from Hacker News

Does GoDaddy register domains you search?

by alexjawad on 3/15/11, 10:34 AM with 29 comments

• by Urgo on 3/15/11, 2:35 PM

  This is why I always use the command line 'whois' tool to look for domain names. I don't trust the registrars.

• by ffumarola on 3/15/11, 2:12 PM

  Interesting, I actually posted this to someone 9 days ago: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2292453

  Here was my comment:

  I'm not sure who doesn't do it. I just try to go to the domain and see if there is any server side activity (error page, holding page, etc).

  From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting

  "By February 2007, the CEO of Go Daddy reported that of 55.1 million domain names registered, 51.5 million were canceled and refunded just before the 5 day grace period expired and only 3.6 million domain names were actually kept."

  "In January 2008, Network Solutions was publicly accused of this practice when the company began reserving all domain names searched on their website for five days,[7] a practice known as domain name front running."

• by pegmanm on 3/15/11, 9:20 PM

  The process of front running or domain tasting 'should' be a thing of the past. Last year or perhaps 2009 ICANN imposed strict fees on any registrar that pulled more than 10% of their monthly registrations in the first 5 days. Obviously this only counts for ICANN TLDs and not ccTLDs.

  So... When you register a domain the registrar has to pay the registry com/net/org etc immediately. The registry will return the registration fees for any domains that are canceled. However if a registrar has >10% or their total monthly registrations cancelled within the 5 day grace, they do not get that money back.

  This has essentially ended these practices.

  HTH

  Full Disclosure: I used to work for a registry.

• by bigohms on 3/15/11, 6:10 PM

  Yes, but it doesn't stop with registrars. Certain large ISPs front run on domains that don't exist by recording domain names that don't resolve or exist, then trial register them while sending you to their 404 link bait landing page. We only go to the registrar when we want to buy, otherwise its whois in the terminal.

  For interesting results, whois google.com

• by daimyoyo on 3/15/11, 5:53 PM

  It is a coincidence. When I registered 1every.com, it was about 4 months between when I came up with the name and when I finally registered it. I looked the domain up at least a dozen times from several different computers and the domain was still available when I went to get it. There is a very important lesson here though. Now whenever I have an idea for a domain and it turns out to be available, I register it immediately. Worst case scenario is I lock up $10 until I can find a buyer for the domain and best case is I have the domain I want when I'm ready to use it. Also, domains by proxy is the company godaddy uses for private registration. My domain is registered under them if you who.is it.

• by MichaelStubbs on 3/15/11, 12:39 PM

  If I remember correctly, Network Solutions does this as well.

  Edit: Apparently there's a name for this practice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_front_running

• by godaddy on 3/15/11, 11:38 PM

  alexjawad,

  There's no way for me to tell if it is truly a coincidence or not (especially without knowing the domain name), but I do want to let you know that Go Daddy absolutely does not participate in what is known as "domain front running". We have reviewed the domain name search system we have in place and are confident it is extremely secure. In other words, though there are potential explanations for what you experienced (including plain old coincidence), it is not the result of Go Daddy monitoring a domain search and registering the name before you could.

  We encourage you and any other user to search for domains using our domain name search and/or WHOIS search system, and we would recommend NOT "searching" for a domain by simply typing it into your browser to see if a site resolves. In addition, you should maintain up-to-date protection on your computer to prevent malware/spyware that may infect it. And finally, we concur with others in this thread - as soon as you know you want a domain, register it immediately to avoid the possibility of someone else grabbing it first.

  If you have other questions about our services, please feel free to contact GoDaddy.com Customer Support. They are available 24/7/365; contact info is here: http://x.co/Tz4q

  As always, thank you for choosing GoDaddy.com.

  Alon GoDaddy.com Social Media

• by cloudsigma on 3/15/11, 5:07 PM

  A test along the lines of the one conducted by Google against Bing would reveal the correct situation. Essentially 'seed' the registrar with some crazy domains that no-one would want (google did this with unique searches) and wait. This would be particularly effective against less popular domains which gain less interest to begin with.

  If you see any of these zero value domains get registered you have your answer, or at least a very high confidence in your initial assumption.

• by riskish on 3/16/11, 2:32 AM

  I think this is a coincidence. It would be quite an unethical service to let users search for possible domains and then steal them before we have a chance to register them because they identified it as being valuable.

  That's not to say they don't register and own their own, but using your entries as a gauge to see if they want to register something is pretty unethical for a registrar I'd think, even for godaddy :).

• by techvibe on 3/15/11, 10:38 AM

  I think it is not a coincidence. I have experienced this a few times with other providers.

• by lothar on 3/15/11, 3:19 PM

  This actually happened to me, and the domain name was registered within the hour I searched it up. I definitely believe this happens, which is why I will immediately purchase a domain name I like. I won't take any chances.

• by alexjawad on 3/15/11, 10:42 AM

  In that case, it's outrageous! What provider should one use to securely search for available domain names?

• by dotme on 3/15/11, 12:22 PM

  I had an experience with the same. In frustration, I even mailed the guy who purchased it.

• by tnorthcutt on 3/15/11, 10:38 AM

  I've heard of that happening, and a quick Google search pulls up many reports of it.

• by ferostar on 3/15/11, 1:12 PM

  This is insane and a not widely known fact, this question should be upvoted.

• by sushumna on 3/15/11, 3:30 PM

  Whoa!! I had the same experience and I too felt that "what if some one is registering the domain we are searching for availability?" They are doing something like patent Trolling. when I wanted to register one with ".me" all names I was looking for are blocked for auction.why the hell they have to do auction, it should be FCFS.