9 replies to this topic

[rohgan03]

I am in the process of getting a domain that is expiring. The old site had lots of good content for free. I want to contact the old site owner and ask for permission /get access to the old content. How can I do this?

[Haystack]

Can you find any old contact info on the site at:
http://www.archive.org

[rohgan03]

Does it give old whois information ?

I cant seem to find it.

[Randy]

Is the domain still active at this point Rohgan? Or has it totally expired?

As far as I know there is no Whois Archive (WhoWas?) that is available to the public at no cost like the Whois database is. However if you could figure out who the original Registrar was for the old domain I'm sure they keep some type of historical records, for possible dispute settlement if no other reason. If it was a .com, .net or .org, that's likely going to mean having to deal with Verisign/Network Solutions. Which is not something I would wish on anyone.

Some time ago Dialog.com tried to start compiling such historical information. I seem to recall reading somewhere that they had managed to drop 65 million current and former gTLD's (.com, .net, .org) into a searchable database. But even that doesn't cover every single domain from a historical perspective. I'm sure I remember reading that they charge for their service too. No clue on the cost though since I've never used it.

If you want me to take a look to see if I can get any info on the old domain, shoot me over a PM. No guarantee's, but I do have access to some tools on the server side of things that may help to glean a bit more information.

<edit - sheez...must be Monday. It helps if I type in the correct domain name, hunh?>

Edited by Randy, 09 February 2004 - 09:57 AM.

[rohgan03]

Status: PendingDelete
Registrar: TUCOWS INC.

Redemption period is over, I'll get the domain name within a day or maybe 2, will let you know the URL then. I tried TUCOWS who is also but that doesnt give any information. Any ideas for now?

[Randy]

hmm...if Tucows won't tell you, and there's no info in the WhoIs database anymore...

Question, are you looking at the Tucows/OpenSRS whois database? Or at the ARIN one? You might get lucky if one or the other hasn't updated the status yet. Long shot, but may be worth it.

Otherwise, I'd say you'll likely end up using the Dialog.com service.

Hey! A brainstorm! Run over to Alexa.com real quick and input the domain as a search. Then click on the Site Info link for the site in question. I'm 99% sure they normally put the Registration data in there. Hopefully they haven't figured out that the site is AWOL yet.

[rohgan03]

Thanks those were smart tricks, unfortunately none worked.

Dialog.com : I cant figure out where to buy the service from..any ideas? The only contact info is an email@domainname.com which i guess is useless now.

[Randy]

Disclaimer: I've never used the Dialog system before, so cannot vouch for its accuracy or anything else really. Had to go have a look myself to find these few nuggets.

Okay, now that that is out of the way.

Looks like it gives you the option of Membership or what they call DialogSelect, which appears to be a sort of Pay As You Go kind of thing. Assuming you won't need it more than this once, here's a link to the Select area.

From what I see, the Domain name (both WhoIs and WhoWas) is under the "Intellectual" section of the dropdown box. Then click on the Domain Names link on the left when the next page loads.

I plugged in an exact domain name and top level domain (com, net, org) of one that I knew for sure had expired recently. I knew it expired because I let it go last month having no futher use for it and figured I'd get as close to your situation as possible. Then clicked on the Search button, which took me to another page.

That one gave me 4 matches. I assume they'll all be exactly the same. Looks like it's going to run around $3-4 per document. But I didn't go all the way through the process and finalize the purchase.

From the looks of it the Select version will let you choose to spend as much or as little as you want, depending upon how many documents you want. Pay by credit card for the info instead of becoming a full-fledged member. Dunno if that's exactly accurate since I've never used their system before.

Let us know how it turns out if you decide to go that route. Might be something useful to file away for the future just in case I ever do need it.

[zestor]

Try

http://www.whois.sc/whois-history/

[rohgan03]

Thanks Randy, I got the info from DialogSelect
zestor: Thanks , but they dint have the information.