URLATRON was created by Hank Green and Sam (a friend of Hank) in fall 2011 as a paid service that allowed Tumblr users to easily purchase a custom website address (domain name) and connect it to their blog.
The URLATRON guide video (embedded below) shows an example of URLATON being used to convert "fishboatproceeds.tumblr.com" to "fishboatproceeds.com". Email forwarding was also available, allowing users to create vanity email addresses on their domain name that would forward email to their existing email account.
URLATRON was shut down by summer 2013 (possibly earlier) due to time, monetary, and value reasons. The shutdown message is available below, along with videos mentioning URLATRON.
URLATRON Logo
The URLATRON logo is provided below. A version with a solid white background is provided for legibility, and a version with a transparent background is provided for preservation purposes.
Shutdown announcement text
Featured on the website homepage. See a copy in the Way Back Machine.
URLATRON IS DEAD!
We are very sorry but we are not able to continue to make URLatron a thing.
This is because of a combination of:
We can't make it work financially
All of the people involved have like 20 other things going on
It wasn't ever very popular or useful.
This does not mean that we will not be able to support the users that we do
have or transition them to other providers. For people who have domains
reserved with us, your service will continue to function normally until your
domain expires, when your domain is near to expiry we will contact you to
help you transfer to another domain provider so you should experience no
interruption of service. For any other enquiries
please contact domains@urlatron.com.
Thanks for all of your support, and sorry for any inconvenience.
Hank and Sam
Videos Featuring URLATRON
FAQ: Who are you and why do you own urlatron.com now?
I'm a fellow nerdfighter and this page is part of my personal website. You can find a little more about me on the home page.
urlatron.com is a domain name, which requires an annual fee to own. It appears that the original URLATRON team allowed the domain to expire around late 2021. The domain was then redirected to a webpage advertising that it was for sale.
I purchased the domain in Janaury 2023 after the previous owner let it expire. I redirected it to this webpage. I don't know how long I will continue to own urlatron.com.
My intention for purchasing the domain was to provide a safe landing page for any nerdfighters who hear it mentioned in a video and navigate to it to learn more (as I did when I first heard it mentioned).