Hello – I work with a small non profit and the person who handled our website died and we do not have the login information. The website is erinishope.org – does anyone have any ideas on how I could possibly get the credentials?
Are you paying separately for hosting? Your host can help.
I feel sorry for you! My condolences. Get access to the hosting through the company, after that the passwords can be reset through the database or by redirect his mails to you.
The site is down, can you even access the login page? Do you have other credentials like the ftp?
What country are you located? In the netherlands i might be able to help
I did some looking. The domain is with GoDaddy, and the nameservers point to a custom name server. Looks like the company was a reseller or had space on [https://deft.com]) in their Elk Grove IL Data Center )
Is it a WordPress.com site or WordPress.org? Ones self hosted the other is WordPress hosted.
Looks like Mocha Host might be your current host. I would suggest reaching out to their support.
First of all, if erinishope.org is the correct URL then it looks like your site is hosted by a company called MochaHost (https://mochahost.com/), which seems to use the URL “http://my-hosting-panel.com/” to manage the hosting account.
(The servers themselves seem to be hosted with a company called Deft Hosting, deft.com, but you’d probably need to contact them last since they may only provide server space for these Mocahost people.)
You might have to jump through some hoops but generally if you contact the folks at MochaHost and if you can establish ownership of the site and provide some sort of documentation that your web dev has died they’ll find a way to help you regain access. (If they can’t help you you may need to contact the folks at Deft.)
Second of all, your website uses the open-source version of the WordPress software that was downloaded from WordPress.org. This is not to be confused with the for-profit company (~~deceptively~~ unfortunately) called WordPress.com. Neither of those organizations will be able to help you. But the people at MochaHost or Deft probably can.
Third of all, even if you think he might have used one of his email addresses for the account he gave you it’s still worth trying a password recovery.
Next, can you google around and find out if he has next of kin, a business partner, an executor, or someone else you can contact to recover the critical access information you’re entitled to? For instance if they could access his email they could work with you to recover passwords to your site and server.
MochaHost, Deft, and GoDaddy (your domain-name registrar) will all have policies and protocols for recovering access to your online assets.
If you have trouble then most business lawyers (and some estate lawyers) will be able to help you. (Estate lawyers have an obligation to help clear a deceased person’s affairs. That includes their business affairs. So they can sometimes be a lot of help.)
You may also be able to find an experienced, well-reviewed local WordPress or website expert who can help you with the process of recovering your site, or at least your domain name. If bad comes to worse they can also help you rebuild your site.
You’ll have to contact MochaHosting (or Deft) and ask what their recovery procedure is after an account owner dies.
You *will* want to notify them quickly to make none of the accounts isn’t shut down for non-payment. Definitely ask if they have arrangements for you to assume payment in order to prevent shutdown while you recover access.
I’m very sorry this has happened to you and your organization. Web developers tend to imagine they’ll live forever (just like the rest of us.) But it’s a good idea to have a plan in case you don’t.
I realize that this is locking the barn door after the horse has left, but speaking as someone involved in a non-profit organization that had a key person die very suddenly and unexpectedly: all non-profits need a “everything’s-gone-to-hell” emergency plan, even if it’s just a folder with a list of critical passwords in a locked filing cabinet. **Never** let yourself get into the situation where only one person has the passwords to your email, social media, and website/webhost.
If you’re a 501(c)3 organization, it’s also a good idea to know the rules for shutting one down, because there are a handful of tricky hoops that need to be jumped through.
In your particular situation, you need to talk to your webhost, but you should also try to get in touch with whoever’s handling the affairs/estate of the person who was handling your website and see if they can help you gain access to any records they had.
I always hand over a file with credentials like WordPress admin username and passwords to my clients after finishing work. Didn’t the developer do the same for you? I also have my [website]) where my clients can login (hidden from public, only my clients can access a certain page) with their email address and password so that they can find all the necessary credentials in their separate client dashboard in case they’ve lost the docs.
That IP block is assigned to Server Central Network, ie.,
So it would appear that your site is hosted at deft.com
You’ll likely need to contact them to see about repairing the existing site. They may or may not help you, given that the site is assigned to another account, though that account is *for* you, so perhaps you may get lucky.
Your domain, erinishope.org, would appear to be registered at Godaddy.
erinishope.org
Updated 29 minutes ago
Domain Information
Domain:
erinishope.org
Registrar:
GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registered On:
2007-11-12
Expires On:
2023-11-12
Updated On:
2023-07-13
Status:
clientDeleteProhibited
clientRenewProhibited
clientTransferProhibited
clientUpdateProhibited
Name Servers:
cns5.my-hosting-panel.com
cns6.my-hosting-panel.com
You may need to work through them to be able to prove that you are rightfully entitled to the domain.
And oddly enough, your domain seems to be using Name Servers at Enom, likely through Mochahost.com. Mailservers, too. I don’t know what to tell you about that.
Do you have the hosting login?
That’s the website??
Are you paying separately for hosting? Your host can help.
I feel sorry for you! My condolences. Get access to the hosting through the company, after that the passwords can be reset through the database or by redirect his mails to you.
The site is down, can you even access the login page? Do you have other credentials like the ftp?
