Where is the Best Place to Purchase a Domain Name?

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   Barbara Kayposted 10 years ago

   I want to start a new blog at Blogger. Where is the best place to purchase a domain name and how do I add it to my blogger account? Thanks for any help.

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      Beth37posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Let me give you my paypal account info and with 3 easy payments of $29.95, you will be on your way!

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         LOL

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      The Examiner-1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Out of your imagination and write it in.

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      Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I think the cheapest right now is 1and1.com.  It's $8.99 and that includes private registration for free. (I highly recommend that you go with private registration so that your name, address and contact information isn't made public.)
      
      GoDaddy is the largest, but has been recently sold and their customer service doesn't seem as helpful as it used to be.
      
      There are hundreds of options, but I would look at price and customer service.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the advice. I might try 1and1.com.

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            psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I strongly recommended against 1 and 1, I used them for hosting and had a lot of problems with down time and getting them to let me leave ( you have to actually telephone them to stop the charges )

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               Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               I had the same problem with 1n1 as well. They kept invoicing me well after I cancelled my account.

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         drpennypincherposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I just registered a custom domain for Blogger through 1and1 for $8.99.  Thanks for mentioning private registration- this is just what I needed.

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         CarpetDiemposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         1and1 raised their price to 14.99. They still charge 8.99 for the first year, but its 14.99 after that. Just want to clarify that since several posters are quoting the 8.99 price.
         I used to be a big fan of them until they raised their prices. There are cheaper options.

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      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Several people have recommended namecheap and I hear they're pretty good.
      
      It's important to stick with a reputable domain registrar, because some of the cheap ones use shonky techniques and you risk losing the domain name you want.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the advice.

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      my_girl_saraposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      http://www.1and1.com/domain-names This is where I got mine from and have had no problems. They cost $8.99 and are easy to transfer to your site host provider.

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         Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks. That makes 2 of you that suggested this one. It must be good.

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      The Examiner-1posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      All I am saying is that I saw an ad for domain names: Go Daddy for $2.95. I am not saying anything else about other costs because I do not know. To check it yourself, go to godaddy.com.

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         luvtoowriteposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Go Daddy is reasonable. After purchasing a domain, it is better to wait before you buy extras like Hosting, dedicated email, ect. They always lower their price later.

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      raymondphilippeposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I have used several domain registrars in the past. Once thing I have learnt along the way, over the years, is that THAT is not handy.
      So choose one registrar that's proven to be good and has been around for some time and stick to that.
      
      I decided on Godaddy. Hosting can also be done through Godaddy. But I chose to do that elsewhere.

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         Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Domain registration is OK with GoDaddy but I would strongly advise against hosting with them.  Also, I have found it is better to register and host with different providers.

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            mistyhorizon2003posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            +1 I was always advised by the top webmasters I know not to use GoDaddy for anything. It is a real eye opener if you also Google the term 'NoDaddy' and read the horror stories of people who used them.

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      pager123posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Best place to buy a domain name is easy with the help of http://www.9cubehosting.com/ where numerous services are offered...They also provide you with hosting services...

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   ziyenaposted 10 years ago

   Wix.com is an option as well ...

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      Cardisaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Wix is not a domain registrar.

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   electronicianposted 10 years ago

   I like namecheap; for .coms they are a bit more than the $8.99 mentioned above, but if you want to get a regional tld like .us or .co.uk they are very cheap.

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      ilikegamesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I've also heard Namecheap come up often, I remember hearing they give free WHOIS protection for the first year (~$3 value).
      
      As far as linking it to blogger a simple google search will probably return a helpful video of Google FAQ on the process.

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   NateB11posted 10 years ago

   I agree namecheap is good.
   
   On blogger, go to list of blogs and go to the blog you want to have the domain name and click the drop-down next to it and go to 'settings'; you'll be taken to Basic and on there there is Publishing>Blog Address>add a custom domain>>>>>click on that and put in the domain address [mydomainname(dot)com].
   
   You also have to point your domain to the host which you do at namecheap. Can't remember if there's a special way to do this at Blogger, I think there is but I haven't used Blogger like this in awhile. On a paid webhost you have to put in info you get from the web host which I think is a couple IP addresses. I tend to re-learn this process every time I do it.

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      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks.

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         NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         No problem. Hope it helps.

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   younghopesposted 10 years ago

   Thanks Barabara, for asking this, i am also on the lookout for this, i want to start a blog and want to buy a domain for that, i am also unaware about the total cost which will be required for buying domain and then hosting it, anyone any idea please let me know.

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      NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      You could do it for about $20 dollars. About $10 for the domain name, which is the registration fee for a whole year; and then about $10 to pay for hosting monthly. If you want to buy a theme, you can get a decent one for about $35.

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         Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         My advice to newbies is never, ever buy a theme.   You're almost bound to buy the wrong one first time around (and even second and third time around...).   time enough to buy a paid theme once you've learned the ropes and know exactly what your needs are.
         
         There are thousands of free themes on Wordpress.org and many of them are just as good, or better, than paid themes.   
         
