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1. 

   Chris G, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:18pm

   
   

   The company is most likely committing illegal acts in any case and should be prosecuted.

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2. 

   Brandon Rusnak, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:19pm

   
   

   This really sucks

   This really sucks. It is already so hard to get a good .com these days. Now you have to worry about this!
   
   Reminds me of what GoDaddy was doing where when you checked to see if a domain was available they would register it if you didn't buy it right away.

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3. 

   brady moritz (profile), Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:19pm

   
   

   ive heard that..

   id read that registrar queries get relayed to multiple registrars, as a kind of last-second check to verify theyre not registered already... so that all these guys have to do is signup to be a registrar and they are then able to see these requests...
   
   but that doesnt make a lot of sense, so this is probably wrong ;)

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4. 

   Anonymous Coward, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:34pm

   
   

   I'm not usually one to say things should cost more, but domain names are just too cheap. The initial reistration should be around $50 and then subsequent renewals can be the cheapo price. That would stop a few of these shady companies and force people to think about whether or not they really want that name. I'd rather pay $50 to a registrar than $10000 to one of these bastards.

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5. 

   Anonymous Coward, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:39pm

   
   

   First, read Bob Parson's Blog for more on this. He's been blogging on this for a while.
   
   Second, everyone needs to identify these companies and search for a few dozen randomly generated names each day. Get a few thousand people doing that and they won't be able to tell the legit ones from the others and it'll be less worthwhile for them to do this.

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6. 

   Anonymous Coward, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:39pm

   
   

   First, read Bob Parson's Blog for more on this. He's been blogging on this for a while.
   
   Second, everyone needs to identify these companies and search for a few dozen randomly generated names each day. Get a few thousand people doing that and they won't be able to tell the legit ones from the others and it'll be less worthwhile for them to do this.

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7. 

   Joe, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:41pm

   
   

   raising the prise would not fix it

   There is a 14day grace period. So they register it, check traffic, try to resell it or what have you. If they cannot in that 14 day period they release the domain. with out spending a dime.

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8. 

   DreadedOne509, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:50pm

   
   

   Let's get rid of the grace period and raise the fee to $50. The overhead can then go to lowering our national debt :)
   
   Put a cap on maximum price for a domain name for resellers.

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9. 

   NSMike, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 1:57pm

   
   

   Umm.....

   Ah.... There's an easy alternative to this. Google.

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10. 

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 2:09pm

    
    

    All good ideas folks, however the first issue is the anti-cyber squatting act that was designed to prevent this BS. If you want the name and they have no legit use or need. Force them into arbitration and get the name for the initial registration cost. If everyone used the legal means these companies would just go out of business.

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11. 

    REparsed, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 2:19pm

    
    

    Does it cost these scum bags money to register domains? How about several hundred people searching really long random domains to drain their pockets? Or how 'bout a script to do the same?

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12. 

    REparsed, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 2:23pm

    
    

    Re: raising the prise would not fix it

    Search BS domains then artificially generate traffic to those domains for the next 14 days.

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13. 

    Madkow, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 2:36pm

    
    

    I had this happen before, i searched for a .com one night an d the next day it was already registered by someone in Japan or other asian country if i remember correctly. And it wasn't even that "good" of a name, just something personal.

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14. 

    Ben Mc, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 2:49pm

    
    

    Re: This really sucks

    There is no proof that GoDaddy did anything like this. Bob Parsons in-fact coined the term "domain kiting" and brought it into the public eye and wants it to stop.
    
    Plus, I have many domains at GoDaddy / WWD and have never had a problem searching, finding and returning to buy at a later time.

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15. 

    Graham Taylor, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 2:55pm

    
    

    Domain Name swiping

    OK everybody - just generate some random names & do whois queries. Hundreds of them. Or more. Send the bastards broke.

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16. 

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 2:57pm

    
    

    Re:

    http://wartbrain.com/formtester/

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17. 

    Tim, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 3:05pm

    
    

    From their website

    "We acquire domain names through an automated process rather than by any process that would intentionally infringe on any person's rights. If you have any questions about a domain, please submit your query to us below. It is our policy to transfer a domain name to any entity that, in our reasonable opinion, has a legitimate claim. We will promptly transfer a domain name to you if you can show us that you have a legitimate claim."
    
    http://www.chestertonholdings.com/

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18. 

