Hi guys.
Our club’s website was set up years ago by someone who used to be a club member and is now missing.
Nothing is correct or up to date on the website.
Does anyone know how to take this website down?
Thanks,
jb
That depends.
Are you paying a web hosting service or is it on a “free” hosting site?
Regardless, who ever is hosting the site should be able to shut it down.
Ralph
Typically, you have to renew the domain name periodically. I know I have to renew annually. If you don’t renew, the domain name should revert to the public domain. Alternately, if you have access, you could delete all the files. Or, be nice and create a new home page with updated data. 
Try to buy the domain name if you have a good one… otherwise, just ignore it if you cannot get to it, and it keeps existing… if it’s owned by the missing member and he is getting it free, he may not care.
What is the url for the web site?
Regards, Greg
John Bouck said:Yeah ...you knock out the power grid in that area. In PA that would take derailing multiple coal drags for several weeks but if done so correctly would eventually cause the dragons fire to go out!
Does anyone know how to take this website down? Thanks, jb
Greg Elmassian said:
Try to buy the domain name if you have a good one... otherwise, just ignore it if you cannot get to it, and it keeps existing... if it's owned by the missing member and he is getting it free, he may not care.What is the url for the web site?
Regards, Greg
http://www.ingrs.com/
John,
The site is registered to the Inland Northwest Garden Railroad Society, Warren Mumpower is listed as the contact. It appears from the DNS entry that Register.com is the hosting service provider.
In order to be able to make any changes to the site, you will need to get the ‘Username’ and Password’ from Warren. You might also look back into the club minutes and see if they were ever recorded in the club records. I have recently walked this walk with the club I belong to. We have two web sites in operation. The oldest one is hosted on Yahoo (old Geocities) and basically without the Username and Password we are stuck with it in the outdated condition it is in. Our new site is our domain, and our latest revision of the club bylaws requires two or more members be in possession of the Username and Password, which should circumvent and further difficulties.
I have been contacting any websites that have the old site linked and requesting them to change the link to the new site. Most have responded affirmatively. In our case I was able to work around the old site by slowly moving web traffic away to the new site.
Wish I could have been more help, good luck.
Bob C,
Well, that domain expires in 2012, maybe then the owner will not renew it and you can take if over. But since it expires in 2012, it’s likely he has been renewing it. Apparently there is no restriction of renewing domain names from federal prison.
I don’t think you can take it away from him.
I would suggest you just find another domain name and use it. Google will put the hits on the new web site higher.
Or, just write to Warren and offer him some money for the domain name, I’m sure he can use it.
Regards, Greg
They cannot carry cash with them in the pokey, Greg.
I would think maybe you could explain the special circumstances regarding the site’s owner to register.com, and they would issue a new password and username. The last thing Mumpower is going to have is internet access, and he’s never getting out of jail.
Dhiraj and Mike:
Guys, register.com made a contract to give the rights to that domain name to Warren. The cannot take that away legally unless it violates their contract.
You guys really do not get the message, by far the most money made on the internet is from porn, so you go to a company that makes most of it’s money selling domain names to porn outfits and tell them you want control of it (that is the major value) because the owner was convicted of porn? there’s nothing legally wrong with the site, nothing bad, and it’s not even related to anything illegal or immoral. He has already pre-paid into 2012. He owns the rights until 2012.
Come on guys, this is the law. It protects criminals too. No law has been broken with this site or domain name.
Regards, Greg
p.s. by the way, you would do better to find where the site is hosted, maybe it’s a Christian organization… you would not get the domain name back, but maybe you could get them to stop hosting the site. Just “glitching” the index.html file could be enough. Register.com just handles the domain name registration.
dhiraj talukdar said:Excuse me for asking, but who the heck are you? jb
You will probably have to talk to the tech support to do that. The second way is mentioned on the following website. I hope that helps :)
Mike Williams said:Hi Mike, A board member explained that exact thing to me. After one or 2 of them accused me of being lazy and get off my fat ass and do something about it. That's why I asked here. To start the ball rolling. Thanks, j
John your board has already contacted Register.com and is working on the issue
According to BOP he is no longer in their custody.
Greg Elmassian said:
Dhiraj and Mike:Guys, register.com made a contract to give the rights to that domain name to Warren. The cannot take that away legally unless it violates their contract.
You guys really do not get the message, by far the most money made on the internet is from porn, so you go to a company that makes most of it’s money selling domain names to porn outfits and tell them you want control of it (that is the major value) because the owner was convicted of porn? there’s nothing legally wrong with the site, nothing bad, and it’s not even related to anything illegal or immoral. He has already pre-paid into 2012. He owns the rights until 2012.
Come on guys, this is the law. It protects criminals too. No law has been broken with this site or domain name.
Regards, Greg
p.s. by the way, you would do better to find where the site is hosted, maybe it’s a Christian organization… you would not get the domain name back, but maybe you could get them to stop hosting the site. Just “glitching” the index.html file could be enough. Register.com just handles the domain name registration.
Greg: Warren was not “convicted of porn:” pornography is not illegal. He was convicted of making and distributing CHILD pornography, which is illegal. Are you sure that a convicted felon still retains ownership of a site devoted to a club, if the site was designed to serve club members in common? Do you have a law degree? In many states convicted felons lose the right to vote, even after they have served their sentence. The right to property is protected by entirely the same legal apparatus as the right to vote, so why should one assume his right to ownership of a club site is retained after a felony conviction?
call the North Koreans…
Mike, he has a “domain” name, and it is not illegal to own one. If you were the first to get it, you could own generalmotors.com or ibm.com … The domain names do not automatically belong to a club or company with the same name.
I could buy a domain call mikeomalley.com and I do not have to give it to you. So he has a domain name that the club likes but Warren OWNS it, no matter what he has done in life.
The right to property is protected, it’s just that Warren Mumpower OWNS the property of the domain name.
He does not own the club… hopefully I have done a better job at making a distinction between the club’s property and the property of Warren Mumpower.
Regards, Greg
I think you’ll need to talk to your web hosting company and explain the situation. No need to go into detail, just say he’s no longer available. I’m sure they’ve had that happen before, though hopefully not for that reason.
Greg, I know how domain names work, I’m just suggesting that as a convicted felon he may have lost some of his rights, such as in the case of convicted felo0ns who lose the right to vote. The problem isn’t the ownership of the domain name, as I understand it the problem is access to the pages. I have little doubt that register.com could be persuaded to assign a new username and password given the circumstances.