US Highways site (us-highways.com) apparently down

Started by froggie, January 12, 2016, 09:52:44 AM

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froggie

Noticed the past couple days that Robert Droz's US Highways website has been unresponsive.  Does anyone have contact with Robert and know what's going on?  Would be a serious shame to see the site fall by the wayside, given the level of material he had, including a complete list of US highway routes, US highway routes from 1956, the "Highway sign makeover", and more...


hbelkins

I'm friends with him on Facebook, but he hasn't been active there since at least July. There's a post on his timeline there by his brother that says he is taking a hiatus from social media and the blackout will be indefinite. He may have some sort of health issue going on. His Facebook page does not indicate an email address that can be used to contact him.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

usends

Has anyone tried contacting him?  If not, I'll give it a shot using an email address that was valid last time I checked (which was three years ago).
usends.com - US highway endpoints, photos, maps, and history

Alex

The site was unresponsive a month or two ago as well. I fear it may be gone for good.

US71

Quote from: usends on January 12, 2016, 05:24:57 PM
Has anyone tried contacting him?  If not, I'll give it a shot using an email address that was valid last time I checked (which was three years ago).

I have, but messages come back as "mailbox inactive". I tried to send some updates a couple months ago, but never got through.
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BakoCondors

The error code that pops up when I tried accessing the site indicates a domain that no longer exists. I checked ICANN and the domain is still registered to Mr. Droz, though it expires tomorrow, 1-13-2016.

txstateends

Too bad he didn't get with one of the other roadfans beforehand about continuing the site while he's away.
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dave19


Lyon Wonder


US71

Tempting to buy the domain just to hang on to it. I'll think about that after I wake up
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Alex

Quote from: US71 on April 21, 2016, 09:35:13 AM
Tempting to buy the domain just to hang on to it. I'll think about that after I wake up

It expires next January. You'd need to get it from him or someone on behalf of him directly. Once it expires, some domain broker will harvest it and then you can forget about buying it.

EdM

Yeah, I went to his site to see if I can send him some new Route Marker designs to load up on his International Highway Makeover Webpage.  And it was GONE! :wow: :-o Now it looks like I'll have to find another place to put them up....  :no: as well as finding a place off-line to store the lost webpages in case the wayback machine deletes them....  :no: is there any way to copy the pages and toss them up on one's own website (i.e., internationalhighwaymakeover.com)?

Stratuscaster

Not without access to the server where his site is hosted.

One could TRY and piece together something off the web archive at least.

I've got hosting space available and would be more than happy to host it at no charge.

froggie

I've been in the process (delayed due to the school semester) of grabbing what I can of the highway sign makeover off archive.org and reformatting it to post on my website.  IMO, it would be logical for the US highway pages (specifically dealing with US highways and not the Florida or monochrome or other stuff) to go to Dale Sanderson's USEnds page.

fredmcain

Quote from: US71 on January 12, 2016, 08:36:42 PM
Quote from: usends on January 12, 2016, 05:24:57 PM
Has anyone tried contacting him?  If not, I'll give it a shot using an email address that was valid last time I checked (which was three years ago).

I have, but messages come back as "mailbox inactive". I tried to send some updates a couple months ago, but never got through.

I thought I'd update this old thread on U.S. Highways and Robert Droz just in case some of you might still be interested in this.

Poor, poor Robert Droz.  You can read about him here:  http://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/flyer.do?personId=93434

That's why his site has been unresponsive.  His hosting fees were evidently not renewed and someone else has now taken his domain.

Let us all hope and pray that Robert can get his life straightened out again.  I try to see the good in people and in Robert's case, I can honestly say with a straight face that when it came to U.S. Highways, he was very, very good at what he did.  Let's try and remember him for that and welcome him back when/if he gets his life straightened out again.

Regards,
Fred M. Cain,
U.S. Route 66 Recommissioning Initiative
Fred M. Cain
U.S. Route 66 Initiative
http://www.bringbackroute66.com/home.html

hbelkins

I went back and looked at this thread. I could have sworn that I, or someone else, had posted about his legal problems. I don't remember having that discussion anywhere else. I know I stumbled across the original story and thought I had posted the information here. Perhaps it has been removed?

Anyway, I thought that his situation was common knowledge now.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

US71

Quote from: hbelkins on January 09, 2018, 03:25:14 PM
I went back and looked at this thread. I could have sworn that I, or someone else, had posted about his legal problems. I don't remember having that discussion anywhere else. I know I stumbled across the original story and thought I had posted the information here. Perhaps it has been removed?


If memory serves correct, I think there was a private discussion.

I know his brother posted on Facebook that Robert would be off-line for a while, but no details were ever discussed.
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Rover_0

I had no clue. It looked like this happened when I was away from the forum.

XT1710-02

Fixing erroneous shields, one at a time...

US71

Quote from: Rover_0 on August 30, 2018, 11:37:05 AM
I had no clue. It looked like this happened when I was away from the forum.



It all happened in 2015.
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Beltway

#19
Quote from: Alex on April 21, 2016, 10:06:44 AM
It expires next January. You'd need to get it from him or someone on behalf of him directly. Once it expires, some domain broker will harvest it and then you can forget about buying it.

I tried to get capitalbeltway.com in 2007 for my Capital Beltway Projects site, but the domain broker who owned it wanted $2,500 for it and would not negotiate.

By adding the dash capital-beltway.com was available, nobody owned it, and I got that one.  Nobody else has bothered to buy the other one, probably based on the fact that my URL is almost identical.  Ha-HAA!
http://www.roadstothefuture.com
http://www.capital-beltway.com

Baloney is a reserved word on the Internet
    (Robert Coté, 2002)

jdb1234

Quote from: hbelkins on January 09, 2018, 03:25:14 PM
I went back and looked at this thread. I could have sworn that I, or someone else, had posted about his legal problems. I don't remember having that discussion anywhere else. I know I stumbled across the original story and thought I had posted the information here. Perhaps it has been removed?

Anyway, I thought that his situation was common knowledge now.

If I remember correctly, you posted that on MTR.

bandit957

Quote from: jdb1234 on August 30, 2018, 12:21:56 PM
If I remember correctly, you posted that on MTR.

MTR was pretty much demolished by 2015.
Might as well face it, pooing is cool

US71

Quote from: hbelkins on January 09, 2018, 03:25:14 PM
I went back and looked at this thread. I could have sworn that I, or someone else, had posted about his legal problems. I don't remember having that discussion anywhere else. I know I stumbled across the original story and thought I had posted the information here. Perhaps it has been removed?

Anyway, I thought that his situation was common knowledge now.

I think Mike Ward posted something on Facebook.
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txstateends

So did anyone/any site successfully offer to host the US-Highways content somewhere, or would the only option be something like Archive.org?
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US71

Quote from: txstateends on August 31, 2018, 05:38:12 PM
So did anyone/any site successfully offer to host the US-Highways content somewhere, or would the only option be something like Archive.org?

No one knew until it was too late to do anything. He never announced he was going AFK, he simply did.
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