RefStripes
 

What happened to the RefStripes forum and website? I was a lurker for several years, and saw that the forum had a lot of valuable content on things at the different levels of football. The user and moderator named Rulesman died relatively recently. Maybe that has something to do with it, because he was a big contributor to the forum.

I have joined the website this year, and was active on it for a few weeks, until I found out this week that it no longer worked, and the domain was "parked" at GoDaddy.com. I also noticed that some RefStripes topics, like "Here we go again", about instant replay in high school football, started appearing here. Will RefStripes get back on its feet, or will former denizens like Ralph Damren and ElvisLives migrate here instead? I'd like to hear your takes on the issue.

Domain owner died.

That's sad. I didn't realize that Rulesman was also the domain owner. Maybe another former moderator can buy the domain and keep the website running. Until then, both Rulesman and RefStripes will be sorely missed!

The deadline to renew the domain is 6/27 at which point they will put it up for auction. If it goes up for auction, all of the posts and data will be lost. If anyone knows the family of Bob Dunham, that would be the best way to get it back up and running.

I spoke to GoDaddy and they gave me 3 options.

1. Send in Bob Dunham's death certificate. Then the domain ownership will pass to the family, who can then appoint a new admin.

2. Ask the family for Bob's email credentials. Then have someone reset the GoDaddy password and login. From there, the admin can be changed on the site.

3. Get the last 8 digits of the credit card used to pay fot the site. Then call GoDaddy and set up a new admin.

Otherwise, it will go to auction.

My condolences to the Dunham family.

What is the likelihood that this is going to auction? Is there anyone that would likely save the site? Does the family want to save the site?

Sounds like an easy fix unless they want to let it end.

Peace

That's just it JRut, I don't know what the family's intentions are. I was thinking a forum member might want to take on the admin role and someone might be close to the family and could help facilitate it.

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Someone is attempting to reach out to Bob's family to see about taking over the website. If I get any other updates I will respond.

Thanks for your initiative.

Refstripes.com will go up for auction on Thursday, June 21st. We need to get Bob's credentials before that date or else we lose all of the data at the very least. After that, it goes up for auction and we would need a quality admin to win it and start the site fresh.

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What exactly is going up for auction? Is it just the domain name at GoDaddy? If it is, then all the data is stored on somebody's web server somewhere and could theoretically be retrieved even if another person purchases the domain name.

Now, I suppose it's possible that if GoDaddy is hosting it in addition to being the registrar, they could also be auctioning off the webhost portion as well. But, that seems very unlikely. Data like that is usually considered to be the property of the customer (in this case, Bob). It's much more likely that the webhost company will simply delete the data after the subscription runs out.

Hopefully someone can get a hold of them and save the site!

I agree with Mbilica - even if we buy the domain name at the auction - the data will probably be DOA

We could certainly recreate what would be needed here if efforts fail with RefStripes / GoDaddy -- various subforums, etc.

Not that I'm trying to do something here other than make an offer if needed.

I agree Rich. This would be an appropriate alternative if the need arose.

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As you know, the value is in old discussion topics that you can look back to. So it's more of the historical data that's more valuable than anything.

Would the site be online if someone made a payment or can only the account holder make the payment?

GoDaddy was not willing to take payment from me because they couldn't even discuss the amount due without the account holder's last 8 of the credit card to verify his identity.

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Well, we have 1 week to do something. Hopefully someone is working on this.

:) i agree.

Tick tock...

Anybody know of any updates?

I know of a member of Refstripes who is working with GoDaddy to help contact the family of the owner.

None of this sounds optimistic at all. Maybe it was meant to die with the owner?

Peace

If finances are a problem, I'm willing to chip in.

I'm not the one in contact with them but I don't believe finances are a problem. Right now they are trying to get in contact with the family in order to get authorization to release the website to someone else.

Jesus H. Christ Rut! Show some f-ing respect! :eek:

What does this have to do with respect? Maybe he did not want anyone else or did not attempt to have anyone else take the website/domain? If people are having a hard time to get access to the website or the domain name (because they do not have access to the family), that might have been the intent all along. Can you not say that?

It might be the case if you cannot get that access. Because if the plan was to give this to others to keep going, then this should have been planned for accordingly.

I personally do not care either way. It is a website. Websites go away all the time and sometimes they go away because the people in charge do not want others to have access to their information.

Sorry this site means the world to you, but that is an observation that I stand by. Because most similar sites have multiple people that have access to this information in order to keep things going, especially if the person as the owner is knowingly sick or might realize they need to get their intentions in order.

Peace

Not everyone is prepared to pass away tomorrow. I know I'm not. The websites I operate I am the only one with access. Maybe I need to write down instructions for my family with what I want them to do with my sites. Naw, I'll do that tomorrow.

Well, the GoDaddy information is no longer on refstripes. Something must be going on with the site.

The site is back up

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Thank God that it is. Now, football officials can enjoy a useful resource again, and not have to worry about auctions or GoDaddy.com for some time, and get back to high school, college, and NFL rules.