How to lose your website's domain name

There's a very easy way to lose your Website's presence on the internet AND all its followers.

Just FORGET TO RENEW YOUR DOMAIN NAME

Your website still exists - but nobody can see it. That's all. It's really very, very simple.

I've lost count of the number of artists and art societies / groups / organisations who have fallen foul of thinking somebody else would remember to remind them that the licence for the domain name needs renewal.

This morning I came across another to add to the list.

Things you must remember

1. You do NOT own your domain name
2. When you pay for a domain name, you license it for a specific period of time
3. If you do NOT renew the licence in time you risk losing your website's presence on the internet i.e. your website ceases to exist
4. If you are unable to re-register the domain name, all the effort you have made to get the domain name recognised is wasted

More VERY IMPORTANT TO BE AVOIDED AT ALL COSTS TIP at the end - and the last two are critical!

Why are domain names important

Domain names provide a unique way of referencing a single unique site on the internet.

Hence they are very precious. They are that important. 

Quite often people buy their domain names before they've even worked out how they are going to build their website.

Speaking personally, I own far more domain names than I do websites. That's because I've got a bunch of them which were bought for defensive reasons i.e. I didn't want anybody else having the name.

How domain names work

Am I hacked or not? Or is it all Google's fault?

I feel like Google has got me running round and round in circles at the moment on my laptop. Plus I think Google may well be the maverick in the mix!

Google is telling me - via Search Console - that a website I own has been hacked i.e. 

• a new sub-domain URLs exists - whereas I never ever use sub-domains
• i.e. sub domain name prefixes exist (e.g. https://hacker.mywebsite.com - where I own mywebsite.com )
• this is identified by gmail headed Alert - Hacked content found on (your website domain name URL)
• they then identify new website owners - of the new sub-domain
• this is identified in a gmail headed New owner for (sub-domain website URL)

Identifying non-existent sub-domains

I need to get them deleted but first I have to find them - and that is proving very difficult

To date, I have been wholly unable to identify any sub-domains - which should be obvious given how my page listing works.

It could be a tiny bit of script somewhere - but I haven't been able to find it as there are no clues as to where it is located.

Removing sub-domains

So I've been looking for help from Google by stopping all the sub-domains from being shared via the Google Search Index instead!

• via the Removals Tool in Search Console (in the Indexing Section in the left hand column)
• BUT this is only a temporary measure

Where you find the Removals tool

Google has acted on all my requests except one - for some reason. Need to work that one out.
However the removal from the index is only temporary - and I still need to work out why they exist.

Non-existent owners with gmails

I've reported the gmail addresses used by new sub-domain owners to Google Gmail 

• despite the fact that Google Search Console say they do not exist!!
• you can check who owns your website / domain name via Search Console Settings and Ownership Verification.

Unhelpful websites

So far, both my domain name registrar (Namecheap) and my website host (Square/Weebly) have proved to be pretty useless at helping me out. 

Neither have explained how the particular hack affecting me happens - and yet I can't be the first.

Apparently it's all down to me!

A helpful site if you get hacked

I have found one helpful website while working my round what on earth is going on.

Take a look at https://hacked.com/been-hacked/ for a page of tips and recommendations.

They also provide remote help for a fee. I've not tried it - as yet.
I'm still working on the principle that Google is doing something wrong!

One more thing..... Country blocking

I've got a stats package which provides very detailed answers and at the moment I have worked out that it looks likely that all the hackers and the sub-domains come from either China or Malaysia

So my next task is to work out how to block China and Malaysia!

I've done this before - but can't remember how and I think it might have been on different webware. 

I think I've just found an inexpensive app which might do this. It's worth a go....

A timely art business reminder

It's a timely reminder for me! 

In the days of digital calendars we can set up reminders to renew:

• website hosts
• domain name registrations
• any other service we pay for relating to our website

The thing is we tend to input credit card details or include a balance on the account to pay for these - thinking everything will just rollover automatically when it comes time to pay. No need to worry

Forgetting that our cards all have expiry dates - and when the card is expired - as mine did at the end of last month - it cannot be used to make the automated payment.

I just spotted the email in time to get things sorted - as my payment was due and the notice about my card having expired had been issued 

This was the notice I got this week.

It's really very easy to lose an email if you get a lot (as I do) and they race off your front page or you're very busy and don't look at your emails for a few days - or you get ill!

So 

• keep a note of the credit card used against each website service / domain name and WHEN it need to be updated
• input the renewal dates for all relevant services to your digital calendar - with an alert set up for a week beforehand and an annual reminder turned on

Otherwise your website or your domain name could end up like VERY MANY I've come across in my time looking for artists websites - offline and potentially dead and buried.

To be honest, the most common problem seems to be the failure to renew the domain name. I've come across many websites which indicate a domain name renewal problem.

Cons and Pros of ING Discerning Eye Exhibition's tech makeover

I visited the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2021 at the Mall Galleries today (after my hip hiatus last week) and left rather sooner than I expected to because It made me feel VERY irritated.

I'm going to deal with the technological changes associated with this exhibition in this post and may write another one about the exhibition itself. These are:

• QR Codes as the ONLY wall labels
• new website - with some significant omissions

This is the toned down edited version - which will tell you a lot.

