Okay, domain waiters....

[Tatu]

Now that I'm in the club of waiting on domain names, I thought I'd ask a question or two.

I've become obsessed with checking this one domain name that I must have. I don't know whether to check it once a day or 12 times a day or 6 times a day or.... I mean, can a domain be freed at any time of the day or does it happen at night? I'm dealing with a domain that once freed would be snatched up within an hour. Hence the paranoia and the consistent hunt.

What exactly am I planning on doing with this domain name? Registering it for 10 years and certainly naming things (oh like businesses and such :) ) around it.

1. How many domain names do you regularly check on?

2. Tips & tricks?

3. How often do you check on them?

4. Tips & tricks?

5. What times do you think have the highest risk of being freed?

Many thanks in advance :)

Tatu

--
I check all night, I check all day
Precious domain names, I have to pay.
Ain't it sad?

[Jason]

I have no tips for you about this at all. The only reason I posted this was to say THANK YOU!!!!!!

You have solved a problem that has been eating me alive for months!!!

I have been searching for months for a domain name to use to market a domain registration service my company is launching through OpenSRS, and I had come up blank on every single idea I had (it is nearly impossible to find *any* domain name that includes the word "domain" in it!)

Well, thanks to your message tonight, I just registered the domain I'm going to use! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

Jason

[Joe]

There was one name that I checked almost on a daily basis for 3 months after it had expired. Then one day the guy had renewed it and was he was offering it for sale somewhere for $45,000! It did get me wondering if owners could somehow be alerted to the fact that their expired names were the subject of frequent searches.

Another name I was after was eventually released into the pool, but it seemed to go from 'unavailable' one day (couldn't find it in searches, but I wasn't allowed to register it) to being taken by someone else the next day.

As a result of the latter I decided it was best to check frequently, but mix my searches via the various look-up sites there are.

Joe.

[Jeff]

I know that I've heard of people using perl scripts via cron to check if a domain is available at 1 hour intervals.[nbsp][nbsp]In one of the webmaster forums someone posted who was very disappointed because they had been using a script like this which was intended to even register it for them the moment it became available, automatically.[nbsp][nbsp]They had been running it every hour for 4 months and they still were beat to the punch!

--ever look at the dates great domains were registered relative to the date you registered your very first and think "I could have had that one![nbsp][nbsp]what was I thinking!"

[Tatu]

Jason: Tell us! Tell us! Tell us! You can't thank us and not share the bounty. Just tell us, already. :P

I'm realizing more and more that even by checking a domain name constantly, it's still a matter praying every day.

A script set up to check domain names constantly???? Nice idea but I'd be worried the script was secretly set up to also alert the author of it.

Then again, what about a script on your pc that checks every minute and rotates between 3 differents whoises (NetSol, Corenic, etc.)?????? Once it becomes available it sounds a loud alarm that wakes you up in the middle of the night.

I'd be willing to pay hundreds of dollars for such a thing. Any programmers out there? I'm sure there are a few of us in these forums alone willing to fork some cash over. However, I'd just want one condition. I'd prefer, however, that the program wasn't widespread and marketed to everyone. :P

Justin??? I think we have work for ya.

--
-Tatu
[This message has been edited by Tatu (edited 02-08-01@11:22 pm)]

[Tatu]

BTW, if it rotated between 3 whois and checked once a minute, then it would check each one 20 times an hour or 480 times a day.

I would love such a software to death and my internet connection would always be working instead of idle-y lounging around while I sleep.

-Tatu

[BOF]

My guess would be that the word 'precious' figures in Jason's new domain name ??

------------------
Chris
Hong Kong
www.simplyaromatics.com (http://www.simplyaromatics.com)
www.plainwebdesign.com (http://www.plainwebdesign.com)

[Tatu]

AbbaDomains.com :P
ObsessedDomains.com ?
FreedDomains.com?
DomainClub.com?

[Jason]

Tatu,

I didn't post it here specifically because I knew it would take a bit of time between when I registered it and when all the various registrars knew I registered it. I've noticed that Register.com and NSI both seem to "know" almost instantly when a domain name is registered, but other registrars still show it as available. And, frankly, I have no idea what would happen if I registered at one registrar and someone else registered the same domain name at another registrar.

For example, Tatu, you *did* in fact list off the domain I selected but you indicated it was available when in fact it wasn't - so you were obviously checking a registrar that hasn't found out about it yet.

I just checked, and NSI, Register.com, Dotster, and Tucows (domaindirect.com) all list it as taken, but Joker shows it available (erm.. sort of - I don't actually have an account there and I couldn't figure out how to search for a domain without setting up an account - but Joker's WhoIs shows it as available anyway).

The other reason I didn't post the domain is that it was registered under my company name. And I've always tried to keep a low profile when it comes to my posts on AOTA. I know that Deb has told me a few times she doesn't care if my corporate identity becomes known out here in FutureQuest land, but I've been just plain "Jason" here for a long time.

Thanks again for the idea Tatu, I really appreciate it.

Jason