This is an interesting problem I'm expiriencing. If you can help me, I'd really appreciate it.

Last January, I went to www.dizzylan.net and signed up for six months web hosting (at $15/mo) and a domain to go with it (which was lcase.com). Everything was great with the hosting until about two months later, when my host (who was just one person) e-mails me and tells me he's shutting down his company. After he shuts down, my site is still up, so I thought alright, cool. After he closed his company, when I'd go to www.dizzylan.net, it would take me to www.communitech.net. I didn't understand why until about a month later, that this was because dizzylan was just a reseller for communitech. I also noticed that the same hosting package I got with dizzylan (Unix Standard), was about ten dollars more a month with dizzylan.

At this time, I was also confused about who I should go to with questions. I had the host from dizzylan, and he would never reply. So then I e-mailed communitech, and they told to e-mail the reseller, and that they didn't give customer support to accounts made from resellers (which is bogus).

Well, when my six months were up, I got billed again for another six months of hosting by dizzylan. I thought that was weird, since he was suppose to be shut down, but I would have paid it anyways, because I wanted to continue my hosting. When I was billed that time, it was for then until this coming January. So right now, I should still be good with my hosting; but I'm not.

This last week, a girl e-mailed my old host from dizzylan, and me, complaining about a nude pic that a person I hosted on lcase.com had put up on his web site. I replied to this girl, appologizing profusely (I even talked to her and told her I was sorry, and how I do not allow or want any porn on my web site), and ended the persons hosting. However, the next day, when I went to www.lcase.com, I got a window telling me "Cannot find server." I thought maybe my webhosting was having that 0.01% downtime, but a few hours went by, and more people started asking me what was up with my site. I figured it was about that e-mail the girl sent to my host.

So I e-mail him. I asked him why my domain wasn't working, and asked him what he was doing with it. And of course I get no response. Not a single thing. I've e-mailed him at a few different e-mail addresses (he never let me know if he changed or anything, but I e-mailed the one on lcase's WHOIS and another one), and he still hasn't responded.

Today, I just got "live chatting" with some people from communitech. They told me theres nothing they can do about it. They told me if I wanted to get a new domain, they could switch my webhosting info for $25, and me pay their more expensive hosting price than what I'm paying now. But no way will I do that. (Also, I can't just get a new domain and have it point to lcase's IP because their "local DNS" is all set up for it to work with the name lcase.com.) I'm also going to have to probably pay dizzylan for another six months of hosting once January comes, since I can't seem to get in contact mr. dizzylan.

Lcase.com has been really good to me this last year (if you want, you can still see it at http://209.15.75.116, though a lot of it is all messed up). It was a really pointless site, but there was a lot of people who enjoyed it, and I've got a lot of instant messages from people, asking me what happened and when its going to be back. All I can tell this that I don't know. I've also learned a lot from it, including perl and a bit of php, which is fun.

I think the domain should belong to me for at least the rest of the year, and for more than that if I want to renew it, which I do. But mr. dizzylan refuses to respnd to e-mails, so I'm left out in the cold. If anyone has any idea's on what I can do to get my domain back, pleease let me know. Thank you.


I think when I'm older I'm going to start a bike rental business: rent people bikes for six months at a time, and take back the wheels in their last month.

Hello.

http://209.15.75.116 without the comma.

Winnie

Before addressing your huuuge problem, a note for anyone that wants to see the site:

It seems that your site has been pulled down - IP address no longer works and the domain is suspended. However, 34 and maybe 39 pages can be found in the cache at Google. Simply search for lcase... at the moment, the first two results are from lcase.com - after the second one, click on the link "More results from www.lcase.com". Alternatively, go straight to http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+site:www.lcase.com+lcase

Each page (text and externally hosted images only) can be viewed via the "cached" link.

The same procedure doesn't work for dizzylan, which has been spidered by Google since it went down. It now redirects to Communitech, which is interesting in relation to the rest of the story...

OK, about your problem:

As far as Communitech goes, there is no indication in your story that any blame should be attached. Unless there is a relationship between your host (the owner of the former dizzylan site) and Communitech that goes beyond what you have stated, then he was their customer and you were his. You had and have no commercial relationship with Communitech, and they have no obligation towards you. The fact that they would charge more than he did does not mean that his charge was fair and that theirs is a rip-off. They are quite different deals. To start with, I don't know what their support system is like, but I'll bet you qualify for more support as their customer than you got from this guy. What's more, they're still in business, and he's not - that probably counts for something, for instance that you would have got your six months' worth if you had bought it from them, not him.

