You might think, "Not too exciting," right? WELL YOU'RE WRONG. Here are a few useful ways to take advantage of URL forwarding:

Aliases for generated URLs

Bids start at $0.01. Shipping is $11.99. I'm not making this up.

Pretend you have something really cool that you want to sell on eBay, like a mouse-shaped chicken nugget (seriously). Now you want to promote your mouse-nugget auction. Which URL are people more likely to remember?

Option A: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mouse-Shaped-Chicken-Nugget-One-of-a-Kind-/181097877797?
Option B: www.mousenugget.com

The choice is clear, right? If you purchase a simple domain name and set it to forward to the eBay listing, it'll be much easier to tell people about the rodent-shaped piece of fried chicken that you're selling on the internet.

Social media sites, blogging platforms, Craigslist, real estate websites, Google Maps, YouTube, and tons of other services all create long, indecipherable links. URL forwarding makes sharing those links easy.

Moving to a new domain

If you've moved your site to a new domain, you can use URL forwarding so that people familiar with the previous domain can still find your site. It's pretty frustrating to end up at a dead link. VideoGames.com became GameSpot.com in 1998, and to this day VideoGames.com is a forwarding URL.

RAAAAAAAAGGGGGE.

Forwarding from similar domains

Let's say someone wants to visit your site, but they don't quite remember the URL, or they've got fat fingers and they just type it incorrectly. If you can anticipate the incorrect URLs that a user might type, you can purchase those domains and have them redirect to your intended website.

Similarly, you can purchase multiple TLDs and have them redirect to the same website. So yourwebsite.net, yourwebsite.com, and yourwebsite.org could all send a user to the same place.

If you want more of the nitty gritty details on URL forwarding, here's a tutorial from our support team.

Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform that makes it easy to post and share content with your friends. Today Yahoo announced that they have acquired Tumblr for $1.1 billion in stock and cash. Tumblr users have expressed concern about whether Yahoo can successfully keep the easy-going attitude of the Tumblr community alive. A press release from Yahoo that began with, “We promise not to screw it up.” seems to have just increased skepticism regarding the preservation of the creative vibe of Tumblr when Yahoo takes the reigns.

If you’re one of the many people who don’t want to wait to see how this acquisition plays out and are ready to switch to WordPress, we outline how to easily import your Tumblr to a WordPress blog below. WordPress is a fantastic alternative to Tumblr because it is a blogging service that offers a wider range of customization and features than Tumblr.

How to Get Started:

Before you get started, you’re going to need to setup a WordPress blog. I recommend using our RapidPress tool so that you can get your own domain (yourname.com), web hosting, and your new WordPress blog up right away.

Once Your WordPress Blog is Installed and Ready to Go:

Now that you have your WordPress blog installed, you need to go to the WordPress admin dashboard (yourdomain.com/wp-admin) and click on Tools > Import.

On the import page, you’re going to see a list of importing tools for various blog services. You’re going to want to click on Tumblr and install the Tumblr importer.

Once you have the Tumblr Importer plugin installed, you're going to click on Activate Plugin & Run Importer. Doing this will take you to the Tumblr import page. The only way that you’re going to be able to import your Tumblr blog to WordPress is by creating an application using the Tumblr API. This is a very easy thing to do.

The Tumblr import page has instructions on how to easily create an app. The most important thing that will be shown to you is the URL you’ll need to use as the default callback URL. So hunt down your callback URL and copy this URL... then go to the Tumblr Applications page and click on the +Register Application button.

If you're not sure what a callback URL is, don't worry. Tumblr makes it easy to figure out what a callback URL is.

When creating an app, the only fields you’re required to fill out are the (1) application name, (2) application website, and the (3) default callback URL. If you’re confused on what to put as the application name, you can just use your WordPress blog name. In the application website field, you can just put the URL to your blog. For the default callback URL, you’re going to paste in the URL that you copied in the last step. The rest of the fields can be left blank.

When you register your application, you’re going to be shown an OAuth Consumer Key and a Secret Code. Copy the key and codes and paste them into the Tumblr Importer plugin page on your WordPress blog. Once you’ve done this step, you just need to hit the Connect to Tumblr button.

On the next screen, you’ll see something that says, “Grant this application read and write access to your Tumblr account?” You’re going to want to hit the green Allow button.

Once you have allowed your application to be connected to your blog, you’ll be redirected back to your WordPress site’s Tumblr Importer plugin page. The page will now be showing all of the blogs associated with your Tumblr account. Simply click on the “Import this blog” button next to the blog that you wish to import into WordPress.

