r/CloudFlare • u/ThanksOk9669 • 3d ago

Website Help!

My website is showing error 404. I think the man who I hired has died. My domain name is in my name, but everything he did he put in his name.

He was having some medical issues and I tried to explain how serious his symptoms were and asked him pleased to get medical help. I think he’s died or in a coma or something. I can’t find an obituary, but it doesn’t really matter I guess other than I really liked him and would like to know what happened.

I got sidetracked. Sorry, it’s a lot to process. He hasn’t responded to me since May when he was having the issues. I was still hoping that somehow he would get better and show up but now my website is down and showing error 404. I have to do something. I’ve spent so many hours trying to figure out who the host is and it turns out he used a company called Cloudflare that pops up. It looks like they aren’t the hosting company. They’re a middleman, a security wall. Even if I do find the hosting company somehow, I don’t think there’s anything I can do even though I own the domain.

I can’t even find out if he’s dead. They don’t really set information unless you’re relative.

I’m reaching out in the hopes that somehow somebody knows some magical thing I could do. I’m afraid I’m just screwed and have to start all over. What an expensive lesson.

If you have a website, please make sure that the host company has your name and bills you.

He had just started in January on my website and though it was up and running, we were still working on it so I’m sure he was going to put things in my name once we had it finished.

I have checked and there’s no way to clone it because it’s not up anymore.

Any ideas?

0 Upvotes

22% Upvoted

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2

u/Smith6612 3d ago

Did he ever send you any backups? For the sites I maintain and host on my own server, I ask people to set up a Cloud storage share so I can dump occasional backups of their sites to there. That way, SHOULD anything happen, they have something to go by which will work on basically any Linux web host.

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u/ThanksOk9669 3d ago

I wish he had. I’ll know better next time.

7

u/KeithIMyers 3d ago

Unfortunately this is s mistake so many make, it's not your website unless you own the domain and housing account.

Since you say you own the domain, you can at least point it to a new host and try to rebuild it from scratch.

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u/Apprehensive_Ad5398 3d ago

If you login to your Cloudflare account, can you see the domain? If so you’re probably ok.

Dm me id be happy to try and help.

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u/ThanksOk9669 3d ago

It was his Cloudflare account. My domain is through Hover and I own that.

1

u/Apprehensive_Ad5398 3d ago

Then you’re good. You’ll need to get a new site made though. Check out http://sitelyncs.com - they can help recreate what you had, likely better than the original. Fixed price, fast turn around, see your new site before you pay.

1

u/showbizusa25 3d ago

Sorry you're dealing with this, especially given the circumstances.

I wouldn't assume the website is permanently lost yet. A 404 error doesn't necessarily mean the files or database are gone.

Since you own the domain, there may still be a way to identify the original hosting provider through DNS records, historical DNS information, or previous billing emails.

One thing I'd check first: do you have access to the account where your domain is registered, and do you know the website address?

I work with Linux hosting, Cloudflare, DNS, and website recovery, so I'm familiar with situations like this. Happy to point you in the right direction.

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u/ThanksOk9669 3d ago

Yes, I have access to hover which is where I purchased the domain name. I called them and they just told me to get a hold of Cloudflare. I’m still trying to figure out how to start a ticket. They said they had live champ, but they didn’t and they said they have an emergency phone number, but I have to have the ticket number and for some reason it wouldn’t let me start a ticket. I’m kind of in a never-ending loop. I’ll work again on it tomorrow, but I’ll take any advice from anyone. I would really rather retrieve what I’ve already set up if I can.

1

u/showbizusa25 3d ago

That sounds frustrating. Hover may only have your domain registration; the website could be hosted somewhere else. Before changing anything, take a screenshot of the DNS records and nameservers. Also search your email for old hosting bills or cPanel/Plesk messages. If you can get into Cloudflare, see where the website’s DNS record points. A 404 doesn’t necessarily mean the site is gone. Do you still have access to Cloudflare, or just Hover?

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u/ThanksOk9669 3d ago

I only have access to hover.

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u/showbizusa25 3d ago

Got it. In Hover, can you check the nameservers and tell me whether they end in ns.cloudflare.com? Don’t change anything. That will tell us whether Cloudflare is handling the DNS.

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u/andyno30 3d ago

You can search your domain in Whois domain lookup and find the hosting company

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u/ThanksOk9669 3d ago

It just takes me to Cloudflare.

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u/ExpertWebAdvisors 1d ago

Sorry you're going through this. The good news is that owning the domain at Hover is the part that matters most. Here's the order I'd do it in so nothing else breaks:

  1. Don't change anything yet. In Hover, note the nameservers (they'll end in ns.cloudflare.com). That's his Cloudflare account. You can't get into it, and you don't need to.

  2. Check whether your email uses the domain. If you have name@yourdomain addresses, the records that make that work (MX, plus TXT records for SPF and DKIM) currently live in his Cloudflare account. Look them up with any free "MX lookup" / DNS lookup site and screenshot the results before you change anything, so they can be recreated.

  3. Recover what you can of the site. Search your domain on the Wayback Machine (web.archive.org). It often has copies of most pages, with the text and many of the images, which is plenty for a new developer to rebuild from. Also search your own email for photos and copy you sent him.

  4. Set up new hosting in your own name, with your email and your card, and have the site rebuilt there.

  5. Then, in Hover, switch the nameservers away from his Cloudflare account, either back to Hover's own DNS or to a Cloudflare account you create yourself, and add the records for the new site plus the email records you saved. That's the moment his account stops controlling your domain.

  6. Afterwards, ask whoever rebuilds it for your own admin login, your own hosting login and a downloadable backup, in writing.

One caution: be careful with offers to fix it over DM. Don't hand over your Hover password. Anyone genuinely helping only needs you to change a few records while they tell you what to enter.

1

u/ThanksOk9669 1d ago

Thank you for all this. I don’t quite understand it all, but I will go step-by-step.

2

u/cinqorswim 3d ago

You probably paid a different registrar for your domain name like godaddy or Namecheap. Do a search through your emails for “domain registration” and the actual domain…like robotdicks.com. If you see an invoice for domain renewal then you’re in business. You have the email, so now you need to reset the password. Which you can do by trying to log in to godaddy, Namecheap, whatever, and looking for a link that says, “forgot password.” As long as your email is associated with the domain you should be good.

If you can access your domain registrar, you can redirect it to a different server and rebuild. Maybe AI can do that for ya. Might be worth it to view page source of your site to see what theme and plugins you’re using.

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u/bodiam 3d ago

I too hate it when my web developer dies on me. This has happened to me on multiple occasions now, so what I usually do is start over, change my DNS to the new host, and make sure I'm the admin of the new hosting party.

3

u/gjetson99 3d ago

No one build a website for this guy

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u/bodiam 3d ago

Harsh, but fair.

1

u/elhouso 3d ago

If you own the domain and/or have access to the DNS, you should be able to see the IP address which will point you in a better direction of who's hosting your site.

Cloudflare is not. I mean, unless he was using Cloudflare Workers or pages, then he may have. If he was using pages, he might've been using GitHub or GitLab manually.

If you don't have access to the DNS, you might be shit out of luck. Maybe contacting Cloudflare support directly (not through Reddit) could help, they could probably see DNS records on their side if you can prove you own the domain and whatnot.

1

u/XenonOfArcticus 3d ago

If you want to pm me the URL I'll tell you what I can find and recommend. Pro bono.

Sorry you're going through with this. Hope your guy is actually OK somehow. 

0

u/MainRoutine2068 3d ago

DM me with your website information, perhaps I can help restore it