Domainatrix

Domain name: http://lazily.org
Domain created: 3rd April 2006 – Yep, Lazily turned 5 this month!
Domain host: NameCheap
Site Host: AussieHQ

Lazily has a long and winding history. Unfortunately, I don’t have screen shots of each phase of it’s short life (or is it considered a long life in internet terms? How long is an internet year?) but rest assured many of them had Kristen Bell included. I eventually stopped making/using layouts with copyrighted images though.

Anyway, as you can see Lazily was created on a lovely April day back in 2006. I had just won a forum theme design contest on Re-Told MB (doesn’t exist anymore) and my prize? A domain! My very first (I have had 3 total now, Lazily is the only one to stick)in fact. Also included in the deal was free hosting! What more could a girl want?

Nothing, it seemed. The host was great, very rarely down and very approachable. She helped me out with trivial issues and didn’t seem to mind that I had very little to do with her otherwise.

So, with her support Lazily pushed on through paid posts (when they were worth the pixels they were made of) and sky-rocketing – and them plummeting – Google Page Rank… I think Lazily is currently a 0.

One thing remained the same though. The ever present WordPress. I have considering powering Lazily with something else but, honestly? Can’t be bothered with the effort. Yes, my design skills have waned throughout the years up to the point where I have very little knowledge. I’m currently using a free, very comprehensive theme called Suffusion.

Anyway, coming up to a year ago now I decided I wanted a bit more. I had looked through the world of the internet and decided I’d buy some cheap hosting for myself. Don’t get me wrong, free hosting was great but I was a lowly add-on domain and as such didn’t get my own cPanel… not that there is anything wrong with that. I just wanted to evolve.

At the time I didn’t really know what to look for. Really, I barely even looked. I found a cheap host in Parade Hosting and paid for a year. That is when I found out you really get what you pay for (actually, that isn’t true… you’ll find out later). Parade had just been bought out by a new owner and I don’t think he realised what he was in for. He was rude and inconsiderate not to mention unprofessional. A few weeks after joining Parade went down for a few days and Jonno’s (the owner) solution was to stop answering tickets and take down the community forum. Needless to say a few clients were lost.

I persevered but with its instability and a painful host I decided to move on. Luckily for me there were many a vulture in the air waiting to pluck us poor Parade Hostian’s away and I ended up with FREE hosting at HostCrave. The service was great and fast and my site was rarely down. Unfortunately, HostCrave didn’t last very long and I was pushed over (without my notification) to HostCaptive and I have to say I’m not sure about it. Hosting companies are so numerous these days and cheap to come by that you never know who is really looking after your site. I’ve always wondered if HostCrave and HostCaptive were run by the same person (the sites are nearly identical).

In this hosting climate there are so many merges and take overs as people run out of money or time. HostCaptive ended up with ReRun who then merged with Rewind who was then bought out by someone else and, to this day, goes down multiple times a day.

Because of the down time and the knowledge that my site was being managed by a 16 year old I begged for some help and minutes later Jana volunteered. We were (she still is) with Holdfire but their service deteriorated through the months and I had had enough. I had just got a new job with AussieHQ and what was one of the perks? A VPS to call my own.

And with 100% uptime, the rest is history.