[Hidden-tech] Information on Gaia Host - Has anyone taken them to court?

Sat Nov 16 00:49:55 UTC 2019

Hi Greg,

I believe that my domain is registered with Gaiahost, but not owned by
them. But now I understand why my IT volunteer Sean was surprised when we
went to the account and there was no way to get the authorization code. He
said that normally it's available in the account and not a problem to go
ahead and use it. It's amazing to think that I didn't need the
authorization code for  literally decades until the situation with the
performance issues that  I currently have with the website. I have had
Hosttgator all this time and I moved it (unsuccessfully since I didn't have
the authorization code, but had to pay $90 for the month) from the baby
plan temporarily to a VPS until I could get it over to Dreamhost. I had it
for a month and couldn't do anything with it and then canceled it so I'm
still on the baby plan with the website functioning very poorly. So poorly
that I have been hesitant to reach out to potential donors  until we get
the website working properly.

A question:  Hostgator said I needed to take Gaiahost to court and I
 thought it was about the issue of getting authorization through the court
process? That's why originally I thought of Small Claims Court, just to get
some legal document that would allow me to give it to  Hostgator or
 Dreamhost.  But it sounds more complicated than that.

Has anyone been successful with transferring their domains to Be
Cooperative? I would like to speak to them and perhaps try once more to do
that.

Thank you all for your guidance around this issue!

My best,

Joanna Campe
Executive Director
Remineralize the Earth
152 South Street
Northampton, MA 01060 USA

Tel: 413-563-9938
Skype: reminearth
Email: jcampe at remineralize.org
http://www.remineralize.org

*Book*
Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon
Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase
http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466595392

Please support us on Patr <https://www.patreon.com/RTE>e
<https://www.patreon.com/RTE>on <https://www.patreon.com/RTE>.

On Fri, Nov 15, 2019 at 6:24 PM GLP <glp at gregperham.com> wrote:

