Donations (domain name)

That's a strange rule.

{{ Good to see you back in Forumshire Eldy, weve missed you lass.
Been a bugger getting on here today- keep getting the maintance page instead or infinite loading times }}

The reply has arrived! In short it said: wait and see.

Full reply wrote:Once the domain has completely expired, you should be able to just purchase the new domain through the domain name. Do note that it can take a few days after the expiration for the domain to leave our system completely. So it may be a few days before the admin panel allows you to purchase a new domain.

Once the domain has completely left our system, as long as you have an active 'Advanced' or 'Premium Package' and the necessary credits (1200) you should be able to just purchase a new domain name directly from your admin panel.

So we'll all just. Wait and see.
I sure am glad we won't need to repeat this every year. (Knock on wood)

halfwise wrote:That's a strange rule.

I'm guessing it makes things less complicated if forum creator and domain owner is the same person.
But here too, we will just have to wait and see.

halfwise wrote:So what's the timing on the switcheroo again?  I just got a brief "this domain is expired" before it gave me the option to click on this and come here.  Scared me for a moment, but made me think about when we are getting away from hobbitmovie.

I got that message too, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to find you all again.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{ Same thing, tells me domain doesnt exist, then below is a list with a link that brings me here. But it wouldnt log me automatically, had to redo my password, whcih I couldnt remeber and screwed up 10 times! So it locked me out from trying again for 90 minutes  }}

yep me too, I couldn't remember my password and I had to scour about 3 old diaries.

This is Eldy again. I have asked a follow-up question in the hopes that the process can be expedited, since that seems to have happened in a recent support thread where Forumotion staff stepped in. However, it is possible we will have to wait a week and a half or so to purchase the new domain name.

As far as Forumotion is concerned, the founder is the Admin account, regardless of whether Amarië or I are logged into it, so there shouldn't be any problems there. But I'm happy to keep checking in and offer what assistance I can until this is resolved.

Once this is done, either Amarië or myself can send a newsletter to the full forum membership informing everyone of the new URL, since the redirect page on hobbitmovieforum.com won't be around forever.

{{{And thank you, everyone, I am doing well.}}}

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Been a bugger getting on here today- keep getting the maintance page instead or infinite loading times

If you enter hobbitmovie.forumotion.com in the URL bar of your browser you can bypass the maintenance/redirect page entirely.

Amarië wrote:The reply has arrived! In short it said: wait and see.

Full reply wrote:Once the domain has completely expired, you should be able to just purchase the new domain through the domain name. Do note that it can take a few days after the expiration for the domain to leave our system completely. So it may be a few days before the admin panel allows you to purchase a new domain.

Once the domain has completely left our system, as long as you have an active 'Advanced' or 'Premium Package' and the necessary credits (1200) you should be able to just purchase a new domain name directly from your admin panel.

So we'll all just. Wait and see.
I sure am glad we won't need to repeat this every year. (Knock on wood)  

are we getting a new name? I don't want to lose you guys in the etherwebz.

A week and a half is short enough I see no reason to make waves to push it along.

Figgs - that page you keep bouncing on to get here is your safety net. It will catch you and let you make to choice to come to the right place. Once you've learned where the new place is then there you are. And if you forget, you still have that safety net dragging along to catch you and reel you in. I'm guessing E&A will keep it attached for several months at least.

halfwise wrote:And if you forget, you still have that safety net dragging along to catch you and reel you in.  I'm guessing E&A will keep it attached for several months at least.

It's not up to us how long the redirect page stays there. I don't know when it will go away; it could be as little as nine days, or it might plausibly be more like 60. I'd be very surprised if it's more than that. Regardless, people should update their bookmarks now; hobbitmovie.forumotion.com will always take you to the forum, even once the new custom domain is live.

As noted above, we will send a newsletter via email informing people of the new custom domain once that is in place.

--Eldy

{{ Dont worry Figg, I can follow the scent of buckie back to Forumshire wherever it is and if you get lost I'll come and find you I need someone to fight with! }}

As far as Forumotion is concerned, the founder is the Admin account, regardless of whether Amarië or I are logged into it, so there shouldn't be any problems there. But I'm happy to keep checking in and offer what assistance I can until this is resolved.

Well, you still keep getting emails every year about renewals and such, despite both our attempts to stop it.
But I am certainly admiring you optimism, while I am expecting problems at every turn.