         I'm a big fan of the Encounter theme right now (the free version).

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            NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

            I think you're right about that, Marisa. I almost hesitated to include the theme thing, though I feel satisfied with the first one I bought; though I'm certain I got lucky, because I bought some others that were not so good. Better to start off without spending too much too; just on the bare essentials, domain name and webhost.
            
            Edit: Though I will say, the one I bought that I'm not sure about was a package deal, a good one, and I haven't gone through all the themes yet.

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            Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            To be honest, I hadn't even thought about the theme thing.

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            younghopesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks Marisa, but can you please tell how much would be the monthly cost apart from domain registration for wordpress.org, i mean the hosting charges etc?

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   psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

   If you just register the domain through Blogger it is $10

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      drpennypincherposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Can you still register a domain through Blogger?  I looked for this option recently and did not find it...

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         cam8510posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I've been working on my blogger site more lately and just read that you can no longer register a domain through them.

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      Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks. I didn't find the option either. I wonder if they discontinued it.

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         psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         I used it just a couple of weeks ago. You go to settings, add you desired name, they give payment options and then do the redirect for you
         
         It would be sad if they stopped doing that--it was so convenient

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   mistyhorizon2003posted 10 years ago

   Namecheap all the way

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   lmoyer92posted 10 years ago

   GoDaddy.com, but look up coupons on Google. You can get a domain name for as little as $3

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      younghopesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      how to find out a domain for so cheap amount at google?

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         lmoyer92posted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Type GoDaddy coupons into  google and browse the search results until you're given coupon codes offering things such as "$2.95 .coms"

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            younghopesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks a lot, i will do that

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               lmoyer92posted 10 years agoin reply to this

               No Problem

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9. 74

   Barbara Kayposted 10 years ago

   Thanks. I'll need to look into these different places.

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10. 94

    Alison Grahamposted 10 years ago

    For registering domains, I use prouddomains.com because I have got caught out before, buying at a discount from godaddy, only to find that when renewal time comes around it is more expensive (though it is worth contacting them as I did negotiate a discount after pointing out that their renewal rate was way more expensive!).
    For hosting, I use hostgator, their support is brilliant - I actually have a reseller account there and offer hosting to clients for whom I have built websites.
    For a theme, I recommend the free wordpress theme, Weaver - you can upgrade to pro with more features (paid theme) if or when you need to.
    If you are building for a site for a local 'offline' business, I would recommend buying a theme with embedded schema markup to tell the search engines exactly what your business is, where it is and more details about it. You could also add this information by means of the LOCAL SEO plugin from Yoast.

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       At the risk of sounding naive, what are you talking about when you say buying a theme?

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       NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

       You're absolutely right about Hostgator. I didn't know about a reseller account. I didn't know how that worked. Good info.

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       younghopesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       How much does it cost to host a website, i am sorry i am new to all this when i ask this

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          psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Something like Blogger is free and a good way to start -- Adsense is fully intregrated

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             younghopesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             I am having a blog at blogger but i am unable to earn anything from it....its only few dollars inspite of the fact that i promote it a lot

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                NateB11posted 10 years agoin reply to this

                This is why I suggested a theme, although I backpedaled but now I'm seeing one of the reasons a theme can be good; they are often SEO optimized, which means they're set up to help you get traffic. Many themes feature SEO optimization, they sell and promote them that way and if you get the right one it does work. With your own site, domain name at a good webhost, you are independent too.

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                   Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                   Thanks.

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    OanaWriterposted 10 years ago

    I recently got one domain name from GoDaddy for very cheap, I believe something around $6 and that was for co.uk but they had $2.99 offers for .com.
    
    I usually get my domain name with the hosting to save time setting up the blog, but this time I got on the phone with an adviser at GoDaddy and they done everything for me including my name servers. Based on my experience with them (just once) I would recommend them.

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       OanaWriter, Thanks.

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    psycheskinnerposted 10 years ago

    Paying for hosting is probably not going to help with that -- I suggest learning how to get traffic with a free site before starting to take on overhead costs.

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       psycheskinner, I had a website that was about 7 years old that was a free one. When I switched to the new domain name, first pages on Google all went way down. I still have links out there with the old address. I think Google frowns on it. At least that  is my experience with that site.
       
       Most of those links can't be changed,because I can't contact the sites. I don't think Google is counting any of them. My site age has also been taken away. It now says the site is only 3 years old. That is how long I've had it since.

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          mistyhorizon2003posted 10 years agoin reply to this

          The moment your URL/domain changes your site age will vanish (which can be a good thing or a bad thing). Effectively you have started with a brand new site. Equally your de-indexed articles have to start again too if you have them on the new site, so they too will lose any place they previously held in the rankings because they are now considered to be brand new articles. When you start on a new site/domain name of any kind you are beginning again and need to forget rankings, search engine results etc that were previously the case.
          
          Hope this helps.

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          psycheskinnerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          I am not sure how this follows from what I said.  If you own the domain you can go from a free blog to a paid host with no effect at all on url or Google rank.
          
