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Ask Slashdot: Smartest Way To Transfer an Old Domain/Site?
An anonymous reader writes "Back in early 95 I registered a domain name and built a website for a hobby of mine. Over time the website (and domain) name have built a small but steady stream of traffic but my interest in the hobby is essentially gone and I've not been a visitor to my own site in well over two years. I'd like to sell the site/domain to a long time member who has expressed interest in taking over and trying to grow the site, however I use the domain for my own personal email including banking, health insurance, etc. How have fellow readers gone about parting ways from a domain that they've used for an email address?" More generally, what terms would you like to include (or have you included) in a domain transfer? Old horror stories could help prevent new horror stories.
I'd create a new domain for yourself first...you need to get off the old one.
Disclaimer: I have no experience in this situation this is just my take on this so take with lots of salt (well.. try and keep it under 1500ml if you are watching your sodium.. )
I’d move the site to a new domain name owned by the new guy, keep the current domain name, and just set up a friendly redirect page (with an appropriate explanation to users).
Eventually people/search engines will learn the new domain name (and even if they don’t.. keeping the redirect up forever is probably nothing) and you can start migrating to a new email address while keeping the old domain name “just in case”.
If other people have email accounts or rely on other services on the current domain... then it gets more complicated.
Also I’d personally like to thank you for asking a question that is:
- non-trivial
- can benefit from the vast amount of diversity and experience within the slashdot crowd
- will probably generate interesting stories
- and most importantly, isn’t depressing as hell nor a reminder that everything is falling apart in our industry
This is what "ask slashdot" could be! We really need more of this!
I'm sure he's a nice guy, but migrate everything away from that domain before selling. This means adjusting every account you've signed up for using that email address/etc. Then wait six months and see if anything new comes in. Under no circumstances should you expect to receive any forwarded mail without someone having read it.
There's no clean way to ensure a new owner will provide service for your old email address to your satisfaction.
However, it is ridiculously easy for you to set up a permanent redirect from the front page of the website to a new location managed by this guy who is interested in being the new maintainer.
You could even set him up with a subdomain of the current domain name so that folks feel comfortable that it's the same old site they've been visiting for years. This requires very little effort on your part and you maintain control over your email address.
Might it simply be sufficient to transfer your site hosting to the other party and point the DNS records for the site itself to whenever they want? You can then have your mail hanging off the original domain and retain control of it.
Move all of your services off of the domain, then sell it.
Go green: turn off your refrigerator.
Get new email addresses. If the new owner starts mucking up your email, your only recourse will be a civil suit, and is it really worth it just to keep some old email addresses?
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Why do you want to transfer the domain when you can just give him/her control of the web site? You can continue to own the services on the domain that matter to you (mail) and they'd own the HTTP service on the IP address you point the domain to. This could even be an intermediate step to full ownership transfer once you've moved your identity someplace else and are comfortable with the new owner of the domain taking more ownership over it.
Require the buyer to forward all of your email addresses for 24 months. Help the person set up the forwarding if they don't know how to do it.
Keep the domain, yes, but "lease" the rights to the www version of the site. Your DNS record can point the MX record to your mail sever (or Gmail, or whatever), while the A records for the domain and www host to wherever he wants to host it. You may wish to setup forwarding on certain addresses for him, like webmaster@, but make sure the domain is locked and secured to you first.
Is this really a profitable thing that people support themselves off of? If so I would just stipulate he keep your used email addressed forwarded to your new gmail account or whatever. If the only thing is email, it's an easy issue to solve.
If it's not really a brand and no one's making money, if you want just keep the domain, have them get their own, transfer over the content (files) that matters, and agree to host a redirect to his new site on the main page(s) and a custom 404 can redirect to the new site as well.
I did go through this long ago as I had a very popular programming website back in the late 90's that I eventually grew tired of and just let go of but that had my email address that I used. So I just switched over everything that mattered to a new email account. I'm sure you'll forget something, but in most cases that's a phone call away from fixing. No matter what you should switch for personal use (which is what I consider banking, health, etc) to a gmail/yahoo type email account that will always be there no matter what your hobbies or attention span are.
Over time the website (and domain) name have built a small but steady stream of traffic but my interest in the hobby is essentially gone and I've not been a visitor to my own site in well over two years. I'd like to sell the site/domain to a long time member who has expressed interest in taking over and trying to grow the site, however I use the domain for my own personal email including banking, health insurance, etc.
