I get up—I turn on my computer. I have no website.
I have no blog.
I have no e-mail.
It’s snowing.
I figure out that when I received the notification that I owed more money to a company for the website, I dimly (I have NO brain when I’m working on the end of a book) thought it was to the hosting company we quit using. I’d cut the service off.
It turned out I’d canceled our domain server.
I call the domain server, who used to be good people, but who are now not…not since they ceased to be the only game in the world. I had to pay 150.00 to get them to get the domain back.
Then it turned out I shouldn’t have.
Lynn got on it and tried to get the domain back…
Well, I’m too rattled to work on the book, my brain is incredibly scattered, and we decided despite the snow, and to get me calmed down, to go to the fish store in the neighboring city and turn in some coral frags, pick up some supplies, and most of all get that rabbit out of the sump before he has a heart attack.
We bucketed everything we want to rid ourselves of in 2 buckets, got our shopping list and our bulky ro/di filter we use for marine water, and headed for the store: foggy snowy drive, but no great problems.
We traded in the frags (technical term for coral bits: one too many as it turned out) and we bought some fish and a new small coral and the supplies, got the ro/di recharged, and headed home. Snow is thick; we stopped at the store to get some groceries while Jane kept the car running. And we got home safely, got the buckets inside, and Jane went out to, she said, see to the heavy stuff. Well, I knew she was shoveling out there, but I have the brain of a cabbage, right?
I set to work putting away the groceries, and then started moving things in the tank because we also got some live rock (rock soaked in seawater that has bacteria on it) and that’s shipped without water, and it needed to get in some tank. I knew I had 2 rocks that had caulerpa algae on them, and I wanted to get that down to the sump and not let it (without the rabbit) get started in the main tank. I didn’t want to put the new rock down in the sump, because there’s caulerpa mixed in the weed down there. (Caulerpa is a noxious, poisonous weed most fish won’t eat.)
Well, I was looking for a place to dispose the last live rock, when Jane came in hoping for food, sure, I think, that I’d been fixing lunch, and instead found me working with the tank. So she wanted to do the arrangement of the coral, and took that over, but I kept kibitzing until she was in a frazzle, and I was, and meanwhile the domain people called. My eyesight is such close up that I thought it was Lynn, so I talked to them, then found what they were telling me sounded like a line, so I dropped that call, getting the case number, and called Lynn, who handles our server people, and Lynn told me the gruesome truth: my call this morning had put the domain out of her reach: these jerks nabbed the domain and we have to deal with them.
So I call them back. and by this time couldn’t, because these bandits had grabbed it—so I’m stuck with them for 45 days until we can tell them to take a flying leap.
And they said it would be 3 days before the domain was back in service.
(Well, as you can see, we’re going better than that, but these people are still bandits, way overcharging, and with a service fee for everything.)
But meanwhile Jane was still fighting the battle of rock/coral arrangement, upside down in the tank: I got back to her, and by this time she was in pain, hungry, unfed, and really in a mess.
We finally got the tank set, we got our fish in clean water, we’re all good, and by then it was suppertime, at which point Jane finally got fed, and we heard from Lynn that the domain had propagated: we established that it had reached Pasadena.
We both had stiff drinks and were just too fried to watch anything but nature videos. I’m assuming I have e-mail this morning. Or will. This morning both of us have headaches. But the tank is good, and we’re back online. And we’re resolved what we’re doing 45 days from now.
Re: Domain hosting – getting your domain back for $150 is not nearly as bad as it could be. The festival I used to run Ops for had someone on the staff who handled the Domain stuff and when he left he did NOT turn it over to anyone or even say anything. Then we lost the domain and it was picked up by a reseller who figured they’d get $5k out of us to get it back.
That they were dead wrong about getting $5k out of a volunteer run, cash strapped organization is neither here nor there. We got a new domain name instead and paid the price in pain and suffering.
Still, I’d be happy to send in a contribution toward the domain restoration through Closed Circle, if a dozen people join me we can take the sting out of it?
Glad you are back; sorry you had such a hellatious day Wednesday. When you work for someone else at least you get to have a “hump” day in the middle of your week. You get to say that “What the heck, I know this day is hell, but at least I’m over the hump, and the end of the week is coming.” For you self-employed persons, you can’t say you have a “hump” day unless it is the day you finish a draft, and can then look “forward” to edits, etc. 😆
Ugh, you all three had a really awful day. I’m glad things are working out, and you can shake off the bad hosting / domain server company. As long as you have your backups, you’re fine. Here’s to success with all of the domains.
I don’t consider myself a web guru or a computer guru, but I swear, I know more than most of the customer service techs I’ve had to deal with in the last, oh, two or three years; and that is truly a little scary. I expect a tech support or customer service person to be knowledgeable enough and courteous and friendly. However, I think the tops (aside from the credit card / bank phone idiot, rude) was the “overly friendly” tech / customer rep who was acting friendly, but in reality, was not, and was not helping. At least you didn’t have (I hope) either of those kinds of experiences.
I maintain an email address with both Yahoo and Gmail, so that I am (I hope) assured of always having email service, even if one or both of my website domains goes offline for some time. Fortunately, that’s only happened once before. You might think of either Yahoo or Gmail accounts and let your closest friends and relatives know the address along with your own domain’s address, as the backup plan.
One could wish for simpler and more honest online services, but most especially, decent customer service from…gods-be any company, these days.