          In fact, I did the reverse.  I decided paid hosting was a waste of money and unnecessarily hard to update, and so I replaced it with a free blog at the same domain.

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          Alison Grahamposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Barbara, did you go through the process of doing a redirect from the old domain to your new one? You can do this if you still own the old domain or even repurchase the domain name. Google also has the facility to let you specify that you have changed your domain name and that you now want website x to be known as website y - someone with some seo experience can recover the situation for you - although I have to say that three years is quite a long time so you would need to speak to someone better qualified than me! There is no need to lose all the 'juice' to your site if you change domain names.

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             Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             It does have a redirect and I still get some traffic from the old url. It just hurt me in the search engine.

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    Nadine Mayposted 10 years ago

    Most of our domain names were purchased from https://www.hover.com/
    Some are just forwarding addresses to get a visitor direct to our one main webpage.  http://www.kimabooks.com
    
    Our main domains were at the beginning ending in  co.za  instead of .com  so we now have several .com domain names that all direct to our one South Africa online bookshop website.
    
    my own author's website domain is: http://ascensiontopics.wozaonline.co.za/  but another domain name: http://www.ascensiontopics.com  get a visitor direct to the same website.
    I hope that was helpful

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks.

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    MagnesiumPerfectposted 10 years ago

    Namecheap.com and I would use wordpress before blogger, you're given a lot more freedom to do whatever you like with your new site.

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks.

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          Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          Don't get confused, though.
          
          There are two Wordpresses - Wordpress.org and Wordpress.com.
          
          Wordpress.com works the same as Blogger - it's free, and you can attach a domain name.  However you can't put ANY advertising on your site, unless you upgrade to the Premium platform, which costs around $99 a year.   
          
          Wordpress.org is software you use on a host like Hostgator, and you can do anything with it you like - the annual cost is slightly cheaper than Wordpress.com, but you need more technical knowledge to get it going and keep it running.

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             Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

             Thanks.

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    DonnaCaprioposted 10 years ago

    I have used GoDaddy for 4-5 years now and have been very happy with their customer service and tech help. The prices are pretty reasonable too.

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks.

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    Goddesspowerposted 10 years ago

    Agree with Writer Fox.  I have my domain at GoDaddy and host with another company.

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    drpennypincherposted 10 years ago

    You are correct- 1and1 is charging the first year at $8.99 with a discount, and annual renewals are $14.99.  I plan to arrange a discount for the renewal if I can...

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Let me know if you are successful at arranging a discount.

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    GA Andersonposted 10 years ago

    As most comments are showing, the "price" factor isn't very important when it comes to "the best" place to buy a domain name. After all, you are only talking about $1 - $5 PER YEAR difference.
    
    So the real answer for the best place is first - someplace other than where you buy your hosting - and be very careful about package deals that include domain name AND hosting, because most of the time the fine print reveals you can't take the domain name with you if you want to change hosts. Not always, but frequently.
    
    Second, stay with a recognized name that has been around a while. (more chance they will be around awhile longer) There are several, but Namecheap and Godaddy come to mind.
    
    If you are not buying 100+ domain names at a time - it would be foolish to make a decision based on a $1 or $5 PER YEAR difference.
    
    But with all that being said - I get mine from Namecheap.com because they offer privacy listing, (Yes, you want this!), FREE for the first year, and then for $3.99 p/year,  whereas Godaddy is $9.99 p/year
    
    GA

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    WryLiltposted 10 years ago

    Namecheap.
    
    And avoid free Wordpress - you can't advertise on it.
    
    Hosted Wordpress rocks though

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    timorousposted 10 years ago

    I used to register my domains with GoDaddy, but they charge $10 a year for hiding your information from WhoIs. I moved all my domains to Namecheap, where virtually the same protection is offered for free the first year, and under $3 a year after that.
    
    I use HostGator for hosting. They're excellent and very helpful.
    
    One other thing to be aware of..most domain registrars like GoDaddy and Namecheap with offer you a good deal for a new domain, but likely increase the price a little or a lot after the first year (or however long you chose, initially). I'd go with Namecheap, since I've also found them very reliable and not pushy with endless upsells, like GoDaddy.
    
    All these companies make their services cheap initially to hook you in..then raise the prices when the term expires, whether it's a domain name or hosting. Beware, and don't go too cheap.

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       mistyhorizon2003posted 10 years agoin reply to this

       +100

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thanks for the info.

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       younghopesposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Thank you so much for this info

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       Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       Great advice

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    RonHawkposted 10 years ago

    "Where is the Best Place to Purchase a Domain Name?"
    
    Maybe the Domainian Republic?

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       lmoyer92posted 10 years agoin reply to this

       I see what you did there. xD

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          RonHawkposted 10 years agoin reply to this

          It was just asking for the pun, and I obliged

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             lmoyer92posted 10 years agoin reply to this

             haha. Well It was certainly amusing.

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       Barbara Kayposted 10 years agoin reply to this

       LOL

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