Spell Check Your Domain Names!
I’ll admit it. I’ve misspelled three of my domain names when I purchased them, rendering them useless (I know some misspellings are good and taken on purpose, but not these.).
I don’t know about you, but my fingers are flying on the computer constantly, between a dozen open tabs in Firefox, Word, email and whatever else; not every word ends up spelled correctly. My mind is just too fast for my fat fingers. I’m used to not worrying about it, since I always run the spell checker on documents and email. I even have an extension for Firefox to check my spelling in web page input boxes.
But, the problem is that domain names are not something you are used to spellchecking and it’s easy to miss one when you are registering multiple names a day. It just seems so dumb that you might misspell a short domain name that you don’t even think about it. A quick look at it and it looks fine, right? Not always. Some combinations of letters are deceiving, or you just might be a lousy speller.
So, here’s what I try to do each time I’m ready to buy a name that my registrar says is available: Before jumping up and down and screaming to my wife, “hey honey, guess what name I’m going to buy! I can’t believe it’s available!” I’m going to spell check it. Now how do I spell check a domain name which is most likely not in the dictionary? I copy the word from the input field and paste it into a Word document (all the while making fun of myself for having to do this). Then, I remove the .suffix from it and place spaces between any of the words that are a part of the domain. For example, if the name is iamacrappyspeller.com, I will make it look like “I am a crappy speller”. Then I spell check it.
Of course, if you have a name with character strings that are not words, you can’t expect those portions to spell check.
A similar problem arises when buying a name from an auction. Some words look perfectly normal, but you might not realize that 1) they are misspelled, or 2) one of the letters is a look-alike character. For example, “vv” often looks like “w” and a “1” looks like an “l”. There are others as well.
So, what I do is highlight and copy the word into a Word document, and then check the spelling. If it does not contain all dictionary words, I enlarge it greatly to see if the characters are what I thought. I was almost fooled more than once.
Oh, and while you are at it, while furiously bidding away in the final minutes of an auction, take a few extra seconds to slow down when keying the numbers of your bid, and read it back to yourself out loud before pressing OK. An extra zero can make what was supposed to be a $50 bid $450 more painful.
Does anyone have any horror stories they’d like to share?
, ,
These guys are somehow lifting the WHOIS search data prior to us being able to register them. They dont care about potential trademark issues or anything. If you record your WHOIS searching by date as I do and then go back and check only to find out that they have been already taken - usually not too long after you searched - chances are the name has been already registered by Orion Web or Spiral Matrix or Intercomos Group (many many shady names they’ll use) and they’ll use the address:
1st Floor Muya House
Kenyatta Ave.
P.O.BOX 4276-30100
Eldoret, KE 30100
KE
+254.0735434737
but they’re actually located in LOUISIANA - New Orleans to be specifc. They’ll use stolen credit cards to register the names. You may also notice that they’ll all be hosted with DirectNIC. Well…. it turns out that Kenyatech.com == DirectNIC.com They are one in the same.
There are tons of places discussing this. I was suprised that you havent yet - I follow your blog. Some sites mentioning this are:
www.namepros.com
http://www.rederon.net/category/noldc/
http://www.blogdenovo.org/archives/000188.html
http://www.small-business-forum.com/printthread.php?t=4674
and others. Just Yahoo or Google the word KENYATECH or INTERCOSMOS and variations, etc.
Have you heard about this at all? Have you been bitten by them??
Interesting, thanks. I’ll read up on it.
I am in the process of trying to “explain” what is happening to GoDaddy customer service. Not sure if thats a good thing or if its just because its customer-service and they hear what I am saying like a Calculus-III lecture or something. I’ll keep you posted.
Please post any information you may find, should you find anything out.
Yes, Kenyatech is the same as Intercosmos, Domaincontender and NOLDC. They are all run by Sigmund Solares, the leading cybersquatter in the US.
From:
http://www.komo4.com/stories/40223.htm
‘I Don’t Know If It’s A Scam Or A Crime, But It Hurts’
November 11, 2005
By KOMO Staff
SEATTLE - She started a Web site to honor her murdered toddler. But now, a local mother says the site has been hijacked, and the hijackers are demanding a steep ransom.
It’s the heartbreaking consequences of something called “cyber-squatting”.
Margot Wetzel just can’t believe the Web site honoring her dead daughter is gone.
“I don’t know if it’s a scam or a crime, but it hurts,” she said.
18-month-old Charlotte Wetzel was murdered by her daycare provider Robin Johnson 7 years ago.
