On October 11, 2012 at 3:40 AM US Central, my nightmare was officially over. All 10 of my domains were freed from an AWOL host and available for normal use once again.

However, I know I am one of the lucky ones. Not everyone is able to get their domains back as relatively easily as I was able to.

If it ever does (G-d forbid) happen to you, there are a few things you can do right away to start taking control of the situation and potentially securing a favorable outcome.

STEP #1 - Gather The Facts
If you don't know who the registrar of record is and/or who they may be a channel provider for, find out immediately!

1. Go to: http://who.godaddy.com/whoisverify.aspx?domain=YOURDOMAINHERE
2. Enter the anti-spammer code.
3. BOOM! You've got what you need to start attacking the issue.

STEP #2 - Get The Ball Rolling
Get your documents in order and contact them with:

1. Detailed Account Information
2. Specific Dates
3. Your Desired Outcome

You want to be as specific and as clear as possible. Emotions may be running high but you need to take a deep breathe and focus. It will save time and prevent a lot of the confusion I think I may have unintentionally caused my international registrar.

Even if you think you are doing business with a same-country business person, their supplier might be from another country entirely and what we may think of as straight conversation may be completely different from what they understand we're saying.

STEP #3 - Document, Document, Document!
Do not rely on their system to send you a copy. Screencap your entire message, screencast yourself typing/sending it, and do not be afraid to make a video about the problem. I wound up making two to clarify what appeared to be textual confusion.

Keep every one of their replies. Make written notes of conversations. Record dates, times, names, promises, compromises offered, EVERYTHING.

If you are willing to make some of the information public, create a blog post about the situation and share a link to it on social media outlets. The squeaky wheel gets the oil and nothing squeaks as loud as social media right now.

STEP #4 - Know Your Options
Sometimes domain owners are lucky and are able to work things out with the master registrar. Other times, someone else beats them to their own domain and they lose all the work they put into it or wind up having to pay a domain buy service a LOT of money to buy back their own domain.

How far are you willing to take this?

STEP #5 - Be Persistent
Keep opening tickets until your situation is resolved, no matter how uncharacteristic it may be of you or how squeamish it makes you feel. This is your domain, your home on the web, your personal life, or your business.

STEP #6 - Seek Relief
Use your documentation to file detailed reports with the Better Business Bureau and the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. Speak to a knowledgeable legal representative.

Disclaimer: These are just basic steps that I took to help me recover my domains. They may or may not work for you. However, you will never get your domains back if you don't step up and try something so why not start here?

Have fun, stay safe, and G-d bless,


P.S. Please don't hesitate to add your tips below!

Unknown

“Knowing others is perspective, but knowing one’s own self is enlightened; conquering others shows strength, but conquering one’s self shows true power.” ~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

True power doesn't come from conquering someone else, it comes from learning to conquer ourselves. Self-control. Self-discipline. Not railroading someone just because we can. Honoring someone's personal boundaries even when they themselves do not.

Have fun, stay safe, and G-d bless,

Unknown

Never have I been more grateful for my past as a contractor than today. Although I was looking at RV's, a lot of the the stuff I used to do for my uncles clearly saved me a LOT of money, frustration, and from being suckered.

Not sure whether the salesman was lying - he seemed sincere enough - but come on.

Just because someone walks him over the roof, demonstrating there are no defects doesn't mean there aren't any on the inside. Defects that were covered by a new roof coating. I saw small but significant water damage lines on the roof and by the windows. Some wallpaper bubbling by said windows. Flakes of what looked like wood paneling on the bed and in the shower.

Beyond that, I felt a soft spot by the corner of the bed.

He offered to drive the RV over to their RV service bays and have one of their guys 'go over it' but I had a hard time believing his buddy would tell me anything different.

Although my family doesn't get along that well, my uncles trusted me to do their paperwork and to conduct initial walk-throughs to determine what needed to be done and in what order. We primarily worked on mobile homes, park models, and provided make-ready services for realtors, which is - IMHO - similar to RV's in many respects.

CJ (my son) and I did look at a few other models on a different lot, with a different salesman, but we walked away really disappointed. I know the salesmen and women are there to sell but we're still debating whether the salesmen honestly thought everything checked out or if they thought a single mom would be a sucker sale.

Guess we'll just keep looking until we find the right fit for us: the right RV, the right dealer, and the right deal. Which is a nightmare for an anti-shopper like me. LOL

Have fun, stay safe, and G-d bless,

Unknown

Our former webhost is holding my domains hostage. Neither CJsKidsClub.com or HarmoniousAbundance.com should be labeled as expired. They were both paid for and I have receipts.

