Where Did TylerIngram.com Go?

Written by: Tyler Ingram on Feb 16, 2011
Comments: 4

Oops

Yesterday morning, during my typical checking the ‘Net routine, I noticed something was amiss. When I tried going to my site (www.tyleringram.com) it was coming up at 404. Bah! I jumped over to IsItDownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com and it was reported that it was indeed down for everyone. Something, for sure was wrong. I popped over to my webhost (BlueFur.com) and their server status was green, so it wasn’t a problem with them. I jumped into their Online Technical Support chat where a quick-to-respond fellow by the name of Kyle was there ready to assist me.

My question: I cannot seem to get to my site, did something change with the DNS?

Kyle: Let me take a moment and check.

A few moments later, he got back to me.

Kyle: It seems that your registrar changed their DNS so your site isn’t pointing to anything.

Me: Ah crap.

After Kyle sent me the DNS names, I then noticed that this domain was handled through a different registrar. I updated the DNS to reflect that which Kyle sent me. Typically I’ve pointed the CNAME to the IP address of the servers, so I guess adding the proper DNS would be a bit better. Still nothing, though technically it can take up to 48 hrs for DNS changes to propagate. This morning I checked again, and TylerIngram.com was still MIA. I went back into my admin panel of my registrar and noticed something silly; my domain expired!

Yup, I had forgotten to renew my domain name and that is why my site was missing on the 14th and 15th. If you did notice, I do apologize. If you did not notice, well that’s alright too! This has happened to me before, I some how forget that a domain is set to expire and I accidentally let it expire. Glad that when a domain does expire, the registrars typically lock them so only the previous owner can renew them for a certain period of time. I guess that helps stop people from stealing domains the moment they expire if the owner is occasional not on the ball.

I could have set the domain to auto-renew, or I could buy domain names for multiple years, but I don’t seem to do that. If I buy a domain and decide later to let it down, auto-renew tends to not let that happen (as in the case of a couple sites that accidentally renewed).

Have I Learned My Lesson?

I probably haven’t learned my lesson on having domain names expire. I will though change the email address associated with this domain’s registrar so I am properly notified of expiry time though. I could transfer this domain to another registrar (one that I use for all my other domains) but the $8 cost is a bit steep for me. Yea, $8 is a bit steep for me to spend on something like this. I have also heard that transferring a domain from one registrar to another can be a bit of a pain too, which I don’t really want to go through right now. It would be nice to keep all my domains in the same spot though.

Have you ever accidentally let a domain expire? One that was important etc?

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Filed under: Blogging, Web Development
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4 Comments

  • AlexM
    Feb 16, 2011 @ 11:35:24

    I’ve had to transfer registrars once before (I was so upset with my previous host I didn’t want them managing my domains). They made it difficult but my new host stepped in and handled it for me. I was lucky in that regard.

    <3 Site5 hosting :)

     
  • Mark Shaw
    Feb 16, 2011 @ 12:43:34

    So frustrating. I started using godaddy to buy domains, but then bluehost for my hosting. And now that i started down that track, I have kept going. Now i regret it. Wish someone would have told me this a long time ago. Thanks for the post.

     
  • Jon Jennings
    Feb 25, 2011 @ 09:00:56

    Transferring a domain isn’t too tricky. Plus the transfer cost usually buys you another year of registration so it’s effectively free – check your registrar’s small-print.

    I’d advise a transfer anyway so you can get domain privacy – a lot of registrars throw this in for free (I use netfirms.com). That way you don’t have to choose between having your home address & phone number broadcast to the world vs using a fake address and phone number (cough cough) which technically would make your registration invalid. If you were to do that and anybody spotted it then the registrar could fine you and confiscate the domain.

     
  • Tyler Ingram
    Feb 25, 2011 @ 09:45:02

    Thanks Jon! I’ll have to look at that. I would like all my domains in one place. The private domains would be better. I’ll have to look into that ;)