Web design & hosting forum: How do free web hosting sites really work?

There is no such thing as a Free host. You pay them by letting them put ads all over your site.

You are better off going with a discount host that charges like $7/month. There are cheaper, but I worry about any that are less then that. For less than $100/year you can have your own ad free site. (unless of course YOU put the ads on there).

In most cases when you register a domain you get the rights of use for the period that you registered it. My guess is you registered the domain for 1 year, and/or paid for it with your upgrade. If you don't renew the domain through the current registrar or transfer it at the end of that period, it is lost. This happens with both free and paid sites. I know a free site that an organization I work with was hosted at Tripod about 5 years ago, and we were able to transfer the domain name without any trouble.

The problem with assocaitions is that the contact information is not always kept up-to-date and when the registrar sends a notice to the e-mail on file, teh current repsonsible person does not always get the notice.

I found a domain name on a deleted list once that was perfect for a project that was on my development list and purchased it. A year later, before we brought the site online, someone that was trying to get a canoe racing club active again contacted me wanting the domain back and acted like I stole it. Too many people don't understand taht you don't buy a domain name, you rent the right to use it for the paid period and have first right of refusal for additional time periods.