myTobago Website UNAVAILABLE (idiot on the loose)

[Steve Wooler]

My sincere apologies that myTobago was unavailable between the evenings of Friday 2nd April and Tuesday 6th.

I must hold my hands up high and admit to being a total idiot. Being such a dunce, I’ve been standing in a corner since I found out what had happed. Jill has allowed me out so that I can write this apology.

Basically, I didn’t renew the myTobago.info domain name and so the Registrar cut me off. It’s as simple as that. The reasons are a little more complex, but either way, I have no real excuse.

I register and renew domains on a daily basis. All domains are on an auto-renewal system which automatically renews all domains 30 days before they are due. A separate “Task” in my email client, Microsoft Outlook, notifies me 7-days before each domain expires so that I can manually check that it has been renewed correctly.

Well, this is fine for work-related domains. However, I was very keen to operate myTobago.info at arms-length from my business activities. I have an increasing number of clients on Tobago and it is important that this private project is run very independently of my work and that everyone concerned knows and appreciates that there is no connection between the two. As a result, I registered myTobago.info privately, in my own name and using the generic dial-up email address issued by my ISP. I had forgotten about this. I have since changed ISP, so the old address, to which renewal messages go, is no longer valid. Outlook would have warned/reminded me, but at the time that the renewal was due, I was in Tobago. So, a string of events led to the registration lapsing and the Registrar eventually switching the domain off.

It has been a total nightmare trying to get the domain switched back on. It was in “redemption” and none of the contact information was correct. I had moved address just before leaving for Tobago in early January, so the address, telephone and fax numbers on the registration were also incorrect. I think my name was the only correct item. This all added complication the matter - none of which was helped by the facts that the Registrars don't work at weekends.

Anyway, we are back on line now and anticipate no further problems. All readers with their own internet domains should take heed. Check and double check that all contact details on your domain are up to date.

[Julia C.]

Phew! Thanks for getting mytobago back up again Steve.
I was begining to suffer withdrawal symptoms!

[Jill M]

I needed my fix too !

[Steve Roughley]

I was panicking that i wouldn't be able to get any up to date info before our trip on saturday, this site is getting very addictive, have not found a better site for Tobago related topics, thanks Steve.

Steve Roughley.

[Stella Porteous]

Glad to see the return of MyTobago. My own p.c. was having a few hicups on Fri. 2nd and because of my limited knowledge of the inner workings of the net etc. i thought maybe i'd pressed the wrong button and 'nuked' the site into oblivion!! Hope you've recovered from any nervous breakdown Steve and DON'T DO IT AGAIN. Tie a knot in your hanky for a reminder.It's supposed to work. Stella.

[Marc Jones]

Wondered why the trace RT worked OK but I couldn't get into the server nor get an email to you

Welcome back!

[Kirsten Giles]

Your back - Yippeeeeee!!!

[Steve Pitts]

Steve

You 24 carat plonker.

You can't possibly imagine the panic that the myTobago network has endured these past few days.

Please write out 100 times:
'I must not forget to renew the domain name.'
No cheating by copying and pasting either!

To cap it all, my mate Allan is out there right now - probably fishing, as I speak, so the cold turkey was even more of a torture.

I don't know about tying a knot in your hanky....but I can think of a suitable alternative. You definitely wouldn't forget then.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve Wooler]

OK, Steve, I will write it out a thousand times - it will make a change from standing in the corner. As regards tying a knot, Jill had already done that but I didn't like to brag.

[David Watkins]

Thank goodness you are back!!!!!!!!I was suffering severe withdrawal symptoms.All is well now------the trembling has stopped.Don't do it again!PLEEEEEEASE.
David

[Katie]

i know i kept looking every spare minute i had to see if you were back few. i'm off to florida tonight and i had to have a look before i went, thankyou for coming back on!

[Brian Taylor]

don't kill yourself, steve. like tobagonians would say:
it's not the end of the world.
glad to have you all back, felt rather cut off and lonely.
can you imagine, i was already visiting other pages out of frustration. none to compare with this one....

[Joe King]

Thank God, I have something interesting to browse on the internet during my coffee break today!!! Do you realise there is nothing else on the god-forsaken internet that even comes close to the quality of this site!!!! Steve this website is now an institution, what do you mean you forgot about us while dealing with paying clients... our compliments should be payment enough for you, you shouldn't have to work for a living too!!!!!


We are getting all excited now, only just over 3 weeks to go until our first trip. Don't tell the missus but I am nearly looking forward to the Honeymoon more than the actual wedding And that is all down to this site!

It really amazes me when I actually think how much work you (Steve) and Jill have put into this site for what appears to be very little reward. All you seem to get is abuse from Steve Pitts!!!!!! (Just Kiddin Steve ) I honestly want to thank you for what you have done here and I hope you keep up the good work. As somebody said in another post recently, Tobago is the only place in the world that I have ever come accross that has such an exhaustive travel guide, provided by yourself, for free!! I can only hope that at some stage in the future the powers that be in Tobago will see fit to reward you suitably for everything you have done for the image of the island.

Now enough of that or your head will begin to swell! Get back to writing your lines for Steve P

[Cornelia Montgomery]

I just noticed that there's now advertising on the site, after the shutdown. Does this change the focus of mytobago?

[Steve Wooler]

Cornelia

There was absolutely no connection between the site being off-line and the introduction of the Google ads. The ads were only introduced late Wednesday night and yesterday morning.

NO, NO, NO - there is absolutely no change of focus on myTobago.

Jill and I cannot – and SHOULD NOT – have to go on dedicating a large chunk of our lives to this site AND having to pay an increasingly large monthly bandwidth charge for getting the pages to your screen. The Google ads are a simple way of recovering some of the direct costs. I get paid a small commission every time you click on one of the Google links. My contract is with Google, not the advertisers, so there's no conflict of interest. See my note in the Notes for New Readers section for full details.

It’s up to you and other readers. We get lots of lovely comment that are really appreciated and spur our efforts, but we need some more practical help too. Show your support by clicking on the links and visiting the advertisers and in doing so, do your bit to help preserve this site.

[Tony Taylor]

God Steve we're going tomorrow. I've been going frantic. Thanks for coming back. I'm settled now. Speak to you on our return with a review.
Tony Taylor