How to transfer an inactive website to new owner.
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One of my colleagues set up a website at wordpress.com but he left 3 years ago and can not be contacted any more.
because this website is now over 3 years inactive we would like to take over this website but i can not find how to organize this.
Also WordPress hosting can not be contacted by email and i don’t how to contact them in another way.
Can anybody help me with transferring this website or to delete it so we can create a new website or how i can contact WordPress about this.The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Blogs at WordPress.com are the property of the users who register them, unless ownership is transferred to another user: http://en.support.wordpress.com/moving-a-blog/#transferring-your-blog-to-another-user-or-account
If the owner has lost access to his WordPress.com account, he can regain access by visiting https://en.wordpress.com/wp-login.php?action=lostpassword and clicking “Need More Help?” if necessary.
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The original user can’t be contacted any more and the account is inactive for over 3 years. And the content of the website breach property rules as he is not authorized any more to use that website. But without finding this person we can delete the account without the help of wordpress.
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What I quoted earlier is a staff reply in this thread https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/employee-left-and-took-all-info-for-wordpress-blog-with-him?replies=13
Regarding your site: Is that person still posting to the site without authorization (ie impersonation), which could be the basis for a ToS violation? I assume it is not the site that you linked to in your first post, as that site is empty (started in 2011). What is the site URL you refer to?
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But you CAN register a new site, use a custom domain, and quickly outrank the old site in search results. Do that.
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The site is inactive for over 3 years.
I’m the official spokesperson of the Phuket Immigration Volunteers and therefore we are trying to gain access or to delete the website as it breach our property / copyright rules. ( i don’t know which is more accurate )
The website is http://www.phuketimmigrationvolunteers.wordpress.com
We are creating a new website (main URL without wordpress) but we try to avoid confusion for our costumers. -
If you can’t do a TOS service – the staff WILL NOT delete a blog – I did see ONE blog that was set to private where I think to old owner had lost access and could not get in or the blog was some company name – anyway – the staff will not give the blog to you no matter what from what I have seen in the forum, nor will they delete a blog for you just because you want it deleted
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If it’s been inactive three years it will take you about a week to outrank it if you simply start a new site with a custom domain.
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@gerarteuben Please go to https://en.wordpress.com/wp-login.php?action=lostpassword and click on the “Need More Help?” link there and fill out the form.
Additionally, I’m going to tag this for Staff. We really need a Policy support doc on Site Ownership that we can refer people to since this is becoming more and more frequent.
Best wishes.
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Thanks for the information.
I filled in the form with all our information.
Hopefully they can help us. -
@gerarteuben, we will only turn a site over to a new user if the current site owner grants us permission to do so. If you no longer are in contact with that individual, there’s nothing we can do.
@justjennifer, we do have a policy, which is stated above. Only the current site owner can transfer site ownership. In those cases where that person is no longer available, there’s nothing else we can do.
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@jackiedana-thanks for the clarification. As more and more businesses set up house on WordPress.com, problems similar to the above and the post I referenced here will become more acute.
I was suggesting a need for a policy Support doc for future reference, but will continue to tag such threads for Staff assistance if that is preferable.
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Yes, Jackie, please! There was in incident of the business owner who let the employee go before getting the passwords and email from him, and then the family geneology blog whose owner died, both of which have been discussed and resolved, but there really needs to be a policy.
Maybe even something as basic as a support document for business blogs telling owners they need to have access to those bits of critical information. I know my boss has never thought about that, but I have carefully made that information into a booklet, should I quit or something.
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In the case of a blog owner who has died, the best thing to do is to direct people to contact us privately. We intentionally don’t make all those details public.
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Thanks all for the information, But i think it strange that there is no policy in cases where property rights are violated and the website should be transferred or deleted. Also their is no way to contact WordPress directly except via this forum which is strange off-course.
We as our organization have now for over 3 years this problem and nothing can be done about this which is in my opinion not acceptable. -
Like I said, if the employment contract didn’t specify intellectual rights, you can register a new site which should outrank the new site in a few weeks. And should also teach you some lessons about contracts.
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It is easy talking about the past but that does not help us for the future.
Outranking the website is not the solution but only a way of limiting the damage. -
Blog. Blog daily for three weeks. If you don’t want to do that, or you don’t know what it means, don’t complain to us.
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If your (new) domain mapped site, or a self-hosted site, out-ranks a 3 year old non-updated blog on WordPress.com, then the future impression of your business is secure and undamaged.
If the former employee is posting misinformation about your business, impersonating your business, or other such violations of the wp.com TOS, then you probably have a claim to have that site suspended.
But we don’t even have a link to the old site you are talking about. The link to your username, and the link in the original post, point to a site with no information. We do not even know if the site was free-hosted here on WordPress.com.
From raincoaster above:
And should also teach you some lessons about contracts.
You should also be paying attention to other accounts your former colleague had access to: paypal, flickr, youtube, facebook, pinterest, twitter, company emails, bank accounts, credit card, and so on. I know lots of small business people don’t pay attention to these sorts of access. You have an employee you like and things are copasetic… until.
I hope you are learning from this experience.
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