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 3:17pm

    
    

    Why don't you ask them and post the response here?

    Be proactive - ask them what their process is. I want to know too.

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19. 

    Just Me, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 3:18pm

    
    

    Let's keep

    Graham wrote . OK everybody - just generate some random names & do whois queries. Hundreds of them. Or more. Send the bastards broke
    Good idea, though, doubt that there is a need for it if you are an owner of a registered trademark. If not, just make sure that you purchase a domain name once you have searched for it.

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20. 

    Jeff, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 3:28pm

    
    

    WHOA... Who said *CNET* was a RELIABLE company?!

    Sure, they're big, but in my opinion they're JUNK.
    
    Download.com went to achee-double-hockey-sticks after CNET bought it. My personal experience is that I have found it to have more than average viruses and spyware junk. I even read a CNET review once of some "anti-spy" product that pointed you to a download on download.com and yep it was one of those "anti-spy" programs that's great at giving you spyware to fight.
    
    These are just my personal experiences and opinions, but I would NEVER EVER EVER trust them to do any sort of domain availability check.

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21. 

    Ron, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 3:43pm

    
    

    Re:

    wouldn't work...
    
    registars don't have to pay right away... they grab the domain and release it if its not profitable before there payment is due.
    
    Read
    http://www.bobparsons.com/MayKiting.html

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22. 

    dizzle, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 3:49pm

    
    

    Insiders

    It's not all that unlikely its someone on the inside, I might have heard someone say at one point they had a 'buddy' who knew what domains were interesting.

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23. 

    Sean Feeney, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 4:04pm

    
    

    Re: This really sucks

    What are you talking about? Go Daddy is THE most trusted and most reputable registrar around. Please check your facts or slap me with a good source on this ever happening to anything other than expired domains that recently belonged to their customers.

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24. 

    Search Engine WEB, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 4:09pm

    
    

    What ROI could this bring

    What type of ROI could this bring with domain names being so cheap - Unless the process is entirely automated
    
    usually a new .COM acronym or buzzword will be snatched up immediately - and all other root domains taken in a matter of weeks as an investment
    
    But these types of very personalized domains would only be valuable to a very select few.
    
    Wouldn't the potential customer have taken it after searching - if it was valuable to them?

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25. 

    BlahPoster, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 4:32pm

    
    

    Unclear

    Gosh folks, a lot of hostility there. I haven't read a single comment where anyone points to anything either illegal or immoral that those people are doing. If a domain that Cheserton bought were the least bit useful to someone they would have already bought it for themselves. Let's all calm down and get on with our lives.

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26. 

    nonuser, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 4:53pm

    
    

    I just logged into cnet

    and searched for the following domain names:
    
    Each of the names josh, joe, peter, samantha, tom, dick, harry concatenated with "borges.com" (no hyphen).
    
    All available as of right now.

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27. 

    James, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 5:17pm

    
    

    Unclear? Are you kidding?

    Extortion is both illegal and immoral, and these folks are at least guilty of the latter. This kind of price gouging would get you put in jail if the product was bottled water, and you were in a hurricane-affected area. Why do you we put up with this kind of bs? Of course I have to blame, partly, the folks who are dumb enough to pay $10,000 (or more) for a domain name and artificially creating this kind of market.

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28. 

    Rex, Jul 20th, 2006 @ 8:35pm

    
    

    It's happening again...

    I have been seeing a few conversations that this has been going on for a few months now, a number of people citing godaddy among others as likely places that kit'ed their searches so I would say that among the 'registrars' it is a common and allowable act, however it is being done. Allowable because they are doing it so I agree with most of the above.
    You script kiddies can actually do some good by search/hit/query dummy entries and run them out of town, for now. You can always make a formal request to the 'owner/registrar' as the ligitimate holder, particularly with dates/times as part of the registration process being logged and finally, yes, a new pricing structure would be in order I think, a higher first-buy price with a lower renewal would have been a sensible option a long time ago.

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29. 

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 21st, 2006 @ 12:03am

    
    

    Smoochieville.com

    I checked the availability of it a few years back. Before I could register it. It was scooped up. Well, after breaking up with 'smoochie', I didn't care anymore.

