WordPress, a well-established company with a two-decade history, now offers an intriguing proposition: domain registrations spanning a century. This means that your blog or website could potentially outlast your own lifetime.
In a recent blog post, the company unveiled its 100-year domain plan, which is particularly appealing for families seeking to preserve their digital legacy and entrepreneurs looking to chronicle their company’s journey.
While the concept of safeguarding digital assets for a century is alluring, it comes at a considerable cost – a one-time payment of $38,000. In return, WordPress provides a domain with a century-long registration, along with features like automatic backup across multiple servers, inclusion in the Internet Archive, advanced ownership and hosting tools, and round-the-clock support. However, the post does not delve into how WordPress intends to maintain these domains and backups in line with the ever-evolving online landscape, nor does it outline the course of action if the company were to discontinue this program for any reason.
Companies like IBM, AT&T, and Siemens have demonstrated their ability to endure for over a century, albeit with significant transformations in their offerings over time. The realm of modern computing and the internet is relatively young, and the future of websites remains uncertain. It will be fascinating to observe how WordPress navigates this initiative in the evolving web landscape.
WordPress CEO Matt Mullenweg expressed, “Whether it’s bestowing a newborn with the unique gift of a domain and a lifetime presence on the web or incorporating it into your will to ensure that your website and narrative remain accessible to future generations, I hope this plan encourages individuals and other enterprises to think long-term.”
In recent months, WordPress has actively introduced new products and features to adapt to the evolving digital landscape. In March, its parent company, Automattic, acquired an ActivityPub plug-in to integrate blogs with the Fediverse. In June, they launched an AI writing assistant to assist users in their writing endeavors and concurrently introduced a paid newsletter product to compete with platforms like Substack.