domains Marketing giant Marketo forgets to renew domain name. Hilarity ensues

[Kate]

Marketing giant Marketo forgets to renew domain name. Hilarity ensues

Red faces all round at dotcom after emails, tracking links go TITSUP

With a perfect dose of irony, a biz that sells automated marketing software online failed to automatically renew its dotcom.

Silicon Valley-based Marketo started receiving customer complaints Tuesday morning that its reporting systems weren't working.

Since the corp's marketing emails use "marketo.com" links to track user interactions, suddenly every hyperlink, image and form in millions of client emails went dead. The company's main website vanished, so clients were unable to log in to their accounts, and its apps failed.
...
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/07/26/marketo_forgot_to_renew_domain/

 

[bobbarato]

So the article says a good guy customer paid the renewal fee. I am assuming the domain was just a day past expiration and well within the grace period. I did not know one could do that.

I expect they will renew for the full 10 years and keep it topped up now? (who.is sill shows 2017 expiry and icann.org says it is too busy)

 

[anantj]

So the article says a good guy customer paid the renewal fee. I am assuming the domain was just a day past expiration and well within the grace period. I did not know one could do that.

I expect they will renew for the full 10 years and keep it topped up now? (who.is sill shows 2017 expiry and icann.org says it is too busy)

I was wondering the same. Further, how could someone else randomly pay for that domain's renewal and reinstatement? NS allows this?

 

[Kate]

Some registrars allow you to renew domain names, without using the control panel. It can be useful in emergencies like this.

 

[Dmytro]

I expect they will renew for the full 10 years

Registry Expiry Date: 2024-07-23

 

[canswift]

This is actually quite sad... and very (unfortunately) indicative of the "value" that many companies seem to place on one of their most valuable assets, their domain name. No form of digital asset management in place, because of course we can always get another domain name for $10...

 

[Lyle]

Reminds me of when some guy owned "google.com" for 1 minute.

 

[Jv1999]

I was about to yell and scream that you are all fails as domainers if none of u caught marketo.com (because I am VIP AND I CAN DO THAT NOW :D)

but if it was in grace period, I guess I can let u off the hook <3.

But IMAGINE HOW MUCH MONEY YOU COULD SELL IT FOR IF U CAUGHT IT LOLOLOL! I wouldn't mind being called a cybersquatting bottomfeeding scaliwag if I could sit at my laptop in bed with a huge grin replying to their email with: "1 billion dollars OR NO DEAL!" Kek.

 

[drakeholm]

This is actually quite sad... and very (unfortunately) indicative of the "value" that many companies seem to place on one of their most valuable assets, their domain name. No form of digital asset management in place, because of course we can always get another domain name for $10...

I worked in the data dept once for one of the biggest print newspapers in the u.s.
Imagine my shock when the renewal came to my personal company email Addy. Nobody knew the end user for this task bcoz the parent company H.R. and the management staff had sliced and diced its way thru so many shakeups & reorgs, mergers and changes of top administrators amid scandals. Pulitzer level.

At this time the digital footprint of this West Coast newspaper was just being mapped out, but the .com was absolutely part of its brand identity and had received heavy advertising & promotion. The market was and is huge.
If I had been a different kind of person I could have changed a few data points and purchased a multi million dollar dotcom for 15 bucks.

Talk about the landing page surprise of a lifetime! The stock price would have plummeted.

Some days I am still not sure why I didn't. The ransom for the transfer back, and to keep the whole thing quiet, could have put me sailing on a yacht for the rest of my days.

 

[anantj]

Some days I am still not sure why I didn't. The ransom for the transfer back, and to keep the whole thing quiet, could have put me sailing on a yacht for the rest of my days.

Or possibly at the wrong end of a lawsuit/jail time

 

[drakeholm]

too true!

 

[RegBoss]

I worked in the data dept once for one of the biggest print newspapers in the u.s.
Imagine my shock when the renewal came to my personal company email Addy. Nobody knew the end user for this task bcoz the parent company H.R. and the management staff had sliced and diced its way thru so many shakeups & reorgs, mergers and changes of top administrators amid scandals. Pulitzer level.

At this time the digital footprint of this West Coast newspaper was just being mapped out, but the .com was absolutely part of its brand identity and had received heavy advertising & promotion. The market was and is huge.
If I had been a different kind of person I could have changed a few data points and purchased a multi million dollar dotcom for 15 bucks.

Talk about the landing page surprise of a lifetime! The stock price would have plummeted.

Some days I am still not sure why I didn't. The ransom for the transfer back, and to keep the whole thing quiet, could have put me sailing on a yacht for the rest of my days.

Well you are here to tell the story and not wearing a set of cement boots.......... I am sure some of us could have done a lot of things differently, including myself.