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30. 

    Daniel Barbalace, Jul 21st, 2006 @ 10:03am

    
    

    Solution

    Don't sell domains, aution them at first. Once someone "owns" the domain for a year, in the next auction his money counts 2 times. If some has owned a domain for 2 year, his money in the 3rd year aution counts 3 times, and so on.
    
    So if I've been using a domain for 5 years, you have to pony up 5x what I'm willing to in order to get it.
    
    Also, make domain names non-transferable by owner, so that people can't flip them. Any attempts to flip a domain name results in a life-time ban on owning any domain names for the company and any future company that employees as an executive or is owned by the person who attempted to flipped a domain name. Problem solved.
    
    You own the use of a domain name, not the right to sell it. The longer you have a domain name, the cheaper it is for you to keep it.

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31. 

    Daniel Barbalace, Jul 21st, 2006 @ 10:17am

    
    

    Possible way to fight scammers

    Another thought I had was that it would be trivial to write a program to go to such domain lookup scam sites and look up randomly generated domain names. Since such scam sites are automatically registering those names, it's a $50 or so hit every time they prospect. A lookup bot could easily cost them a million dollars a day or force them to not register all looked up name.
    
    A better bot would repeat the search on some randomly generated names to make their bots think that name has high potential. Imagine them holding on to "fdskjlk.com".
    
    Then we could have a nice little bot war, where they try to prune domain names that have too many consonants between vowels, and our bots would then use randomly picked short-English words like "goodpicklesleep.com".
    
    You know, it is possible to make a lot of money while keeping your integrity. Instead of trying to profit at other people's expense, these companies could spend their time performing a useful service. Or is that too hard?

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32. 

    Anonymous Coward, Jul 21st, 2006 @ 11:28am

    
    

    Re: raising the prise would not fix it

    The grace-period is 5, not 14, days.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

33. 

    raekwon, Jul 21st, 2006 @ 11:39am

    
    

    2 days after my old domain expired a company had already placed a domain parking layout there and there was a price that I could buy it back for 258.00$$. With that said, I now run 3 totally different domains. :)

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34. 

    nick botulism, Jul 21st, 2006 @ 10:49pm

    
    

    interesting. at the time of this writing, it appears that CNET's domain search tool is offline? the link in the eWeek article ends up redirecting to CNET's homepage. and if you go here:
    
    http://reviews.cnet.com/Web_hosting/2001-6540_7-0.html
    
    and scroll down to 'internet access tools' and click on 'domain search', you also end up getting redirected to the CNET front page. the other 'internet tools' seem to work fine, though.
    
    hmmm!

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35. 

    Jason, Jul 22nd, 2006 @ 7:02am

    
    

    this happened to me on godaddy last week

    After searching for two domains on godaddy last thursday and then presenting them to our committee the following day (they were good domain names) the domains were inexplicably registered on friday - but only the two that I had searched on - the .com and .org versions; the .net was not taken as were no others...
    
    I think godaddy is up to this again...

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36. 

    nonuser, Jul 22nd, 2006 @ 3:31pm

    
    

    Re: I just logged into cnet

    Update on my experiment:
    
    joshborges.com and joeborges.com are now registered with Chesterton Holdings.
    
    The others names are still available.
    
    Domain Name: joeborges.com
    Registrant
    ------------------------------------------------------------
    Name: admin -
    Organization: Chesterton Holdings
    Email: admin@chestertonholdings.com
    Address: 655 Flower St
    #254
    City, Province, Post Code: Los Angeles, CA, 90017
    Country: US
    Phone: 213-407-1774
    Admin Contact

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37. 

    nonuser, Jul 23rd, 2006 @ 10:11am

    
    

    Re: I just logged into cnet

    heh, Chesterton Holdings now owns all seven of my test names. Swooped them all up over the weekend:
    
    joshborges.com
    joeborges.com
    peterborges.com
    tomborges.com
    dickborges.com
    harryborg es.com
    samanthaborges.com
    
    Name: admin -
    Organization: Chesterton Holdings
    Email: admin@chestertonholdings.com
    Address: 655 Flower St
    #254
    City, Province, Post Code: Los Angeles, CA, 90017
    Country: US
    Phone: 213-407-1774
    
    Creation Date: 07/23/06
    Expiration Date: 07/23/07
    Domain Status: ACTIVE

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

38. 

