With missing www., site shows page full of ads.
[Updated: It looks like the web site may not be hosted at GoDaddy. It’s on the company’s nameservers, but the IP address on the site shows Apple. GoDaddy says it’s not hosted with them. That would mean the only thing GoDaddy is guilty of is hosting ads on the www version of the domain while it’s being cnamed (or otherwise forwarded) to another web hosting service. That’s not GD’s web hosting groups’ fault; it just means the company is profiting from a customers’ domain they think is not in use. Most domain registrars do that. Whether it’s right or wrong, in this case it makes the company look bad.] This morning I visited CNN.com, where the featured story was about a woman who is using the web to help her husband find a job. Frustrated as her husband struggles to find a job, Robin Stearns registered a domain name at GoDaddy and created a web site to get publicity for her husband. It has no doubt worked.
The domain name in the article is MyHusbandNeedsAJob.com. I typed that into my browser and was surprised to see this:
Huh. I must have mistyped it. So I copied and pasted the URL from the CNN article and got the same result. Surely they didn’t have a typo in the article, as the picture in the article also features the same domain name.
Then I typed www. before the web address and presto! It worked.
Is it really that difficult for web hosting companies to default both www. and the domain without the www to the same page? Not really. Perhaps this is a tricky way to capture traffic. [See update above]
With a front page CNN.com article, I suspect Robin’s husband will get a job in no time. In the meantime, she may want to fix the www issue so it no longer shows GoDaddy ads and then beef up her GoDaddy web hosting package so the site doesn’t go offline.
Even the cheapest, dodgy, oversold-bandwidth hostings on eBay will invariably resolve both with and without the www.
Any hosting that doesn’t screams AMATEUR setup.
I noticed the same thing. At first, I thought I typed it in wrong. Then I thought I got a virus. Finally, I did a search and came across this article. Thank you for posting!
What a waste of my time! Based on my interest with the idea, I would have probably did a little more research (including find out which hosting provider she used). POP UP BLOCKER COMES UP AND A SECURITY WARNING!! For novice computer users this would be terrifying.
This is just not right.
A simple article and a great idea. Leave it at that folks!
No place to comment to the CNN report. I bet they won’t allow it because most of the comments will be negative.
3 things wrong with this guy:
1. He has been scouring the networking web sites – hey buddy get off your butt, go outside and meet people in person.
2. He has gotten dozens of emails and plans on following up – wrong again – are you really looking for a job? If you were you would have already called or contacted everybody who has sent you an email.
3. His wife is doing all the work – hire her – take charge buddy. Next thing you know your wife is going to get you a job you don’t like.
Life is hard, jump in and participate.
Is it difficult? No! GoDaddy simply makes it difficult, and capitalizes on it if you have no idea what you are doing. And that defines GD’s customer base, so for them it is a win-win, and the customers not so much…
mp/m
@ Try Harder – don’t assume that because it doesn’t mention this stuff in the article he’s not doing it. The reporter had to weave in this guys story to make it fit what they wanted the article to be about.
The answer to his employment dilemma is actually quite simple: Just do like we’re all doing … you know … gettin’ rich quick by flippin’ domains. 😉
Godaddy steals traffic in many ways from you, me and everyone else.
You just have to pay attention how they do it.
I work for a hosting provider and we always create sites to work with and without the www. AND create the necessary DNS records. Occasionally we get people that don’t want one or the other (like those guys from no-www.org), in which case we simply delete the appropriate line in their DNS zone to stop it resolving. However the majority of people want their domain to resolve on both so we accommodate those by default.
GoDaddy are clearly taking advantage of their customers to maximise advertising revenue and that really sucks.
The only way this would happen is if the hosting was with godaddy, which it is. Godaddy sometimes goes overboard with trying to make money, I mean seriously!
I often find sites that don’t work properly.
(requiring www)
Some of these are larger companies.
I will get a “no website” notice. I know the site exist so I add “www”.
I assume most of the fault is webmaster error.
However, with hosting companies like GD, I suspect it might be on purpose.
I guess they need to accumulate revenue for next year’s superbowl. ??
Any fool who uses godaddy is giving this traffic up to them. They are leeches and this practice is scummy for sure, but they’ve been doing it for YEARS. Why? Because they can and then make up the excuse that it’s the user/owners fault for not fixing it. This is just taking advantage of the customer.
Godaddy should do right and apologize as well as return the revenues from every domain name that they profited off of.
It is what it is, deal with it. She could fix it in two minutes, but everyone wants to find a big guy to blame it on instead.
I set up a hobby site at Godaddy and the customer service was so good that I am moving my wife’s business website there. She could call customer service and they would fix it for her but the service they offer is low cost and robust for the webmaster and I bet there is a good reason it is that way or they will fix it.
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She probably doesn’t know this, but if she forwards her domain to itself, the www problem will be solved.
Still GoDaddy should offer these tips to their customers.
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For those unsure how to fix this issue, it is a CNAME record problem in the DNS.
Here is how to fix it via Godaddy, http://help.godaddy.com/topic/163/article/679
I always thought the CNAME records always defaulted to www. or no www ? but doing a search on Google, appears many have issues with Godaddy and this problem.
“It is what it is, deal with it. She could fix it in two minutes, but everyone wants to find a big guy to blame it on instead.”
You’re making the assumption that this person is tech savvy. GoDaddy caters to people who aren’t tech savvy.
Hi everyone…I am actually Mike of myhusbandneedsajob.com. I appreciate all of the feedback in trying to get this issue resolved. The response has been overwhelming and we appreciate everyone’s feedback.
There was a problem with the hosting site working with godaddy, but it is now fixed (or in the process of being fixed).
And in response to “try harder” all I can say is that my full-time job is finding a job. I can’t even begin to tell you how many informationals I’ve been on just trying to network and meet people. I can guarantee you me not having a job is because of a lack of effort. My wife did a great job setting up the website, but don’t assume she’s doing all of the work trying to find me a job.
We are trying to respond to everyone’s email messages, but we have literally received hundreds so we probably won’t be able to get back to all of them.
Again, we appreciate your support.
Cheers,
Mike
> It is what it is, deal with it.
> She could fix it in two minutes,
> but everyone wants to find a big guy to
> blame it on instead.
An apologist for GoDaddy’s incompetence ?
That’s novel.
The CNAME fix is properly used for turning
one or other ‘OFF’. ‘ON’ should be the default
in any half-decent setup.
No one should have to ‘deal with it’.
Basic competence and professionality is what
they supposedly have **PAID** GoDaddy for.
I think it’s time for someone to start talking about how Standard Tactics is back up and running at GoDaddy. It may have a different name but it is the same thing.
DNS at godaddy does default so that sites resolve with and without the www.
This person just went in and messed with the DNS settings pointed the www CNAME to the hosting without changing their A or AAAA records or NS to match that.
This isn’t really newsworthy. If you think it is I’m sure that any ISP, hosting provider, or other tech company is a gold mine user error stories.
Yes, it is super-easy to fix the CNAME settings. However, GoDaddy markets itself to the masses — not exactly a tech savvy crowd. It’s simply sleazy on GoDaddy’s part. See Is GoDaddy a Mass Cybersquatter?