HotDoodle Support

New rules from ICANN, the internet committee, imposes a complicated new process whenever your domain has a Change of Registrant.
This is when there is a change to the First Name, Last Name, Organization Name, or Email in the "Organization Contact Information". See the rules.
Such edits trigger by default:

Multiple rounds of confirmation emails that must be clicked before the change goes through
A 60-day inter-registrar transfer lock

You might even get multiple emails to the same address, once as the "losing" contact and once as the "gaining" contact. Silly as it seems, you MUST respond to both or per ICANN rules your change does not go through. Your domain is then locked against transfers for 60 days.

You can opt out of most of this.

The HotDoodle Domain management screens might show a Change of registrant Pending message, it means that one of the multiple rounds of required emails links was not clicked. You can resend the emails or cancel from the HotDoodle screens.

The Change of Registrant flow is:

Visit the OpenSRS Domain control panel and make a change in one of the "Change of Registrant" fields.
An approval email is sent to the old registrant, and the process waits for them to click.
An approval email is sent to the new registrant, even if it is the same person, and the process waits for them to click.
Both the old and new registrant get emailed that the change occured. Two emails, even if to the same email address.

See the PDF of the full flow.

Manage and Administer the Domain

There are two parts to administering domains:

Administering the domain itself including its whois information and the name servers the domain uses.
Administering the Domain Name Server (DNS) records on that name server.

Both parts start with information from that domain's configuration form, use either of the below processes to get there.

Get to the Config Domains Screen

1. Log in at www.HotDoodle.com.

2. Click on the "My Stuff" page on the navigation bar.

3. Click on the "Get Domain" link to the right of the website name.

Steps: Get to the Config Domains Screen From the Website

1. From the HotDoodle Toolbar, click on the "Administration" tab.

2. Click on the "Configure Site" button.

3. Click on the "Site Publication" button on the Site Preferences Menu screen.

4. Under the Site Manipulation heading, click on the "Config Domains" link.

Administer the Domain

HotDoodle obtains domains from OpenSRS, the largest wholesaler of domains. It is normal for domains to be bought from wholesalers because very few companies can truly sell a domain – even Yahoo uses a wholesaler.

OpenSRS requires that domains have a username and password. You will be able to use these to connect to manage.opensrs.net if you ever want to manually take control of your domain. The edit domain screen will show the OpenSRS login credentials.

What Can be Managed at OpenSRS

One of the only things you can set for your domain at OpenSRS is the WHOIS information and the nameservers for the domain. The nameservers are where the real action happens in associating your domain to a website and email. HotDoodle provides nameservers for websites built with HotDoodle.

You can also manage privacy protection at OpenSRS are if the domain has privacy protection (we do not charge for privacy, most companies do), if the domain is locked, and authorization codes.

Your WHOIS information

Domains are associated with "WHOIS" information that lists contacts for administration, billing, and technical. This information is publicly available and is part of the internet standard. The standard also requires occasional messages such as this one:

ICANN, the organization responsible for the stability of the Internet,
requires that each domain name registrant be given the opportunity to
correct any inaccurate contact data.

Warning: Invalid Email Address will Suspend the Domain

Internet standards require that the "whois" email information be accurate and verified.

Once the domain is registered there are occasional registration related emails such as confirmation of "whois" information or notification of domain expiration. If any of these registration related emails bounce there will be another verification that must receive an affirmative response. Read about domain contact validation.

Find your OpenSRS Username and Password

In the domain edit screen will find the OpenSRS login link and username and password you first used.

You will need to get to the Registration Managment area:

Once Opened you will be given information on how to access the domain. Example:
domain login

To manage your domain, log in to https://manage.opensrs.net. You will then be given a screen of your options.

Important! Do not change the Technical contact.
This refers to HotDoodle and, if changed, makes us uninformed and unable to help on some core domain maintenance events, and you will then be totally on your own to notice and respond to these.

Also present are

Domain Extras -- Set privacy, set or get the domain authorization code.
Domain Locking -- Set if the domain is locked.