There's nothing for it but to just suck it up and keep your yahoo.com e-mail.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
my interest in the hobby is essentially gone and I've not been a visitor to my own site in well over two years.
CmdrTaco, is that you?
Just don't do it.
Tell the member to register a new domain and do a redirect for some time... it will save you troubles.
See what was done, for example, with freecode.
As Anrego says, I'd suggest not actually handing over the domain. Instead, rebuild the site under a new domain while updating key content such as contact links, and then set up an "HTTP 301: permanently moved" redirect to the new site on the new domain. This will transfer your pagerank to the new domain and makes search engines happy. Then, you can keep your email and other domain services under your own control.
Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. - Will Rogers
If the new owner does not need email, then you could own the domain, but point the A-records (and AAAA-records ;)) to his site, while keeping the MX-records for your self. This would probably require a private agreement between you, and you could decide to keep ownership of the domain, while renting out the webpage-part.
Another way, if it is sufficient to sell www.yourdomain.tld, you could delegate that address via NS-records to his domain servers. Then you have yourdomain.tld and any subdomain except www.yourdomain.tld for yourself.
If there is a little bit of trust between you and the buyer the following will work.
Change the MX record on the domain to point to your own mail server. You'll continue to get the mail and can forward all of the site mail to the new owner (using some other domain).
Get a new email address and update all your accounts to point to the new address. After 6 months or so, just hand over the DNS control to the new owner.
If there is no trust between you and the buyer it's going to be complex, involve lawyers and probably an escrow agent. I'm guessing the site doesn't generate enough revenue to be worth the compexity. If there isn't trust, unless the site is worth more than $20K (or so) it probably will cost more in legal and escrow fees than you'll get for the domain.
Point an A record to the guy for the www.example.com site, cname the example.com to the www.example.com site; point an MX record for mail.example.com to him/her (and they can have the inconvenience of dealing with it, if in fact email is still used), keep the rest for yourself, you'll still get your mail. Over time migrate those addresses to a domain you plan to keep for life.
Keep the domain name. Host the DNS.
Point all A records to the new owner's IP.
Point the MX records to your own host.
thanks for reminding me to not couple my personal duties with my interestes/domains/sites.
interestes and hobbies come and go, seems the easiest way to handle this is to never have to.
Keep the domain name, give the guy the site, code, database etc but just change the DNS to point at his webserver, but keep the MX records for yourself. Then move all your mail to a new email address as it comes in, then in a year give him the domain name when you're satisfied you're sorted.
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Those poor buggers obviously need the money or they wouldn't be involved in artificially jacking up the prices for their own benefit.
... off of the domain that has a meaning specific to a website, and move to a domain you get today that has meaning about you, personally. Spend the time it takes to change everything, like your banking, over to an email with the new domain. Maybe that will be a few months.
In the mean time, point DNS for the website over to wherever the new owner's hosting. Forward webmaster@example.com to his email. Then after a few months, transfer the domain ownership for the agreed money value.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
In addition to the suggestions that you redirect to a new domain
You could keep control over DNS so that you just point yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com to the new guy's server, but keep MX pointed wherever you want.
Moving your email address is a hassle. Let's just assume you don't want any hassle at all, at the cost of the new guy not quite getting everything he wants (yet still be dealt with very reasonably).
Sell the site, not the domain. Keep the domain either for the rest of your life, or until you're so bored out of your mind that you have the time to deal with moving your email (i.e. hopefully the rest of your life).
On the still-yours domain, have a web server reply with 301 redirects to the equivalent page at the new domain. Then after a while (a year?), have it reply with 410. Then after a while, uninstall the web server. There may always be some stale links, but there's nothin' to do about that.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
Move all of your accounts to a new email address ASAP. Then, over the course of a few months, watch the old email address closely. Watch for any straggling emails going to the old email. Fix any stragglers. When you are comfortable that the only thing showing up is SPAM, then transfer the domain.
Look, there's no way you can be 100% sure. The best thing would be to trust the new guy.
Speaking of stragglers... Just today I noticed that two large companies (one named after a large South American river, the other is a giant Bank in America) that were still sending stuff to an old email address after I had changed my account preferences. Obviously my old address lingers in their databases without any user interface to clean it.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
I did this about 8 years ago. I just updated things as e-mails came in, I made orders, or whatever. I probably got the last one done about two years after I started, but the 98% bulk was done in 3 months.
