x5drivers.co.uk SITE DOWN

[TheGodfather]

Originally Posted by Thunder22

One of you had better call the old ISP and make sure they retain a good backup of the site for you. Once the hosting contract expires they're not obligated to retain a backup. If they cycle through the backup tapes before you get a restore done, you're SOL.

And I bet if that happens (if it already hasnt') I will be the scape goat for that as well.

Also, thank you JCL, that is a perfect analogy if I have ever seen one. I couldn't have put it in a more concise and meaningful way myself.

[JCL]

Originally Posted by Thunder22

One of you had better call the old ISP and make sure they retain a good backup of the site for you. Once the hosting contract expires they're not obligated to retain a backup. If they cycle through the backup tapes before you get a restore done, you're SOL.

Good suggestion. I was thinking, though, that if the UK site owner has gone walkabout, and is the only legal contact with the hosting provider, then the volunteer admins may have no access to those backup tapes?

[Scottie]

Godfather.

I am the person who decided I wanted to start a UK x5 drivers forum.

I asked the owner of another BMW forum if he could help me to do this as at that time I had no idea how to set up a forum or hosting I was clueless etc etc.
He bought the domain and set the forum up and looked after all administration of the site.

My part was to moderate the site get it busy also try to get members and the rest is history. Everything ticked along just fine until last Sunday. I put my trust in him to administer the site and have no idea what has happened. When the site first went down I tried to make contact to find out, I only hope everything is ok with him as it all seems so out of character and still want to give him the benefit of doubt I never for one minute thought that anyone would buy the domain I guess I was bit naive.

aw8 and pvr are members of the site that I invited to help moderate the forum as I was conscious that 1 administrator and 1 moderator was not enough for the size of the site.

Now you can all debate as to what has went wrong who done what etc etc, but what I have told you is the truth no hidden agenda.

[Scottie]

exactly my thoughts.

Originally Posted by JCL

Good suggestion. I was thinking, though, that if the UK site owner has gone walkabout, and is the only legal contact with the hosting provider, then the volunteer admins may have no access to those backup tapes?

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by JCL

Good suggestion. I was thinking, though, that if the UK site owner has gone walkabout, and is the only legal contact with the hosting provider, then the volunteer admins may have no access to those backup tapes?

The site owner is primarily responsible for maintaining a backup of the site code, flat files and the database, but most ISP's will provide backup services either as part of the hosting fee or as a service that you can pay for. So either the owner or ISP *might* have backups.

That being said, one of the mods or interested parties should call the isp, explain the situation and ask them nicely to hold a backup of the site for them until this situation can be worked out. There's no guarantee that the ISP has a backup, but unless the question is asked you'll never know the answer.

Regarding this entire situation, the godfather has poached and squatted on the domain name, plain and simple, and while he doesn't have an ethical problem with that, there are plenty of other people who deal with the internet as a business who still have a moral compass and wouldn't have done the same thing. Now this is assuming that the previous owner didn't intend to let the domain registration lapse. If it was an oversight, then the new owner should really return the domain to the original owner IMO. If the original owner intentionally let it expire without letting the mods and site membership know, for whatever reason he might have had, then the domain name is up for grabs, first come first served.

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by Scottie

exactly my thoughts.

Well, now that you've gotten a rough education, it's time to take some action and try to save the site.

Call the ISP. Explain the situation. As them to hold a backup of the html, flat files, images, and database info until the situation is resolved. Don't ask them to give you the backup, just ask them to hold onto it so that it's not lost. Also ask them what forum software it was running on and the version so that if you're able to do a restore it will make the process easier.

[TheGodfather]

Originally Posted by Thunder22

Regarding this entire situation, the godfather has poached and squatted on the domain name, plain and simple, and while he doesn't have an ethical problem with that, there are plenty of other people who deal with the internet as a business who still have a moral compass and wouldn't have done the same thing.

I will defend against that point every time it is said.

What I did was not cyber squatting. I had no intention of selling it back until I received pressures from this forum.

Furthermore I had no idea and really we still have no idea if the forum still exists for me to sell the domain back to.

I didn't plan to buy the domain exactly when it expired hoping the owner would want it back.

It is quite valuable to be parked, it has already made back 30% of what I payed for it just by parking revenue.

I knew it would be of value because of the volume of traffic not because the owner could want it back.

[TheGodfather]

Originally Posted by Scottie

Godfather.

I am the person who decided I wanted to start a UK x5 drivers forum.

I asked the owner of another BMW forum if he could help me to do this as at that time I had no idea how to set up a forum or hosting I was clueless etc etc.
He bought the domain and set the forum up and looked after all administration of the site.

My part was to moderate the site get it busy also try to get members and the rest is history. Everything ticked along just fine until last Sunday. I put my trust in him to administer the site and have no idea what has happened. When the site first went down I tried to make contact to find out, I only hope everything is ok with him as it all seems so out of character and still want to give him the benefit of doubt I never for one minute thought that anyone would buy the domain I guess I was bit naive.

aw8 and pvr are members of the site that I invited to help moderate the forum as I was conscious that 1 administrator and 1 moderator was not enough for the size of the site.

Now you can all debate as to what has went wrong who done what etc etc, but what I have told you is the truth no hidden agenda.

Scottie, if you don't mind me asking, do you or the owner make any significant monetary compensation for setting up and running/operating the site? Do you have ANY sponsors, google adsense etc on your site?

If the answer to these questions is NO. Then the domain name is yours for face value, and you can do what you want with it. I understand you may not want to use it, but it is a good way to close this case.

Perhaps we should wait for the return of your partner admin/owner to see what went wrong in the first place, before any transactions are made.

Hopefully your website files are still intact. Often the ISP keeps them for a VERY LIMITED TIME even if no backups were manually created by the site admin.

[Thunder22]

Originally Posted by TheGodfather

I will defend against that point every time it is said.

What I did was not cyber squatting. I had no intention of selling it back until I received pressures from this forum.

Furthermore I had no idea and really we still have no idea if the forum still exists for me to sell the domain back to.

I didn't plan to buy the domain exactly when it expired hoping the owner would want it back.

It is quite valuable to be parked, it has already made back 30% of what I payed for it just by parking revenue.

I knew it would be of value because of the volume of traffic not because the owner could want it back.

You really need to re-read my ENTIRE post again and comprehend what I said.

[TheGodfather]

Originally Posted by Thunder22

You really need to re-read my ENTIRE post again and comprehend what I said.

I did, I believe you are saying that if the domain was let go accidentally then by your standards I am acting unethically if I do not hand it over, regardless of what my initial reason for buying was.