Front Running

[AlanGNW]

Is there a list anywhere of domain search sites known to indulge in Front Running so as I know which ones to avoid? Google searches seem to just turn up NSI and GoDaddy mostly. Would be interesting to know which smaller companies should be avoided.

 

[accent]

GD is usually the one mentioned on this board.

I search on Moniker.com (which has been broken for two days but might be OK now) and whiz.in and have had no problems with either.

 

[Irieman]

I haven't heard that GoDaddy (GD) has been involved in Front Running, apart for one or two isolated comments posted on sites talking about NetworkSolutions (NetSol) getting caught, where people used NetSol to see if a domain was available, then tried to reg it at GD only to find it taken by NetSol.

I may be wrong, but have yet to see proof of it since I have been using them for over 4 years and have never had a problem.

 

[AlanGNW]

I've not had problems with GoDaddy either.... So far.

 

[advaita]

Moniker seem to be reliable in this respect - but I use whiz.in for checking names

 

[Irieman]

If GoDaddy ever were involved in front running, those days are long over.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Why take the chance. You don't require a registrar to determine whether a name is valuable. When you check the availability simply register it there and then.

 

[AlanGNW]

We personally do need to research a name - if buying for a client for a specific site often we need to give them a number of available alternatives. I have a couple of sites I really trust. But asked this question as I started looking thinking about this and decided to see if there was a list somewhere of who not to use. There must be hundreds of bad searches - I was curious as only NSI and GD figured prominently...

 

[dgridley]

Never had a pronlem with GoDaddy in that respect.. nor heard of it.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Hmmm, I not sure that I would be advising my Clients to go for New Registrations for the English Market. I think I would rather see them stay in business.

 

[co2]

I have in the past lost several domains to front running, using GD. I complained to ICANN 3 times, but I did not even get a reply. So I learned a very important lesson, if you find a good one REG it. If then you do not want it, get a refund. You can do this at GD, you have 5 days, but you must ring them to get the refund.

 

[Rubber Duck]

I have in the past lost several domains to front running, using GD. I complained to ICANN 3 times, but I did not even get a reply. So I learned a very important lesson, if you find a good one REG it. If then you do not want it, get a refund. You can do this at GD, you have 5 days, but you must ring them to get the refund.

IDNers use Dynadot for refunding. I don't use them as they are more expensive for me than Domainsite which does not.

 

[Spade]

As a Former Godaddy Employee - They have never been involved in this practice to my knowledge. I do much of my searching for avail domains there.

In fact, NSI is the only registrar I am aware of that currently does it.

 

[HuntingMoon]

Fabulous for 100% sure does not.

 

[wikes82]

NetSol is the only one in the industry I'm aware of doing this.
anyway, why not using whois tool to check the availability, I mean the desktop software, not the whois site...

 

[Name Trader]

It's Verisign selling the searches to Front Running companies which is the problem. It could also be third party whois servers. It's most unlikely the registrar's with their whois servers.

 

[Weber]

NetSol is the only one in the industry I'm aware of doing this.
anyway, why not using whois tool to check the availability, I mean the desktop software, not the whois site...

Can you recommend some software? Sounds like the way to go if it prevents individual searches from being discovered.

 

[wikes82]

Can you recommend some software? Sounds like the way to go if it prevents individual searches from being discovered.

well, I'm using the GNU Whois comes in every linux distro.
if you are using windows, and wanted to check domain availability, just use telnet.

e.g: telnet whoisserver 43
then enter the domain name + enter

whois servers for gtld :
.com and .net -> whois.crsnic.net
.org -> whois.pir.org
.info -> whois.afilias.info
.us -> whois.nic.us
.biz -> whois.nic.biz

 

[AlanGNW]

As a Former Godaddy Employee - They have never been involved in this practice to my knowledge. I do much of my searching for avail domains there.

In fact, NSI is the only registrar I am aware of that currently does it.

Nice to hear it from a former employee. I have never had problems with GoDaddy. Makes you wonder what spyware might be involved.

 

[Michael]

NSI is the only one I know of. I've never had a problem with Godaddy, so I would recommend using them or Moniker.