Return to CALL resources page | Index

Call to colleagues:
Forget Networds

If you visit http://www.netword.com, you have two options:

• You can VISIT a netword
• or you can CREATE one.

What is a netword?

• A netword is an easy to remember shortcut to a url.
• At the Netword website at http://www.netword.com, someone creates a shortcut with a unique name (that no one else has used) and attaches it to a url. Anyone can create as many networds as he or she likes.
• Once someone has created a netword, then that person has password protected control of it. For example, only that person can change the url associated with that netword.

Until the year 2000 I was encouraging professional colleagues to use the Netword system. However in around October of that year, the people at Netword dot com in their benevolent wisdom decided to CHANGE all existing free Networds to asterisk *networds. Netword.com are in fact in the business of selling networds and have so little regard for converting their heretofore happy freeloaders to eventual purchasers that they've changed everyone's free-networds to asterisk-free-networds, thus effectively breaking every link made up to that point on every web page that ever contained an unpurchased netword.

They didn't exactly break the link though. They direct you to another page. When you go to an old netword (without an asterisk), they present you with a page that says in effect, a search on our database reveals that no one has yet actually purchased the netword you are looking for, but we think you might be looking for this one: *netword. If you click on that, chances are you will be taken to the site you are looking for.

Of course they don't make very clear on the redirection page what is going on, so a lot of people are telling me, "The netword doesn't work." To make it work, if you are directed to a netword, either follow the link and click on the *netword offered, or insert an asterisk in the original link in your browser.

In other words, the netword to this site which once was esl_home suddenly became *esl_home, so that http://www.netword.com/esl_home and other urls I and others had linked to from numerous web pages, no longer work as expected. However, if you visit the url above, you should be redirected via the new netword at http://www.netword.com/*esl_home to this site. But you have to click to activate the redirection.

If you find one of my pages that links to an unasterisked netword, I would appreciate it if you would send me the linking url so I can change it (I mean, sometimes I wonder why I bother!) I'll bandaid repair the damage that's brought to my attention, but my long-term solution is to eschew networds forevermore. Rather than succumb to the new system, which would entail that I go back through all my web pages with links such as that and name rename them http://www.netword.com/*esl_home etc., I personally have decided to abandon Networds as a waste of time.

However, due to the difficulty of removing all mention of networds from all the pages I'd put them on, many will remain. In most cases, users will be redirected to the correct asterisk-netword through a page entailing an extra mouse click and a slight waste of their time at the netword site.

Vance, Nov. 2000

Use your browser's BACK button to return to a previous page

For comments, suggestions, or further information on this page, contact Vance Stevens, webmaster.

Last updated: December 15, 2000 in Word 97