What country are you located? In the netherlands i might be able to help
I did some looking. The domain is with GoDaddy, and the nameservers point to a custom name server. Looks like the company was a reseller or had space on [https://deft.com]) in their Elk Grove IL Data Center )
Is it a WordPress.com site or WordPress.org? Ones self hosted the other is WordPress hosted.
Looks like Mocha Host might be your current host. I would suggest reaching out to their support.
First of all, if erinishope.org is the correct URL then it looks like your site is hosted by a company called MochaHost (https://mochahost.com/), which seems to use the URL “http://my-hosting-panel.com/” to manage the hosting account.
(The servers themselves seem to be hosted with a company called Deft Hosting, deft.com, but you’d probably need to contact them last since they may only provide server space for these Mocahost people.)
You might have to jump through some hoops but generally if you contact the folks at MochaHost and if you can establish ownership of the site and provide some sort of documentation that your web dev has died they’ll find a way to help you regain access. (If they can’t help you you may need to contact the folks at Deft.)
Second of all, your website uses the open-source version of the WordPress software that was downloaded from WordPress.org. This is not to be confused with the for-profit company (~~deceptively~~ unfortunately) called WordPress.com. Neither of those organizations will be able to help you. But the people at MochaHost or Deft probably can.
Third of all, even if you think he might have used one of his email addresses for the account he gave you it’s still worth trying a password recovery.
Next, can you google around and find out if he has next of kin, a business partner, an executor, or someone else you can contact to recover the critical access information you’re entitled to? For instance if they could access his email they could work with you to recover passwords to your site and server.
MochaHost, Deft, and GoDaddy (your domain-name registrar) will all have policies and protocols for recovering access to your online assets.
If you have trouble then most business lawyers (and some estate lawyers) will be able to help you. (Estate lawyers have an obligation to help clear a deceased person’s affairs. That includes their business affairs. So they can sometimes be a lot of help.)
You may also be able to find an experienced, well-reviewed local WordPress or website expert who can help you with the process of recovering your site, or at least your domain name. If bad comes to worse they can also help you rebuild your site.
Here’s GoDaddy’s documentation for recovering a domain name
https://www.godaddy.com/help/how-to-gain-access-to-domainsaccounts-after-owners-death-8356
You’ll have to contact MochaHosting (or Deft) and ask what their recovery procedure is after an account owner dies.
You *will* want to notify them quickly to make none of the accounts isn’t shut down for non-payment. Definitely ask if they have arrangements for you to assume payment in order to prevent shutdown while you recover access.
I’m very sorry this has happened to you and your organization. Web developers tend to imagine they’ll live forever (just like the rest of us.) But it’s a good idea to have a plan in case you don’t.
I realize that this is locking the barn door after the horse has left, but speaking as someone involved in a non-profit organization that had a key person die very suddenly and unexpectedly: all non-profits need a “everything’s-gone-to-hell” emergency plan, even if it’s just a folder with a list of critical passwords in a locked filing cabinet. **Never** let yourself get into the situation where only one person has the passwords to your email, social media, and website/webhost.
If you’re a 501(c)3 organization, it’s also a good idea to know the rules for shutting one down, because there are a handful of tricky hoops that need to be jumped through.
In your particular situation, you need to talk to your webhost, but you should also try to get in touch with whoever’s handling the affairs/estate of the person who was handling your website and see if they can help you gain access to any records they had.
I always hand over a file with credentials like WordPress admin username and passwords to my clients after finishing work. Didn’t the developer do the same for you? I also have my [website]) where my clients can login (hidden from public, only my clients can access a certain page) with their email address and password so that they can find all the necessary credentials in their separate client dashboard in case they’ve lost the docs.
What I can did up…
Non-authoritative answer:
Name: erinishope.org
Address: 50.31.134.196
That IP block is assigned to Server Central Network, ie.,
So it would appear that your site is hosted at deft.com
You’ll likely need to contact them to see about repairing the existing site. They may or may not help you, given that the site is assigned to another account, though that account is *for* you, so perhaps you may get lucky.
Your domain, erinishope.org, would appear to be registered at Godaddy.
erinishope.org
Updated 29 minutes ago
Domain Information
Domain:
erinishope.org
Registrar:
GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registered On:
2007-11-12
Expires On:
2023-11-12
Updated On:
2023-07-13
Status:
clientDeleteProhibited
clientRenewProhibited
clientTransferProhibited
clientUpdateProhibited
Name Servers:
cns5.my-hosting-panel.com
cns6.my-hosting-panel.com
You may need to work through them to be able to prove that you are rightfully entitled to the domain.
And oddly enough, your domain seems to be using Name Servers at Enom, likely through Mochahost.com. Mailservers, too. I don’t know what to tell you about that.
nslookup -type=mx erinishope.org 1.1.1.1
Server: one.one.one.one
Address: 1.1.1.1
Non-authoritative answer:
erinishope.org MX preference = 10, mail exchanger = mail.erinishope.org
erinishope.org MX preference = 5, mail exchanger = imx1.my-hosting-panel.com
erinishope.org MX preference = 21, mail exchanger = mail2.erinishope.org
erinishope.org MX preference = 1, mail exchanger = imx1.my-hosting-panel.com
And lastly, your site is archived at [the WayBack Machine]), though some formatting may be lost.
Best of luck.