NSI Botches Domain Transfer, Says 'Not Our Problem'

Rolan writes "Wired is carrying a story about a botched domain trasfer that cost a customer "a large wad of money". In the end they say it's not their problem, even though they botched it, and Lawyers say he probably can't do anything about it. " Its an interesting article actually, and it doesn't sound like an isolated incident.

Comments

My Secret Recipe

[1010011010]

... which isn't really that secret, I imagine:

1. Send in email templates until you get a ticket number
2. Print out the template and make a cover page explaining what you want. Include your ticket number, full contact information and business name. Print it on company letterhead (make up some if you have to).
3. Fax it all to NSI.
4. Immediately call, and stay on the line with whoever you get until they've found the fax, and/or the email, and do whatever you want. Never take no for an answer. Ask for supervisors if necessary. Get angry and yell if it helps, but be polite as long as possible.
5. Record the call if possible. "This call is being recorded to ensure quality customer service." Heh.

So...life goes on.

[razvedchik]

One rule for making alot of money in the business world: "Location, Location, Location"

Of course, us webheads know that's why you want to own microsoft.com or ibm.com.

However, if something didn't go right with the domain registration, it's *not* the end of the world.

I understand why somebody should be upset, since he had a "verbal contract" with NSI, but something happened.

I don't see anybody getting upset because they can't use the username mike@aol.com. They apply creativity and imagination to come up with something original.

so, maybe racing.com is taken, take reallykick-assracing.com. Contrary to what you might believe, there is more to web success than an URL. Look at slashdot, freshmeat, and 32bitsonline. They don't really have beautiful URLs. You have to market the site once it's set up

That's just my 3 pfennigen.

Moral: Don't base you bussiness on a domain name!

[Hobbex]

While I feel pretty sorry for the guy who got ripped off, and am not the slightest bit surprised to see N$I acting this way, I think that if he was basing the entire bussiness on the url then he had the wrong attitude to begin with.

I mean, in what other field would people base their entire bussiness plan on the NAME of the fucking company? Yes, as long as the Internet is still new to most of its users, and people still feel lost and unsure of where to go, owning a domain like buy.com or sex.com is a goldmine. But in the long run, you are on pretty thin ice if that is that is the base of your bussiness (yes, I know Wall-street doesn't agree with me).

The web is not, and will never be, a keyword based system. In fact, if you read TLBs original paper on WWW for Cern, he specifically mentions having developed the Web because keyword based systems are BAD. Hypetext provides the ultimate decentralized namespace, and no one can argue that people don't become less and less dependant on obvious domain names as they become more at home with the Web and the way it works.

Did Ebay, Yahoo, or Slashdot need obvious domains to succeed? Does the domain not being nerdnews.com detract from Slashdot's popularity and success?

I have no clue what sort of a market there actually if for the website he wanted to start, but if his bussiness-plan WAS sound, I would recommend he thinks of another name and goes on. I'm no good at this, but why not for example on-your-marks.com or theyreoff.com? For someone more creative with words there must be hundreds of race related terms not urled yet.

I really hope that someday people will realize that the domain name is not the website. If a site is good enough it can be just as successfull with some clever, easy to remember, but not generic domain, as it can if you spend millions on buying the most obvious related word you can afford...


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We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.

Not necessarily an "innocent" victim...

[Anonymous Commando]

When I spotted this story on Wired this morning, I decided to look this guy up (John McLanahan) - I've had my own experiences with NSI (not quite to the same extreme as he has), and wanted to find out some more details about his situation and see if I could help somehow.

Tried searching the web for him - found a 29-year-old John McLanahan from Boston who came in 134th in a half-marathon, another who is a corporate lawyer in Georgia, and one who lived sometime in the late 1700s (from a few geneology sites). From the Wired article, it sounded like the Boston McLanahan might be the one (right age range, into racing) but there was no e-mail address listed on the marathon results.

So, I went to the NSI WHOIS server, searched for "McLanahan, John", and found a John McLanahan with a Boston address (actually, three or four handles with the same name and mailing address) who currently owns a number of domains related to racing (roadraces.com, sailingraces.com, runningclubs.com, raceplanning.com, raceinformation.com, coolraces.com) - sounds like the right guy...

...and then I notice the other domains this guy has registered. It looks like he owns a number of domains that are stock-ticker symbols for .com and hi-tech companies (TalkCity, Voyager.Net, ChemDex), some life-insurance related domains (weblifeinsurance.com, lifeinsuranceinfo.com), and some more generic business-related domains (bankinginformation.com, companyinterview.com). Unless his business plan covers more than just racing, I'd say he's been in the domain-speculation game for a while himself... especially when just about every domain I tried going to said "domain for sale".

Not to excuse NSI's more-than-usual imcompetence, but suddenly I don't feel quite so sorry for this guy...
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