goo.tc is Now Funeratic

Scott Hardie | July 25, 2010
All year, I've been working on a series of changes that will allow us to attract more people to the site, since it's slowly fading away on its own. Most of these have been quiet code changes that went by unnoticed, but there's no hiding this one: This site has been renamed Funeratic, with a new domain name to go with it. There are two primary reasons why I made this change.

First, we need a common top-level domain again. A .com is trusted. A .net or .org is a little less trusted. A .uk or .ca is a lot less trusted. Anything else foreign, forget about it. People see a top-level domain that they don't recognize and they assume it's some kind of hacker and don't follow the link; better safe than sorry. I knew that when I changed to goo.tc five years ago, but back then I didn't care if only a few people clicked on the link, because word-of-mouth was able to sustain us back then. Now it's not.

Second, we need a better brand identity. (Yeah, I really did just say that.) "Funeratic" hopefully conveys a sense of fun, and is easy to pronounce and understand. None of that can be said of "goo.tc," which was like a code that you had to be a regular user to understand. This site needs to be more appealing in lots of ways if we're going to attract more people, and this is one change in that direction.

I searched for weeks for a new name. The main lesson that I took away from that search is that there are virtually no good domains left. I joked on Facebook about my random discovery that monkeyroadshow.com was still available, and a few weeks later I actually considered buying it out of desperation. "Funeratic" came about late in the process, and it clicked right away: Besides the aforementioned benefits, it's not mentioned anywhere on the web that I can find, so there's no possibility of confusion (even "goo.tc" existed before 2005), and anyway I just plain like it. I realize that it may be misinterpreted as "funeral" or "erratic," or even "erotic," but I can live with that small downside.

In case there's any confusion, it's pronounced FUN-eratic, as in operatic. The proper name of the site is now Funeratic; funeratic.com is just the address. Coincidentally, we happen to be on an even more powerful server starting today, too.

Made-up words for site names are rarely popular, and for that matter neither are sudden changes to a site that you visit often. If you don't like today's change at first, give it a chance to grow on you, as I did. I look forward to hearing your feedback, whether you're happy or unhappy about it.

Scott Hardie | July 25, 2010
Any move to a new server tends to break a few systems, so please alert me if you notice any weirdness. I'm aware of two issues right now:

- The site code sometimes reads the server clock incorrectly, thinking it's four hours ahead. This could cause weirdness with scheduled events such as goos being published at midnight. I'm trying to work it out in the next few hours.

- Email notifications and a few other minor systems are temporarily disabled while I work out some issues with the mail system. They'll be restored shortly.

Steve Dunn | July 25, 2010
Whoa!

Ryan Dunn | July 25, 2010
I think the updated site is...wait for it...wait for it...Fun-errific!

Scott Hardie | July 25, 2010
Thanks! I think. The aforementioned issues are worked out, and email notifications are back on. They now come from funeratic-email.com instead of gootc-email.com, if you need to add that your safe senders whitelist.

I'm still working out issues getting my own personal mail at this domain, but that doesn't affect the site.

I thought about renaming GooCon in this process, probably to FuneraticFest, but I changed my mind at the last minute and left it alone. Frankly, they're both pretty lousy names. :-)  Besides, the Goo in GooCon can just as easily refer to the game. I see no need to change it. Maybe next year.

I haven't talked much about my overall plans. That's because I want to roll things out carefully, one change at a time. I don't want to freak anybody out or disturb the order of things around here. As fundamental of a change as a new domain is, the site itself should behave exactly the same once you login at the new URL. I have no interest in undertaking a comprehensive overhaul of the site all at once, and I definitely don't have time, either.

However, I do want to clarify my intentions just a little: I don't expect any of these changes to attract people in and of themselves. Think of them as laying the groundwork for later, so that when I do begin to attract people in 2011 and beyond, they won't be scared away from trying the site. It's going to take time, but I have a clear vision of exactly how it's going to happen. I'm excited about the future!

Steve West | July 25, 2010
Count me in for a session in the funasmatron.

Erik Bates | July 26, 2010
[hidden by request]

Jackie Mason | July 27, 2010
[hidden by request]

Scott Hardie | July 27, 2010
Sorry for the momentary panic. I have the same reaction on other sites. :-) I like it when web sites continually evolve rather than bottling up all of their changes for a big relaunch every few years, although they don't always change for the better. Netflix disappoints me with almost every change they make, and yet I still salute their effort to keep improving. Does anybody like Facebook's endless tinkering, even as we acknowledge that they're trying to make it better?

The site still seems to have a problem with some scheduled processes, such as the ones that run at midnight that publish a new goo and distribute free RB cards. I have scheduled those to run every 15 minutes instead of just once at midnight, so if they don't activate properly at 12:00, maybe they'll work at 12:15 or 12:30. (The processes work fine when I test them; they just don't get activated automatically like they should.) I'll manually publish the changes in the morning if they still haven't activated by then. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Scott Hardie | July 27, 2010
The site was offline overnight due to server issues, so there was definitely inconvenience. It's stable for now, although all background processes have been deactivated temporarily (no email notifications etc). I will investigate further tonight and make some changes.

Chris Lemler | July 29, 2010
Scott I really like the new name of the site....You keep doing amazing things with this site keep up the good work

Scott Hardie | January 15, 2011
Those of you who keep me in your online address book: I have finally gotten email problems worked out with the new domain. You can continue to write to me at the old domain and all messages will be forwarded, but I'm now officially switched to the same address at the new domain.