Back when I was in college, GoDaddy let my at the time close friend break into my account and steal several of my domains, including https://strategywiki.org. This was while I was on an overseas study and couldn't regularly check in. GoDaddy gave me no recourse to dispute.
He had server access because I trusted him. He wasn't supposed to have access to my domain account, and I didn't share my credentials.
I had another friend on the account because I was paying for his domain and wanted to let him administer DNS. They conspired together and were able to leverage this access and the lack of account ACLs to transfer everything away.
This was well over a decade ago.
They never invested in StrategyWiki, so it never realized the vision I had for the site. I had started to pay contributors and invest in content to bootstrap.
This guy came from the MediaWiki purge of video game guides and felt like he owned and deserved the site, despite the fact that I had created most of the original content. He was ten years older, well paid, and threatened me with a lawsuit. I was a college kid and couldn't do anything.
I learned a hard lesson. It's stuck with me.
They defrauded you & violated your copyright. If the SoL hasn't passed you might want to consider filing a police report. It's possible that you could get the current registrar to give it back.
It seems like they are still violating your copyright, so you might be able to go that avenue if the SoL keeps refreshing as they keep violating it (not sure though).
GoDaddy has terminated accounts on copyright grounds before, and you could also file a civil suit if you think you could withstand the cost / pain of it now.
(That said, sometimes it's better to just walk away)
Thanks for the feedback.
This happened back in 2008? SoL has definitely lapsed.
I think it's better to just walk away. It hurt a lot at the time, but that pain has largely healed. Thinking about it doesn't cause me pain or regret anymore, just... I feel sorry for them? It doesn't change what I accomplished then. I'm still proud of what I built, and I know it could have been better with me steering it.
Since then, I've continued to build really cool stuff and not let these folks hold me back. My projects have been bigger and have impacted more people. I'm at peace, and I've got a lot to look forward to.
> I'm at peace, and I've got a lot to look forward to.
Good for you! That's the healthy path.
Good that it didn't kill your drive! Do you still share your account details with friends or did that stop?
That sounds really unpleasant! It's not clear to me, though, what you're saying GoDaddy did wrong?
> GoDaddy gave me no recourse to dispute. He had server access because I trusted him. He wasn't supposed to have access to my domain account, and I didn't share my credentials.
Seems pretty clear that although they had server credentials, they were never given any account credentials, but they were able to get into the account and transfer ownership anyway.
"I had another friend on the account because I was paying for his domain and wanted to let him administer DNS. They conspired together..."
Sounds as though they weren't great friends. Sorry to hear of this.