Yesterday I acquired the registration of a domain name I wish I wasn’t able to have made – bostonjaycees.org. Allow me to explain.

Back in 1997 I originally registered this domain name for the Boston Jaycees, an international, not-for-profit community service organization for young people between the ages of 21 and 40. I had recently joined and offered to build its first Web site. Over the years the Web site served as the main communication link for the chapter, especially when we decided to suspend printing a paper-based newsletter, and grew our email list to well over 600 people. I ran the Web site myself for a number of years, handing it off to our more than capable Administrative Vice President.

The Boston Jaycees, and Jaycees in general, have been a big part of my life for many years. I gained a tremendous amount of experience leading the organization, both as Administrative Vice President and eventually President. As an organization whose selling point is “leadership development thru community service” I benefited from the experiences of meeting people and leaders within the community. From the programs we put on to being Santa Claus to inner-city kids for many years, I feel I gained much more than I put into it. The pinnacle of this was when we did an exchange program with the Belfast, Northern Ireland Jaycees, and I had the opportunity to speak before a packed audience at Belfast City Hall, including many political leaders. Oh, and I met my wife through the Jaycees too!

I don’t know what specifically led to the domain name not being renewed, as I haven’t been involved in the Boston chapter for many years, especially now that I am in Chicago. As part of the domain name services offered by my Internet consulting firm Dunkirk Systems, LLC, I monitor domain names to ensure they are properly renewed. I had this domain name in my monitoring system… not sure why, probably more for nostalgia. Or perhaps because I have “rescued” many domain names for similar organizations? When I saw it was not renewed, I attempted – and succeeded – in acquiring the domain name using SnapNames, a premium service specifically for this purpose.

Why did I acquire the domain name? It is my hope that the domain name will be used once again for a Boston Jaycees chapter. I offer to manage this domain name at no cost to the chapter, just as I do for the Chicago Jaycees today, to ensure it is used for its intended purpose. I made an attempt to contact someone at the organization but never got a reply. I hope to be contacted soon, and can be done so through the contact form on the Dunkirk Systems, LLC Web site.

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Business • Domain Names • (3) Comments • Permalink