Oops: Washington Post forgets to renew their domain

The Washington Post's e-mail system went down today, apparantly because someone forgot to renew the washpost.com domain name, which is used for staff e-mails. (Update Feb. 16: It wasn't the washingtonpost.com domain, as was originally reported. Both domains are now paid up until 2009.)

Staffers said the crash–which came as deadline approached–sent the news desks into a tizzy. It was especially hard on Style, Metro, and National desks, which rely on E-mail reporting, and the photo department, which receives digital pictures from photographers via email.

Checking domain expiry dates is item #1 on Pop Interactive's very useful Annual Website Maintenance Checklist:

1. Review Your Domain Name Record
2. Check Website Email Addresses
3. Update Your Confirmation and Automated Messages
4. Test Your Forms
5. Validate Your Links
6. Check Your Site's Search Feature
7. Check Your File Sizes and Download Times
8. Review Your Stylesheets, Standards, Accessibility
and Compatibility
9. Update Your Time References and Copyright
10. Check Your Search Engine Visibility
10.5 Assess Your Site's Content & Features