Status report

[Shelwien]

1. encode.su domain name is currently owned by "webmaster".
2. domain name expired on 2019-05-19
3. webmaster was last seen on 2019-04-19 on another forum, 15 here - https://encode.su/members/554-webmaster

4. Adding "78.46.93.39 encode.su" to hosts works
5. I attempted to modify phproxy to access encode.su by ip, but failed since phproxy works with HTTP/1.0 and server requires 1.1+, otherwise returns 403.
6. Asked registrar (nic.ru) to pay for domain extension without change of ownership, but they don't allow this.
7. on 2019-06-19 it would become possible to buy the domain again, but there's auction and possible competition from squatters.

8. Managed to download forum scripts+attaches and mysql dump
9. Now trying to make a clone at another location

[Shelwien]

Ok, with evil hacks and power of money, we made it work.

[encode]

Yep, money talks...

[load]

thanks for bringing it back!

[elit]

Shelwien, I don't know if it is viable considering long time established domain, but if something like encode.su.eu.org would be ok for free, reliable and without spam or any shady practices, then I can recommend this: https://nic.eu.org/
I already run our NIC through them for years and never had a single issue. As long as encode is non-profit(as it is I believe) its great free alternative(unless that multi suffix is unacceptable). You wouldn't have to worry about expiry date anymore(among other things).

[xinix]

Shelwien, I don't know if it is viable considering long time established domain, but if something like encode.su.eu.org would be ok for free, reliable and without spam or any shady practices, then I can recommend this: https://nic.eu.org/
I already run our NIC through them for years and never had a single issue. As long as encode is non-profit(as it is I believe) its great free alternative(unless that multi suffix is unacceptable). You wouldn't have to worry about expiry date anymore(among other things).

Thank!
_
But.

The problem is not the date.
The problem is that people disappear!

[Shelwien]

@elit: free domain registration was never really an issue, unless there's also free php/mysql site hosting.
Atm I don't see how to setup this forum to work forever without active maintenance,
so disappearance of people doing that maintenance would always be a problem.

[CompressMaster]

Why this domain isn´t owned by encode or Shelwien? Encode is the founder of this forum, so it should have FULL access to domain, hosting and CMS.

[Shelwien]

The domain was originally owned by encode, but at some point he forgot to pay for it and it expired, similar to this time.
webmaster bought it and hosts the forum for free since then.
Since webmaster disappeared, this time we could wait until end of june and re-buy it, but it seemed better to get forum to work right away.
If webmaster doesn't return, in a few weeks, we might have problems again, presuming his server can't work forever on its own.

[encode]

Well, it was not exactly that I forgot to pay for the domain many years ago - I tried to change the domain provider that way. I didn't expect that the domain will be available through the auction only for the insane price...

[moisesmcardona]

Probably use a domain catching service? Don't know if they work for .ru domains, but there's a change of getting the domain especially when backordering it from several services at the same time. You get charged only for the service that caught it. Used Snapnames.com to get a .com domain I also let expire and after a few years it was going to get dropped. I successfully got it back. Not sure if it may work in this case.

[CompressMaster]

Since webmaster disappeared, this time we could wait until end of june and re-buy it, but it seemed better to get forum to work right away.

The domain is currently paid till 2020 - I don´t think so that it´s possible.