Pick a name you're unlikely to lose interest in and plan on using it forever.
I agree with the other poster who said you should retain the domain for now and set up DNS records and mail rules for the other guy until you're done moving stuff over.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Step 2: Run *both* domains for at least six months.
Change all mail that's in databases (bank, etc), tell as many friends as possible to use the new address.
Set up mail forwarding to the new domain so you always hit 'reply' from there. Never reply on the old domain.
Meanwhile, give your friend access to as much of the site as possible while still keeping the admin password to yourself. Most servers allow separate FTP accounts, etc., he should be able to change files without admin access.
No sig today...
Transferring ownership of a domain is largely trivial. The domain name itself can be transferred easily and the ownership change can be facilitated with minimal paperwork. Email really isn't that hard if you have kept good track of all your online accounts. Go to every account and change the email address and delete the old email from their records. Then do a "I forgot my password" test on those sites to ensure the password renewal arrives to the correct email and not the old one. Make sure that you alert all of your friends to your new email and begin regular communications on it with them.
DNS A records (i.e., the ones that provide IP addresses to web browsers) are different from MX records (i.e., the ones that provide IP addresses to MTAs), and in your domain you already have both.
Just keep the ownership of your domain, point the A record to the new guy's server and keep the MX record as it is (or point it to Gmail, to finally move all the email addresses off your SquirrelMail thing...)
Smartest way is not to transfer your personal domain. It is part your life after all and only really dumb people would sell their own soul or self.
"Back in early 95 I registered a domain name and built a website for a hobby of mine"
Nice try Mr. Goatse. We're not falling for this one again.
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
Don't sell him the domain, just lease it to him for all eternity.
You would retain ownership of the domain, and you would retain control of the DNS servers it's pointed at. This way you can point the DNS for the website at whatever webserver IP address he wants it pointed at, and you can point the MX record at whatever e-mail server you want. This lets him have the domain for web purposes while you retain it for e-mail purposes.
Alternately, you could also sell the domain to him, and just ask that he setup e-mail forwarding for any mailboxes you currently use so they are redirected to another of your e-mail accounts, however I would not do it this way because you wouldn't have any way to verify he isn't snooping on your e-mail.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
email system Wither do uit your self, or gmail..whatever.
Sell the domain, and in the contract specify a set ogf email address you get for 2 years.
Immediately begin migration process.
I've dome this, it's not that hard as long as you take care of things as they come in.
Once sold, you can not rely on the buyer to keep it up.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
I'd create a new domain for yourself first
No. Do it the other way around. I would create a new domain for the new guy taking over your site, or let him do it. Then transfer the web content to the new site, and set up a redirect on your site to the new one.
That way, people going to the old web site end up on the correct new site, but you don't have to change or worry about anything related to your personal email addresses.
If your web site also used email @yoursite, then YOU take care of setting up a redirect or whatever solution seems best.
You don't want to have your personal stuff at the mercy of someone else, or to have to call him to find out what the problem is if he made some configuration mistake or whatever.
Move the site/hobby to a new domain. You control original domain. set up a pointer for new domain. Done.
Unless you are offered shitloads of money, it's a pain in the ass to move domains.
Or don't transfer the name proper at all. Well, don't transfer it but monitor email on it for six months.
That way you have no security issue at all.
You want to be helpful to the new site runner of course, but it would be much safer to hand over copies of the site and relevant databases (sanitised where needed, of course) then point the relevant A records to his/her web server and forward things going to relevant email addresses that way too.
You have no security issues, they get the domain to keep running the site under and can respond to mail sent to site related addresses, and the other users of the site should see minimal (if any) downtime if the transition to their web server is done well. Everyone should be happy with that.
If the new owner wants fuller control of the domain at a later time, they can perform a managed transition to a new domain without needing to involve you (host under both old and new names for some time by advertise the new name, then start responding to requests for the old domain with redirects to the new (if you use the right redirect search engines rankings should not be lost), and finally replace responses to the old name with "please update your bookmarks" after a while longer).
You'll want to transition completely off the old name yourself of course. Do that in the phased way others have suggested, but don't get rid of the domain, at least until you are 100% sure that absolutely nothing you care about will ever go to it my email. Keeping the domain active will only cost a few $ per year unless it is one of the novelty types, or otherwise under an expensive country-specific TLD, or registered with an unnecessarily expensive registrar.