    Dave Zan, Jul 23rd, 2006 @ 4:19pm

    
    

    I realize many of you are "passionate" about this subject. But if and when you're up to reading a few facts to understand how this "system" works a bit, I invite you to check the thread below:
    
    http://www.circleid.com/posts/1172/
    
    Read especially John Berryhill's comments # 33, 38, 57, and 68. I'm sorry I can't post them here, nor can I explain since it's rather lengthly.
    
    But the bottom line is this: this sort of practice is NOT illegal. Whether it's ethical or not depends what side of the fence you're on, of course.
    
    But do realize no one's forcing any of you to use those domain availability searches on third party sites. And you're bound to THEIR terms the minute you use any of them.
    
    If you really want a "clean" authoritative search, go straight to the source. For .com, it's the Verisign COM NET Registry at http://registrar.verisign-grs.com/whois if you're doing .com searches.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

39. 

    Claudia, Jul 23rd, 2006 @ 5:17pm

    
    

    Domain names

    I am so mad. I had bred my dog and was planning on trying to do a web site when my puppies were born. I am tech challened and know nothing about web sites never having had one. I started checking out web hosting sites while waiting for my puppies to be born and would put in the domain name with .com and .net while searching. Well guess what, my puppies are here and I went to register the domain name and Chesterton has both of them. I am going to e-mail them and ask to use the name. I doubt that they even know what a Havanese is.

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40. 

    anon, Jul 24th, 2006 @ 11:28am

    
    

    happened to me...

    This happened to me twice in 2000... I thought of a domain name, checked it - not registered. A week later I went to register it, it was taken. Thought of another one, checked it - not registered... the next DAY I thought I was jumping on it this time, and it was already gone. Doubted then it was a coincidence, now I'm pretty sure.

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41. 

    Tom, Jul 24th, 2006 @ 12:22pm

    
    

    If Chesterton holds then releases them 5 days later. Why not just wait the 5 days for them to be released and then use a legit registrar?
    
    Sounds like Chesterton is taking advantage of a very small % of people who dont realize this?

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42. 

    Reseller, Jul 25th, 2006 @ 11:09am

    
    

    Re: Re: This really sucks

    Get real godaddy sucks, look at the TOS they only give you 14 days to renew, others give you more

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43. 

    Kev, Jul 27th, 2006 @ 4:03am

    
    

    Is DomainSponsor and Oversee.Net Behind it?

    http://www.domainstate.com/showthread.php3?s=f4974cad5f7cbab1dd3c07b15e5c09bd&threadid=65712

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

44. 

    Dev, Aug 5th, 2006 @ 10:10am

    
    

    Don't do any domain name checks on godaddy unless you want them to be taken. They monitor any searches and snipe the good ones. I had two taken by godaddy recently. Parsons just makes lip service to this to create a false trust in his company.
    
    We need regulation that prohibit viewing of the content of the domain name checks. What is going on is no better than phishing

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45. 

    Paul Clarke, Aug 14th, 2006 @ 12:47pm

    
    

    Re: ive heard that..

    I read a posting that chesterton holding is a associated company of nameking.com is is a registrant.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

46. 

    Paul Gallagher, Aug 21st, 2006 @ 7:23pm

    
    

    This just happened to me

    I just did a search on Go Daddy for a domain that was available yesterday and is now registered as of today 8/21 to Nameking.com / Chestertonholdings
    
    Bastards !!

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

47. 

    Wayne Roznak, Aug 31st, 2006 @ 5:40am

    
    

    We should spoof em.

    I think we should think of mundane names and enter them on a regular basis, so that their automated systems intelliigence get flooded with lousy domain names. Forcing them to sift through hundreds of thousands of names and maybe even cost em thousands of dollars if their systems automatically register these test names without a human review.
    
    We should give back to them, what they have taken from us.

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48. 

    Just lookin', Sep 6th, 2006 @ 8:07am

    
    

    Re: Re: I just logged into cnet

    Wow - they really took the borges bait didn't they?
    
    This pretty much proves that they do do this - where did you do the search?

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

49. 

