Written on May 22, 2008 – 1:15 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Because of its malicious effect on our beloved web industry, we’ve discussed the practice of domain front running a lot on The Next Web. We have to get rid of it, that’s why we try to raise awareness. For those of you who don’t exactly know what is, Eric Litman from WashingtonVC once gave a good definition in the comments section of this blog:
Front Running: when a registrar purchases a name for themselves that someone either attempted to purchase or researched through that registrars web site.
So when you check the availability of thisdomainserviceisonebigscam.com at a domain company that just loves front running, chances are high they’ll register it for you. Even Network Solutions is has been accused of this practice once.
Yesterday I wrote about the popularity of the new .me domain. And when you think about it, it’s not that weird that these front running types also try to make some dirty money in this new area. Well, my co-editor Patrick has just discovered on of the first signs.
If you do a Google-search for “Register Me Domain“, one of the top results is Domain-me.com, a site that tries to appear as a trustworthy domain name registration service. They even have the dull stock photos thing going on. Yet when you check a domain, any domain, they say that your desired domain has already been taken. Even the thisdomainserviceisonebigscam.me one:
Let’s hope Google’s head of the Webspam team Matt Cutts will find this out soon and ban this “Market-Tek Enterprises” company from the search results.
I hope you like that post!
The Next Web Blog covers start-up news from all over the world (not just the Valley), exciting new technologies and inspiring entrepreneurs. If you're new here, you may want to read our '
About' page and subscribe to our
RSS feed.
Do you have a start-up that we should write about?
Contact us! Thanks for visiting and hope you come back again!
Written on February 24, 2008 – 2:45 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Mike Mann is rethinking domain tasting. He’s the founder of BuyDomains.com and now works as a VC for WashingtonVC. Domain tasting, or front running*, is the act of registering a domain name which you know somebody else is intending to register. Earlier, we reported that Network Solutions automatically registered domain names that people checked for its availability and that Google would make it harder for domain tasting companies to show up in the search results.
So Mann is rethinking a rather touchy subject. In an email he send to his personal mailing list, he said that ‘domain tasting is indiscriminate and buyers end up having their robots purchase other peoples’ clear trademarks, as well as a lot of lewdly suggestive names, or names that once resolved to questionable content. So it’s nothing I’d want my team to take part in’.
Yet that’s where the rethinking begins. And then Mann changes his mind:
In the past I thought nobody should do it. Today I think it should actually be done by others carefully for one simple reason: It’s good for the economy. People are typing in and clicking on legacy domain links for expired domains, and if they get a 404 error it’s a waste of time, energy and bandwidth - and nobody gets paid, however if it lands on a tasting speculators PPC page or monetizable site then someone is getting paid, and they can pay their employees, taxes, and tips at the local restaurant, etc. So domain tasting while lame in most respects is still good for the economy.
At first you might think: he’s right! But then, you hopefully realize that it’s just a justification thing for what his fellow domain traders do. Domain tasting isn’t good for economy, it hurts the ecomony. Why? For a number of reasons:
- Imagine somebody wants to start a new site with a name he absolutely loves, then it turns out that this domain is registered by a domain tasting company. That probably scares him off, so domain tasting actually blocks creativity and entrepreneurship;
- People lose their faith in the Internet, since the domain tasting pages are nothing more than a collection of sponsored links. Some even use pop-ups, automatic bookmark scripts or whatnot. When people don’t trust the web anymore, they will spend less time and less money online;
- Those ‘monetizable sites’ clutter the web and make it harder for users to find what they’re actually looking for.
Please Mr. Mann, start rethinking your thinking on domain tasting again.
* Update: Eric Litman provided some definitions of domain tasting and front running in the comments.
Written on January 27, 2008 – 5:04 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Three weeks ago we brought you the news about Reddit users making fun of Network Solutions’ domain front running. They checked domains like Networksolutionsisstaffedbyterrorists.com, which the service immediately registered. Although this was funny news, the problem itself isn’t. Last year, CEO and founder of GoDaddy Bob Parsons explained on his blog how big the problem is:
The domain name tasting and kiting industry is alive, well and running rampant. The practice of domain tasting and kiting continues to rage out-of-control. In February 2007, 55.1 million domain names were registered. Of those, 51.5 million were canceled and refunded just before the 5 day grace period expired and only 3.6 million domain names were actually kept. With the exception of just a few names, 93.5% of those names were registered simply to see how much advertising revenue – paid by big search firms like our “do no evil” friends at Google – will generate when they are associated with a one page Web site and related links.
As you can read, Parsons wasn’t really fond of the way Google made the practice of domain name tasting profitable. That will change now, and Google will gain some ‘do no evil’ points. Because the number one in online advertising will make it harder for the front running companies to show up in the search results. Over the next few weeks, Google will look up names that are repeatedly claimed and dropped in a five-day period. They will be excluded from the Adsense program, so that they won’t generate advertising revenue.
“We believe that this policy will have a positive impact for users and domain purchasers across the Web,” Google spokesman Brandon McCormick told to the Associated Press.
Fighting side-by-side with Google are Yahoo, Dell and BMW, who have filed federal lawsuits against domain name tasting companies that conflicted with their trademarks. It’s not hard to imagine that all these major companies will be able to ban out the shameless act of domain front running.
And to make the story even better, you can still have fun with the ‘mindless monkeys‘ at Network Solutions.
[WebTipr: David Petherick, United Kingdom]
Written on January 9, 2008 – 3:42 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Eleven hours ago, Reddit user geeeeoffff went to Network Solutions, a web hosting and domain company. Probably to host a domain or something. Yet, he found out that when he checked a domain on its availability, Network Solutions automatically registered it. This is what the, probably amazed, Reddit user posted:
REDDIT GAMES: this company registers any domain name checked. Lets search for long strings of random letters and numbers!!! over 20 characters long should do it. (networksolutions.com)
You can imagine what happens next: hundreds of Reddit users started checking the weirdest and offensive domain names. You want some examples? You’ll get some! Beware, some are not suitable for your cubicle:
Some are pushing it a bit far though. Yet this only shows what kind of consequences this script by Network Solutions has.
The guys from Network Solutions seem to be pretty fast, according to Geekner, who checked the domain Ipickedthisnamebecauseitiscompletelyrandomandhasnumbers2.com. “It went from available to taken by NS in less than a minute.”
What Networks Solutions probably does, is called front running. This November, Nominet published a position paper on this matter. Here’s their definition:
Domain Name Front Running (DNFR) is a technique believed to exist, but so far unproved, whereby one person monitors the activity of a second person who is planning to register a domain name and the first person then registers the domain name before the second person.
Network Solutions already reacted on the front running accusations. Jonathon Nevett, Vice President of Policy at Network Solutions rather calls it ‘a security measure to protect our customers’. Moreover, he says that they release the domains after four days.
Which means there are 3,5 days left for this domain…
Email
Facebook
Netlog
Linkedin
Twitter
The Next Web Blog is closely associated with The Next Web Conference which is held annually in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. At this event speakers from all over the world come together to talk about, and show of, the future of the Web. (
