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Steve '02CC
06-03-2016, 01:31 AM
It finally appears that the website is operational again. There are two big components when it comes to the website: the first is the domain name and the other is the website itself. According to the hosting company some settings were changed that are required for the domain name to point to the actual website. The corrections would still require as much as a day to work its way across the internet. Unfortunately the domain name is not owned by the club, and workarounds that the hosting company proposed failed for one reason or another. Once the owner of the domain name was found and notified, he reported that the values actually were correct, but after that the site started becoming visible again on different networks (for example I was able to see it on my phone's cellular network but not some of the wifi networks I tried). Today it seemed that virtually all were able to see it, and one person who reported they still could not see the site later reported it was working again. I don't know if the domain name company spontaneously corrected the values just as quickly as they got changed, but according to the owner of the domain they are correct and the issue seemed to be resolved.

The only long term solution to this problem since we cannot get the actual domain name will be for us to create a new domain name that we own and can directly access when emergencies like this come up. I hope this didn't put anyone out, and I completely understand that outages like this just give a bad experience everyone.

Dark(a)RT
06-03-2016, 01:41 AM
Thanks for the update. I was jonesin' for a bit. Even resorted to trying to read FB ( :::shudder::: ), which is a bugger without having a login or app. heh

I recall reading stuff along these lines before. Any idea why the owner won't sell the lease to the name? How long is the lease? Perhaps it's a matter of waiting for it to expire then snatching it (unless the current owner will re-up it to keep it).

I would mention that the URL is a bit odd IMO. I sometimes see it in my minde as dako tart. Also, from a technical standpoint, it's not really a commercial enterprise, so if you wanted to keep "dakotart", then might just be able to change to .org. But I would suggest even adding a hyphen to separate out rt (dakota-rt.(x)). Or even drtc.(x).

Just some thoughts. Glad to see it all back up either way. :biggthumpup:

PeteRT
06-03-2016, 01:37 PM
What's the short version of why Niles won't give up the domain?

Filthy Filbert
06-03-2016, 02:28 PM
The short version? He just doesn't want to.

One can only guess. It's his baby and he doesn't want to let it go? He enjoys power and being needed? He's using the domain name for something else in the background?

I have been planning on reaching out to him but was busy with school and now I'm on a family vacation, and there just wasn't a critical need when everything was working. But, lone behold, as soon as I got here, with no cell coverage, limited wifi, the site crashes and it becomes a critical need.

When I'm back I will be reaching out to him to see what we can do.

And thanks to Steve for stepping up and taking the lead on this while I was out.

5 NINER
06-03-2016, 03:20 PM
Yes, thanks Steve for taking care of the issue. And thanks for sending me memes while the site was down :roflmao:

DakotaJim
06-03-2016, 04:04 PM
These domains are available:

dakota-rt.com
dakotart.us
dakota-rt.us
dakotart.info
rtdakota.com

I am sure that there are many others too.

tk9298
06-03-2016, 05:32 PM
It finally appears that the website is operational again. There are two big components when it comes to the website: the first is the domain name and the other is the website itself. According to the hosting company some settings were changed that are required for the domain name to point to the actual website. The corrections would still require as much as a day to work its way across the internet. Unfortunately the domain name is not owned by the club, and workarounds that the hosting company proposed failed for one reason or another. Once the owner of the domain name was found and notified, he reported that the values actually were correct, but after that the site started becoming visible again on different networks (for example I was able to see it on my phone's cellular network but not some of the wifi networks I tried). Today it seemed that virtually all were able to see it, and one person who reported they still could not see the site later reported it was working again. I don't know if the domain name company spontaneously corrected the values just as quickly as they got changed, but according to the owner of the domain they are correct and the issue seemed to be resolved.

The only long term solution to this problem since we cannot get the actual domain name will be for us to create a new domain name that we own and can directly access when emergencies like this come up. I hope this didn't put anyone out, and I completely understand that outages like this just give a bad experience everyone.

whew,i thought i was the one that caused the shutdowm...the site went down mere minutes after i sent my membershiip fees in.

Dark(a)RT
06-03-2016, 06:47 PM
These domains are available:

dakota-rt.com
dakotart.us
dakota-rt.us
dakotart.info
rtdakota.com

I am sure that there are many others too.

Exactly. I figured .org or .net, but .info could be neat too, or even .us.

Osee
06-03-2016, 07:02 PM
These domains are available:

dakota-rt.com
dakotart.us
dakota-rt.us
dakotart.info
rtdakota.com

I am sure that there are many others too.

The thing is the .com domain looks very professional, and hyphens look like crap.

dakotart.us looks not too bad...
dakotart.ca looks even better ;)

In my opinion dakotart.us is the next best looking domain, and it retain the dakotart in the name, it'll help boost traffic when people google search "Dakota R/T cheap first mods"
"Dakota R/T cheap 600 hp NA"
"Dakota R/T LS Swap" :jester:

Dark(a)RT
06-03-2016, 07:55 PM
The thing is the .com domain looks very professional, and hyphens look like crap.

dakotart.us looks not too bad...
dakotart.ca looks even better ;)

In my opinion dakotart.us is the next best looking domain, and it retain the dakotart in the name, it'll help boost traffic when people google search "Dakota R/T cheap first mods"
"Dakota R/T cheap 600 hp NA"
"Dakota R/T LS Swap" :jester:


Really? I think that dakota-rt.com or dakota-rt.org (or .net) all look right. It gives a proper mental-visual break so it doesn't look like dako tart. lol

On the note of 'professional', if this was a for profit business, a commercial TLD (.com) would make sense. But .org and .net were made specifically for non-commercial, non-educational, non-gov't'al purposes. Which seems to fit here.

But I like the hypen. :nana:

Osee
06-03-2016, 08:04 PM
Really? I think that dakota-rt.com or dakota-rt.org (or .net) all look right. It gives a proper mental-visual break so it doesn't look like dako tart. lol

On the note of 'professional', if this was a for profit business, a commercial TLD (.com) would make sense. But .org and .net were made specifically for non-commercial, non-educational, non-gov't'al purposes. Which seems to fit here.

But I like the hypen. :nana:

DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH MY DAKO TART'S OK!!! :nana:

stevenz1inoc
06-03-2016, 09:34 PM
Niles, bought it, and has used it from day 1. My understanding from back in the day, and I mean way back in the day, is that he also uses email and personal contacts through the domain and has adamantly said that he will not let it go but he has always worked with the club to fix any issues. It is his baby, it's not a power trip on his part. I think we should respect his ownership of the domain and recognize that he has always said we were welcome to use it.

If I were in his position and had personal emails and such directed through the domain then I wouldn't want to let it go either as it can be a huge pain in the ass to change over emails. I just had to do it because after 14 years I left Time Warner and Roadrunner.

y2krtaf
06-03-2016, 09:41 PM
Niles, bought it, and has used it from day 1. My understanding from back in the day, and I mean way back in the day, is that he also uses email and personal contacts through the domain and has adamantly said that he will not let it go but he has always worked with the club to fix any issues. It is his baby, it's not a power trip on his part. I think we should respect his ownership of the domain and recognize that he has always said we were welcome to use it.

If I were in his position and had personal emails and such directed through the domain then I wouldn't want to let it go either as it can be a huge pain in the ass to change over emails. I just had to do it because after 14 years I left Time Warner and Roadrunner.

Yep,been that way forever.

GoFastGray
06-04-2016, 04:52 AM
I believe Todd said he owns Dakotart.org as well