Advice on closing a web site

davidjtaylor

Hi

I'm thinking of closing a .com website.

This means anyone can purchase the name, I assume? Thus set up a dodgy site and blackmail me?

Sorry to be naive but when it comes to these kinds of issues, I really am!

Apiarist

davidjtaylor wrote: »

This means anyone can purchase the name, I assume?

Yes. But if they use it for illegal purposes such as blackmail, you will have to go through the law enforcement, probably in the USA, and also contact whoever hosts the site to get it suspended and probably ICANN to take away the name (disclaimer: this is not a legal advice).

https://itstillworks.com/12310573/how-to-get-a-website-shut-down

Did you sell anything through the site? Besides blackmail, if your site was a reputable shop, it can be used to temporarily con people out of their money, who then would be contacting you to get their money back.

davidjtaylor

No, it was just an information website, but of course it has contact details on it. No PayPal or stuff like that.

Tempora

Yes someone else will eventually be allowed to buy the name if they want to. If it was a relatively popular site it'll likely end up just being bought by one of the domain resellers who stick up some ads and try to pawn it off on someone else for a profit. If not then it's unlikely anyone will even buy it.

melchior1951

Why don't you just shut down the website and keep the domain name? That costs you less than €10 a year.

davidjtaylor

melchior1951 wrote: »

Why don't you just shut down the website and keep the domain name? That costs you less than €10 a year.

Good idea.

LoLth

Are you concerned that someone will buy the site and use the information on it against you?

Thats not how sites work. They can buy the name but they will need their own hosting provider and plan. and their own set of files. Yours would most likely be archived by your current hosting provider or , more likely, just deleted to make room for some other customer.

It is theoretically possible that someone could pull an image of your site from the internet archive, buy the domain and re-create your site on their own hosting platform but.... so what?

Delete your online data stored at your hosting company (make a backup offline first). Put up a few holding pages saying "no longer here". let that get indexed and archived (for how long is up to you). then let the domain lapse.

davidjtaylor

LoLth wrote: »

Are you concerned that someone will buy the site and use the information on it against you?

No - buy the domain name and use it for kiddieporn or something and then blackmail me to buy the name back.

The info. on the website at present is of no value.

LoLth

but once you are no longer the owner of the website it cant be used against you. By your logic we should all be buying "yourname".com/biz/ie/eu/org/info/tv/etc/etc to prevent our names from being associated with unsavoury material.

hmmm, anyone want to set up a domain name registration business? I have a great idea of how we can get some sales.....

also, if someone tries to blackmail you into buying a domain name, you can have the domain taken off them (cybersquatting) and given to you instead or , better yet, report them to the authorities and get them done for extortion and owning/distributing/hosting illegal material

The info. on the website at present is of no value.

not often you hear a website owner say that about this own website

davidjtaylor

That's why I want to close it. It's outlived its usefulness.

davidjtaylor

LoLth wrote: »

but once you are no longer the owner of the website it cant be used against you. By your logic we should all be buying "yourname".com/biz/ie/eu/org/info/tv/etc/etc to prevent our names from being associated with unsavoury material.

I get your point but are you saying it never happens?

lordlame

Make sure you have no email accounts associated with the domain - this can be a serious problem down the road