10 replies to this topic

[Dr.Marie]

My employer's website has disappeared and is replaced with a made for adsense site.

Does this mean that the domain name expired and got snapped up?

I don't have anything to do with the web design/maintenance here. I am assuming emails regarding the domain go to the owner and he is on an extended vacation right now.

Is there anything we can do?

[jonbey]

who owns it according to whois? http://www.domaintools.com/



also, is it definitely a made for adsense page, or a webhost holding page (that would also be covered in ads most of the time)

[Dr.Marie]

Thanks for the fast reply Jon. I think I see what is going on. Whois is still registered to us, but the domain expires today, so I think it is the domain name company that has a holding page up. Phew...not hijacked after all. We will call our web guy and get it dealt with!

[jonbey]

they should have it set to auto-renew with at least 2 debit/credit cards set.

If though cannot do this, the the domain transferred to someone that can manage it properly.

[A.N.Onym]

I'd make sure that registrant info is the real owner of the domain, not the web-dev/designer.

Keep us posted please

[EGOL]

I keep my important domains renewed at least several years out.... the next time I renew them I will probably take them out to a few years beyond my life expectancy.

I might not do that if I was 25 years old... but am old enough now that the cost will not be prohibitive and the probability of virtual properties going absolutely defunct is a little less than 100%

[Wit]

Mine are all on auto-renew. And even then, I get a daily reminder starting one month before the domain expires. Gotta make sure these things are hard to miss.

[Dr.Marie]

It looks like this domain was purchased in 2003 and just expired today. I bet our IT guy who owns the domain changed his email address since then and didn't get the reminders.

[jonbey]

Yep, most of mine are with domainmonster.com. They auto-renew, send emails before to tell me too, and store 2 bank accounts / card details so if one fails the other is used.

The IT guy should know better really!

[tommr]

Most good companies will have a period of limbo where they will keep your domain available and you can buy it back, usually at a premium.

I had a domain I purposely let go and godaddy immediately put up a page of links, then they contacted me and offered the domain back at a premium.

However, I am sure not all hosts do this, especially if another party has placed a bid for the name.

Company owners need to have a grasp on the process, even if they are not doing the work.

[AbleReach]

Sometimes the host re-points DNS when a domain is about to expire.

I only do auto-renewal. Even if i don't plan to stay with the registrar, I don't want renewal messed up if I have to deal with something that could keep me from taking care of renewing my registration.