Moniker now unsafe for name searches??

[liquidcherry]

it's been a while that i searched for names but a couple days ago i started to search again and i used Moniker for it since i never had issues in the past...but shockingly i discovered that one of the name i searched for but didn't reg was registered just short after i searched:o

Who the F you can trust these days....dang, it was some good name IMO...i hope it will drop tomorrow, thought "tasting' is gone...well at least for the small domainer i guess....

Anyway, need your opinion on "THE ONE" trusted registrar.....

Cheers

Liquid

 

[lll]

damn I heard name.com does this also? :bah:

 

[liquidcherry]

hi bd,

the odd thing is it was registered at godaddy..(i am not trying to implement things like selling the searches or running a special script and then go to another registrar here but.... lol), it could be coincidence but then.......it was a hyphen name!.....(had an idea for a project)..the name had some pretty good exact searches

?

Cheers

Liquid

 

[RazorNF]

this usually comes up every now and again.

No matter what a registrar says officially, basically DON'T search anywhere (unless querying the registry directly), unless you are prepared to register the name right away if available.

and like you said it could also be a coincidence.... thousands of names are registered every day, and its not inconceivable that someone thought of the same domain, or got inspiration for it from the same tv show, commercial, current event, etc at that moment in time.

 

[RevolutionaryDomains]

This frustrates me to no end, but I have to wonder if it is possible that with all the domainers out there, can others be searching for the same types and/or same names? It seems like a stretch, but the reason I wonder this is the fact this happens to me on a fairly regular basis where I search for names and if I don't register them in that sitting, they end up registered shortly after.

I only use GoDaddy for my searching, and have always felt others have ways of viewing what has been searched. Although, I was never completely sure if it was on GD my searches are being viewed, or perhaps in addition to other sites, such as whois searches, hosterstats, goog's keyword tool, etc. I have lost many names this way, a few in fact just over the past week or two. Many of them are to members on this very site, which is like a kick in the face when it gets posted in a thread. Good times!

All that aside, I would love to know if in fact there is any site out there truly safe from pyring eyes, and if so, which site is it?


-Regards

 

[alien51]

Can be 'coincidence', if the domain has nice keywords in it.

But i have proven that Network Solutions are doing frontrunning, when i tried to search for some very unique peculiar domain name with them like say 'jupiterbananatree dot com' something like that... and then the domain got registered by someone else after just a few days. And the domain is a handreg, zero year. Not a drop.

I was also testing a coupon code at Godaddy if it's already expired. So what i do is, i practice regging some weird name, then i delete it from my shopping cart. After a week, Godaddy sends me an email saying the weird name i deleted from my shopping cart is still available, "Do you want to register it? Use the coupon code below and get 30% discount".

Godaddy has such a good memory. NOT! :P

 

[DU]

For .com/.net you could try verisign whois ? You're only interested in the existence so the thin vs thick data is irrelevant.

You could also just ping for a DNS entry directly (thought that is not guarantee)

I doubt the registry is up to too much obvious name stealing.

 

[DnEbook]

For .com/.net you could try verisign whois ? You're only interested in the existence so the thin vs thick data is irrelevant.

You could also just ping for a DNS entry directly (thought that is not guarantee)

I doubt the registry is up to too much obvious name stealing.

I think appraoch is a good idea, although do i trust registras ....... Nope

 

[jaydub]

I bought a whois script and a whois domain and set up my own whois site.:hehe::tu:

 

[DU]

I bought a whois script and a whois domain and set up my own whois site.:hehe::tu:

Most scripts I've seen use Internic which uses Verisign... at some point you have to ask "someone" whether a name is available.

A whois script that checks whois at Godaddy is still using Godaddy

 

[jaydub]

.....

 

[DU]

Post removed.

It was a joke that didn't work that could have made JayDub look bad when in fact he's a great member.

 

[enlytend]

I run a whois client locally and choose the hosts where I do the lookup. You can't do that for bulk lookups (most will block your IP), but it's great for checking just a couple of names.

Whois clients are just a front end to the whois command. In addition to Verisign/Internic, some whois clients default to networksolutions for lookups. NS was accused of front running a couple of years ago and their response was that they reserve names for 4 days after a lookup by a customer. Using their data through a whois client doesn't, IME, trigger them to reserve the name - which makes sense, because you aren't coming in as a customer.

