Slashdot Mirror
Domain Tasting "Officially Dead" Thanks To Cancellation Policy
Ars Technica is reporting that domain tasting has been all but eradicated now that the full penalty for excessive cancellations has taken effect. "In 2008, ICANN decided to act. It allowed domain registrars to withdraw as many as 10 percent of their total registrations; they would face penalties for anything above that. Initially, ICANN adopted a budget that included a charge of $0.20 for each withdrawal above the limit, which was in effect from June 2008 to July of this year. Later, it adopted an official policy that raised the penalty to $6.75, the cost of a .org registration; that took effect in July 2009. The results have been dramatic. Even under the low-cost budget provisions, domain withdrawals during the grace period dropped to 16 percent of what they had been prior to its adoption. Once the heavy penalties took hold, the withdrawal rate dropped to under half a percent."
So the semi-legitimate use you can dig up is that companies want to buy up bundles of DNs and drop ads there to see if type-in traffic or google searches can make them enough bank to warrant keeping it up. Personally, sounds like a get rich quick scheme providing nothing -- maybe even negative confusion -- to society and should therefore be discouraged.
... do we see where this is going? Again, free DN registration, stupid that this should even have a term even stupider that it works for people with a lot of patience aiming to save $12/year.
Next you got domain kiting. Where a jerk "tastes" under one registrar and then cancels five days later and "tastes" under another an then cancels five days later and then "tastes" under yet another registrar
And what's left? Domain Name Front Running like our friend Network Solutions? Remind me again what sound logic caused domain name tasting to be introduced in the first place?
Lastly, after reading the short report, I'm lead to believe that we're still allowing 10% AGP deletes. My question is simple: Given the above reasons for domain tasting, why allow it at all? I mean everyone's spinning this move in a positive light except for scam artists and con men. So why not just seal the deal and make it "Officially Officially Dead" in a policy?
My work here is dung.
What was the purpose of "domain testing" anyway??
One of the unfortunate aspects of networked computing is that the cost of antisocial behaviors is so small
There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. I say we take off and nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
We need a new tag: "eventualoutbreakofcommonsense"
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
What was the purpose of "domain testing" anyway??
Obviously, some domains have gone bad, like milk left out too long. You don't want to drink the whole thing, so, um, you taste a little bit of it? To see if it's gone sour? Maybe we could replace it with domain smelling, or domain giving it to your wife to see if she spits it out?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
let's hope that dns providers (like opendns) don't start offering a similar tasting service for unregistered domains.
because your ISP is tasting all the domains you visit through their DNS. Can they not sell a list of the most popular misspelled domain names? I was alarmed the other day when I mistyped a nonexistant domain and comcast's domain helper came up.
http://www.comcastvoices.com/2009/07/domain-helper-service-here-to-help-you.html
The next step is to enforce ICANN rule 4.2.5 to prohibit registrars from warehousing or speculating in domains.
I think the thinking is that it allows people to get refunds if they made a typo during the domain registration process.
So what you're telling me is that the process for making an error in your form is to delete everything and start over? You're telling me that they do this instead of having you submit a request to have it changed? Am I the only one that thinks it would be easier to make a form for requesting changes to your account?
People are human, people err. But it benefits everyone involved if you just fix the mistake when you notice it. The registrar retains your business and you get the domain you wanted. No big deal. But it stops scammers from allocating 300 domains and keeping 3 of them to squat on or whatever they want to do. They should be stuck with 300 domains they have to pay for.
My work here is dung.
You know you're in the ghetto when $6.75 is enough of a "heavy penalty" that it actually matters.
What did Ben say about Mos Eisley? I think he was talking about the internet.
Besides the domain tasters, does anyone actually know how to get their money back for a domain? I've used several registrars, and I've never seen a link or a mention in a FAQ that I could get my money back if I make a typo. I'm sure it's in there, but just buried under mountains of fine print. For $10, it's my guess that most people figure it was their mistake and pay again. Only the shady people know about the policy.
Wikipedia says:
"Domain tasting should not be confused with domain kiting, which is the process of deleting a domain name during the five-day grace period and immediately re-registering it for another five-day period. This process is repeated any number of times with the end result of having the domain registered without ever actually paying for it."
So I guess that's dead, too?
I was thinking "AboutFuckingTime"....
I'd guess the percentage of legitimate demand is far less than 10% of domain registrations, probably far less than 1% (seeing as how the current legitimate+illegitimate percentage is 0.3%) But it doesn't matter much - 10% was low enough to kill off the vast majority of the remaining domain tasters, while high enough that people weren't going to argue and whine about how unreasonably strict it was. It means that the registrars who were friendly to the domain-tasting business can't afford to push that stuff any more, and it's not clear that setting a tighter limit is the most effective way to kill of the remaining abusers. After all, there are still people who speculate on name space just for the advertising revenue even if they have to pay the full $6/year. So a lot of this namespace pollution is going away.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I found a domain I wanted two and a half months ago, and promptly bought it. I then looked for an economical hosting agency and arranged to move the domain - no go! I have to wait 60 days before I can move it! I have waited the sixty days, and put in a transfer request. After a while, I get an email asking if I requested the transfer. If so, do nothing - your transfer will be initiated after a 72 hours (+++) wait. The transfer will take between 7 and 14 days! This in the 21st century, on the INTERNET. I still have not found out how to see if there is any progress, and meanwhile - on my money - my domain name is hosting adverts which I do not wish to be associated with me or mine. This seems unacceptably poor policy. - Roger -