Did you think I’d hog this uniquely geeky domain all to myself? Ever since I registered it, I’ve been wanting to do something with it that would be fun and constructive for all Stack Overflow users. I couldn’t come up with anything, and then it dawned on me. Give people sub domains or hosted blogs.
Possible uses for this would be:
- Project sites for people using the Stack Exchange API
- Blogs for people who feel like writing
- A cool dynamic DNS service for those who love hosting servers in their living room
- Many others
I’m extending this to any Stack Overflow / Meta Stack Overflow user in good standing with at least 2,000 reputation points or moderator status. Why 2000? Because at that level the community trusts you and it looks like you’re going to stick around for a while. I want to completely avoid needing to police content, so that trust is important. Setting these up is a manual process for now, I’d rather do that only for people that actually intend to make use of it.
A few issues need to be resolved first, but within the week you’ll be able to claim your domain and host or point it freely.
Some details:
You don’t just get a sub domain, you get your own zone. This means MX, CNAME and even additional A records can be created and pointed as you wish. You can point baz.foo.alertfalse.com anywhere you like if you claim foo.alertfalse.com
Those who elect to create a hosting account instead of just pointing get all of the perks of a typical C-Panel host. PHP, Python, Perl, GCC, RoR, Mercurial, SVN and (soon) Git. This is not an add on domain, it’s a regular, individual C-Panel account.
I don’t plan to enforce low ceilings on bandwidth or disk use, I have plenty of both to spare. CPU usage will probably be capped, which means stuff like suexec is mandatory.
IPV4 space is precious, unless there is a compelling reason for you to have one of your own, you’ll end up sharing with everyone else. Ports, however will be assigned and opened so you can run your own services.
A shared SSL cert will be provided, for those who need to test stuff using a trusted CA.
I’m still working on the logistics, but wanted to post this before being accused of squatting on someone else’s bug 
Oh, yeah, don’t forget to eat your waffles. And dammit, drink your orange juice.
Update
If you want one, just leave a comment on this post using the same OpenID that you use on Stack Overflow, and include a link to your profile page. Then, send an e-mail to [email protected] to let me know you requested it. Once I check that your Gravatar in the comment matches the one on your user page, I’ll reply to your e-mail with your login information.
I realize there’s a few steps, but I have to take care that I don’t use my ‘powers’ for anything other than official business.
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