A List Apart saved from the deep
Due to an almost magical series of administrative, record-keeping, and usability errors, the domain registration for A List Apart momentarily lapsed this morning.
It was like a disturbance in the Force, or a warp in the Matrix.
While the site continued to display correctly here in New York City (and in many other places), it was replaced in some locations by a come-on page encouraging viewers to register the domain for themselves. Mystically, no spammer or squatter did.
It was all the more miraculous considering how many people had twittered about the site’s sudden availability. It was like thousands of people shouting the exact location of a lost purse bursting with cash. And no crook scooping it up.
On renewing the domain by phone (as I couldn’t use the website, due to those administrative, record-keeping, and usability errors), I learned that someone had spotted the problem before I did … and renewed the domain on my behalf. Thanks, Shashi.
And thanks to all who called, e-mailed, texted, and messaged me.
P.S. Depending on location and DNS vagaries, some of you may see the come-on page for a while longer, but A List Apart is okay, really.
Tags: alistapart, webdesign, magazine, publishing
Filed under: A List Apart
Whew!
We all owe Bruce a debt of gratitude. I’m really shocked that a squatter or Network Solutions didn’t scoop that up within seconds. I guess good things do happen to good people.
That happened with my domain recently too. No one cared. However, I am glad order has been restored to the force.
Wow, i realy thought ALA is dead! Here in Germany the Domain ist still under “Network Solutions”. Hope the TTL is not to long…
It’s still slow, but up again via Germany’s biggest provider. Lost a domain about two years ago due to a mistake of the hoster.
I’m glad that all is well. I still have the darn Network Solutions page, but will be very glad when the real stuff reappears.
Funny, my brother emailed me this morning about this with a screen shot of the network solutions site. I could see it ALA fine and we’re only an hour apart. Thanks for clearing it up!
It’s still not available here in Massachusetts.
The light never went out here in Manchester, UK.
Blimey – what a lucky escape – what would you have done if you’d lost the domain?
For whatever reason, my domain renews itself each year as does my hosting package (1and1). How do these things happen. Also I recall reading that Microsoft messed up awhile back and lost hotmail.com for a day or something like that so don\’t feel bad.
Why would you use network solutions… they are evil!
[...] Hit the image to see the full size. Don’t panic. ALA will be fine. [...]
So what exactly is the purpose that that ?refnum=zeldman?
Still a linkfarm in Ireland, even after
lookupd -flushcache.Update: If you’re still seeing Network Solutions junk pages instead of A List Apart, it may take a while longer for the DNS change to propagate.
If you’re still seeing good old A List Apart, so am I. Enjoy.
It’s how I send spammers your e-mail address.
Oh wow, I was convinced that OpenDNS (my DNS provider) had messed up, but it was you guys! Good thing it ended in a good way :)
Ah… so it’s not just us peons who forget to renew their domains :)
It’s still dead here in Colorado as of 8 PM MDT. And I just discovered it not two days ago! I can’t even click on the Google cache pages without it redirecting to Network Solutions. Shows that even a big, popular website can slide beneath the waves as fast as the Titanic!
This case show us that even this kind of stupid mistakes happens to the best… After all, we are all human!
Just when I was beginning to think ALA had merged with Digital Web Magazine ;)
Yikes! Glad to hear that the site is safe.
[...] A List Apart saved from the deep [...]
Guess that ALA’s readers are a moral bunch. Actually, I think we all knew that to begin with.
Hi jeff,
I visit alistapart.com frequently. I work for Network Solutions and I am @shashib on Twitter. I just wanted to clarify that the domain was renewed by me yesterday morning when i noticed that Alistapart.com had expired and heard about it on Twitter. later the support guys told me that you had called and renewed it for a few years more.
I @ you on Twitter and later sent you a message from the contact page here. Having a domain name renew automatically may be a good way to prevent this ( my 2 cents)
I am sure glad everything is fine.
Regards,
Shashi
@Shashi Bellamkonda:
That was you? My gosh, thank you so much! Chad, the Network Solutions gentleman I worked with on the phone, told me that the domain had been renewed and that it appeared that “my partner Bruce” was responsible.
NetSol has my NIC handle connected to an obsolete e-mail address. In one place in the records, I am listed as *technical contact* of one of my own domains, under the correct current e-mail address. In seventeen other places, I’m listed as primary contact (and technical contact) using an e-mail address that hasn’t been operative for years.
When I changed to my “new” e-mail address (years ago), NetSol apparently changed one instance of the record but didn’t connect the other records to it.
In other words, NetSol’s records act as if there is a gentleman named Jeffrey Zeldman who has an e-mail address at zeldman.com and a NIC handle of XYZ and is technical contact at zeldman.com.
And there are seventeen guys named Jeffrey Zeldman who have the exact same NIC handle but use a different (obsolete) e-mail address.
NetSol doesn’t “know” that there’s one Jeffrey Zeldman. It thinks there are a bunch of us sharing the same NIC handle, and that most of us choose to use an obsolete e-mail address that bounces.
The places in the NetSol interface that are supposed to permit users to update their information do not allow me to update the information on the “other users named Jeffrey Zeldman.”
As the domain neared expiration, I’ll assume that NetSol contacted the Jeffrey Zeldman at the obsolete e-mail address.
When that e-mail bounced, NetSol apparently did not try to contact the “other” Jeffrey Zeldman.
Thus the domain was allowed to lapse.
You probably can’t fix the interface problems in the user account admin that preserve outdated e-mail addresses and give them preference over updated, working e-mail addresses; or the other problems in the interface that prevent users from updating their information to maintain its accuracy. But maybe you can tell someone you work with about these problems? I’ll be happy to talk to anyone there and walk through the points of failure.
Meantime, thank you so very much for noticing the problem and re-registering the domain on my behalf. Write to me offline (or use my contact form). Thanks! :)
Jeff,
Thanks for the feedback. I will take that and plonk it on the desks of all those I think can help. A lot of my colleagues are looking for feedback and this is really useful.
Thanks for your offer to “I’ll be happy to talk to anyone there and walk through the points of failure.” That is awesome. We will take you up on that one.
Thanks,
Shashi
[...] Jeffrey Zeldman Presents : A List Apart saved from the deep “Due to an almost magical series of administrative, record-keeping, and usability errors, the domain registration for A List Apart momentarily lapsed this morning.” Sattuu sitä paremmissakin piireissä! (tags: article alistapart oops) [...]
Dude, how could you let your domain lapse? I have to keep track of my 3 and dozens of my clients’ domain names. And you’re not seriously still using NetSol as a registrar? Haven’t you heard they’re the anti-Christ?
That was too close!