Whois reveals that both lcase.com and dizzylan.net belong to aucs.org - I suggest if you haven't already, that you have a look at their site and see if your host's name appears - maybe it actually belongs to him.

Whois also describes lcase.com as "suspended". You might like to contact the registrar (Tucows) and ask why it is suspended, explain the background, and if you believe you are the rightful owner, ask how you can reclaim it.

Under what terms did you acquire the domain? Some people and companies offer deals that include registering a domain for you to use, but under terms that state clearly (if you bother to look) that they will own the domain, allowing you to use it while you host your site with them. It's a nasty way for an inferior hosting service to discourage customers from moving their sites, but as long as the terms were visible when you signed up, then you can't claim to have been cheated. On the other hand, if you were told you were registering your domain through them, without terms of that kind, then maybe you have been cheated.

When a business closes down, there are generally customers that suffer, and maybe that's all that has happened in your case. However, if - and your account seems to support this - you were sold an additional six months hosting after it was known that the business was due to close, then there may be a case that this was fraudulent.

If you believe that is the case, then there's at least a faint possibility that your host could be persuaded that a refund is in order.

Probably the first thing that you should do is explore the aucs.org connection. If your host doesn't own this show, then the people who do may be interested in finding out what the hell he was doing reselling hosting services and registering and renting out domains under their auspices. They may even be willing to help you assert your ownership of lcase.com and they may themselves be victims of fraud or theft, and your natural allies in this matter. On the other hand, maybe they'll just want to cover up for their mate. Only one way to find out - look over their site, then contact them.

Hope this helps.

Richard

The domain is yours, whatever, so you can move the domain to a new host if you require. You can normally login to a control panel provided by your domain registraar, and change the nameservers (so you could sign up elsewhere for a hosting account, and switch your existing domain to them).

Regards
Matt

That's a major part of Landon's problem, as I understand it: the domain is NOT his, or at least it isn't according to the domain database. It is recorded as
1. belonging to aucs.org
2. suspended

Until Landon deals with these issues, establishes the domain as belonging to him and active, then a new host won't fix his problem.

The alternative, I guess, is to just register another domain and notify as many of his site's users as possible, plus webmasters of any sites that linked to lcase.com

- Richard

Thanks for your sugestions. Amrich, I've e-mailed all the e-mail addresses on aucs.org, and I either get a MAILER-DAEMON response or no response at all. To M@TT, after I signed up with dizzylan, he gave me my password to my CT control panel, and my domain control panel. I only accessed the domain control panel, and actually forgot the password after that, which was a mistake. And even if the domain belongs to dizzylan, they charged me for the use of it, so I should still be able to use it at least, until my time is up, which isn't for another month. I also bet they're going to bill me for another six months, too, and I cant ask them not to since I have no one to ask.

also, since ct is hosting my website and all, they should at least try to help me or something.

"also, since ct is hosting my website and all, they should at least try to help me or something."

Contractually, no. Morally, doubtful. Goodwill - yes, what it would cost them to help you, e.g. by donating hosting to the end of the six months that you had paid, would be a sensible investment. If nothing else, if they looked after people in this way, then people would be more inclined to sign up with them, plus they would be getting praised in forums like this one, instead of getting bad press - the mud tends to stick, even when it isn't justified.

If I rented a Ford vehicle to you for six months and took the wheels off after five, the analogy already made above, would you say Ford Motor Company is responsible for looking after you? This is no different. It's not true to say "ct is hosting my website". They may own the machine where your website was hosted, but they didn't host it. According to your own story, dizzylan hosted it, and dizzylan took your money and ran.

If dizzylan was still renting from CT, and cheating you, then I think CT would have a responsibility, but that would be simply to tell dizzylan to uncheat you or get out. He's out, and for all we know that could be why he's out - shut down by CT for dishonest practices.

I'm in Australia - if I can find time (rather doubtful at the moment) I might see if I can track down someone at AUCS and see what they have to say. I still find it strange that your domain is "suspended" and can't help wondering if this dizzylan person was cheating them as well as you.

Whatever about that, if you want your site up and running, you need a domain and a host (unless you want to try out free hosting for the time being) so maybe you should try registering lcase.net or .info or something. Unless your site had special needs, you can host for well under $10/month and get a domain that's really your own for well under $15/year. If you get lcase.com back, you can either ditch one of the domains or point them both to the same server.

I understand that you've been wronged and you want it put right, but waiting till that's happened before getting your site back on the air doesn't seem to make a lot of sense?

- Richard

BTW, if you could email me the name/contact details of this dizzylan person, that might help if I do get through to AUCS.