Then again, I get a kick out of that “Peggy” commercial. 🙂
Brave to the three of you, and to better days ahead (and to more books to read).
:hugs:
Aw, you’re very sweet. If I’d just called Lynn first (Lynn handles our network apps) instead of assuming that the domain service I’ve used since the 1980’s is in the hands of the same people I used to deal with and that I was dealing with good guys—wrong! Lynn could have set us up for 10.00 a year. As is, I have to wait 45 days—
I’m oh so aware of the hazards of some harvester of abandoned domains getting their hands on it: I was in a state until I was sure I’d ordered it taken out of the general pool of Lost Domains, but I now am pretty it wasn’t actually there yet, just in limbo in the domain server’s records, and would have been there for a bit. As is, at least I didn’t lose my own name, which of course entails the blog, and my site, and my e-mail, of way-far-back, so yep, I’d have been in a real state if I’d had to find a new name. It ought to be a felony to refuse to sell a domain back to its creator within a month of its straying onto the market. Somebody’s getting rich on holding such things for ransom.
When the internet domain business was taken out of the monopoly situation of Network Solutions back-when, when various new domain providers started up, many people (including me) who’ve been there a while didn’t inform ourselves well enough: the new alternatives are perfectly legit, far cheaper, just as good, as well as not having fees every time you turn around. I now know some things about the domain server biz I should have known before I renewed.
If you need a recommendation for a good hosting company, you might want to look at Sitelutions.
I’ve been using them for several years, and I’ve recommended them to various clients and friends. I’ve never had any problems with them, or had any reports of problems.
They are always quick to respond to questions – with answers that are actually knowledgeable and helpful. A couple of times when I’ve requested some small change on their side, they’ve said, “We should actually charge you $10 for this, but forget it.”
Unlike many other hosting services, I always feel that I’m in control of my own stuff, and I feel like I’m dealing with real people, rather than some faceless entity.
Their prices are reasonable and their technical facilities and domain admin are excellent.
If you’ve set a domain to renew automatically, they will send you an email notification about 10 days before it expires. Then about 3 days before, they will try to charge the credit card they have on file. If that fails for any reason they will send you another email and keep retrying each day for a few days.
You can also manually renew or stop renewing any time, and you can register a domain for several years at a time.
If you move a domain to their hosting service, they will give you a free one-year extension to the domain registration.
I once let a domain expire deliberately because I didn’t need it any more, and I can get it back any time at normal cost ($8.75/year or $11.95/year depending on the hosting package).
Sorry if I’m waxing too lyrical about them, but my experience has been uniformly good.
stiff drinks MUCH needed – what an awful thing ….
yes, I have a googlemail account with 2 addresses, it does help …
I’ve got Google Mail and Hotmail addresses as backup. I’m tempted to make GMail my primary but I’m easing into it.
You all are so good. We love you guys.
And it’s so good to ‘hear’ your voices again. Dealing with the blogs is a bright spot in our day.
I had a porn site capture a Domain name of mine once. It took over a year to get it back. so I am glad you came out alright in the end.
CJ, So basically two great news :
– except for these 45 days and some money, hour domain name is not lost !
– the glorious tank is again in pristine condition, ready for more coral growth !
Cheers !
Yep. It’s looking pretty good in there.
And our friend came through surgery ok: we haven’t mentioned too much about it because its their private lives, but a friend and neighbor fainted and broke his neck; the wife is a very close friend; and we’ve been very worried. So Tuesday he got through that, and is not paralyzed, and that is an immense relief. OSG has meanwhile lost her billfold, some upgrade on Windows may be having a bad effect on our WordPress Closed Circle shopping cart program, causing it to glitch (if anyone buys anything and the download doesn’t work, email us! We’ll get you your book by return e-mail!) I accidentally canceled our domain, Lynn got a major design project dropped in her lap for a last minute fix, we’ve been ringing her phone off the wall asking for internet advice, and Jane lost the gift card she’d been given for Christmas by her sister—who then had to recover it at her end, while she (a professor) is trying to handle setup on the new semester—our lives have been a soap opera. But thank goodness our friend is going to be all right, we are working on the download problem, Lynn is making headway in spite of us, we got the gift card back, and OSG at least has got her driver’s license while she’s looking for the billfold—Jane and I have searched the house, but we don’t think it’s here.
We missed you. we are glad you are back. My Pyanfar here agrees – and she’d rather I read the blog than brush her, which for her is saying a lot!
Py is ADORABLE! And a very smart kitty, too! Take it from someone who knows.
Is there a chance you can File Intent on those site snipers? Your site is back up, but while trying to log in, it dumped me 3x; they stink. I’m very glad that, despite alarums and excursions, all seems to have worked itself out.
I knew something was wrong when I couldn’t get on here yesterday, and some goofy-looking bogus site came up with your name on it. Thieves…ugh.
Sounds like you’ve had enough drama for a while! Oh, and wonderful news about the book being finished! Yay!
I didn’t find any bogus site, just nothing ….no server, it said. what a pain.
and yes, woohooh book finished! WOW!
It’s a good idea to have your registration with your host and set it for AUTO-RENEWAL!
Also set the option that prevents domain transfer unless you sign in and uncheck the box for that…
How much of the other threads have you got? I’ve left you a reply to a reply on the Fantasy Books Spoiler Alert thread. I don’t know if it got lost in the shuffle, but the gist of it is that the first two comments in my earlier post were supposed to be in the form of questions. My apologies.