Either tomorrow or early next week, I’ll probably move Dartblogs over to a new server. The chief advantage to start now is that Moveable Type runs much more quickly on the new hardware (probably three times as fast; faster if/when I can get mod_perl configured properly; MT seemed to be losing track of perl modules all over the place, totally inconsistantly). Later we’ll do things like subdomains, etc.
Domain transfers are such a mess. It used to be that you would just call and ask and that was that. That was 5-6 years ago. Now, given all the litigation and bitterness since then, it’s a lot more difficult and time-consuming. One domain host wants not only a username and password, but also the last digits of the bank account used to pay for the domain several years ago. Since the domain was rereg’d, the Review has gone through at least two banks (maybe more; that was as of last year), and nobody has the old information at hand. Despite that I can pop a message on the front page of the site authorizing the transaction, the hosting company won’t do it because they’re worried about liability, etc. Sure, they may lose me as a customer, but that’s better and less expensive than me (potentially) suing them for loss of business if the domain is transfered without following all of these policies. It’s a risk problem. What a mess.
In a couple days, we’ll likely be in a position where all the TDR sites are being served off of the new server, but none of the domains have been transferred. And of course, we have to keep paying for the old servers (to do redirects) while this is sorted out. How long will it take? Could be anything from a week to a few months. Again, what a mess.
This is part of the cost of doing business over the ‘net when tight business relationships are hard to come by. Stinson’s, for example, “sold” me beer several times when I came in without my wallet; they knew me well enough to know that I’d be back to make up the debt. Our domain registrars, however, don’t know anyone at all; they know the names Steven Menashi and Charles Kluender, but that’s it because those are the people who registered the domains. I guess they know my name, too, because one domain is in it; but I can’t do anything with that domain since the credit card that I used to register it was stolen the weekend before last. So it’s difficult to establish identity on the ‘net and, even when you can, it’s difficult to prove that you’re authorized to do what you want to do. And, even when you prove that (somehow), you may still be out of luck if you can’t match a specific policy or procedure precisely, because no one wants to take the risk that something could go wrong and leave him negligent. Thus, an email sent to the administrative contact of a domain isn’t enough to authorize a transfer, even though that’s the purpose of having an administrative contact. Being able to modify, erase, or otherwise update or edit a site isn’t enough, either. Trying to migrate a site to a server that’s serving identical content (along with being the admin contact and the ability to modify) isn’t enough.
So what is enough? I don’t know. I don’t think anybody knows for sure. There has to be a better way to do this.