of the name. Though the two functions be distinct and separate, both fall within the same operational service of domain name ownership and renewal. A domain name holder who misses a renewal date, not only suffers the disengagement of the domain name from the DNS server hosting their site - but also loses the ownership of the name altogether.

The annual domain name renewal fee should then, in essence, become a fee for listing the name and routing it by the registrar - and not a function of ownership, as it presently is. This fee should also be nominally less than what is presently charged for ownership renewal.

The problem encountered at Yahoo with FlamingSword.Biz was made more complex when I attempted to transfer the domain name registrant to another provider. This was made difficult because the transfer of a .BIZ domain name necessitates a special release from its current registrar. Though this classification of a .BIZ domain, necessatating a special registrar's release for transfer, is in itself questionable - Yahoo!, one of the largest web service providers, proved quite elusive in its customer service procedure for this transfer. The bureaucratic obstacles in place for transferring a name from their fold, proved enough to compel me to relinquish the ownership of the name entirely.

The mechanism in place for the conduct of domain name ownership and renewal is presently quite disadvantageous to domain name holders, who are forced to keep vigilant watch on - and expend needless expense - for maintaining a domain name. The entire issue perhaps needs to be reconsidered, in the pursuit of a more just conduct of the service.