> Hi Joanna,
>
> Erik's advice is more generic and doesn’t apply in this case with Gaia. It
> should apply, but Gaia’s setup was criminally bad—literally, I believe. I
> would urge anyone to get in on a class action suit if that arises. The
> domain names should never have been registered in Gaia’s name, and
> releasing the domains for transfer should not require manual processing by
> Gaia. The customer is supposed to be able to orchestrate this on their own.
>
> I am dismayed to hear your experience with Be. It shows Charles did not
> plan this out with them. My clients asked for authorization codes to
> transfer before the deadline, and Charles never complied. We’re hoping the
> Be migration will actually work, and that we’ll have proper access to the
> domain registrations afterward. Based on your experience, I am not too
> hopeful.
>
> It may be prudent to begin setting up an alternative website with a new
> domain name. This is what I have suggested to my clients on Gaia, even
> while we pursue the migration to Be.
>
> Best,
> Greg Perham
>
>
>
> On Nov 15, 2019, at 4:59 PM, joanna campe via Hidden-discuss <
> hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Erik,
>
> Thank you so much for your suggestions.
>
> As far as I can tell I can't do anything without an authorization code. I
> have spoken with our current host, Hostgator, and they gave me those two
> options that I mentioned.  My intention is to migrate the website over to
> Dreamhost to save a tremendous amount of money that I pay for security with
> Sitelock.
>
> I suggest that you give them a call. Or better yet, if you have your
> username and password, login to the site and release the transfer lock and
> turn off any privacy settings. You should then be able to authorize the
> transfer.
>
> I did call Wild West domains and I see that aside from myself they said
> the same thing to another person on this listserv, that they can't do
> anything about it. I'm not quite sure I understand what you are referring
> to here since I don't actually have an account with Wild West Domains, but
> what I will do is pass this on to my volunteer IT team and see if there
> is something here that we haven't already done.
>
> I had an issue with Be Cooperative as far as transferring the domain, and
> they sent me back with a ticket to GaiaHost,  which makes no sense because
> they seem to have shut down and they're not in communication. It says the
> ticket is being processed but it's just an automatic response and obviously
> nothing is going on there.  I was reluctant to transfer my domains to them,
> because they didn't want to do it unless I was going to stay with them and
> they also want to host you. I decided to consider that until I found that
> the telephone number and all kinds of other things weren't following
> through. They don't seem to be quite established yet in a way that
> is inspiring confidence.
>
> Thanks again, I appreciate any further advice that I receive here on the
> listserv.
>
> My best,
>
>  Joanna
>
>
> Joanna Campe
> Executive Director
> Remineralize the Earth
> 152 South Street
> Northampton, MA 01060 USA
>
> Tel: 413-563-9938
> Skype: reminearth
> Email: jcampe at remineralize.org
> http://www.remineralize.org
>
>
> *Book*
> Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon
> Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase
> http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466595392
>
> Please support us on Patr <https://www.patreon.com/RTE>e
> <https://www.patreon.com/RTE>on <https://www.patreon.com/RTE>.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 15, 2019 at 3:45 PM Erik Jonsberg <
> erik at hungryghostconsulting.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Joanna,
>>
>> I just did a quick lookup of your domain on ICANN. It says that domain
>> registrar is Wild West Domains, LLC <https://www.wildwestdomains.com/>. Their
>> customer support number is (480) 624-2500.
>>
>> I suggest that you give them a call. Or better yet, if you have your
>> username and password, login to the site and release the transfer lock and
>> turn off any privacy settings. You should then be able to authorize the
>> transfer.
>>
>> I’m not sure what Gaia Host is talking about. Someone else on this list
>> might be better able to answer that. I’ve never heard of a domain registrar
>> forcing clients to go to court over domain transfers. What exactly did they
>> say? What is their reasoning? It looks like Gaia Host is shutting down, or
>> has shut down and they’re asking everyone to move their sites to
>> BeCooperative.
>>
>> Anyway, if you want your site up on a different host quickly, you can
>> login to your registrar and change the nameservers to point to your new
>> host. No need to transfer. Your current nameservers are listed on ICANN
>> <https://lookup.icann.org/> - just plug in your domain name and you find
>> all of your relevant registration info.
>>
>> Sorry I couldn’t have been more helpful.
>>
>> - Erik
>>
>> <new-logo-for-email.jpg>
>> 15 Lincoln Street
>> Greenfield, MA 01301
>> (413) 376-5947‬
>> Twitter: @hungryghostdev <https://twitter.com/hungryghostdev>
>> Facebook: hungryghostweb <https://www.facebook.com/hungryghostweb>
>> Website: www.hungryghostconsulting.com
>> <https://hungryghostconsulting.com/>
>> LinkedIn Profile: erikjonsberg <https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikjonsberg>
>>
>> On Nov 15, 2019, at 1:38 PM, joanna campe via Hidden-discuss <
>> hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Community,
>>
>> I have just joined this list serve to see if I can get more information
>> on Gaia Host. We are not able to change the plan of our website or migrate
>> it without an authorization code and we have not been able to get the
>> domains transferred either.
>>
>> I have been advised by my hosting service that in order to be able to
>> transfer the domain successfully, I need to take them to court. Has anyone
>> in the community done that so far and with what success?
>>
>> I have been told that I have two choices: take Gaia Host to court (small
>> claims court?) or to create a new domain and clone the website until the
>> issue can be resolved. Both of these are time consuming and meanwhile I
>> have put off my fundraising campaign until the performance of the website
>> can be improved by migrating it to a new plan.
>>
>> I appreciate advice on this.
>>
>> My best,
>> Joanna
>>
>>
>> Joanna Campe
>> Executive Director
>> Remineralize the Earth
>> 152 South Street
>> Northampton, MA 01060 USA
>>
>> Tel: 413-563-9938
>> Skype: reminearth
>> Email: jcampe at remineralize.org
>> http://www.remineralize.org
>>
>>
>> *Book*
>> Geotherapy: Innovative Methods of Soil Fertility Restoration, Carbon
>> Sequestration, and Reversing CO2 Increase
>> http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9781466595392
>>
>> Please support us on Patr <https://www.patreon.com/RTE>e
>> <https://www.patreon.com/RTE>on <https://www.patreon.com/RTE>.
>>
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