Domain for a forum

[jaceq]

Let's vote on a domain name for this forum... assuming that this forum can be used with domain name

[sonnenhund]

Before we decide, let's see if the Local will sell or give englishforum.ch to us?

[jaceq]

Before we decide, let's see if the Local will sell or give englishforum.ch to us?

Sure, did anyone actually reach out to them with this question, though? (I have no contact to anybody there)

[sonnenhund]

Before we decide, let's see if the Local will sell or give englishforum.ch to us?

Sure, did anyone actually reach out to them with this question, though? (I have no contact to anybody there)

I believe a few of the mods have reached out to see if it's possible, hopefully we hear back shortly.

[Axa]

I'd say expatsforum.ch. And that's already a stretch considering the negative connotation of "expat" expats.ch is...too much cringe. Also, let's wait a few days about the answer from current owner.

[PancakesAdmin]

I also think I prefer expatsforum.ch but I'm fine with whatever. One thing we will probably need to keep in mind, though, is search engine optimization -- i.e. how easily people will be able to find the forum via a Google search, etc.

[AbFab]

A few thoughts:
1) I’m not wild about “expat” in the domain name. I am now Swiss!
2) Be careful who the domain name is registered to. People move away, die, have big bust-ups, forget to pay renewals etc etc
3) With regard to Google, in the early days of EF we mods changed occurrences of “CH” to “Switzerland”, “GVA” and “ZH” to “Geneva” and “Zurich” - and many more - as it was rightly felt people would not search for the shorts forms. Same applied with thread titles….

[sonnenhund]

A few thoughts:
1) I’m not wild about “expat” in the domain name. I am now Swiss!
2) Be careful who the domain name is registered to. People move away, die, have big bust-ups, forget to pay renewals etc etc
3) With regard to Google, in the early days of EF we mods changed occurrences of “CH” to “Switzerland”, “GVA” and “ZH” to “Geneva” and “Zurich” - and many more - as it was rightly felt people would not search for the shorts forms. Same applied with thread titles….

Good point on domain ownership. I'm not sure the best way to handle this, but using HostPoint you can have a domain with shared responsibility, perhaps even with shared ownership.

Also, I just got a warning:

Code:

New members are not allowed to post external links or emails for 7 days. Please contact the forum administrator for more information.

Think we can fix this mods? ;-)

[3WishesAdmin]

Before we decide, let's see if the Local will sell or give englishforum.ch to us?

Sure, did anyone actually reach out to them with this question, though? (I have no contact to anybody there)

I believe a few of the mods have reached out to see if it's possible, hopefully we hear back shortly.

Multi-quote looks weird on this platform, so apologies if this winds up out of place. Yes, the question has been asked.

A few thoughts:
1) I’m not wild about “expat” in the domain name. I am now Swiss!
2) Be careful who the domain name is registered to. People move away, die, have big bust-ups, forget to pay renewals etc etc
3) With regard to Google, in the early days of EF we mods changed occurrences of “CH” to “Switzerland”, “GVA” and “ZH” to “Geneva” and “Zurich” - and many more - as it was rightly felt people would not search for the shorts forms. Same applied with thread titles….

Good point on domain ownership. I'm not sure the best way to handle this, but using HostPoint you can have a domain with shared responsibility, perhaps even with shared ownership.

Also, I just got a warning:

Code:

New members are not allowed to post external links or emails for 7 days. Please contact the forum administrator for more information.

Think we can fix this mods? ;-)

Also not wild about expat, but the old name also led people to think we were a forum for learning English. Boy, was that a wakeup call to noobs!
I suppose if we named ourselves Free Beer we could drive a lot of traffic...

[srdjee]

englishforum.swiss
or
ef.swiss

is also free .

[AbFab]

.swiss domains are pricy are about CHF 70/year compared to CHF15 for .ch

[jaceq]

englishforum.swiss
or
ef.swiss

is also free .

.ch TLD requires at least 3 character domains, so ef.ch is simply not allowed (I had a look at this)

[3WishesAdmin]

englishforum.swiss
or
ef.swiss

is also free .

.ch TLD requires at least 3 character domains, so ef.ch is simply not allowed (I had a look at this)

I also think that if we're going to have new members find us, then the site name has to mean something on a Google hit. We all know what EF is, but what would a domain name of ef.whatever mean to some random person wanting info on moving to Switzerland?

[msworwoo]

Not sure about expats as many of us are immigrants and/or Swiss rather than expats.

[moggy]

englishforum.swiss
or
ef.swiss

My preference to have both English and Swiss in name, so englishforum.swiss
is good by me. We had many people on the previous forum who English was not their first language. I can not imagine anyone looking for ef.swiss, although do appreciate in previous forum it was often referred to as EF in a short version.

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