kellydog ( )

Date: October 22, 2012 02:28PM Posted by:Date: October 22, 2012 02:28PM

Hello,



I am, (or was) the owner of www.realmormonhistory.com.



I used to be active with the exmormon.org group 10-15 years ago, particularly with the Yahoogroups email list.



I'm looking for help from anyone who can help me solve a mystery.



I discovered that my website was gone in late July or early August. At first I thought that maybe I'd accidently let the renewal lapse, but I checked my credit card statements and found that I'd renewed the domain on March 1, 2011 for what I recall was a term of 10 years (It was an Austrailian registrar (www.Techsupport-web.com) and the charge was $90.00 Australian).



I emailed the Australian registrar, as they didn't have a telephone contact number on their website. They didn't respond at the time.



Then, just 10 days ago, I emailed them again, asking them why my website was gone even though I have record of payment. They responded and said that their system showed that the order was cancelled due to a credit card chargeback. They said that a Chargeback Notice was sent to the billing contact (me) and that the domain name was deleted from their system at that time and that they no longer managed that domain name.



I scoured my credit card statements, both online and paper. There was no charge back listed anywhere. Besides, the website was up and running until mid-summer 2012, more than a year after the time that the registrar claimed that the domain name was deleted from their system.



On October 13th, I wrote back requesting that they send me a copy of the supposed Chargeback Notice. They said they'd contact the credit card processor and see if they still had detailed records "after all this time".



I didn't hear back from them, so on October 19th, I asked them

for a copy of my last invoice from March 1st, 2011. I got a response back a few hours later that said "We're sorry we ar in the process of closing down, however I'll try to get somebody to follow this up for you".



The next morning, I went to their website and found that after 13 years of being the registrar of my domain, their website was a single page that said "We're sorry our service has closed due to the effects of the Global Financial Crisis. We apologize for the inconvenience".



This has all been upsetting to me. I spent a hell of a long time collecting and organizing all the information on my website and for many years it appeared at the number 1 spot on Google searches of 'Mormon history'. It's been a labor of personal conviction, entirely financed by myself and the only compensation I ever received was not in cash, but the satisfaction that maybe it helped a person or two understand some of the more obscure parts of Mormon history.



Thirteen years an active website, and then 3 months before the fist ever Presidential election with a Mormon on the ballot, my site mysteriously disappears, with no valid explanation from the registar, which closes it's business a week after I pressure them to give me records and a valid explanation. I'm not the paranoid type.. I just want answers. My belief is that had it not gone away, it would be logging a record number of visitors during this run up to the election.



I'm not sure where to go from here. I called a law firm that speciallizes in domain theft etc. They offer a service where they'll basicaly write a threatening letter to the current holder of a domain, demanding it back. The service costs $950.00 but I don't know if it would fix the damage, as search engine placement will never be the same even if the domain were to be recovered.



I'd really like to get to the bottom of this if anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or resources.



Thank You,

Kelly - Former owner of www.realmormonhistory.com