A few years ago, someone, somewhere, created an "official Cyd Charisse website". That person hired a web designer. A very nice website was put in place, with many pictures, a lot of which are not featured on this site. The site also featured a nice biography and a detailed filmography (provided in large parts by Ray Hagen, the "Cyd Charisse Appreciation Page", and "LEGS - A tribute to Cyd Charisse"). The domain names cydcharisse.com and cydcharisse.net were purchased, and served as easy-to-remember addresses for what had become the official home of Cyd Charisse on the Internet. All was good and well.

The thing is, a website requires maintenance, just like a car or a house. Domain names aren't bought forever, they are merely leased, and they need to be renewed periodically. Perhaps it's ignorance, perhaps it's laziness, perhaps it's yet another reason. But the result is the same: the domain names that were used to host Cyd Charisse's official home on the World Wide Web have never been renewed.

CydCharisse.com was the first to go, about two years ago. Not renewed in time by its owners, it fell into the hands of junk web squatters. The official Cyd Charisse site could never anymore be reached at that address. CydCharisse.net followed the exact same route last month. On the very same day that the domain name expired (January 23rd, 2006), it was taken over by some junk advertising company.

The address where you can reach the official website now is now the following:
- http://www.humorinthenews.com/cyd

I had been monitoring the status of the .net domain name since last December, because I knew that it would follow the same path as the .com domain. I was getting ready to buy it myself, to beat the junk ad companies to it. I would have redirected the address to the official site (and not, as some would expect, to my own). Unfortunately, I do not have the same automated tools as the scum companies, and it wasn't a fair fight. I lost, they won.

I am writing all of this because I am pissed. Pissed that the "official" Cyd Charisse website is now almost non-existant. Pissed that the legitimate owners of the Cyd Charisse domain names did not take the few minutes and the few dollars that were required to keep this legend dancing in cyberspace. Or that whoever is managing Cyd Charisse's interests did not take the Internet as a serious enough medium.

Sure. I could be happy about the fiasco. After all, I am getting more hits now than last year. But honestly, I don't care. I don't make money with the site, and I don't care about the hits. The reason why I maintain this site is the same reason why I want the official website to thrive. I want Cyd Charisse to get some exposure on the Internet. Cyd Charisse's official website is professionally designed. It is informative and it contains many great pictures of her. I don't care if there are personal (dis-)interests that put it in the abandoned state that it's in now, it simply shouldn't be in that state.

Chris
LEGS - A tribute to Cyd Charisse

Last modified: 2006-02-01

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