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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.
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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