Ok, this could go in Tails of Fail, but this is important, so a new topic is necessary.

If you have a .com , .org or similar domain name, ICANN is requiring you to verify your contact details. This will be in the form of an email sent to the address in the WHOIS data.

I missed one because the domain is very old, and the contact email was similarly ancient. The ICANN email was sent to an email address I no longer use. So my site went blank today. After some hair tearing moment,s and a chat with support for my web hosting, I was able to go to the registrar of my domain, edit the WHOIS and get the verification email sent to my current email address.

I got my website came back.

My support guy told me that a lot of people are being flummoxed by this - and the less technically minded they are, the worse it is. I'll be dropping a note to my clients with .com and .org domains to alert them to this and to look out for an email about this.

What happens if the data in the WHOIS hasn't changed?

Mark

What about .co.uk?

So what happens if my ISP is my registrar? Do ICANN check with them or email me direct?
Whois says details have to be changed with the registrar. Being my ISP, all my details are correct with my registrar, so I shouldn't have to do anything, right?

The emails seem to go to the contact email address in the WHOIS data. In my case, it would have been my old Demon email address that's been dead for over a decade.

The email should come from the registrar, with a link for you to click to verify the email address is correct.

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/compl ... rification

What happens if you don't verify your email is that your site will go dark, and will be replaced by a placeholder page saying that it needs verification.

So check the WHOIS data for any domain you own, make sure it's all upto date. If it's not, your registrar should provide a facility for you to correct it. You should contact them about this.

Even if your ISP and registrar are the same entity, this will still need to be done. It's ICANN being picky and making sure that the data is all up to date.

.co.uk is a different authority, so that should not be affected. Still work making sure that all is in order, just in case Nominet decides to go down the same route.

I checked with another provider who I have a domain with, and they say their emails will go out to the contact email addresses in their customer database, not the one in WHOIS. So it looks like it depends who your domains are hosted with and how they administer their data, it seems.