The Oatmeal was temporarily shutdown by ICANN: here’s how to avoid having this happen

When it’s the appropriate time to take a break from work, many of us drift on over to The Oatmeal to see what Matthew Inman and his big, crazy brain are up to. Today, however, we were shocked and saddened to see that The Oatmeal had been taken down. One of the most popular websites on the ‘Net had been eviscerated. The content was gone; the enlightening and hilarious glow darkened. What happened? Well if we were shocked it was down, we were even more surprised the site wasn’t resolving because of one simple little task: ICANN Verification. (We said ‘simple’ but we’re not going to say it’s not annoying.)

We’re also very happy that we can help. To avoid waking up to your website disappeared by the international agents of ICANN, here’s the scoop on what ICANN verification is and how you verify your domain.

(Screenshot via RevK.UK)

As of Jan. 1, 2014 the contact information for domain name registrations has to be verified. The verification process is extremely simple: when you register a domain, you can choose to receive a verification code either over the phone or via email. You’ll then use that code at Name.com to complete the verification.

It’s a one-time verification, so you won’t have to do it again unless you change your contact info. Here’s a video tutorial that details the verification process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yBKL1eGLDQ