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Yikes! DNS and Registars Warning! Check your Whois

I have a site dead at the moment

         

tangor

1:08 am on Sep 29, 2015 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



New mandatory rules regarding Whois etc. and accurate email notices etc. killed one of my sites... since 1997 on a routine card renewal, wherein it makes no difference the site was paid 30 days in advance there was an email apparently sent to an outdated addy, which I never saw, and resulted in a suspension of my DNS for that site.

Check your stuff, kiddies. This might happen to you.

At present, dealing with the registrar, I have had no love at the moment (12 hours down and nothing hinky, just and old Whois)

ICANN is adamant (per US Federal requirements) for First name and Last Name and Email address (at least that's all they are asking for right now but you know that will not be the end of it... will want your first born, dog and cat, and medical records, too...)

In my case that Whois was from 1997, my renew file made all that happen routine and it slipped between the cracks the address change and email change had occurred. Can happen to anybody. Just watch for it!

And if the email address in your Whois is NOT your current, you, too, might get shafted.

Webwork

3:08 pm on Oct 3, 2015 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Administrator 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Was this a case of using different registrars?

One of the advantages of using a single registrar is synchronizing WhoIs records.

There are downsides, such as a registrar that gets hacked or who hires employees that might do something evil. :(

tangor

3:50 pm on Oct 3, 2015 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member Top Contributors Of The Month



Same registrar from 1997... at one time three domains with them, but over the years two were dropped. The registrar was bought out twice (total of three named owners) and, since this was a "family" type domain never had high attention on my side. As reported, auto renewals via credit card, accepted every two years, just put that original whois info that much further back. This was MY BAD, of course!

But with the new ICANN rules which require authentication emails which link to a site response form, that email went to an address I no longer used, much less owned.

Happy news is all is resolved.

If this happens to you, try sending an email to support@example.com (your registrar) and explain the problem if there is not an active support or contact link from their site (which happened to me).

Just a cautionary tale, kiddies. I can't be the only "old timer" with a number of registrars in their past.