Where there is a Will

It appears that all the domain names have been taken - 90% of them by crappy domain name sitting companies. This really ticks me off because I have an idea for an Ajaxy Web 2.0 type site that will make me obscenely wealthy, until the next bubble bursts. Naturally I can’t give out details of the site I have in mind, suffice to say it is on the subject of debating. So I would love to get a simple, catchy domain, that says debating, arguing, duscusion or similar. If anyone can suggest such a domain that isn’t taken, I would be happy to give you 100 shares when I float on the stock market. And if you are thinking of reserving said domain name and selling it to me, be aware that I have no money - at least until I get venture capital.

To get you started, here are some good domains that are taken…

• loggerheads.com
• allinfavour.com
• debatesite.com
• debaters.com

I particularily like the last one, because visitors that did well on the side could be called master-debaters.

I hate it so much. I’ve had willmcgugan.com for many years, and in the early days I was complacent about posting my email address in newsgroups / BBs etc. Consequently I get an impressive amount of spam. I use SpamBayes, which worked great in the beginning, but now training it seems almost as much effort as deleting the spam manually.

Since I can’t nuke the spammers from orbit, I’ve restricted my email address to . Unfortunately this means that you will no longer be able to email me at studmuffin@willmcgugan.com or youreallyrockmyworldiwanttohaveyourbabies@willmcgugan.com (sorry). I have also enabled SPF on my domain. I’m not exactly clear on what that is, but easydns.com claim it will cut down on spam, so I am giving it a go.

If you are reading this within 24 hours of the post, please send me a brief test email. If you don’t get a brief test reply by tomorrow, then please post a comment to let me know.

And if you have any other tips for reducing spam - let me know!

Today I played chess with my good friend Will. I had fun but after a dozen draws I got bored. It turns out we are quite evenly matched.

It has come to my attention that there is a woman on the internet demanding that everyone sends her a postcard. She actually expects us to go out of our way to purchase a postcard and a stamp and send them to her. In return for what? Absolutely nothing! The audacity of this woman, the bare faced cheek!

I expect you are as disgusted with all of this as I am, and I urge you to contact this crazy postcard lady and explain to her in no uncertain terms how inappropriate her behaviour really is. Write your grievances on the back of a postcard and mail it to her. With bit of luck we can block her doorway with cards and bring an end to this nonsense once and for all! You can find her address on www.sendmeapostcard.org.

Jumping on the blog band wagon!

I am a software engineer. Which means I can pretty much do anything with a computer. Ok, not anything, but probably more than you. And definitely more than your mum.

Currently, I am a games programmer. I work for Evolution Studios, a games company in North West England, currently creating one of the first Playstation 3 titles - Motorstorm. If you are a games geek, that might get you all excited - but I cant tell you anything about the game that you cant find on the web.

I plan on using this blog to post various techy projects and computer code, and to indulge myself by writing about hobbies, politics, morality and frivolous fun things.

Writing is difficult for someone who spends most of his time writing computer code, so I am going to tell you a bit more about myself, in list form.

I am 31, male, Scottish. I like juggling, technology, women. I don’t like religion, arrogance, bannoffee pie.