Author Topic: Update on Refstripes.com (Read 5591 times)

Grant - AR · « **on:** June 20, 2018, 10:47:07 AM »

First, I want to apologize for Refstripes.com being down over the past few weeks. With the passing of Rulesman (Bob Dunham), the expiration of the domain registration was something that was not planned for. Toward the end of his long battle with cancer, he worked with me to plan for everything we could think of, but that was something that slipped through the cracks. I take full responsibility for that and am very sorry.

Thanks to a saint (Bob's wife), the domain was renewed and the site is back up and running. After jumping through many, many hoops with GoDaddy, she was able to get the site registered again. I will be moving the site out of Bob's name in the next few days so we won't have to deal with this again in a year. You can probably imagine how much I hated to contact Mrs. Dunahm about this, but I know Bob wanted it to continue. She was amazing and so helpful when I spoke with her about it. She did more than was expected and I am very thankful to her.

I began working on this the day the site went down, and thanks to GoDaddy.com, it took almost 3 weeks to get it back up and running again. I never imagined such a simple process could be so difficult. I also don't know how GoDaddy stays in business with the level of customer service they showed me and Mrs. Dunham through this. We were told several times that they just couldn't help us. In a nutshell, if you are planning to register a domain, I would suggest literally anyone other than GoDaddy.com.

As far as moving forward is concerned, nothing major is planned in the near future with the current discussion board. If you guys see anything that is not working, needs to be added, or needs attention, please reply in this thread or send me a personal message (click on my name and then click on "Send PM" on the left side of the screen). Also, if you have any ideas on how to make the site better, please let me know. We currently have two admins (me and Big Don) and will probably add a couple more soon to make sure we can give the board the attention is deserves.

Any feedback, suggestions, etc. is greatly appreciated. This is our board. I want to make it great for all of us.

Ralph Damren · « **Reply #1 on:** June 20, 2018, 11:07:50 AM »

My deep thanks, Carol, for all your hard work in bringing Refstripes back. A lyric from a popular song in my daze of youth was : "....you don't know what you'll miss 'til it's gone." Has rang true for me, and I'm sure, many of my forum friends. Here you are known as Carol1995 but to me ,you are known as Carol the Lazerius (a Biblical figure that came back from the dead).

MANY THANKS

bossman72 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 20, 2018, 11:14:11 AM »

Thank you Carol for your hard work! I like using bluehost.com for my hosting, if you ever considering moving this site (although it would probably be more trouble than it's worth).

ETXZebra · « **Reply #3 on:** June 20, 2018, 11:31:33 AM »

Thank you!!!! I've been lost without Refstripes.

Grant - AR · « **Reply #4 on:** June 20, 2018, 11:50:14 AM »

Quote from: bossman72 on June 20, 2018, 11:14:11 AM

I like using bluehost.com for my hosting, if you ever considering moving this site (although it would probably be more trouble than it's worth).

I'm not using GoDaddy for the hosting...only the registration.

stevegarbs · « **Reply #5 on:** June 20, 2018, 01:52:36 PM »

Thank you for all of the hard work continuing this very useful resource!

GA Umpire · « **Reply #6 on:** June 20, 2018, 02:58:25 PM »

Quote from: stevegarbs on June 20, 2018, 01:52:36 PM

Thank you for all of the hard work continuing this very useful resource!

Ditto!!!

AlUpstateNY · « **Reply #7 on:** June 20, 2018, 03:38:41 PM »

Thank you carol1995 for your perseverance, and foresight in working with Bob Dunham to keep this truly valuable reference going. If you have the opportunity. please extend sincere condolences to Mrs. Dunham, along with grateful thanks for her support and assistance provided over the years. As hopefully most of us eventually realize, an Official's wife is usually a twin to a Military wife, in that it's a path they can't escape walking with us and supporting our interest.

OSU65 · « **Reply #8 on:** June 20, 2018, 08:03:55 PM »

I am not a referee, and am not really a rabid sports fan, but I check out this site on occasion to get responses from actual officials in regards to college football plays I have seen. An example would be the Ohio State vs Miami pass interference call many years ago.

