Hosting and domain for free but how????
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A local church has asked me to have a look at their WordPress website because they are unable to upload images to their media library. (There seems to be a problem with permissions but that’s really by the by!) When I logged in I found that the website is running from their own domain name (registered through GoDaddy) and works fine apart from the images glitch. Here’s the odd thing though! They are adamant that since the website was set up in 2014 they have never ever paid anyone for hosting OR the domain name! How is that even possible? I can’t find any indication on their dashboard either of any plan – free or otherwise! Would there have been any option back in 2014 for free hosting + use of your own domain name and it’s running in some legacy format?
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It’s quite possible to have a free site here with a subdomain address that ends in .wordpress.com but I’m sure GoDaddy require payment for custom domains. What is the full URL of the site in question?
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The site is http://www.lonwaychurch.com – there’s no .wordpress.com in the URL and they insist they have no records of paying for the custom domain! I looked it up on Whois and it’s due for renewal on the 29th of this month. I did wonder if the person who originally setup the site paid up the domain for 10 years or something out of their own pocket but even then there would be some indication on the WP dashboard of the domain being directed there. I do see that it’s listed in ‘permalinks’ but I’m not familiar with what that’s all about! Their dashboard is not the same as the one for my own WordPress site – I have no permalinks option – they have no ‘hosting configuration’. My one clearly states it’s the free plan – theirs has no indication of which plan it is and it seems to be WordPress 4.6.1 and won’t update!
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Is that the correct spelling of the domain? For me, a Whois says that it doesn’t exist and is available to register. If you do still have access to a Whois then won’t that tell you where the nameservers are pointing and therefore who is hosting the site? If the domain expires shortly time is short to retain it.
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As you stated earlier, the domain is registered at and hosted by Godaddy so you need to reach out to them. Someone in the organization must have been paying for the site.
Domain: lonmaychurch.com
Registrar: GoDaddy.com
Name Servers: ns15.domaincontrol.com
ns16.domaincontrol.com -
Yes, I think so! Maybe some kind soul paid it up for years as an anonymous donation. I’ve asked them to investigate. Thanks for your help.
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