 

[interestedenough]

I remember this used to be an issue, I believe they restricted the redemption period by putting a % cap on the number of domains a registrar returned. It was getting pretty bad. But it doesn't mean they are not still doing it up to a degree. Pretty sneaky, distasteful, and illegal if you ask me.

 

[richface]

I have a friend who works with one of the registrars, Pay Attention. Basically when you search for a domain name. The search is saved and the system assumes the domain is more likely to be purchased hence suggesting the name to other users. Godaddy is the Mac Daddy of this! They are in the business to make money so if you search for the domain with these guys be prepared to pay. Its not going to wait for you. 123-reg is lovely I have searched for domains come back in weeks and registered the name. Name.com is one of the worst. I lost out on one very good domain. Searched it got a call just when I was about to register it and vuala it was regged by someone else in seconds ouch! . "Any Registrar with a suggestion tool beware"

 

[alien51]

So how about DomainTools then?

 

[DU]

So how about DomainTools then?

I don't have any evidence for them doing anything but they are a domainers tools I'd use them for what they are good at - looking at someone's whois. I wouldn't use them to determine availability.

I often use instantdomainsearch.com (or similar) figuring that if you're typing one letter at a time it's really hard to know what you're actually checking (not that anyone cares).

I usually just go to Dynadot/Name (who I don't think steal anything) and just search for a different extension (or without extension). If you want:

CLOUDCOMPUTING.CO.UK

Put into the check

CLOUDCOMPUTING.US

It tells you which other TLDs are available.

Does it work? Frankly, I don't think most registrars are busy filtering through 100,000s of queries to make registrations. Chances of getting enough regfee domains to make money on without being an active domainer? Near Zero.

Best thing imho is to just run an internic.net or verisign whois script from your server for .com/.net and for anything else use the above method.

I think what happens in reality is as was alluded to earlier. A couple of registrars "hold for their customers" which is BS but they are the places most of us don't use.


Somewhere like Name.com that is heavily into tooling and analysis is likely pulling the information and using it to feed their "suggestions". Somewhere like GoDaddy.com often presents names similar to those you currently have and suggestions so may do similar.

I think most of it is just people registering the same name. A lot of domainers will search google for inspiration. If you imagine 1000s of domainers searching for "What happens after cloud trend?" you will likely have them all looking through the same few pages for inspiration and being inspired by the same thing.

Also - most names you pick up have been registered before and are not as "fresh" as you think. New names have footprints everywhere.. so your original idea may have been three other original ideas previously!

So - you're not the only one looking. About 99% of new regges are dropped. If you had to think about it too long you just saved $8 is how I look at it


//Apologies for the rambling discombobulated post. Doing too any things at once.

 

[thebutler]

I use the following service.

iwhois.com

Below is taken from their website;


TRUST STATEMENT


There appears to be a growing problem with the monitoring of domain searches at certain registrars and whois websites, and the use of such data to enable unscrupulous domain tasting or kiting.

It happens like this:
You think of a domain name that you would like to register.
You check at a registrar or whois website and find that it's still available.
For some reason, you delay registering it for a few minutes.
When you go back to get it, you find that in that short space of time it's been taken!
Coincidence? Very occasionally. But repeated tests with obscure domain names like 7hq9e0syf541.com have shown beyond reasonable doubt that there's more to it than that.

Here is a summary of our position on this, so that you may have complete confidence in iWhois.
We do not monitor searched domains at iWhois that are available for registration.
We never access or extract such data from our server logfiles. These are emptied daily.

 

[DU]

TRUST STATEMENT

They show their site as whois under privacy
{Richard Lau, Managing Director is visible on site so they're not hiding in reality}

I don't doubt them. As I said, I doubt there's much validity to most claims of domain snatching.

I forgot to mention that many people will use valuation tools prior to registering and forget that they do that. These types of sites are MUCH MORE LIKELY to be registering.

Only value AFTER you buy, imho. If you care about such things at all.

 

[Jeffrey]

I have no problems with Domaintools and iWhois.