My old host, WAHMhosting.com/WAHM Productions (owned by Renee Huggins), has not responded to me since April 8, 2012. There is no reply via email, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

Her phone number has since been removed from her website so I am currently searching my files, looking for a cell phone number she shared a few months back.

Frustration, barely restrained.

Although she has disappeared and there is no public record of her posting anything in the last few months, WAHMhosting/WAHM Productions has had both 2 new layouts and gone through what appear to be 2 platform changes. Obviously, someone is working there.

Anonymous

If you have been thinking about traveling or taking a road trip with your family but aren't sure where to start, this call is for you!

Top 25 (and Counting) Travel Musts

You can work on the road without worrying about or struggling with painfully slow public wifi access.

Neck pillows can help eliminate booty pain. Fleece blankets are lightweight but mighty. Carry at least one of each - for every person in your vehicle - in a large, reusable shopping bag.

Although I forgot to mention it on the call, we added rain ponchos, umbrellas, and our smaller first aid kit to this bag.

Yes, there are more! Click the play button above to hear them.

Top 7 (and Counting) Tips for Traveling with Pets

Check with your vet before leaving. Take your pet's medical records with you. Place a little bit of clumping kitty litter in the carriers or cages and part of a yoga mat underneath. Cleaning up will be a breeze and your pet will not have to travel in their own mess.

For the rest of these tips, click the play button above.

Did I miss your tip? Leave it in a comment below! =)

Have fun, stay safe, and G-d bless,

Anonymous

It's hard to say goodbye, to end something that started with such passion, such joy, such promise.

Alas, my patience and my devotion are almost completely broken.

After publishing the last post detailing the issues in our relationship, I made the requisite updates for my cousin's WordPress multisite installation and - of course - had to go and tweak the results. Then I had to do that on my multisite install.

How much work did I actually get done in the time I have dedicated to work? Updating two multisite networks, transferring my personal blog (Penny Full O'Thoughts) back to Blogger, and removing the template background so you can actually see the ShareThis widget floating to your left.

That's it.

It feels like I slacked off. I don't like feeling that way. Granted, I am a homeschooler and my son is my priority but when it's time to work, it's time to work.

My Daily Prayer Walk audio didn't get edited or posted. My posts didn't get edited. I didn't decide which site to upload our Travel Diary entries to (one of our existing or create a dedicated travel blog). The nature study packets for CJ's Kids Club Nature Kid membership vault didn't get edited either. *sigh*

Neener, neener, neener! My day was better than yours!

Tomorrow will be better, I just know it. I can't let Mr. Raccoon have the last laugh, can I?

Have fun, stay safe, and G-d bless,

Anonymous

Whassup?!

Yeah, I know that phrase got to be annoying as heck but it just seems to appropriate for this entry. You can't be mad at me though. I found a cute kitten pic just for you!

Although it seems like I've been gone for a long time, I really haven't. I was just wrapped up in my self-hosted WordPress version.

Until I accidentally crashed it.

Now, I'm debating whether I really want all the bother of self-hosted WordPress. True, the multisite installation totally rocks but I am not the same person I was a few months ago.

The WordPress and tech obsessed gal is still in there somewhere but now I'm all about streamlining and cutifying my life. I don't have a real need for all of the bells and whistles WordPress has and even if I did, there is probably a Blogger workaround for it.

Blogger is really more set-it-and-forget-it - something that really appeals to me now. I pay for it once a year, don't have to pay for plugins or upgrades, and don't have to worry about applying updates and how they will impact my code.

My WordPress installation broke because two of my main plugins didn't play well together. The last time that happened, I was S.O.L. because my host disappeared. Several months later, I still don't know what happened to her or the refund I asked for (prepaid fees).

This time, I have my own reseller account. I can go in and fix whatever is wrong myself but I just don't want to anymore. I'm not "just" another WordPress user. I am a mother, a homeschooler, a person with a life to live.

Yes, I know I could hire this out to someone but what's the point? I don't use most of the features anyway. I could save a lot of time, trouble, and money just by coming back to Blogger.
Which is why I'm here again.

Over the next few days, I plan to import my other posts on homescholing, traveling, camping, single parenting - life, in general - but for now, WHASSUP? How's it going? What have you been up to?

Have fun, stay safe, and G-d bless,

Anonymous