Domain Name Expired
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Our domain name expired on 1 November 2015, and I would like to re-establish it. I realise there is a financial penalty for allowing it to expire, and am prepared for that. However, although less than 90 days have elapsed, there seems to be someone else already using that domain name. I thought it took longer for domains to become available again. Is there anything I can do, or do we just have to cut our losses?
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what is the domain name you need help with?
time to revert to the wild varies a bit and there are also scrappers that buy expired domain names and hold them hostage – I got my domain after 60 days when the original owner did not renew it
i have flagged this for staff attention in case you have other questions
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The website is asofriends.com (we can still use asofriends.wordpress.com).
I’m pretty sure it’s been picked up by someone to hold it hostage. The original website is for an arts organisation – The Friends of the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (in Australia). The people now occupying the site are an escort agency, with little indication of where they’e based (although I think it’s the UK). Their first blog was apparently posted on 4 December – just over a month after our subscription expired.
When I log onto the WordPress asofriends site, it tells me our domain at asofriends.com has expired. When I’m on my iPhone or accessing via Internet Explorer, my only option is to Dismiss. When I’m using FireFox, I get a button to Renew Now, and can click through and give my credit card details.
Unfortunately, when I submit the details, an almost illegible message appears in red at the top of the screen, partly obscured by the blue WordPress banner. I think it says “This blog is not subscribed to some of these products. Did you mean to purchase them?” However, having asked the question, it doesn’t seem to give me any way to answer…
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to make a custom domain name work requires both domain registration and domain mapping – the staff can remove the overlay for you – the message might be from the domain mapping which you don’t need unless you have a custom domain name
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Hi there,
Domain expiration typically takes around 80 days (not 90), but from the moment the domain enters redemption it can be sold. In this case, I can see that your domain was lost at auction to someone else.
I have removed the mapping record for your domain so you’ll no longer see the Expired Domain overlay, but that’s all I can do in this case.
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OK, thanks. Pretty disappointing that a user with absolutely no connection to any aspect of our domain name is able to acquire it, presumably for the purposes of charging us to get it back – I thought there were supposed to be anti-squatting regulations requiring them to show some connection to the name.
However, I realise that’s not a WordPress issue, and thank you for at least removing the mapping. Now to find some way of dealing with the problem of all our literature pointing our members to a sex site…
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I thought there were supposed to be anti-squatting regulations requiring them to show some connection to the name.
Sadly not. With the exception of domains containing a trademarked term and certain country-code domains that require you to provide proof of residence or connection to that country to register, anyone can register any domain they choose if it’s available in the public registry.
Domain squatters exploit this fact, and there’s not much anyone can do about it without removing a huge chunk of freedom from the web.
You could try contacting the current owners of the domain and ask if you can buy the domain back from them, but they’ll likely want a premium price for it, and it’s a risky transaction with a high likelihood of you becoming the victim of fraud, so please be careful if you decide to try that.
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Ah, thanks for the clarification.
Yes, I’m pretty sure they’re looking for a something to make it worthwhile giving us back our domain, and I don’t intend to give them that satisfaction! There are other options available – I just need to discuss with my colleagues whether we’re better to go with a similar one (ASOFriends.com.au) and risk our members going to the wrong site (wouldn’t want anyone having an apoplexy), or go for something different (eg ASOFriends.org.au) and steering people well away from the offending squatters.
Sadly, there’s someone already squatting on the domain name that relates to our most common acronym – Crazy Domains is offering faso.com.au, but there’s an awful lot of people on the interwebs advising the rest of us to steer well clear of them.
Thanks again for your help.
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I don’t have any personal experience dealing with Crazy Domains, but if you’ve been warned against them I’d heed that :)
I hope you find a solution that works for you.
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