The importer will then begin importing your content from Tumblr. The importer tool works very well and will try to import your posts formatted correctly. This means that quotes will be imported as quotes, photos will be imported as photos, conversations will be imported as conversations, and so on.

You’re Almost Done!

There’s still one more problem you’re going to have to solve. You’re going to need to redirect old Tumblr users to your new blog. The process is going to require a few extra steps if you used a yourname.tumblr.com rather than a yourname.com URL.

How to set the redirect up:

The first part of this process is installing and activating the Redirection plugin.

Once you’ve activated Redirection, you need to go to Tools > Redirection. You can create a single redirection pretty easily. You just type the following in:

Source URL: .*/post/\d+/(.*)

Target URL: /$1

Click on the Add Redirection button... and that’s it you’re all done!

(If you’re having additional issues with the redirect, you should make sure that your permalink structure is set to Post Name. This can be done quickly by going to Settings > Permalinks and checking the Post Name checkbox.)

RapidPress:

We offer a great tool called RapidPress that allows you to easily set a WordPress blog up and use your own domain name (say bye to yourname.tumblr.com and say hello to yourname.com!).

Interviewing yourself? That's a really lazy writing device.

It's my first day. Lay off.

Fine, you get a one-blog grace period. What will you be doing at name.com?

I'll manage this blog, update email templates, contribute to social media, and do a bunch of other stuff that requires good writering. And I'll try not to screw anything up, though I'm sure to fail on that pledge by the end of the week.

What do you have planned for the blog?

It's a work in progress, but I'll post 4+ times a week, and it'll be a healthy mix of tutorials, blogs about the name.com culture, news from the domain world, and anything else interesting enough to share with the world.

Why did you want to work at name.com?

The office looked cool. And the culture seemed to be delightfully weird. And the "We give a shit" mantra seemed to be sincere. So those were the main draws.

How did you end up here?

I was a sports reporter in Louisiana for a few years, and then moved to Colorado in Fall 2011. I managed content for a startup website for about 18 months before coming to name.com.

My old office is actually across the street. So name.com is a bit of a homewrecker.

Is it true that you spilled not one, but two glasses of beer when you came into name.com for a get-to-know-you happy hour?

Totally true. Though "spill" is a little misleading, I prefer "The glass slipped from my hand. Twice."

What a lightweight.

I can neither confirm nor deny that accusation, but I think in this instance my general clumsiness was to blame.

And they still hired you?

I guess they find drunken behavior endearing, even if it does not involve actual drunkenness.

Do you remember the names of your new co-workers?

I remember like six and a half of them. It's a start.

Can you at least remember to put the dishes in the sink?

I think so. My girlfriend was gone last weekend and I did the dishes on Friday night anyway. Being domesticated is THE WORST.

Let's discuss your internet interests. Favorite website?

That's between me and my incognito Chrome window. (Note to self: Ask for clarification on name.com's internet use policy.)

Favorite Twitter feed?

@DadBoner, you guys.

Favorite YouTube video amongst the more popular of YouTube videos?

Charlie Bit Me has recently been supplanted by Goats Yelling Like Humans.

How to you pronounce GIF?

Soft G. Like the peanut butter. If you use a hard G you're a bad person.

Favorite Tumblr?

Smokin' Jay Cutler

Favorite meme?

Best GeoGuessr score?

Depends on whether Googling is permitted. I try to play without using Google, and then I always get dropped in the middle of the f***ing desert. I think I topped 15,000 once.

What do you look like?

Here's the most flattering photo I could find of myself on Facebook.

And here's the least flattering:

The reality is somewhere in between, usually leaning toward the "unflattering" side.

Anything else?

All self-deprecation aside, I'm super duper excited about being here, and I'll try to make this blog as funny/interesting/informative/etc. as possible.

Now that Yahoo has announced their acquisition of blogging service Tumblr, it may very well be the perfect time for you to jump on the WordPress blogging train. You can easily make the switch by using the Name.com RapidPress tool and then importing all of your Tumblr posts over. If you’re unsure of what RapidPress is, it is a one-click WordPress installation tool that includes both a domain and web hosting.

There have been some early signs that a lot of people may be making the switch away from Tumblr. WordPress CEO Matt Mullenweg publically stated that on Sunday night, an unusually high number of people imported there posts from Tumblr to WordPress. This is perhaps an early sign that a fair amount of people are looking to flee Tumblr now that it is part of Yahoo.