I'm also going to comment on the technological change associated with the website - which is much more of a good news story - but with a big sting in the tail....

But first the really bad news....

QR Codes only as labels - and absolutely nothing else!

The ONLY labels on the wall are QR codes i.e. 

• No artists name next to their work
• I'd hazard a well-informed guess that this is completely unacceptable to most artists.
• If the organisers knew they were going to do this then they should have stated their intentions in the Call for Entries
• No printed catalogue of which more below....

This is what I wrote on my Facebook Page after having made my way past maybe a dozen artworks in the East Gallery which I visited first

I think if I was an artist who had submitted my artwork to this exhibition - and had been selected by one of the Selectors - I would be very seriously dischuffed.

• no profile for me as an artist which is plain to see
• less chance of selling my work
• less chance of being noticed by art gallery owners who visit exhibitions like these looking for new talent.

Don't get me wrong. I am NOT against 

• EITHER the use of new technology
• OR the intelligent use of QR codes to enhance the viewing experience 

As an ex senior manager who has been responsible for and managed the large scale implementation of new technology solutions in the workplace in the past, what I am VERY averse to is:

• poor communication - to both artists and visitors
• no scope for feedback from those who experience the "experiment" e.g. "how did you find our use of QR codes?"
• poor project management e.g. a rollout without beta testing which fails to identify issues which need resolving (i.e. provide a good customer experience - based on what those using the system think not what those responsible for implementing it think!)

The Issues

Some of the technological issues are:

Broadband / Wifi

• Broadband is not good in the Galleries - patchy at best and totally absent from the North Gallery
• Hence visitors have to use the Gallery wifi system - which means opening up their phones to a public wifi system i.e. that thing you are warned against doing and I never ever do! Who is liable if somebody gets scammed as a result of using public wifi - because some scammer will find out it's available....

Good luck with finding out anything about these pieces in the North Gallery
- where there is no secure broadband - just public wifi

Smartphones

• Not everybody has a smartphone 
• Not everybody has a smartphone which can recognise QR codes

Communication on paper

• There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on the wall which tells you the name of the artwork; the name of the artist, media used and price
• Some extremely tatty, unlaminated - and hence not clean -  bunches of paper at the front desk for those with no phones is dire beyond belief and in absolutely no way a good substitute for proper labels! 
• Which bit of Covid Best Practice do the organisers of this competition think this complies with? Or didn't they think?

Bottom Line

I walked out because I wasn't enjoying the exhibition. 

Here's the reasons why:

Syntax of Color

I want to highlight a website called Syntax of Color which aims to focus on Art Materials and Colour. 

Highly recommended for art materials nerds like me - and those wanting to expand their knowledge of the art materials they work with currently - and might like to try in future.

This website is actually resurrecting an old site with updated and new material. 

After a considerable hiatus, the art materials website devoted to pigment history stories, interviews with artists and manufacturers, reviews of art materials and items of interest in the world of ASTM will be refreshed and renewed. Also a MAJOR name change has taken place. The old Grammar of Color is evolving into the Syntax of Color. We're back.....

"Syntax of Color" aims to educate artists and share information about art materials by exploring:

• Syntax of Color - Essays on the History of Pigments and Art Materials
• Product Reviews - Descriptions of Products and How to Use Them
• Interviews - Discussions with Artists and Art Materials Manufacturers (Coming Soon)
• ASTM Discussion Topics - The World of Making Standards for Art Material Manufacturing

The Syntax of Color - Home Page

Michael Skalka - author of Syntax of Color

The website is the idea of a chap who I've been corresponding with on and off for some years.  

Prior to his recent retirement, Michael Skalka was the Conservation Administrator at the National Gallery of Art in Washington for very many years where - among other duties - he looked after The National Gallery's Art Materials Collection.

Since 1993, I have been engaged in learning and sharing with others the love I have for art materials

Michael Skalka has an MFA in Museum Studies, expertise in Art Materials, and has been the Chairman of ASTM subcommittee D01.57 (re. Artists' Paints and Related Materials) for some years - which is how I got to know him.  (Note for new readers: I have been known to bang on online about lightfastness of art media at length - and I'm also a co-opted member of D01.57!)

Bottom line Michael is genuinely interested in increasing awareness of issues relating to colour and art materials - and has no axe to grind other than being somebody focused on quality issues. He also knows many of the technical people from the various art manufacturers.

Content of Syntax of Color

Here's a sampler of its content to date - with some quotations to get an idea of content. 

• Michael writes well and with authority. 
• If there is one thing I'd like to see him add it's shorter paragraphs and spaces inbetween! (i.e. techniques for writing for online as opposed to printed papers)

Colours

He focuses on old as well as current colours - as one might expect of a man who has worked in conservation for over 25 years.

• The Issue of Black
• Indian Yellow: A Bovine Story
• The Discovery of Thenard Blue (Cobalt Blue)
• Vermilionettes and Royal Reds
• Bodies in the Cellar or The Old and Forgotten (Scheeles Green / Emerald Green)
• The Lead White Pot

Pigments