Dec 12 2007
What not to do when you manage your own domain
Whatever you do, don’t let it expire!
That is, if you want to keep it. I did just that. The domain this web site is on was purchased back in 2002 for five years. So when it expired recently, not only did I not remember the account password, but I also had no idea how the account was paid for. I didn’t even know that it was down for a week or so.
Laura’s e-mail went down, but sometimes our mail server acts up. I was unable to send an e-mail the same morning, so I figured if it was still bad when I got home from work, I’d look into it. But I changed over to a sister mail server and everything seemed fine. Then, days later, I was looking at a blog that links back to here (there are so few that you know who you are). And the back link was broken. Then I knew it was the domain name.
I contacted the hosting company to ask for them to renew it. Without a password or any way to verify I was who I said I was – they refused. I even tried to call back and ask if I could be an anonymous donor and just give them money to reactivate it and they would not. “What if the customer intentionally wants to let the domain expire. We would be going against their wishes and that is illegal.” What?!?
So I sent a copy of my drivers’ license. They e-mailed me back and said they needed a form signed and a copy of my drivers’ license copied in a box on the form. Oh, silly me! So I sent it. Then they needed information about my companies. That’s when I got frustrated and I talked to them early this morning. Oh, early? Around 6:00 am. After I calmed down and quit being so sassy, the technician offered that if I only had the credit card it was purchased with….
Well the last activity was in 2004 and the domain was purchased in 2002. Since that time I’ve been through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University (twice, and taught it twice to boot!). So I don’t have any credit cards. But I wondered if maybe I had made the purchase on an old debit card we had at the time. I went and found the number and sure enough – it allowed me back in!
I renewed the domain and in minutes we were back, live, on the Internet. It’s good to be back.
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