CharlotteWetzel.com chronicled a mother’s grief and offered tips on preventing abuse.
But when Margot tried to renew the domain name, she discovered that someone else beat her to it.
Then, she got an e-mail demanding she pay $15,000 to get it back.
“Well they’re basically holding it for ransom, right?” she said. “It’s like, ‘yeah, you can use it but we need some cash.’ ”
PC World columnist Stuart Johnston says it’s called “cyber-squatting”. Usually, cybersquatters buy up the names of successful businesses and then try to sell them back.
But Johnston says he’s never seen anything like this.
“I haven’t seen anything that’s quite this heinous of someone taking a domain name that’s so close to someone’s heart,” Johnston said.
We found out who bought the domain name — they’re called New Orleans Leftover Data Centers. We tried calling them to find out just what they’re up to, but every time we called, we got the answering machine.
We also sent the company several emails and got no response.
“They just want to make money off people, they don’t really care what the Web site is all about,” Margot said.
Charlottewetzel.com will be up for renewal again in 2006. Margot says she’ll be ready, hoping to beat these cyber squatters to the punch.
There are federal laws against cyber-squatting, but experts tell us they only apply to cases where the Web site was trademarked.
—
The man behind New Orleans Leftover Data Centers (NOLDC.com) is Sigmund Solares. He ended up giving charlottewetzel.com back to its lawful owner after the article was published, but he keeps on cybersquatting domains hiding behind a company called Kenyatech.
Any comments please contact him at:
sig@intercosmos.com
sig@domaincontender.com
The Boston Herald published this article:
New Web sites pop up with Entwistles’ names
By Dave Wedge
Tuesday, February 7, 2006 - Updated: 12:01 PM EST
Cyber squatters have scooped up Internet domain names connected to the Entwistle murder mystery while a new Web site dedicated to the slain mom and daughter has been posted — eerily under the name www.neilentwistle.com.
The new site, which includes pictures and a guest book, is dedicated to Rachel and Lillian Entwistle, who are described as “two new angels.” The site is owned by a Florida woman who posted a message saying: “You will be missed. Lillian Rose you missed exploring this great big world. Please have fun playing with the angels.”
The woman did not return phone messages or an e-mail yesterday.
The new site’s appearance comes just days after another photo-filled portal run by the Entwistle family disappeared from the Internet.
Other Entwistle-related site names have been bought in recent days, including www.rachelentwistle.com, which was registered Thursday by Navigation Catalyst Systems Inc. of El Segundo, Calif. A message left with the company last night was not returned.
An unidentified person has also registered www.rachelentwistle.net through Directnic.com, a New Orleans-based domain seller.
Directnic spokesman Sigmund Solares said it’s common for cyber squatters and other Internet entrepreneurs to snatch up Web names tied to crime cases that make national headlines.
“Anytime someone is in the news, someone from anywhere is going to register a bunch of names and variations of them. It happens every day,” Solares said. “What’s the motivation behind buying the Web site, I can only speculate.”
Nothing was posted on either of the Rachel Entwistle sites as of last night.
–
Solares says he doesn’t know who registered the domain. Right.
Guess who the registrant is:
Registrant:
Spiral Matrix
1st Floor Muya House
Kenyatta Ave.
P.O.BOX 4276-30100
Eldoret, KE 30100
KE
+254.0735434737
Domain Name: RACHELENTWISTLE.NET
Administrative Contact:
Matrix, Spiral billing@kenyatech.com
1st Floor Muya House
Kenyatta Ave.
P.O.BOX 4276-30100
Eldoret, KE 30100
KE
+254.0735434737
Technical Contact:
Matrix, Spiral billing@kenyatech.com
1st Floor Muya House
Kenyatta Ave.
P.O.BOX 4276-30100
Eldoret, KE 30100
KE
+254.0735434737
Kenyatech!! (Thanks to whoever found this info and posted it on Kenyatechwatch.com, by the way.) Sigmund Solares is trying to benefit yet from another murder (like he did with charlottewetzel.com). Please call Dave Wedge, the journalist who wrote this article, and tell him the man he’s looking for is Sigmund Solares, the number one cybersquatter in the country. It’s time the media knows about this disgusting criminal.
The Boston Herald phone number is:
617.426.3000
Bob Parson’s, CEO of godaddy just knocked this one out of the park…
http://www.bobparsons.com/DomainKiting.html
Just wanted to add that, in my opinion, Sig Solares is indeed a cybersquatter and a thief. You’d have to be an idiot to do business with him or any of his companies (eg. Parked.com)