Forum URL has changed by itself

[Petal23]

Please help me to get it back. My original forum URL is https://team.crazyfruits.net but yesterday when I checked it has changed to https://team.forum-motion.com/ the admin panel states that I cannot change it because there is an ongoing SSL being applied to the forum. I want back the original URL I have been using it for many years!!!
Thanks crazyfruits admin

[Ape]

Please read the following thread
https://help.forumotion.com/t155249-only-topic-technical-maintenance-on-forumotion-domains#1072015

Your domain name can not be changed in your ACP the new address is now the one you will be using from now on.

I would send a Email / news letter to all your members to tell them to bookmark the new address so you don't loose members as the old address will not point your members to the new address for that long.

[PoodleyPie]

I read this last night and again this morning and it is still mind-blowing. I don't even know crazyfruits, but I can imagine how she (and others this happens to) feels. So this morning, I clicked on her url it says server not found. I clicked on the new url provided here. It's pretty little forum and has over 3,000 posts. I read her announcement and her profile says she had her forum for nearly 12 years. That's a long-term investment in time.

So now you guys suggest she sends out a newsletter to her (10K+) members. What about her lurkers who haven't become members yet? Or members who don't read newsletters emailed to them or changed their email addresses since 2006? They won't be able to find it.

Did the Forumotion staff who made this policy decision to change names not think to email and warn these members a few weeks ahead of time, and to simply ask what new domain name prefix they might prefer? This would have given them time to make announcements before the deed was done.

I read the link on this thread by APE, and I still don't understand why there can be no redirect. Does this happen to people with a Premium package and their own domain? Last night I was finally ready to buy one, but now I wonder if this could happen to me?

Thank you.

[brandon_g]

Hello,

The reason for the domain name changes is simple: Owning so many domain names costs ALOT of money. In order to cut some costs and continue to evolve as company, it has had to start slowing doing away with the domain names that are not used that often and keep only those most popular.

The reason the re direct isn't permanent, is because Forumotion only controls the domain name until it expires, once it expires they can no longer re direct from that domain name anymore and hence the re direct stops. That is why we highly recommend sending out emails, making announcements on the forum and using social media to make your users aware of the change.

We understand it is inconvinent, but it is something the company must do to help itself stay in business in an ever changing online landscape. We do not update the list in the topic Ape linked to with the sub domain names we will doing away with soon about a month or so in advance. If you ever see your domain name on there, then we recommend to be prepared to start letting users know a change of url will be coming.

Also if you buy a domain name through us, your forum will always re direct to it (as long as the free domain name remains the same). Especially if your free url has one of the main domain names (aka .forumotion.com , .forumotion.net, etc).

I hope this clears it up for you.

-Brandon

[PoodleyPie]

Brandon, I already changed my free forum name once, the day after I got it. The old name still redirects to the new.

I'm not sure, but I thought I read somewhere here that if you change the name a 3rd time, it won't redirect from either the 1st or the 2nd name. Please let me know if my memory on this is accurate, and if so, if I buy a domain with a 3rd name change, would it redirect from the 2nd name?

I'm really sorry you guys are having ballooning costs, like many other places, b/c Forumotion is sooo easy to use and the support is great. It's all very unsettling but IMHO, I think if you give members like Crazyfruits ample warning of an impending url change, you'll have more secure customers.

Btw, where is the monthly list on this site of forums that can expect or have had url changes?

Thanks and good luck.

[brandon_g]

I never heard of such a thing. If you buy a domain name (a custom one, not the free one), it doesn't change your free url, it just makes it re direct to the custom one, the only time said url would no longer re direct is if you either let the custom one expire, or your sub domain is one of the ones we ever dis continue, in which case the new free url would then re direct to the custom one still.

Anyway, bottom line is, if you buy a custom domain name, your free url will re direct to custom one until that custom domain name expires.

As for the list, the entire list as of now, is in the topic Ape linked to above, in the spoilers is ever domain name we are either going to be doing away or already have. Whenever we decide to remove more, we add them to the list and then post that the list was updated. In that way you will know if a sub domain you use will be going away, assuming you check the list whenever it is updated.

-Brandon

[SLGray]

I'm not sure, but I thought I read somewhere here that if you change the name a 3rd time, it won't redirect from either the 1st or the 2nd name. Please let me know if my memory on this is accurate, and if so, if I buy a domain with a 3rd name change, would it redirect from the 2nd name?

You are correct in a way.  There will be a very small period of redirection between the 2nd and 3rd changes.  There will always be a redirection between the 1st and even changes.

[PoodleyPie]

Thanks SLGray.

[SLGray]

What I was referring to were domain names.

If you mean the free extension (forumotion.com) of a forum, then it will stop all redirections after a short period of time.