As you can see, the Firsthit site is back online. Basically, what happened was that the domain name expired. I should have realised this was imminent as Aussie domain names run for two years, and First Hit just celebrated its fourth birthday. But I didn’t. And our registrar did not send through notices. Anyway, we now have the domain name back (and a new registrar).

We’ve been using our emergency domain, www.firsthit.net.au, to keep people informed.

The lesson: for every domain name you own, check when it expires and make sure you renew in plenty of time. And write the dates down somewhere, preferably in your (paper) diary!