Is there a need, and a way, to provide financial support to keep this site going? I really do appreciate being able to get opinions from referees vs the "experts" that seem to know it all. You guys take way too much abuse from fans and commentators that almost always do not have a clue regarding the rules.

To the referees out there. Best of luck with the upcoming season, and remember to call 'em like you see 'em, without bias.

bama_stripes · « **Reply #9 on:** June 21, 2018, 05:46:30 AM »

Thanks for your efforts, Carol, exasperating though they have been. I would have hated to see such a valuable resource go dark permanently.

Hezekiah · « **Reply #10 on:** June 21, 2018, 09:19:15 AM »

Thank you for your efforts - much appreciated.

Grant - AR · « **Reply #11 on:** June 21, 2018, 11:04:54 AM »

Quote from: OSU65 on June 20, 2018, 08:03:55 PM

Is there a need, and a way, to provide financial support to keep this site going?

OSU65, there is a small need to pay the bills around here. We used to have a subscriber's section that covered the costs. I'll try to get that back up and running soon.

Kalle · « **Reply #12 on:** June 21, 2018, 04:20:57 PM »

Quote from: carol1995 on June 21, 2018, 11:04:54 AM

OSU65, there is a small need to pay the bills around here. We used to have a subscriber's section that covered the costs. I'll try to get that back up and running soon.

If you can't get that back up, just let me know how I can send you the money. I haven't been a subscriber for a while but realized during the downtime that this is an important part of my football officiating experience.

Thank you for continuing this, and do let Mrs. Dunham know how much we appreciate her efforts.

goodgrr · « **Reply #13 on:** June 22, 2018, 03:33:03 AM »

Great to have the site back. Thanks for the work and please pass on my condolences too.

If you are adding further mods, please consider Kalle. Having someone in a different continent will help give improved coverage. I haven't discussed this with him, so he may not even want to!

Kalle · « **Reply #14 on:** June 22, 2018, 05:56:05 AM »

Quote from: goodgrr on June 22, 2018, 03:33:03 AM

If you are adding further mods, please consider Kalle. Having someone in a different continent will help give improved coverage. I haven't discussed this with him, so he may not even want to!

Umm...

I'm not a really good moderator, as I'm pretty vocal and opinionated, but if you need administrators (clean up spam, help users, etc), I would be willing to help (this has been such an excellent officiating tool that I would like to help any way I can).

Grant - AR · « **Reply #15 on:** June 22, 2018, 08:42:30 AM »

Quote from: goodgrr on June 22, 2018, 03:33:03 AM

Great to have the site back. Thanks for the work and please pass on my condolences too.

If you are adding further mods, please consider Kalle. Having someone in a different continent will help give improved coverage. I haven't discussed this with him, so he may not even want to!

That's a great idea. Thanks, goodgrr!

Kalle, I'll get in touch with you within the next week or so when I have a little time to tell you what all it involves.

Patrick E. · « **Reply #16 on:** June 22, 2018, 08:01:43 PM »

Thank you for all your work.

Etref · « **Reply #17 on:** June 22, 2018, 09:07:00 PM »

I sent you a pm

ElvisLives · « **Reply #18 on:** June 23, 2018, 10:32:35 PM »

Great to see Refstripes back up and running. Missed it a lot. Appreciate the hard work, Carol. Express our gratitude and condolences to Ms. Dunham.

Robert

prosec34 · « **Reply #19 on:** June 25, 2018, 10:04:12 PM »

My deepest thanks to Carol and Bob's wife for their efforts to continue the site. There are so many people like myself who utilize this board even though we may not post a lot. It's a great resource, and I'm glad to see it continuing.

js in sc · « **Reply #20 on:** June 29, 2018, 07:36:56 PM »

My sincere thanks to Carol and Mrs Dunham for reviving this site. I have been in withdrawal for 3 weeks and just to see the site up and running again is a great relief. We all owe these ladies a debt of gratitude for this resurrection.