Forum URL changed!!!!

by Kami-sama March 7th 2018, 12:14 pm

Technical Details

Forum version : #phpBB2
Position : Founder
Concerned browser(s) : Google Chrome
Who the problem concerns : Yourself
Forum link : http://hogas.huhohi.com/

Description of problem

Okey, this is a really big problem!!!

Forum URL was always (for almost 10 years now) : hogas.huhohi.com
Now it redirects to: http://hogas.latvianforum.net
And even with credits there is no way to get the old URL.
SO, excuse my language, but WTF?

We are not even in LATVIA!!! This is really a HUGE problem. HUHOHI is what we are known for. And not to mention all scripts that are used with links. This is a BIG issue. I have not done any changes myself. This is detrimental!
No emails, no notice. How can you do this??

by **brandon_g** March 7th 2018, 2:17 pm

Hello,

We are sorry for the inconvience, some of the domain names we use arent going to be available anymore on our service, so we had to move over forums to new urls. The old urls will re direct to the new one for awhile and no loss of seo will occur either.

-Brandon

by Kami-sama March 7th 2018, 2:52 pm

But is it that hard to give heads up?? This is not a small change! This is BIG. Do you understand?
Also, why even with credits it is not possible to get such domain as before? (typing in hogas.huhohi suggests hogas.com instead of hogas.huhohi.com)? Can this be fixed???

by **brandon_g** March 7th 2018, 2:59 pm

I don't know why they didn't announce it. I am just a volunteer, we do not decide such things. All we been told is that the domain names are not going to be available on our service at all, ever again. There is nothing that can be done to change it back.

Sorry about this. Sad

-Brandon

by Kami-sama March 7th 2018, 3:23 pm

What about credits option for domain? Why does not it allow to have such domain? (with period)

by **brandon_g** March 7th 2018, 3:35 pm

I dont know, its just not going to be an option. I think the reason is because they cant just have 1 or 2 forums use the domain name, they would have pay to renew the entire domain name on their system, and if they did that, it would defeat the purpose making the changes in the first place.

We are sorry, but its just not possible to get the old domain back, with or without credits. Sad

-Brandon

by Kami-sama March 7th 2018, 3:43 pm

If the problem would be duplicate, it clearly says that such name is in use.
That is not the case here. PERIOD in general is not allowed.

Well then what other workarounds could be here?
This is not acceptable.

by Guest March 7th 2018, 4:03 pm

Hello,

Well, @Kami-sama this is a decision taken by the head office of Forumotion and there's nothing that can be done to restore the domain as it's something they've done. There's a redirection to the new domain and there's no loss on the SEO, so if you want my opinion from user to user, the thing to do is just adapt and try to change everything to adapt to the new domain.

I do understand your frustration and complaints, but the best thing to do is to look forward and move on. As you've been explained there's nothing to do, so it's useless to keep complaining as there's anything to be done or changed.

by Kami-sama March 7th 2018, 4:14 pm

mpelmmc wrote:Hello,

Well, @Kami-sama this is a decision taken by the head office of Forumotion and there's nothing that can be done to restore the domain as it's something they've done. There's a redirection to the new domain and there's no loss on the SEO, so if you want my opinion from user to user, the thing to do is just adapt and try to change everything to adapt to the new domain.

I do understand your frustration and complaints, but the best thing to do is to look forward and move on. As you've been explained there's nothing to do, so it's useless to keep complaining as there's anything to be done or changed.

I do understand decision and that is fine. MY main concern now is that it does not allow PERIOD symbol in domain purchase via credits. That does not make sense.

Furthermore, maybe they will decide just to delete the forum all together with no notice. That could happen too. I feel no trust with forumotion now. Decisions are fine as long as the users are informed. This cannot be let down lightly.

by **brandon_g** March 7th 2018, 4:25 pm

The forums are not going to be deleted. That will NEVER happen. The reason for the domain changes is purely because it is not economically feasible to keeps hundreds of variations of domain names anymore. Forumotion has to pay for each of those domain names every single year, it is just not feasible anymore.

The reason you can not buy it with credits system is because that system is designed for custom domain names (example: hogas.com , hogas.net , etc) you can not buy a sub domain name. Which is what the free domain name is, its a domain name forumotion already owns and they add your forum name in front of it. Forumotion is not going to be renewing the old domain name ending (huhohi.com) when it expires, hence they can no longer use it as either a sub domain or re direction.

