Dot-Word Bidders In Last Minute Dash

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Dot-Word Bidders In Last Minute Dash

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday May 30, 2012 @06:25AM from the sit-back-and-watch-them-scramble dept.

benfrog writes "Dot-word bidders are in a last-minute dash for domain names as ICANN has revealed its timetable for the controversial new TLDs. The organization will close its TLD Application System (TAS) at a minute before midnight tonight (23.59 GMT, 19.59 ET, 16.59 Pacific). The TAS was originally supposed to close on April 12, but the deadline was extended twice because of a security bug. The winners for domains will be selected (initially) by a 'widely derided mechanism' of 'digital archery' in which every bidder will be assigned a date and time and then be asked to login to a secure website and hit a submit button as close to that time as possible."

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.first by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-30 06:27 · Score: 1

You know some-one out there is hoping and praying.
Archery by Spad · 2012-05-30 06:35 · Score: 5, Funny

The winners for domains will be selected (initially) by a 'widely derided mechanism' of 'digital archery'
This replaced the original plan for a massive game of "Pin the tail on the domain" after they realised it would be impractical to get everyone together in one room.
500 left out of 2,300 by sl4shd0rk · 2012-05-30 06:39 · Score: 1

That percentage sounds more like a sickening thud than a mad dash.

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Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
Who would NOT be using a bot for this? by mehrotra.akash · 2012-05-30 06:40 · Score: 3, Insightful

At the end, isnt it just a game of who is closer in terms of network distance to the servers hosting the game?
1. Re:Who would NOT be using a bot for this? by rtaylor · 2012-05-30 06:59 · Score: 1
  
  Not really. It is a game to be won by the person with the most consistent ping time.
  Either way, if you're paying several hundred thousand for a domainname then locating staff nearer to the server shouldn't be a big deal for a one-time event.
  
  --
  Rod Taylor
2. Re:Who would NOT be using a bot for this? by Archangel+Michael · 2012-05-30 08:41 · Score: 1
  
  Staff? You're kidding me? This will be automated with scripts. You're nuts if you're depending on a human to hit "submit" button on website for a high value domain name. Scripts, properly executed, will be within milliseconds (ie, margin of error) of the exact time needed. This solves NOTHING.
  
  --
  Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
My choices.... by mark-t · 2012-05-30 06:43 · Score: 4, Funny
1. .comdotcomdotcom (what? am I stuttering?)
2. .dotdot (The dreaded ellipsis)
3. .dashdot (a pirate domain)
4. .slashslashcolonhttp (just to mess with people)
--
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
1. Re:My choices.... by khr · 2012-05-30 06:49 · Score: 1
  
  My first choice was .127...
2. Re:My choices.... by fotbr · 2012-05-30 06:50 · Score: 1
  
  .slashslashcolonptth (just to mess with people)
  ftfy
3. Re:My choices.... by Divide+By+Zero · 2012-05-30 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  h-t-t-p-colon-slash-slash-slashdot-dot-slash-slash-colon-h-t-t-p You know they'd do it, too.
  
  --
  Dare to Hope. Prepare to be Disappointed.
4. Re:My choices.... by SammyIAm · 2012-05-30 07:32 · Score: 1
  
  One more slash in there and you'd have a word-wise palindromic domain!
  (http-colon-slash-slash-slashdot-dot-slash-slash-slash-colon-http)
5. Re:My choices.... by JazzLad · 2012-05-30 07:37 · Score: 1
  
  .upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart
  
  --
  "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
6. Re:My choices.... by mark-t · 2012-05-30 08:18 · Score: 1
  
  ._. is morse code for the letter 'R'
  
  --
  File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
7. Re:My choices.... by dissy · 2012-05-30 09:52 · Score: 1
  
  .upupdowndownleftrightleftrightbastart
  Am I the only one that read that as: up up down down left right left right bastard ?
8. Re:My choices.... by D'Sphitz · 2012-05-30 10:23 · Score: 1
  
  I wouldn't mind getting my hands on clownpenis.fart (to host my resume), however the chance of someone dropping $180k on .fart is probably low...
9. Re:My choices.... by kasperd · 2012-05-30 11:39 · Score: 1
  
  My first choice was .127...
  The first character of a TLD must be a letter.
  
  --
  
  Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
10. Re:My choices.... by RaceProUK · 2012-05-31 00:10 · Score: 1
  
  Comming soon:
  http://slashdot.slashslashslashcolonptth
  FTFY
  
  --
  No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
11. Re:My choices.... by RaceProUK · 2012-05-31 00:12 · Score: 1
  
  Wouldn't .dashdotdotdashdotdotdashdotdotdashdotdotdashdotdotdashdot be better?
  = RRRRRR
  
  --
  No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
12. Re:My choices.... by mark-t · 2012-05-31 02:53 · Score: 1
  
  I was going for subtle... that's a bit overstated.
  
