Tech: Getting control of our website?

Subject: Tech: Getting control of our website?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 May 11 - 06:58 AM

Hi - Anyone know how to best approach a hosting company to get our website back? Very sadly and suddenly our webmaster passed away and no-one else has the passwords etc.

The site is http://www.swintonfolkclub.co.uk/ and it seems to be hosted on hostedc31.carrierzone.com. I found these doing an nslookup on swintonfolk club then the same on the IP addresss provided.

I found carrierzone and emailed their customer service but I am not sure if that is the right approach because they seem to be more concerned with internet privacy. I didn't get a reply back anyway.

Help!

DtG

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting control of our website?
From: Will Fly
Date: 05 May 11 - 07:11 AM

Dave - take a look at this page - they appear to be the people who actually control Carrierzone.

There's a Support Issues link at the bottom of the page which might be worth trying.

Presumably, if your webmaster has died, his bank accounts will cease to function - unless someone else pays the hosting bills - and, eventually, the service will be stopped. At some point, the domain will also be lost and come up on the market again.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting control of our website?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 05 May 11 - 07:41 AM

I suspect the fees would have been either a one-off or by Direct Debit so I will check with his wife. She doesn't have details of his webmaster activities but does of the bank accout obviously. I'll try the link as well - Thanks Will.

D.

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting control of our website?
From: Jack Campin
Date: 05 May 11 - 09:11 AM

The domain name is more important than the host - whose name is it registered in?

(I'm on a crappy little Windows machine here, it's much easier for me to find out stuff like that using my Mac at home).

Subject: RE: Tech: Getting control of our website?
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 05 May 11 - 11:53 AM

This is your "Whois" (to be found out e.g. here):

Domain name:
       swintonfolkclub.co.uk

    Registrant:
       Gary Wr****

    Registrant type:
       UK Individual

    Registrant's address:
       9
       Unknown
       Manchester
       M28 0GD
       United Kingdom

    Registrar:
       Register.com Inc t/a British Telecom [Tag = BTNAMES]
       URL: http://www.btconnect.com

    Relevant dates:
       Registered on: 20-Oct-2009
       Renewal date: 20-Oct-2011

    Registration status:
       Registered until renewal date.

So your domain will not go offline before October. To recover the password, contact the provider, e.g. [e-mail] or cf. the website bt.com - if Gary W. is either not identical with the deceases webmaster, or you have (resp. can gain) access to his reference email address, you should have no problem at all. Otherwise they may ask you for your legitimation.