h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Of late I've been using the web to look for companies with a view to visiting them using sites like Yell, Google etc. What I've been finding is businesses can have a bustling, vibrant webpage with loads of links to social media and lots of listings, but when you get to the physical address - there's nothing there! Businesses that have been gone for years in reality still look alive and well online.

My question is, who cleans up the net? Is there anyone wiping dead sites or will we find the net increasingly populated by zombie websites?

I would think those sites have to be paid for by someone. As soon as the checks stop rolling in you get the 'site not found' message. Granted it's not instant, might take a few months, and probably depends on who runs the domain and how diligent about removing derelict accounts. But eventually they must disappear, right?

Are these the actual websites of those companies, or just pages on any of the hundreds of so-called business directory sites? They'll never bother clearing up - they just hook you for the web ads.

They might all still be in business - - - just on another plain of existence?

There are some really ancient websites still active that are associated with schools. I'm quite amazed by some of the links I put in some of my guide entries are still active. For instance, the tables style graphics that were made for my Pentominoes entry ( A899751 ) are hosed now, but the link to The Poly Pages is still good. http://www.recmath.com/PolyPages/

A caveat: not all companies are run by honest people. There are some shell companies that are fronts for people with skullduggery in mind. ,yikes>

Wow... I just found the echoes of a ghost.

http://www.halfbakery.com/user/nighthoover

This page hasn't changed since October 2004.

The actual websites of the companies Icy. Went to one today that had been demolished in 2012

Back on topic... It must come down to simply if someone is still paying the bills, or possibly if no one is paying attention to the delinquent bills.

http://www.tdv.com

I'm sure people we know are still paying the bills for this, or at least they're accepting the costs as part of a larger web presence.

Other ghosts could be abandoned shells of larger companies I suppose.


Of course, some of these may be web only entities that don't have much more than a mail drop for a physical address.

" It must come down to simply if someone is still paying the bills, or possibly if no one is paying attention to the delinquent bills. http://www.tdv.com" [Baron Grim] That link has a link to our site, so it's okay. At least there's a way to get updated information.

I just had a little poke around http://www.halfbakery.com and it looks like a very nighthooverish place

Maybe we can blame 2legs for the whole site - it certainly looks like he's had more than a finger in that pie

What is more annoying is websites of existing bodies (not only companies) that are not updated.

I was watching an instructional video yesterday (regarding photography) and the lecturer has a good rule regarding business websites. If they don't have a phone number on the website, he doesn't purchase anything from them. He will actually call the phone number and make sure he talks to a human before buying anything.

Not a bad rule.

He'd have a hard time buying from Amazon, then. I don't think I've ever found a phone number on their site.

(Though, in all fairness, they have "callback customer service" where you enter your phone number and when you would like them to call (right now or in 5 minutes). They are very prompt. And their customer service is stellar.)

But yes, in general terms, excellent rule.

"Not a bad rule." [Baron Grim]

I agree, but the sky would fall on us if Amazon ever failed to deliver. Someone with that degree of high visibility has to be vewy caweful [elmerfuddsmiley].

if you hunt around you can find a number to call Amazon, I've done it a few times and their customer service is absolutely brilliant. From the chap who deeply sympathised with me when the wrong edition of a Narnia book arrived (I wanted the 50th anniversary edition, I got a hardback US version) and shipped the new one pronto, and said it's more than the book's value to send it back so I could keep both, to the lovely guy helping me install Microsoft office when bought it a few years ago.

Their callback service is great too, I've used that a few times and they really do call when you ask them to.

So where to look? Give us a hint at least..

A very quick Google search gave me their UK head office number, including toll-free numbers for use both inside and outside the UK. Why not ring that and ask for customer service?