I am truly sorry, but it is impossible to keep your old one. Only choice is either keep the one it re directs to now, or choose a different one that is going to still be available on our system.

by Kami-sama March 7th 2018, 4:30 pm

The problem is not the decision, but non existent communication! That is my point. As a user, I do not know what to expect from you now. Decision is understandable and logical, but no notice is UNACCEPTABLE.

So, how long will the redirection work? When will it stop?
Also, if I change the URL now (in admin panel main -> forum address) to at least not say "Latvian" will the redirection still work? People, give us information! This is not a color change or something small. This changes everything. I need information. There is still not even an announcement about this.

by **brandon_g** March 7th 2018, 4:34 pm

I understand your frustation on the no announcement thing, but it is not my decision whether to post or not an announcement. I have expressed that there should have been some announcment, I agree with that 100%. Like I said its not my or any of the volunteers here decision on that. If it was up to me, there would have been an announcement, but it is not.

All I can tell you is, I am sorry about the domain name thing and sorry there was no announcement. Other then that, there is nothing more I can say. Sad

-Brandon

by Kami-sama March 7th 2018, 4:36 pm

Brandon, I fully understand you. I hope you will pass on my points to people who do announcements or anyone else.

I will still wait on answers to these questions:

So, how long will the redirection work? When will it stop?
Also, if I change the URL now (in admin panel main -> forum address) to at least not say "Latvian" will the redirection still work?

by **brandon_g** March 7th 2018, 4:40 pm

I will try to find out about that last part for you.

Edit: The current re direct will last until the huhohi.com domain name expires (not sure when that is). I am inquiring about if you change the ending will the re direct continue to work or not. I or another staff member will get back to you as soon as I or they have more info on it.

I appreciate your patience.

by **SLGray** March 7th 2018, 11:58 pm

If you change the address of your frum (forum1.forumactif.com > forum2.forumactif.com) there is a redirection, but if you change it again ( > forum3.forumactif.com ), the redirection from forum1.for... won't work anymore.

by **brandon_g** March 8th 2018, 1:49 am

I have news on this, so current re direct will end March 22nd in your case. If you change the ending to the domain to something else we will still support, the re direct will no longer work.

-Brandon

by Kami-sama March 8th 2018, 11:55 am

Wow... fun. So Latvian until 22nd great.

by **The Godfather** March 9th 2018, 12:31 pm

Hello,

For information, since early March 2018, we have started technical maintenance on some Forumotion base domaion names.

In order to guarantee the availability and the stability of the forums which these domains enter in the composition of their Internet addresses, we will carry out a transfer of these forums on the default language domain of the forum (For example: Forumotion.com if the forum default language is English, serbianforum.info if the forum default language is Serbian,...etc) or other domains when the chosen final URL is not available.

Here is the list of concerned domains for the month of March 2018. (This list is not exhaustive and will evolve every month throughout 2018).

See the concerned domains:

Note that forums having a personalized domain name acquired via Forumotion and having forced the URL redirection will not be affected by this transfer which will be completely transparent.

We apologize for the inconvenience :rose:

@Kami-sama i send you a private message with a solution for your problem Wink

by Kami-sama March 11th 2018, 9:59 pm

Another thing. In administrative panel Main > Forum Address
I cannot change "latvian" to "forumlt" because such already exists.
Why I have only 2 options? Are there any other non-country related domains?
Is my only option custom URL via credits or self bought?

by **SLGray** March 11th 2018, 10:05 pm

The options were remove awhile ago.

by Kami-sama March 11th 2018, 10:07 pm

A while ago I was not forced on one of them. If I am forced on a link, it should at least be correct one.

by **Ape** March 11th 2018, 11:51 pm

Kami-sama wrote:
Why I have only 2 options? Are there any other non-country related domains?
Is my only option custom URL via credits or self bought?

There is no other domains other then the ones listed as country related All of the other domain names are getting removed as we have already said you can now only pick from the ones listed on your ACP

If you want your own address you will have to buy credits and then buy your own domain name and keep it updated each year.

Sadly there is NO other way sorry.

by **The Godfather** March 12th 2018, 2:40 pm

Hello,

Kami-sama wrote:Why I have only 2 options? Are there any other non-country related domains? Is my only option custom URL via credits or self bought?

The goal is to group the forums on the most used domains to facilitate their management and maintenance especially with regard to SSL certificates and future package updates.

If your forum has a domain name acquired through Forumotion and the redirection of the base URL is forced to the personal domain, the change of base URL will be transparent and not visible that's why we recommend using a custom domain name Wink

Forum URL changed!!!!