Case Study: How Your Domain Name Gets Stolen (Part 2)
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In yesterday’s post I blogged about my theory of shady companies becoming registrars and then stealing people’s good domain names. Today I hope to see if we can show conclusively if this theory is true.
I propose that we do a case study to see how long it takes for a domain name to be stolen when numerous whois searches are being done on that name. Yet, I want to chose a name that no one would possible want, like: jibjobnoblobhogsog.com. This way we can be certain that the names are being stolen.
I also want to test this on the five major whois directories: InterNic, Network Solutions, Register, GoDaddy, and Whois. This way we can see if certain directories are being targeted. It may also help us form some other possible theories.
So here’s how it will work. I will begin sending out an email every day on May 14th to those who would like to participate. In this email I will give them five random names to search on, and show which names should be used in what directory. Below is an example:
Monday
ohtowlowfoeshow.com –> InterNic
yoyomamatoetoelama.com –> Network Solutions
yadayadamotadalododo.com –> Register
hihisosovevemomogogo.com –> GoDaddy
paulisthemostamazingpersonihaveevermetinmyentirelife.com –> Whois (I don’t know about this domain it might already be taken =)
Then I ask everyone who is participating to do two searches on all five directories every day. I will repeat this Monday thru Friday for two weeks. Once these two weeks are up I will publish the results of our study on my blog.
If you would like to participate in this case study sign up for “The Drip” Newsletter (sign up is located in the top right hand corner of the page). Please be sure to add your blog/website information if you would like me to link to you when I post the final results.
Let me know if you have any further input on this study before we launch our study on Monday.
Maybe you should hide the domain names for now, i mean, not publish them here until the results are in. Perhaps some registrar will come across this blog–how remotely impossible that sounds–and that will skew the results.
Paul,
Great idea! I’ve often been curious about this myself. I’d be happy to participate in the study.
Also, on a slightly related subject, I’ve started doing domain searches at instantdomainsearch.com – it uses ajax and is incredibly fast, but I’m not sure how they check the availability.
I’ll look forward to the emails, and to know the results!
Just a thought…”40days.net” is a smaller name and because it is a 6-digit name, the domain thiefs may find it more demanding. They may have an algorithm that not only checks the number of inquiries, but the extension (e.g., .com, .net, etc.), the lengths of the URL (e.g., 6- digits vs. 20-digits), and the commoness of the words in the address (e.g., “days” is much more common a name than “motadalododo”). Again, just a thought.
Thanks Dallas and Marcello for your suggestions. I was talking to Eran concerning your exact comment, Marcello. He recommended that we have two lists that go out. One list will have random domain names, while the other list have a combination of random two word names (ie archivefish.com). I don’t know if I want to over burden those participating in the case study. I might do another case study later, testing this theory. ~Paul W.
Paul,
Interesting idea. Last year when I was trying to set up a website I wondered about that same thing, and I was going to blame GoDaddy too. So, if you need me, I’m willing to help.
I hope everything is going well for you.
-Erin
Thanks Erin for your comment, we could definitely use your help. ~Paul W.
I’m in, Paul. It sounds Dick Tracy-ish and a lot of fun. Sleuth stuff is great!
- Andrew J.
Do I have to be a member to post to this blog?
Hi Paul,
I have 1 $5 dollar word for you. It is: vittate. It means having a vitta. I have a name for your website. It is: Paulscoolmarketing.net
1 more $5 word:rijksdaalder. It is a siver coin from Norway.
The company that STOLE mine is
http://caribbeanonlineinternational.com/ thru
http://www.domaindoorman.com
Both companies look like they are scammers.
I believe godaddy sold the name to them though they deny that. This happened on July 30, 2007 hours after I searched for the name.
saro- Thanks for your comment. I don’t believe that GoDaddy sold your domain. I believe that the company that stole the name used a shady registrar to steal it. ~Paul W.
caribbeanonlineinternational.com was also one stolen from me. I researched for hours after I looked it up. I used godaddy to look it up, and my ISP is Quest. Do you konw how it leaked?
I believe that the company that stole the name used a shady registrar to steal it.