Picturesheffield.com is suspended!!!

The library services have failed to renew their subscription and the site has been suspended.

Now what will we do? All those dead hyperlinks :(

Never knew it existed Strix :shakes:

Did it have historical pictures on ? Old Sheffield, new Sheffield etc

Yeah - and the data base is searchable. Hundreds of old photies of Sheffield. There's loads of hyperlinks to it (and specific pages) on the forum, so those threads will lose some context.

Bummer !

Have sent an email to libraries@sheffield.gov.uk so that they are aware that someone hasnt been paying their bills and to take action :P

Originally posted by rtapper
Bummer !

Have sent an email to libraries@sheffield.gov.uk so that they are aware that someone hasnt been paying their bills and to take action :P That's what the website says has already happened automatically :(

According to a WHOIS lookup, the admin contact for billing etc for picturesheffield.com is as follows. Maybe the contact details are out of date / the guy has moved on / who knows whate else may have happened to produce a failure to communicate ?!

Administrative, Technical Contact: TOTALNIC-68934 (WEBMASTER@HOIMAGES.CO.UK)
Ken Potter

5 Towers Court
Blackburn Lancs BB2 2JQ
GB

Telephone: 01254664464
Fax:

That's pretty amateur to allow that to happen....

Now, let me check my own domains...;)

Joe

flippin eck i only just discovered this the other day :(

Just checked the whois of the domain registrar and it claims that the domain registration does not expire for another 11 and a bit months. It says:-

PacNames Whois Server Version 1.1.0
Domain name: PICTURESHEFFIELD.COM
Registrar: PacNames
Referral URL: http://www.pacnames.com/
Domain Registrant: TOTALNIC-93026 (REGISTRANT@PICTURESHEFFIELD.COM)
Sheffield Central Library
Surrey Street
Sheffield Yorks
S1 1XZ GB
Telephone: +00.00000000 Fax: +00.00000000
Administrative, Technical Contact: TOTALNIC-68934 (WEBMASTER@HOIMAGES.CO.UK)
Ken Potter
5 Towers Court
Blackburn Lancs
BB2 2JQ
GB
Telephone: 01254664464
Fax:
Name Server: NS1.PACNAMES.COM
Name Server: NS2.PACNAMES.COM
Domain creation date: 2002-12-03 21:11:34.0
Domain expiration date: 2005-12-01 16:43:24.0

The important bit is the last line wich gives an expiration date of 1/12/2005

Maybe somebody should phone Ken Potter.

Originally posted by JoePritchard
That's pretty amateur to allow that to happen....

Now, let me check my own domains...;)

Joe


This very nearly happened to us with one of our more important domains this month. Turned out I was using a dead email addy for emails from the registrar.


As for picturesheffield.com, I too wasn't aware of the site. All I get is a host not found error.

That's a poor show. I hope their site is back up soon (OK, I realise it's their domain and not their site but does anyone know their IP?).

Please come back soon!
-This site will be dearly missed!

Do you think it will come back?
I hope so.

Angel x

Just come back to Sheffield and found this in my inbox from the people at the library, dated 23rd December...

=========

Dear Rudi Tapper

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the www.picturesheffield.com service.
The issues you have experienced in accessing the link to this service have
been caused by problems with the internet domain registration company. This
is a situation that is outside of the council's control but please be
reassured that we are doing all we can to remedy this. We are in the
process of re-registering the site and are hoping to get the link
re-established within the next 24 hours. If this is not possible, the link
should be up and running again after Xmas.
Sheffield Libraries, Archives and Information apologise for this situation
and would like to emphasise that the Picture Sheffield service has not
ceased to exist. It is still available within the Central Library building
for people who are able to access it this way.
I can only extend my apologies again, on behalf of the Library Service, and
hope that you will continue to enjoy using the Picture Sheffield site as
soon as it is back in action.

It's not the domain that's the problem, it's its nameservers. Should have used springaction (http://www.springaction.co.uk) ... :thumbsup:

Originally posted by ncrossland
It's not the domain that's the problem, it's its nameservers.

Nope. The problem is with taking a .com name when they didn't need it. Should have gone for a .org.uk domain name for two reasons:-

1. It's not a commercial operation but a UK non-profit organisation, and

2. Nominet (the UK domain registration authority) is a heck of a lot friendlier and easier to deal with if your registration agent is giving you a hard time.

Oh, and by the way, why did they make someone in Blackburn (Lancashire!!) the admin contact for the domain. Nuts.

Originally posted by superCol
Nope. The problem is with taking a .com name when they didn't need it. Should have gone for a .org.uk domain name for two reasons:-

1. It's not a commercial operation but a UK non-profit organisation, and

2. Nominet (the UK domain registration authority) is a heck of a lot friendlier and easier to deal with if your registration agent is giving you a hard time.

Oh, and by the way, why did they make someone in Blackburn (Lancashire!!) the admin contact for the domain. Nuts.

The problem isn't the domain name (which isn't expired when I looked today) it's the DNS servers the domain is pointing at which don't reference the correct server.

There's no reason they shouldn't have a dot com, but for the sake of a couple of quid, they should really register both (or indeed a range of TLDs).

The contact in Blackburn appears to be for a company specialising in historical photographic archives - probably the contractor providing the site.