Michelle Murrain asks via a tweet:
I want to know why it is that domain registrar logins seem to be one of the most easily lost pieces of information in nonprofits. Ack!
Actually I think the problem is more pervasive than logins. Our work at AboutUs puts us in touch with lots of people who lose their domain names all the time. When I mean lose, I mean zip zero, don’t have a chance of getting it back.
Early on one of the ways that I saw people using AboutUs was to educate themselves about digital realties of virtual properties. Currently the best example of this is for people to simply note on a domain page at AboutUs that their site has moved. So, if anyone is looking for them by domain name and they land on AboutUs, they are easily found.
What also happens is that because people are not aware that they don’t “own” the digital property, they are merely leasing it and upon non-payment, you lose that property. There are tragic examples, such as the hospitalized burn victim losing their established non-profit website of 5 years. More commonly websites are lost by people who just aren’t aware of the tenuous nature of domain properties – they can be bought, lost and sold.. So there are many rants about cybersquatters taking their domain… it is usually all perfectly legal.
One thing that any organization needs to do is think in terms of properties. How often do you hear about a non-profit being evicted for non-payment? Never. Someone in the organization must have the responsibility of thinking about digital property like this, so it doesn’t get lost.
Sometimes even prestigious institutions lose.
So do yourself a favor, keep track of you digital properties, else you will have a headache and allow someone else to make a few pennies off of your traffic.
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If you’ve forgotten which registrar you’re domain name(s) is with, you can find this by looking at the whois record (use any of a number of whois lookup services). Once you’ve identified the registrar, you can usually get your password via your e-mail. If your e-mail has changed and you no longer have access to it, then you’ll probably need to call the registrar’s customer support line to regain access. If you have domains at multiple registrars, it may make sense to consolidate them at one for ease of administration.
Some of my domains I loved were with a STARGATE reseller. The reseller closed and Stargate failed to respond to my emails. :[. Never regained control.
So my advice is pick a company you can trust and don’t use a reseller. xD.
I heard that one of our Team’s affiliates allowed their domain to lapse, and another entity in another part of the country, with the same real name and in the same business snapped it up and is already leveraging the existing value in that domain name. In this Information Economy, Intellectual Property such as good domain names, has value that we must watch over carefully!
yeah, you do run the risk with smaller resellers but I’m surprised that Stargate was unresponsive. In that case, the next step would be to complain to ICANN.
And yes on watching over valuable assets
One thing to note about domain names is the best way to maintain your domain name(s) is to show that you have developed a business around this specific domain name, or domain names. The domain names should also make sense as to the line of business the domain name(s) is(are) pointing too. With that in mind you will have a demonstrable track record for using your domain for your business. It is also best to trade mark such domain names as well. This way if a domain name is accidentally lost through accidental lapse of the registration period, you have demonstrable, or demonstrated period of time of the use of the domain names for your business. Also, the trade mark will help seal that aspect. This way if the period for a domain name(s) lapses accidentally, you are protected.
Another way of thinking of this is a domain name is another form of your company’s brand. So if you have a clean domain name to start with (i.e., not obtaining a name confusingly similar to another existing company) think of it as part of your organization’s branding portfolio. Being that domain names expire or have to be reregistered it is more of a dynamic part of an organization’s brand.
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