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."

Comments

Hey, I know what you can do.

[Anonymous Coward]

You could bitch about it on slashdot. That can only turn out well.

Re:Register your own domain

[ar32h]

Sure, and be subject to France's restrictive speech laws.
At least I have a reasonable expectation with Go Daddy that they will not suspend my domain without a good reason.

Bad things happened, that's not a reason to erase inanimate, historical, objects from history.
Insert whole free speech defend though I disagree speech here.

I would also like to note that I have personal experience with some proboards.com users abusing the send message to all members capability. Their use of the send to all function meets some definitions of spam. You know what? the particularly annoying user just might have been hosted on proboards21.com. I'm not sad to see that they have been stopped, even though I disagree with the method used.

More Details

[pclinger]

I got more details from GoDaddy as I talked to their abuse department on the phone. This is what they told me:

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 /.'s registrar disables their domain by changing their name servers.

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.

Re:More Details

[Eponymous Cowboy]

This whole thing bothers me to no end.

I've noticed this kind of thing happens all the time in life, and I really am starting to dislike it: Everything is going just fine, you do nothing wrong, someone else screws up--completely outside of your control--and it takes you time and money to fix it.

I've gotten half-a-million-dollar tax bills because my state double-issued a taxpayer ID. I've been pulled over for speeding by the police within seconds of entering a highway, not even yet at highway speed, because my car happened to be the same model as someone they had clocked miles up the highway. I've had my ISP cancel my account when their credit card processor double-billed my card and marked the chargeback of the second amount as nonpayal.

And now, I've got this to worry about, too. I have around twenty domain names with GoDaddy.

I really empathize with you. This just sucks.

I really hope that you can get the $250 refunded, talking with the right people at GoDaddy.com. Please keep us updated, if not here, then in your Slashdot journal. I can't imagine that they could keep the $250; I am amazed they actually made you pay it in the first place.

If you cannot get them to refund the $250 within the next week or so, here is what I would recommend:

Transfer all of your domain names elswhere (once you find a registrar of course). Then once they have been successfully transferred, dispute the $250 charge with your credit card company. You have 60 days from the date of your statement; so anywhere from 60 to 90 days from today, depending on when your next statement is sent out. It's as easy as filling out a form or writing a short letter and mailing it in. Your credit card company will side with you by default, that's how they work, and refund the money immediately. The burden of proof will then like with GoDaddy.com to show that they charged you this fee correctly; if what you have said is true, they will be unable to do it.

Of course it will be a hassle, transferring your domain names. Hopefully it won't come to that, and GoDaddy will step up to the plate, refund your $250, and apologize. Let us know what happens. I wish you the best.