Rick Moen writes:

I called the store [ ... ]
"[ ... ]  Maybe you should consider fixing your 
goddamned Web site, unless you really prefer losing business.'

The guy said 'Er, sorry about that, but we can't fix it.  
We hired a firm to create the site years ago, but don't 
have access to edit it.  I was stunned, 

That's sadly common. I saw it with my old Toastmasters club in Santa Clara: some past member had set up a website, but had moved on without sharing the passwords with anyone else, so the website was full of incorrect information no one could fix and no one could point the domain elsewhere. We ended up registering a new domain (Rick's solution), though every now and then we had to explain to guests why the website they had found for us was so wrong.

And the "HOA" where I'm living now had a website hosted on some hosting service that apparently was defunct. There was a machine that was up and running and serving a few pages, but when I tried to contact them so I could update the website, nobody answered either phone or email queries. (I gather they had been cashing the checks the HOA sent them, though.) Again, registering a new domain (which was Rick's suggestion too) was the easiest answer, though the HOA has since dissolved (it wasn't a real HOA, just a group that collected $25/year to fund an annual BBQ).

I've heard similar tales from local artists, who hire someone thinking they need a website to advertise their work, then can't update the website later because whoever built it has moved on. Probably something similar happened with Henry's Hunan.

To avoid problems like that, when I set up a website for a club or nonprofit (I seem to do a lot of that), I make a big deal of sharing the passwords with the board or other leaders. "I know you think you don't know what to do with this, but if I disappear, you'll need it, and you'll find someone technical who can use it. Keep it in a safe place." They never do. If I ask them a year later, they have no memory of that conversation and no idea where they might have put the passwords.

I don't know how you get people to save website access information in a way that they'll find it when they need it. Websites are magical things that appear if there's a technical person around, and no nontechnical person can possibly have any responsibility for it except for possibly signing a check. And organizations never seem to have an "IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, DON'T LOSE" folder, either paper or electronic.

...Akkana

To avoid problems like that, when I set up a website for a club or

nonprofit (I seem to do a lot of that), I make a big deal of sharing the passwords with the board or other leaders. "I know you think you don't know what to do with this, but if I disappear, you'll need it, and you'll find someone technical who can use it. Keep it in a safe place." They never do. If I ask them a year later, they have no memory of that conversation and no idea where they might have put the passwords.

I don't know how you get people to save website access information

in a way that they'll find it when they need it. Websites are magical things that appear if there's a technical person around, and no nontechnical person can possibly have any responsibility for it except for possibly signing a check. And organizations never seem to have an "IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, DON'T LOSE" folder, either paper or electronic.

I'm reminded of being asked (essentially begged by a then-friend) to take over running a web site for a school for autistic children in Oregon about 20 years ago. The friend knew I was "techie," although I'll be the first to admit I wasn't THAT techie.

So I ran it for a time, then got told by the school they wanted to run it. I said fine and spent about 30 minutes on the phone one afternoon with one of their employees explaining how to upload files to a web site. This person apparently didn't think it was important enough to take notes because a few days later, he emailed me begging me to tell him again (with several PLEASE's in the email). I being really annoyed by his increibly whiny note told him to take a hike. Someone else from the school contacted me later and I had to explain the whole process again to this other person. A fellow web designer told me later I should've told her to google FTP. I wish I'd thought of that!

Checked the site 3 months later, noticed they'd put up new content and the next time I checked the site, it was gone. I'm not sure if they forgot to pay for domain registration or the place went belly up. So, all of my work was gone. <shrug> I tried telling my friend about all this and he told me he didn't want to hear about it. I'm not sure if he had become fed up with the place himself (his son was attending school there for a time). Funny how he never once offered a thanks for my help, in fact a couple years later he stopped speaking to me.

So yes, I too have encountered the clueless "non-techie" members of a group who want to have a website, but don't want to be bothered with the responsibility of having one.

-th