Had some similar issue with the official records for the kid's marching band. (I was the ... board leader? Admin of the band? Anyhow, I was also responsible for updating the offical records and such, who was in charge, bla bla.) The man who first registered the band in a then new official records is still listed there. Now, a few years later, he is not involved at all. But his name can't be removed or edited. While all other names of leaders and such are updated each year. If something isn't done properly, then he gets an email too.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{ Dont worry Figg, I can follow the scent of buckie back to Forumshire wherever it is and if you get lost I'll come and find you  I need someone to fight with!  }}

Don't you worry. As a back up plan, we will fire up the ye old MoFAT Sux!!11! beacon, and your crabbit-sense will get you here.

maintaining email lists is a pain. I just keep adding new names (when I realize there is one to add) but don't remove one unless someone asks me to. The idea of mailing only to current members doesn't work because people are always late with renewals so wouldn't get crucial news, even though you KNOW they will be joining.

halfwise wrote:maintaining email lists is a pain.  I just keep adding new names (when I realize there is one to add) but don't remove one unless someone asks me to.  The idea of mailing only to current members doesn't work because people are always late with renewals so wouldn't get crucial news, even though you KNOW they will be joining.

I will send you and Petty my personal email in case we ever get lost.

Wait, I'm confused.

Didn't we used to be www.hobbitmovieforum.com?

now we're hobbitmovie.forumotion.com

We plan to be www.forumshire.com?

Is the intermediate just what we always were but we had a redirect from www.hobbitmovieforum.com?

Sound about right.

We will still be hobbitmovie.forumotion.com. But with redirect from forumshire.com

Amarië wrote:

Pettytyrant101 wrote:{{ Dont worry Figg, I can follow the scent of buckie back to Forumshire wherever it is and if you get lost I'll come and find you  I need someone to fight with!  }}

Don't you worry. As a back up plan, we will fire up the ye old MoFAT Sux!!11! beacon, and your crabbit-sense will get you here.

I am not sure that's a good idea.

So not really getting rid of hobbitmovie. Oh well.

Amarië wrote:Sound about right.

We will still be hobbitmovie.forumotion.com. But with redirect from forumshire.com

{{ I think our name will change to forumshire, but for their systems, under the hood, we are really the old name just being redirected.
I notcied that if I use my bookmark to try to get here I get taken to that other page that then when you click on us takes you here.
But also noticed this was one of options that sometimes comes up-

The Hobbit Movie Forum Refugees
Forum for all things Tolkien, and just about anything else.
http://hobbitmovierefugess.forumotion.com

And that was from way back post Dark Planet Day and it still redirects you here. }}

I can type in forumshire and it gets me here, but it still says hobbitmovie once here.

This is Eldy. It was like pulling teeth, but I eventually got someone on the Forumotion support forum to reach out to the main office and request that they release us from the domain name waiting period, so hopefully we will be settled in at our new home in the next day or two rather than another week-plus.

halfwise wrote:So not really getting rid of hobbitmovie.  Oh well.

We've always been hobbitmovie.forumotion.com under the hood. For the first four months after Dark Planet Day, that's all we were--that's why Petty's old "Hobbit Movie Refugees" site redirects to this URL--but once we purchased a custom domain, all traffic to hobbitmovie.forumotion.com was redirected to hobbitmovieforum.com. Since that domain expired, we reverted to the original form, but after we move to forumshire.com you'll once more be unable able to see hobbitmovie.forumotion.com.

As part of the debranding, I've removed ": The Hobbit Movie Forum" from the site's official name and also created a new version of the site banner, using the same Ted Nasmith painting as a source and closely following Baingil's original work in most respects, again removing the mention of The Hobbit. I changed the site slogan from "Free spirits' discussion of The Hobbit, Tolkien, and life" to "Free spirits' discussion of Tolkien, Middle-earth, and life" but feel free to suggest alternatives.

Once we move, there may be some initial teething issues as we wait for DNS changes to propagate. That will resolve itself within a couple days, perhaps less. We also need to get a new SSL certificate, so it is possible people will get security errors or warnings about the site being unsecured. If so, clearing your browser cache should resolve the problem. I will make note of this in the announcement thread and the email newsletter once everything is settled.

Any links to other pages of the forum that people included in their posts over the past nine years (eg, the tables of contents in old Creative Corner threads) are now broken since they contain "hobbitmovieforum.com" in the URL. For the time being, this takes you to the landing page informing you of the old domain's expiration, but eventually that page will disappear. The only way to fix this is to edit each post to change the URL. I will likely fix up a few threads myself (my own story threads, if nothing else :V), but I'll be disappearing back into the ether soon.

Thanks for all the hard work!

You are beyond words, I can understand. Months of wishing and talking about how much you wanted the domain to change, and now it's actually happening!
I said to Eldy that's you'd be doing cartwheels with joy. Allow me to give you a little push in the right direction.  


Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!