Just FYI

[lawksalih]

I sent the following email to ICANN regarding Network Solutions here is their response.

> From: lsalih*@* nameserver.com (00.00.00.00)
>
> First Name: Lawk
>
> Last Name: Salih
>
> Email Address: lsalih*@* nameserver.com
>
> Affiliation: N/A
>
> Country of Current Residence: United States
>
> Subject: Network Solutions
>
> Message: Hi,
>
> I just tried to look upa domain name, www.mynameislawksalih.com, to see if it's available on Network Solution's website. The domain was available. Then I closed my window (session closed) and I went over to GoDaddy's website to register the domain and surprisingly, the domain was not available. I looked up the WHOIS information and I saw Network Solutions as the domain owner. This process didn't take more than 5 minutes and it seems like Network Solutions snatch off domains people search for to see it's available.
>
> Thank you for your time.
>
> Lawk Salih

Thank you for your email.

ICANN-accredited registrar Network Solutions, LLC notified ICANN this week that it had begun registering some domain names at the time a user performs an availability search for the names, whether or not the customer requested that the name be registered.

ICANN's Contractual Compliance Department is investigating Network Solutions' new registration practice to determine whether it is in compliance with the Registrar Accreditation Agreement. If it is determined that Network Solutions is violating the terms of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement, Network Solutions will be notified in accordance with ICANN's compliance investigation procedures posted at http://www.icann.org/compliance/compliance-flowchart.htm.

Best regards,


ICANN

[dtm32236]

that's terrible - thanks for the heads up...

[felgall]

Network Solutions will register all domains that anyone looks up there for the free five day period that is permitted. You can then only buy the domain from them during that period.

You should ALWAYS do domain lookups with the registrar you intend to buy from.

[lawksalih]

That's why I choose GoDaddy over Network Solutions.

[yamaharuss]

Man, that's horrible. ICANN should revoke their license. Netsol has done some pretty underhanded things in the past, like sending those letters to people making them think they need to send money to update their domain.

I love GoDaddy! They even call me often just to ask if everything is ok.

[WebJoel]

...I love GoDaddy! They even call me often just to ask if everything is ok. REALLY?! -Wow, -that is a major selling point with me. That, and ironically, leave me alone.. (no suggesting 'new services or features that we felt you might be interested in'..).

[dtm32236]

they call you? that's incredible (assuming that they aren't trying to sell new services - as webjoel pointed out)

they just won a new customer.

[yamaharuss]

Yes, they call me! And not just to offer new services. If I have domains coming up for renewal soon they will offer discounts to renew multiple domains at one time. I always get someone's name and extension and a "call me if you ever need anything"

GoDaddy's CS is top notch in my book.

[dtm32236]

that's nice to hear - good job godaddy.

[Lord Tataraus]

Wow! I am preparing to get my first site up in a few weeks so I figured I should start looking around to see what registrar to buy from, it looks like GoDaddy's is pretty good.

How's their pricing? and they discount for multiple domains?

Thanks!
LT

[Stephen Philbin]

Interesting. I've just moved from Networksolutions.com to GoDaddy.com. I made the move because Networksolutions do not allow you to add DNS records for implementing SPF (http://www.openspf.org) and DKIM (http://www.dkim.org/) so that you are forced to either buy their email services from them, or change to a different registrar if you want e-mail from your domain to stand even a small chance of getting delivered. Naturally, I chose to leave Networksolutions.

I would leave a link to an entry I made about it on my site, but unfortunately http://www.stephenphilbin.com/ now leads you nowhere. Yup! I've just spent god knows how long trying to do something as simple as point my domain to an IP address, but the UI at GoDaddy.com is so awful and cluttered with crap trying to sell me more stuff that I can't even find it.

So as you might imagine, I'm not hugely impressed with GoDaddy.com at the moment either.

[RobDog888]

Netsol sucks for web hosting but I have found it quite good with domain name registration features and flexibility. Plus they let you transfer in/out your names easily whereas with GoDaddy they lock your name in for its term and you can not transfer it to any other registrar. You basically can get your name out of there by letting it expire and hope you can get it registered with some other registrar before someone else buys it.

GoDaddy sucks and you get what you pay for.

[dtm32236]

since this have gone a little off-topic, I submitted a new "what's your favorite hosting service (http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?p=855266#post855266)" post.

[yamaharuss]

...., but the UI at GoDaddy.com is so awful and cluttered with crap trying to sell me more stuff that I can't even find it.

So as you might imagine, I'm not hugely impressed with GoDaddy.com at the moment either.

I agree the sales clutter is awful during checkout but their services are 1/3 that of NetSol.

Once logged into your account, the interface is pretty dang simple and no sales clutter.

[TJ111]

I use myplesk.com to manage my domains. It's simple and doesn't give me any crap. It might be a little more expensive then godaddy, but it does everything I want, nothing more, nothing less. The only thing that bothers me is that changing DNS for multiple domain aliases has to be done individually.

[Stephen Philbin]

Once logged into your account, the interface is pretty dang simple and no sales clutter.

Not when I log in to my account it isn't. Almost the entire Interface consists of links to services I don't have and it therefore tries to sell to me. Anyway, after I contacted Godaddy.com about adding and updating my DNS records, they said "screw you". It turns out that when I transfered my domain, they didn't move my domain name on to their name servers. I had the choice of either leaving it as it was (pointing to now deleted records at two worldnic.com nameservers), or use the nameservers of the hosting company I use and pray they support the DNS RR types I went to Godaddy.com for in the first place. Unsurprisingly, they didn't support the SPF resource record type -- in fact they vehemently denied their existence for about a week -- and they've got my TXT type resource records completely wrong.

I did manage to convince my hosting company that SPF type RRs do indeed exist, but they still can't add them yet anyway. So unless I can somehow get them to rectify the situation with my TXT records, I'd have been better off sticking with NetworkSolutions.com.

[aheittman]

We're huge fans of Enom.

[dtm32236]

Getting back to the original topic - I just came across this article (http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/02/20/frontrunning-a-ghost-in-the-machine)...

I haven't read it yet - I don't have time right now, but from scanning it, it seems pretty related...

[chazzy]

Network Solutions has been taken to court over this type of action. (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=10871)

[LeeU]

GoDaddy they lock your name in for its term and you can not transfer it to any other registrar.
Actually, they MUST allow you to transfer your name. See this ICANN policy (http://www.icann.org/transfers/policy-12jul04.htm). (Although, they can make it difficult.)

[lotk]

I think godaddy is too expensive now since they raised their rates to $9.99 for .com domains. I use one of their affiliate sites, lotk.com now since it is only $6.95 for the same services.

[cancer10]

I agree with lawksalih, This has happened with me also. While I was searching for a domain under http://www.networksolutions.com it shows available but when I tried to register it from http://igchosting.in/ it showed unavailable.

NetworkSolutions are cheaters IMHO