discuss: who is responsible for the tldp.org domain name
Subject:
Re: [discuss] who is responsible for the tldp.org domain name
From:
Rick Moen ####@####.####
Date:
7 Nov 2008 04:50:42 +0000
Message-Id: <20081107044929.GQ5561@linuxmafia.com>
Quoting Guylhem Aznar ####@####.####
> Hello
Hi, Guylhem!
> The domain is registered for TLDP, which means in case of a dispute
> (ex: I go evil and want it to make banner websites) TLDP gets it
> I did however kept my email address to be informed about potential
> problems (most of my old domains are stll valid, and I receive a lot
> of spam due to this but I prefer making it easier for people to get in
> touch with me)
Yes, that's approximately how I would have done it, too, FWIW.
> Yet in some cases something happen (say I get stuck by a car, eaten by
> a lion, whatever) this is my metalab email, managed by ibiblio - I'm
> sure they can set a .forward until the domains things are arranged.
Again, for whatever it's worth (FWIW), at SVLUG we found that relying on
aliases (or any other form of mail redirection) for domain contacts
has both advantages and risks, but you have to be very careful of the
latter.
A (generous, well-intentioned) volunteer had set up _all_ of the
contacts (Registrant, Technical, Administrative, and Billing) for both
domains (svlug.org and svlug.net) to be aliases within her own mail
domain, the MTA for which initially did reflect the incoming mail to
desired end-recipients. One problem was that she alone had the ability
to inspect and determine where, at any given time, those contacts'
mailboxes redirected _to_. The rest of us had no visibility into how
that mail would be routed -- except throught the rather inadequate
mechanism of sending test messages to the publicly-displayed addresses,
and asking whoever received them (if anyone) to please reply back.
Later, she inadvertantly screwed up her aliases file during a system
rebuild, rendering all the aliases simultaneously undeliverable --
again, without anyone being able to see the problem. That was the
incident I described where the group nearly lost svlug.org -- and would
have, if I hadn't been checking domain expiration dates independently.
Later still, she repaired the aliases handler, and redefined where all
the aliases went, without telling anyone. Once again, we figured this
out only by sending test messages and attempting to trace them.
In the wake of all these unpleasant surprises, once I finally got
administrative control of SVLUG's domains, I banished all such "role"
e-mail accounts -- except one.
As you'll see if you check WHOIS for svlug.org/svlug.net, the Registrant
and Billing contact is ####@####.#### for both domains -- but the
other two contacts' mail goes to two active Internet users' direct
mailboxes that they monitor frequently.
> Initially I paid the domains as a gift for the LDP, after this sad
> cybersquatting story by one of your owns, but I can't remember about
> registrering for so long. Anyway my suggestion is to renew it every
> years, to be able to think about it time to time. (you'd have to miss
> 7 renewals in a raw to fail!)
Excellent idea.
Thank you, Guylhem!
