Saturday, August 10, 2013

Rural Revolution Disappearance?

Screenshot of the Wayback Machine
(Update at the end of this post)

A reader (thanks Sara!) emailed me with the chilling information that Patrice Lewis' blog, Rural-Revolution) has disappeared off of the internet. I don't have Patrice's phone number but I will send her an email in a bit.

My first move, after verifying the site was redirected, was to check the WayBack Machine and start archiving her website for her in case she didn't have a backup. To my surprise, the WayBack Machine has deleted all her information! I have never seen this happen before. I built websites back in the 90's and those sites are still on the WB Machine. It serves as a snapshot in time of just about every website on the internet...except Patrice's.

Usually this type of thing happen because the website owner failed to set up an auto-renewal on the domain name. In cases like Patrice's, once a website becomes popular, there are squatters, or people that put orders in to buy a domain name in the case that it is not auto-renewed. As soon as the domain name becomes available, the squatter snatches it up and uses the traffic-attracting domain name for their own gain.

Typical blank splash "holding" page until renewal or resold.
A good place to search the status and history a domain name is Whois.sc. That is where I see that Rural-Revolution.com expired on Aug 9, 2013. I hope it isn't too late for her. I ran over and bought the .net and .org just in case she needs it. I sent her an email suggesting she renew her domain name immediately. Usually there is a 24-48 window to renew past your deadline. The generic splash page that is showing indicates to me that it is most likely in a holding pattern until she either renews or a squatter gets it.

WhoIs.sc tells the chilling details
In the meantime, I'm going to search the depths of the internet for a source to backup her old posts just in case.

~OJD

Update: 17:35 MST

Patrice is indeed aware of the issue. The problem lies between her and Google. My hypothesis about her domain name was correct and she was aware of it before it expired. Her Google login has not been allowing her entry and therefore she cannot update her domain information. She is working on it but offers her original URL in the meantime:

http://www.patricelewis.blogspot.com/

Her feedburner account seems to be working and that is how I found her latest post:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/RuralRevolution

I suggest using bookmarking both addresses.

~OJD

16 comments:

  1. From Paratus Familia Blog:
    Technical Difficulties at Rural Revolution
    A number of readers have mentioned that they have been unable to log onto Patrice Lewis' Rural Revolution. Not to worry! Patrice is experiencing technical difficulties with her domain. She and her husband are in the process of working out the kinks and will be back online as quickly as possible. They may end up with a whole blog and a whole new domain name - but all of her archives have been backed up and she will be back with her wealth of information.

    Rural Revolution is experiencing technical difficulties, but will soon return to previously scheduled programming.
    Posted by Enola Gay at 9:31 AM

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad to see the above comment as I had just come from Rural Revolution and got an ad type of thingy for all Hispanic type stuff. Kind of like a realtor page.

    Thanks OJD for doing all the digging and research for us! I've been a silent lurker for quite a while now...I don't talk much. :)

    I pray for you and your family that all will work out the way you want it eventually. Just hang in there.

    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Cotton Lady. It's tough being away from family but I know everything will work out.

      Delete
  3. Thanks OJD first it was survival blog.com now Rural revolution. thank you for putting minds at ease and giving alternative route to 'daily fix, Mandy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SB & RR are two of my mentors. Glad to do anything to help.

      Delete
  4. Google recently made changes in its policies regarding domains purchased through them: they now only offer auto-renewal. There are no options for credit card, debit card, or paypal, they just want to help themselves to your bank account. If you don't agree, you have to look at transferring your domain to another registry. I don't know if that is Patrice's issue, but that's what I'm dealing with (plus Google wants a mobile phone number for account recovery, except I don't use a cell phone.) The blogspot addy is the default, as long as the blog is being hosted by Google.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bummer for you guys. I have always bought my domain names through Dotster with no issues. We should all move our blogs out of Blogger if we don't want to worry about the future (losing our writings) . I printed out almost a three year blog history let night for backhand.

      Delete
  5. OJD, a belated thank-you for covering my fanny for the last week! I haven't been visiting many other sites since I've been so busy dealing with technical issues so I didn't know you had mentioned my blog problems, but a big hearty THANK YOU for letting folks know about RR's difficulties!

    - Patrice Lewis

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My pleasure! Glad you got it worked out.

      Delete
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