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Taking Domain Control Back from the Registrar?
Patrick Clinger asks: "I run a large community Web site, and today I woke up to find that one of my domain names (proboards21.com) was disabled by my unnamed registrar -- my name servers were changed to NS1/NS2.SUSPENDED-FOR.SPAM-AND-ABUSE.COM and I no longer have access to that domain in my control panel. I am in no way involved in any spam activities, and the registration for my domain expires in 2007. I would expect at least a courtesy call or an email letting me know what happened, but neither was provided by the unnamed registrar. What can you do when suddenly a registrar goes off and takes control of your domain when there was no violation of your agreement with them? What is to prevent any registrar from taking over any domain when they feel like it? Right now my domain is in limbo, waiting for them to hopefully restore it to the correct name servers."
My registrar just went out of business. Of course before they did, mysteriously, all of the contact information -- except billing -- was switched to them. And so I've got a couple of stranded domains that I can't move anywhere, at any price.
Proving "ownership" is turning out to be harder than expected.
Get off my lawn.
I'm not sure there is anything you can do other than ask them to reinstate the domains unless you want to take this to court but that takes money and perhaps even more importantly, time. I'm not even sure suing them would get the results you want. It depends on what you agreed to when you registered the domain. It's vitally important to read all the fine print when making a business arrangement (like registering a domain). I think the rights and responsibilities outlined in the contract should be the prime factor when choosing a register, not price. All of that aside, a registrar suspending a domain for 'abuse', real or imagined, is ridiculous.
You could bitch about it on slashdot. That can only turn out well.
How about don't let your webhost register domains for you, and don't give your webhost administrative contact status in your domain? Do it yourself at a registrar that respects your rights, like GANDI.
If you do get fuckoffgodaddy.com, at least remember not to register it through them. :)
My blog
I had something similar happen. I registered a domain with a fly-by-night registrar. They took the money and closed down. I actually managed to find his home phone #. His mother (?) answered and actually said that the guy just got out of jail again.
Anyway, I explained this to the registrar upstream from the scam company, and the upstream registrar unlocked it for me, without having to have any communications with the jailbird. My money was lost, but I was able to move the domain elsewhere.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Did you read this?
-- botsex is {grep;touch;strip;unzip;head;mount}
https://www.gandi.net/contract.en.txt
"The Client owns the Domain Name registered. Gandi simply acts on the Client's behalf."
No, I'm not affiliated with Gandi, but I do use them for my registration services. They're the only company who makes such a statement in their contract (AFAIK).
I must say that I'm very surprised by this response. I've had an extraordinarily positive experience with them, particularly BECAUSE of their anti-spam policy. They are very serious about complaints, but when I filed one, were definitely very careful about not arbitrarily shutting the spammer down just because *I said* they were a spammer. They contacted the spammer first, went back and forth with them and myself for a few days, and then shut them down when they would not stop.
Based on my experience from the other side of the equation, you should have been contacted first. I'm surprised that you weren't. I would suggest contacting the President, Bob Parsons' office. When I called, I was told that he kept his number fairly easy to access because he prefers to be more hands-on and accessible to customers. I'm sure that he doesn't take the calls personally (I got voicemail when I called), but was told later that the issue had been referred by him personally to the abuse dept manager, who called me back.
The " Office of The President" number is (480) 505-8828, and the e-mail address is president@godaddy.com. Give 'em a call, and a chance. Everyone has given some variation of "you get what you pay for", but this customer has gotten far more than that in the past.
Example
Example
Example
My guess is that complaints about the spammer went to GoDaddy rather than you. Did you receive complaints? Do you, I hope, have an abuse@proboards21.com address set up...
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
it's in dispute....he can't transfer it.
I got more details from GoDaddy as I talked to their abuse department on the phone. This is what they told me:
/.'s registrar disables their domain by changing their name servers.
1) Some person (a person I do not know) sent out an email to a bunch of people with their newsletter, and included a link to their message board that was hosted by ProBoards.
2) Another person received a copy of that email, and took it as spam (it may have been -- although the email looks like a newsletter).
3) That person SpamCop report, and contacted GoDaddy regarding it.
4) I deleted that message board account about 2 days prior to GoDaddy disabling my domain name.
5) GoDaddy disabled the domain because it was "associated" with spam.
Now let me make this clear if you don't understand it: Some person out there on the Internet sent an email to another person out there on the Internet and because that email mentioned my domain name in the body of it, my domain was disabled for being associated with spam.
The email did NOT originate from my servers, it was not sent by me or a member of my staff. It is just like if I opened up my mail program and sent an email to a hundred people mentioning somewhere in the email "slashdot.org" and then
To top the entire situation off, GoDaddy charged me a $250 fee to get my domain name back! I am now looking to transfer my domain names to a new registrar, so time to start looking - and time to start considering legal action.
If you read my message, I never said my server was used as a spam relay -- it wasn't. My servers are locked down, I don't leave them as open relays. I'm not an idiot.
GoDaddy disabled my domain because some person sent an email to another person, and mentioned my domain in that email. It is as simple was that. The email did not originate from my servers. The email had nothing to do with me, except it mentioned the URL of one of the over 500,000 message boards that ProBoards hosts.
Don't make accusations when you don't know the facts.
When I was working for a law firm in downtown Dallas, I had to work with 174 domain names registered with GoDaddy. I had a few minor quibbles with them, but their telephone support was second-to-none. Just give the guys a call. The worst they could do is say no.
Don't get irate with them on the phone, either - that'll just convince the telephone rep. to not help you. Be nice, courteous - it's not that guy's fault. Don't threaten with lawyers or the BBB to the phone guys. Save that for certified mail.
It looks like you've allowed Go Daddy a lot of room to screw you. INAL, so I don't know how much of that contract is actually legal, but if they were acting on spam complaints, you're probably going to have to spend a lot of money to get much out of them. Did you call them yet?
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