You've got to be kidding me.
People change physical addresses all the time. It's not a big deal. Changing your email address (or phone number) is even less of a big deal.
Start using your new email. Update business that you can think of. Don't obsess over it.
If you happen to forget to update a business with your new email, it's generally quite easy to contact them and say "Hey! I've changed my email!" After asking you a few verification questions, they'll have you fixed up.
If you're that worried that the person you're transferring your domain to is going to steal your email address and identity, just don't do it!
It's not a big deal. Really.
Set up mail forwarding to the new domain so you always hit 'reply' from there. Never reply on the old domain.
Also if you filter the mail into a separate folder it helps you to find contacts and services still using the old address.
An SQL query goes to a bar, walks up to a table and asks, "Mind if I join you?"
A fresh-ish variation on the old "if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" argument. :) Good to see attempts at facilitating governmental tyranny in the name of protecting "the children" is not limited to the US.
Your entire problem smells of bad planning. You should never have mixed your personal domain with one of your hobbies. You should have had the foresight to plan for this day.
That being said, it's probably not a difficult a problem as you think. get a new emai address and _call_ your bank/insurance/whatever; get them change it. People tend to over estimate the amount of emails they get. Monitor your current email address for a year and whittle your inbox down to spam.
Try to get google to show up a website with your new email address (in case someone googles your old one).
Simply start using another email address, then use fetchmail to grab the content of the old mailbox. After a year or so, all your contacts will have seen at least once the new email address. Then grab all the addresses of whoever is still writing to you to the old address over the last 6 months (it should be easy to do with a nice mail filter), and send them a mail telling that you'd like them to stop using the old email address. Later on, if you can keep the old email address that's nice, but not mandatory, because all of your usual contacts will already know and use the new one. Only people writing you less often (which probably you care less as well) will have only the old address in their address book.
"More generally, what terms would you like to include (or have you included) in a domain transfer?"
Well, to start with you should learn the proper terminology. You're not attempting a domain transfer, you're going to be abandoning your domain entirely.
A domain transfer is simply moving from one host to another (or self hosting), in which case my first piece of advice is to make sure you get your TTL entries set properly so it updates DNS quickly across all providers.
What you're doing is giving it up entirely, and you want to be sure you're not going to still have personal information flowing to the email addresses you used to use.
I'd start by preparing to get things put into writing, in which there is a gradual take-over of duties to the new member but you still maintain your specific email addresses. If you're worried about security you should be sure to remain in primary control of the mail functions for a good period of time. Honestly you should have been doing this at least a year ago when you realized it had been over a year since you lost interest.
What you need to do is go through all your old emails and get your contact information updated with all the organizations you used. Checking old server logs may help identify people whose email you've long since deleted.
It's going to be rough, and in the future I'd strongly advise that you keep your personal stuff completely apart from anything else.
I sold a domain to a gentleman who wanted it badly (hi Kyle), and had been using it for much of my personal business.
He just forwarded the email from my requested addresses over to my new email address. No big deal on his end -- any mail tosser worth its salt makes this easy.
It was completely informal, and it gave me time to transition to a more permanent (and less contentious) home.
Eventually, I dropped the "new" email address that Kyle was forwarding to, and haven't really missed it.
Just sell the thing (if its worth anything), ask for your email to be forwarded (and make sure it actually is being forwarded -- not everyone is as easy to work with and so adept as Kyle) and leisurely begin changing your email address at the places where it is important to you to do so.
It's a minor pain, but the worst that can happen is that your (presumably honest) buyer drops the ball and the forwarding never works right all, but then your Really Important Personal Stuff is still relatively easy to transfer.
People switch ISPs all the time, and a lot of the time change their email because of it. Banks / creditors / utilities are used to it, and have systems in place to deal with it. A bit of a PITA, but, seriously: It ain't so bad.
And the best case is that the old address(es) work fine for years to come. Your job is to not rely on that continuity, and to just get the hell off of the domain you've sold as soon as it convenes you.
Lawyers and contracts and explicit agreement are useful for times when you don't trust someone.
And if you don't trust your buyer, don't sell to them. Nobody's forcing you to, and a domain name and hosting is very cheap these days (especially for something that you no longer care about) compared to a lawyer or even the time discussing the matter with one.
Kid-proof tablet..