Magazine Interview

[Jackie Dove <jackie@machome.com>]

Hello,

I am the news editor of MacHome Journal in San Francisco, a national 
magazine that is sold on news stands and via subscription. I am writing a 
story about URL redirect services. I would like to do an interview with 
you concerning your service and URL redirects in general. My readers are 
Macintosh owners ranging from zero to quite sophisticated expertise. Many 
of these individuals and non-profits have web sites or want to create 
them, so this article is designed to give them perspective on this 
particular service if they do not want, cannot afford, or cannot get, an 
appropriate domain name. 

Thank you for answering this interview. If you would like to speak in 
person, please phone me at 415-564-8601 ext. 23 or e-mail me with your 
own phone number. My e-mail address is jackie@machome.com

Jackie Dove
News Editor
MacHome Journal
703 Market St. Suite 535
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-957-1911 ext. 23
jackie@machome.com

I know that you are not a URL redirect service, but please answer the 
questions as best you can. I'd really like your opinions on how these 
things work. 

Questions:

About your service:

-What is your name? (please tell me your name so I can quote you in the 
story)

-What is the name of your service?

-Where are you physically located?

-What is your phone number?

-What do you charge for your services?

-How long have you been in operation (Date)?

-If you do not charge, then how are you getting a return on your 
investment or what is the advantage to you?

-In your own words, why would web publishers want to use a URL redirect?

-How did your service get established

About URL Redirect technology:

-How does URL redirection work (as simply as possible, explain exactly 
how a URL can be changed from one domain to another. I know it has 
something to do with the /~ part of it.)

-When you use a URL redirect service, does your web site stay on its 
original server or is it moved?

-Does the user get some sort of message that the URL is being redirected 
elsewhere or is it totally transparent?

-How long does the URL redirection take? Is there any waiting?

-Do some URL redirections work better than others? Under what 
circumstances would sauch services work better than others?

-What are the positive and negative aspects of using URL redirects? 
(please be objective)

-Are there any circumstances under which they should not be used?

-What if you are already bookmarked all over the internet at your 
previous URL? Will people be able to find your Web site?

Ethics:

-Seeing as country codes were set up to identify most nations for 
Internet purposes, what has been the response of using country codes in 
this fashion?

-Is this considered unorthodox in any way?

-What country codes are currently being used?

-Some webmasters call it gimmicky. Do you agree or disagree? Why or why 
not?

-Do we have any numbers as to how many web publishers have taken 
advantage of this service?

-What are the restrictions on this service?

-In what ways does it improve the functionality of search engines or does 
it?

Other comments

Please add other comments or suggestions for further questions.

Many thanks for your help on this story!

Jackie












Jackie Dove
News Editor
MacHome Journal
jackie@machome.com
(415) 957-1911 Ext.23

Mailing:
703 Market St., Ste 535
San Francisco, CA 94103

Shipping:
26 Third St. Ste 535
San Francisco, CA 94103