  --
  File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
13. Re:My choices.... by mark-t · 2012-05-31 08:57 · Score: 1
  
  I can't help but read "ptth" as an onomatopoeia for a leaky balloon, and not as a backwards version of http (even though intellectually I know that it really is spelled that way).
  I always think of the protocol portion of a URI as being atomic anyways, so no... I'm afraid that you really didn't really ftfm.
  I thank the sincerity of your effort, nonetheless. But I really did say what I meant.
  
  --
  File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
So... by eternaldoctorwho · 2012-05-30 06:58 · Score: 1

Is Slashdot going to register .slash? That would be confusing...."Slash-Dot-Dot-Slash". But repeat it three times, and we'd get a lot more users signing up.
Or even worse: slashdot.dotslashdotdot.dotdotdot.dotslashdotdot.slashslashdot That URL would just be a cry for help.
1. Re:So... by bobbied · 2012-05-30 07:39 · Score: 1
  
  Or even worse: slashdot.dotslashdotdot.dotdotdot.dotslashdotdot.slashslashdot That URL would just be a cry for help.
  Wouldn't slashslashslash.dotdotdot.slashslashslash be more of a cry for help?
  73s
  
  --
  "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
2. Re:So... by bobbied · 2012-05-30 07:40 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Wouldn't slashslashslash.dotdotdot.slashslashslash be more of a cry for help?
  oops... That's dotdotdot.slashslashslash.dotdotdot.. My bad..
  
  --
  "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Re:Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · 2012-05-30 07:02 · Score: 1, Informative

Fuck off, pedophile scum.
http://encyclopediadramatica.se/Kimmo_Alm
Simple Program by bobbied · 2012-05-30 07:09 · Score: 3, Interesting

Simple solution to this problem is to first get NTP running on a Linux that is tied to a local GPS receiver and make sure it's running long enough to be stable (a few days). Start probing port 80 by opening TCP connections and record response times. Average the times. Divide by two and subtract that from the appointed time. You might want to subtract a bit more to account for the internal server delays. Write a small program that can hit the virtual "login" button at the calculated time. You should be able to get your "login" request to arrive at the destination very close to the right time if you are careful to get the TCP port opened and stable, then do the HTTP post/Get or what have you at the calculated time.
Want to be even more accurate? Find a server to do this on that is the least number of hops between you and the server, opting for the lowest latency links you can manage. But this just makes the calculations more sure, the problem remains the same.
Anybody trying to hit the "submit" button manually is going to loose..

--
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
1. Re:Simple Program by kermidge · 2012-05-30 08:05 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  Simple but non-trivial solution is to find some grown-ups to run ICANN. Find grown-ups to run ICANN who aren't greedy bastards might be more difficult.
2. Re:Simple Program by bill_mcgonigle · 2012-05-31 16:52 · Score: 1
  
  Simple but non-trivial solution is to find some grown-ups to run ICANN.
  Dude, you're putting a damper on our chances of naked mud wrestling champions representing bidders being sent to ICANN HQ to decide the domain lottery.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
3. Re:Simple Program by kermidge · 2012-05-31 18:36 · Score: 1
  
  "You have a strange and twisted mind, McGillicuddy."
  Thanks for the first guffaw of the day.
If someone snags .word by Jailbrekr · 2012-05-30 07:37 · Score: 1

the domain "thebirdisthe" is ALL MINE SUCKERS.

--
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
what if they have a captcha? by Chirs · 2012-05-30 08:12 · Score: 1

Maybe at the last second it prints a capcha-style message telling you to wait some number of seconds before pushing the button--weed out some of the bots.
1. Re:what if they have a captcha? by green1 · 2012-05-30 09:22 · Score: 1
  
  haven't we seen articles saying that bots are now more likely to be able to beat captchas than humans are? I know I usually have to reload many captcha images 2-3 times before I can find one that I can guess at with any likelyhood of success.
2. Re:what if they have a captcha? by dissy · 2012-05-30 09:48 · Score: 1
  
  haven't we seen articles saying that bots are now more likely to be able to beat captchas than humans are? I know I usually have to reload many captcha images 2-3 times before I can find one that I can guess at with any likelyhood of success.
  In fact such bots have been created, tested, proven, boxed, and sold.
  Hell, for only $1.39 per 1000 solved captchas, we could spend as much as a cup of coffee and never have to try reading those annoying blurs again!
  Sadly I don't suspect it actually would work like that for us non-spammers :{
  Speaking of spammers, I have a feeling I'll be needing to update my filters to preemptively drop email from any TLD more than 3 characters. Sorry dot-info owners, but you can blame ICANN for this one.
3. Re:what if they have a captcha? by green1 · 2012-05-30 13:58 · Score: 1
  
  I'd be more inclined to white-list TLDs rather than just dump everything over 3 characters, depending on who you do business with there are a lot of 2 letter TLDs you could easily drop too
I completely misunderstood this by james_van · 2012-05-30 23:57 · Score: 1

and at first glance assumed that it meant that ".word" was gonna be a tld. I got a little excited because I realized that I might be able to buy birdisthe.word, and I then I could put a clip of Peter Griffin singing "Surfin Bird" on repeat and send the link to my friends to annoy them. Then I reread the summary and was very disappointed.