    Michael, Sep 13th, 2006 @ 4:26pm

    
    

    happened again

    Happened to me today... found a domain name I wanted that was really obscure, sent it to my friend to look up too. Its NEVER been registered. All the sudden, 7 hours later its now registered by the company namesecure.com. GRRRRR

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50. 

    Dev, Sep 15th, 2006 @ 10:14pm

    
    

    Someone previously said that this practice (maybe it should be called domain name phishing) is not illegal. That does not mean that it is appropriate or even acceptable. There are many things now outlawed that were not illegal before. This practise should be one of them. Talk to your legislators. It is a predatory practice, taking advantage of the unsuspecting.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

51. 

    bob, Sep 16th, 2006 @ 8:25am

    
    

    just happened to me too

    I had a name that was available. Went back to setup a domain and found it was taken. Best practice is to have a few names you like and when you find one that is open... TAKE IT or these bastards will lock you out. Amazing.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

52. 

    Jerry, Sep 28th, 2006 @ 1:48pm

    
    

    Re: Re: This really sucks

    I can document this. Two days ago my coworker checked GoDaddy's InstantDomainSearch.com for the domain, "collegethoughts.com". She did not register it. You can now see that the domain was registered that day (26 Sept 2006) by GoDaddy.com.

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53. 

    Dev, Jan 11th, 2007 @ 6:21pm

    
    

    Identity of Chesterton Holdings

    The logical conclusion from post #46 is that it is Parsons or Godaddy that is behind Nameking.com/Chestertonholdings. What a scam. Name checks should be done by a trusted agency on a secure site where no records are kept on the name checks. To relay namesearches to registrars like Godaddy is asking for trouble.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

54. 

    Frederick Emrich, Jan 28th, 2007 @ 9:24pm

    
    

    I registered a domain and had godaddy actually improperly de-register it and cancel my account. When I emailed back and they re-opened the account a couple of days later, one of the domains had by then been registered at Nameking.
    
    Clearly this is suspicious. It may be that Nameking does this on its own, but perhaps Godaddy is also doing something a bit unethical.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

55. 

    Pacrat, Mar 5th, 2007 @ 12:53pm

    
    

    Name stealing

    Chesterton Holdings stole the name of my store and put it into a URL. Unfortunately, I did not take the full name of my store and put it into my URL. My store has taken a nosedive for the past year and I could not figure it out until I did some research on it today. When searching their URL I noticed that all of the big boys had sponsored links on their site. Including, Fredricks of Hollywood, Target, Venus, Bizrate, Shopzilla, etc. All of which were reached by using my store name in the URL. I truly believe this is a way for the big boys to get around the little boys. I saw another competitor of mine that this happened too last year. None of this made sense until now. They run you out of business and then the big boys step into your shoes.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

56. 

    Sam, Mar 5th, 2007 @ 4:03pm

    
    

    GoDaddy and NameKing/Name Stealing.

    Better late than never. We have been using GoDaddy to do lookups of domain names for clients and have had problems with them ending up registered by Nameking. Now I know to tell people to keep away from GoDaddy. This should be illegal and I for one would be willing to go in on a class action suit against these guys.

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57. 

    pacrat, Mar 5th, 2007 @ 5:59pm

    
    

    Re: GoDaddy and NameKing/Name Stealing.

    You bet we should all get together and go for class action. The big boys just found another way around to use up the URL's. Victoria's Secrets came after me and lost. They are not allowed to monopolize all names legally so they go thru people like Nameking and head thru the back door. Let's go fot it!

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

58. 

    marke, Nov 8th, 2007 @ 3:01pm

    
    

    yep ... just had the same thing happen to me ... tried a name a few days ago.. then yesterday it has been taken but is for sale ... I will wait a few more days .. If they are using the 5 day grace period they will probably let it go.
    Great artical... Its nice to find out my first thoughts were correct ... and will only use a reputable service.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

59. 

    Rich, Apr 14th, 2008 @ 8:48am

    
    

    They're not the only guilty parties of this. Big players like Network Solutions openly engage in this practice.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

60. 

    Roy, Dec 22nd, 2009 @ 11:10am

    
    

    Website Hosting

    With domain names getting cheaper, it's no wonder these names are being taken up.

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

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