Yahoo knows that people are going to be saying some fierce things regarding the acquisition around the Internet, so they issued a rather odd press release saying, “We promise not to screw it up.” The release continued by saying, “Tumblr is incredibly special and has a great thing going. We will operate Tumblr independently. David Karp will remain CEO. The product roadmap, their team, their wit and irreverence will all remain the same as will their mission to empower creators to make their best work and get it in front of the audience they deserve. Yahoo! will help Tumblr get even better, faster.”

It’ll be interesting to see how the acquisition plays out over time, but if you’re one of the many people looking to leave Tumblr, using RapidPress to setup a new blog is a fantastic solution. In addition to having a WordPress blog setup with zero effort, you also get web hosting and a domain name (e.g. YourName.com... no more YourName.tumblr.com).

Ready to learn more about RapidPress? Just click here!

Ready to learn more about RapidPress? Just click here!

So what's going on with new TLDs, why does the GAC want ICANN to consider new safeguards, and what does that mean for the whole process? Here's a breakdown:

Background: Beijing

On April 11th, the GAC released its Beijing Communique, outlining recommendations for new TLDs. The communique basically let ICANN know that the GAC isn't currently satisfied with the direction of many new TLDs, including closed generic terms and market sector terms. You can download the full communique here, but the advice section contains the following notable recommendations:

1. Due to lack of community support, .ISLAM and .HALAL ought not to proceed.
2. .SHENZHEN, .PERSIANGULF, .GUANGZHOU, .AMAZON, .PATAGONIA, .DATE, .SPA, .YUN, .THAI, .ZULU, .WINE, and .VIN should not be allowed to proceed past the Initial Evaluation stage due to their perceived negative effect on the communities they might be associated with.
3. ICANN should reconsider their stance on singular and plural strings, as the inclusion of both may be confusing to users.
4. Six new safeguards, outlining security and privacy practices, should be put in place by contract, putting more weight on applicants and registries to make sure their new TLDs are run with utmost concern for safety and credibility.
5. Strings that are related to market sectors ought to operate within applicable laws, should act in the public's interest, and should adhere to multiple safeguards that ensure the strings are used to help markets function healthily -- the GAC includes a "non-exhaustive" list of over 180 different proposed strings that ought to be included.
6. .WTF, .GRIPE, .SUCKS, .FAIL ought to be regulated to reduce cyber bullying and misuse.

What's Happening Now: Community Forum

In response to this advice, on May 10th, ICANN opened a community forum to collect feedback and responses concerning the communique and how it ought to be implemented, including this timeline, that branches all the way out into late June. The comment period ended on May 14 and there are over 90 responses in the thread inbox of community input, which you can access here. ICANN's review of the comments will take until June 20 to complete.

The responses range in tone and direction, from concerned trademark holders and communities standing with the GAC and against allowing certain threads to be approved without added safeguards (such as Michelin Tires objecting the use of .TIRES by Bridgestone), to applicants that are sick of waiting through another advisory process and want to see the new TLD process move forward, instead of inching back (such as Google's concern that the GAC has overstepped its bounds in advising how the new gTLD program should perform as a whole).

It seems that once again, the ICANN community, and it's stakeholders are in a locked horns position, between those who have an invested interest in new gTLDs making it through, and those who have an invested interest in certain nTLDs failing.

What's Next?

While ICANN doesn't have to accept all of the GAC's recommendations, its clear that for the time being, its New gTLD Program Committee (NGPC) will takes it time in reviewing all the safeguards and recommendations, as well as try to discern whether or not the GAC is maintaining its stance as one advisory component in a multi-stakeholder, bottom-up democratic approach, or if it's being heavy-handed. Until then, many applications will be on hold, including closed generics, market sector related TLDs, and so on.

Because the GAC's list is non-exhaustive, and the GAC states that more safeguards may have to be put in place for certain strings than others, the recommendations have the ability to affect a very large amount of applicants. Aside from the broad range of the recommendations, the GAC states that their next meeting will be at the next ICANN convention in South Africa on July 14, which many applicants worry will mean decisions on their applications might not be made until late July.

What Do You Think?

Weigh in. It's no secret that we, as a registrar, really kind of want new TLDs to start launching already. We've been waiting for a long time, and we're excited to see how the new Internet is going to react. But, what do you think? Do you think the GAC has gone too far, or is the measure of their concern mirrored in the community? What would you do, if you were in charge of ICANN?

Let us know -- and keep an eye on the new TLDs, as they make their way through the application process, by signing up for our watcher.