The Piss and Moan Club has had a rough time getting started. From its conception in 1998 it took over a year of fighting with Internic (ie: Network Solutions, Inc.) to approve the domain name. For a great example of blind bureacracy at work, read through some of the email records related to the birth of pissandmoan.com below.

October 29, 1998 - Original application for domain name.

November 1, 1998 - Phone call to NSI. They acknowledge receipt of request but suggest resubmitting.

November 2, 1998 - Submitted another application for domain name.

Gift Idea!

Give the P&M Club to a deserving friend!

This site is designed for display at 800x600 pixels. If you have to scroll left and right to see it, get off that ancient 640x480 setting and get into the 21st century! For you guys at higher resolutions, Piss and Moan about it (if you can read this at that high resolution)!

Start a Local Chapter of the P&M Club!

Let us know if you'd like a Chapter of the P&M Club in your area.

November 10, 1998 - Phone call to NSI. Representative has his "supervisor" speak with us. Supervisor states that the domain name can't be issued because it contains one of the "seven deadly words" that will not be issued in domain names.

November 10 1998: A reply from letter sent to pissedoff.com webmaster:
> Hi Bill,
> Great site you have going there with www.pissedoff.com ! I can appreciate
> the work it is for you guys. The reason I'm emailing you is that I'm trying
> to register a site with internic that contains the "P-word" in the URL.
> That's right the letters p-i-s-s are contained for all to see. As is with
> your site, it certainly has nothing to do with micturition or any other
> bodily function however, the Internic, in their divine knowledge, has
> decided to protect the world from me and not let me use the "P-word" in my
> URL (doesn't "url" have kind of a profane sound to it <g>?). I protested
> that there are a lot of other nasty names out there on the web and they said
> they will be revoking those names as they expire. Has anyone told you guys
> yet?
They initially denied us the name, but when I sent them examples from their
own database of more extreme names, they capitulated.
As far as them revoking our name -- let them try. --
Bill Folsom: bill@pissedoff.com
PO'd Associates LLC

November 16, 1998
Dear Customer,

Network Solutions, Inc., the private corporation that provides InterNIC registration services, declines to register the domain name for which you have applied.  Network Solutions has a right founded in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to refuse to register, and thereby publish, on the Internet registry of domain names words that it deems to be inappropriate. Additionally, Network Solutions' outside counsel has advised us that the Supreme Court of the United States has held that no corporation can be compelled to engage in publication which that corporation finds to be inappropriate.

Best Regards,
vann
Network Solutions, Inc.

November 18, 1998
Dear Network Solutions:

I have been trying to register a domain name and have run into some difficulty with the Internic registration policy. I am starting a business that provides novelty items through stores in local shopping malls as well as through mail order. These items will be associated with a national "club" that will allow members a light-hearted outlet to register their complaints about day-to-day aggravations. I decided to create the site after having many comments from people who see the T-shirt (see attachment) declaring "Official Member of the Piss&Moan About Everything Club". Generally, the comments are from middle-aged to older women who ask me "where can I get one of these for my husband?" and find it amusing in the least. Not one person has stated to me that they have found it offensive.

I want to create a website named www.pissandmoan.com where I will offer this
line of merchandise along with allowing "members" to register complaints that fall in the category of "...they can send a man to the moon but why can't they...", or "...It really gets my goat when...", or other observations about the inane and absurd aspects of life. I do not intend the site to contain any profanities or displays of flesh or bodily functions as your initial rejection of the site may have assumed. A sampling of the kind of site I'm intending may be seen by visiting the EXISTING site of www.pissedoff.com although I don't intend to address major social issues as they do nor mark any group as the "target". I want my issues to be more like "why do they put Braille markings on the drive-up teller ATMs?" for example.

Please pardon my ranting in this message, but let me make a few points in closing.

1. I generally am offended and personally object to the presence of vulgarity and profanity on the Internet.
2. I know that there is no policing system that can prevent it.
3. There are an incredible number of existing site names containing very profane words.
4. The changing of the spelling of a true profanity makes it no less offensive and the inclusion of a word (with multiple meanings) has to be considered in context of the overall name.
5. I find it incredible that a policy to clean up the net should quash my effort to create a site that should be objectionable to no one.

I appeal to you to please register the domain name for my business.

Sincerely,
Piss and Moan Club

November 24, 1998
Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Network Solutions, Inc., InterNIC Registration Services. The domain names you mentioned in your email were registered before Network Solutions changed its practice with respect to domain names it would agree to register. Please understand that those registrations do not establish an irrevocable precedent. Accordingly, Network Solutions reaffirms its decision to decline to register the domain name you have requested.

Best Regards,
MaganM
Network Solutions, Inc.

1999 - Many conversations with a lot of attorneys, civil libertarians, and even the ACLU! Then finally, other companies started registering domains without the censorship imposed by Network Solutions, and PissAndMoan.COM was born!.

March, 2001 - The Club seems to receive a lot of mail. Unfortunately, it's from attorneys! Seems that our graphic designer came a little too close to someone's copyrighted T-shirt and we now have to pull ours off the market. Sorry!!!