We're in the process of transferring domains over to RackNine's new registrar service from an old reseller setup through GoDaddy. Performing a WHOIS today on RackNine.com reveals:
Registrant:
RackNine Inc.
10732 - 79 Ave.
Edmonton, Alberta T6E1S4
Canada

Registered through: GoDaddy.com
Domain Name: RACKNINE.COM
Created on: 20-Aug-01
Expires on: 20-Aug-04
Last Updated on: 31-Aug-03

Secure the registration to this domain or any
other the instant it becomes available.
DomainAlert(TM) Pro services protect, inform and
keep you in the action, 24/7.
Visit http://www.godaddy.com for details.


Administrative Contact:
Inc., RackNine domains@racknine.com
10732 - 79 Ave.
Edmonton, Alberta T6E1S4
Canada
(780) 720-8143 Fax --
Technical Contact:
Nameservers, RackNine domains@racknine.com
RackNine Inc.
10732 - 79 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T631S3
Canada
1-866-467-2259 Fax --

Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.RACKNINE.COM
NS2.RACKNINE.COM


Note the GIANT ad for grabbing my domain embedded into the WHOIS. What kind of BS is this? All other GoDaddy registered domains I've seen have this message? Since when was WHOIS information supposed to sell services?

I'll be contacting them shortly and recommend anyone using them do the same.

Sincerely,

-Matt

um yeah Matt... I would be complaining about that.. they are basically selling your domain name before it expires.:(

That's just it, it's appearing on EVERY GoDaddy-registered domain! This is complete sitefinder-ish BS.

To be fair I was quite happy with GoDaddy up until we started registering through our own setup. I certainly hope this can and will be shortly resolved.

-Matt

While I do not agree with them putting the ad there, they are not selling the domain before it expires. As long as you keep the registration current and do not allow it to lapse, you will not have an issue. There are many other services that work on the same principal of trying to grab the name if it drops.

That being said, I cannot even fathom why they would place an ad like that in the whois. That's one way to drive customers away really quick.

Now I'm off to see if they are doing the same with mine. If so...so long GoDaddy!

Well, as you said it looks to be all of them, mine have it as well.

At least I stopped using them to purchase new domains months ago.

Yep same here... I started moving my domains to GoDaddy a few months ago.. and now it looks like I have to find a new registrar already. They are basically encouraging others to backorder my domains.

http://www.bulkregister.com

No real easy way to automate registration, but at least they don't blatantly advertise themselves in your WHOIS entries.

I don't care if they're not *selling* it ... that's just disrespectful to their customers.

Originally posted by webworkz
http://www.bulkregister.com

No real easy way to automate registration, but at least they don't blatantly advertise themselves in your WHOIS entries.

I don't care if they're not *selling* it ... that's just disrespectful to their customers.

GoDaddy didn't advertise until now either...hopefully it is not a trend. And like I said, I don't agree with what they are doing, but it is also important to realize that what they are advertising does not allow someone to steal your domain.

I wanted to make that clarification to those who may interpret the service as doing just that.

Is it morally wrong? In my opinion, yes. The whois is a tool for gathering information, not to sell stuff. The fact that we paid for the domain, only to have them sell their own product from it makes is worse.

Did anyone actually contact them about it?

I did, and I strongly suggest anyone who cares about the content displayed in their own WHOIS information to do the same:

Email Bob Parsons, president of GoDaddy:
president@godaddy.com

Here's what I said if you're so angry you're at a loss for words:
Mr. Parsons,

I'm a long time user of GoDaddy and until recently have been very happy with your services. My company has many hundred domains registered through your services with hundreds more through your child company Wild West Domains.

While searching WHOIS today I noticed a piece of junk advertising in between the registrant and Administrative contact areas of the result. It appears as follows:

WHOIS of RACKNINE.COM
----------
Secure the registration to this domain or any
other the instant it becomes available.
DomainAlert(TM) Pro services protect, inform and
keep you in the action, 24/7.
Visit http://www.godaddy.com for details
----------

This is very disappointing. Aside from sitefinder-ish abuse of the WHOIS registry I'm concerned as to what else will show up. Please let me know if something can and will be done to remove this advertising from my domains.

Fortunately WWD and GoDaddy aren't our only domain sources and plenty of clients own their own (not our registrar). This is akin to lawyers leaving a half-page ad in your will, I mean come on now.

-Matt

Holy... thanks for telling. I will be voicing my opinion as well to GoDaddy. I know they'll listen.

EDIT: Actually, not only WhoIs could be considered private information, they actually get their ad in there. Not cool, people, not cool.

it's really bad idea to put add in whois data.
very bad practice!

I sent in a message to the President:

Dear Mr Parsons,

Today I noticed a very disturbing and, yes, abusive advertising when I used a WhoIs service to look for my domain's information. This is the piece I'm talking about:

------------------------------------------------------
Secure the registration to this domain or any
other the instant it becomes available.
DomainAlert(TM) Pro services protect, inform and
keep you in the action, 24/7.
Visit http://www.godaddy.com for details.
------------------------------------------------------

Not only it is incredibly inappropriate, you made me, your loyal customer, feel like you don't need me anymore. Trying and offer anyone the opportunity to grab domain names that are crucial to me and my media businesses, is in my opinion, despicable practice.

In times when GoDaddy does so much good for the Internet community - fights spam and sues unethical companies like VeriSign, then you go out and do something like this... Leaving me in shock.

I know domain-grabbing business is a good one, and competitive one, but its not the way to bring more value to your stock or above-average returns to your investors. Please think of something else, but don't threaten the safety of my businesses this way. GoDaddy's reputation for exceptional client services and best domain registration evironment is what drives this company forward. You are a smart man. I know you'll listen.

All the best and good luck in business.

I have registered 50+ domains at godaddy, but i don't see the ads. (i check it within godaddy.com)

Originally posted by phisholay
I have registered 50+ domains at godaddy, but i don't see the ads. (i check it within godaddy.com)

check it here: www.domainwhitepages.com

basically - on any external service. godaddy in-house whois may be clear.

Interesting how they hide it when you check from their own site, as most godaddy customers would, very sneaky :eek3:

Originally posted by Artashes
check it here: www.domainwhitepages.com

basically - on any external service. godaddy in-house whois may be clear.

:angry: :bawling: I just bought one a few hours ago....last one.:mad:

E-Mail sent.....errr

Interesting. I wonder just how many others have complained and what their response was to them, if so.

Originally posted by XeroMedia
Interesting how they hide it when you check from their own site, as most godaddy customers would, very sneaky :eek3:

Sneaky indeed.

Originally posted by sassSE
Interesting. I wonder just how many others have complained and what their response was to them, if so.

I would report back if I get a response. So far the both times I wrote to the president before - I got responses. But if he gets many people complaining about the same thing, they are more likely to make a statement on their site.

We'll see. Been a day's worth of business hours so far. I can imagine being the president he's a busy fellow, but most of us still find time to get back to our messages.

Sincerely,

-Matt

This is odd.....I have many names registered with GoDaddy and when I check whois (on both GoDaddy and DomainWhitePages) I don't find the ad.

I used the whois on enom and am seeing the ad.

I can't even get any of my domains to come up on enom, except for those registered there. All I get is "No results found."

They ain't the only ones - UK2.NET - put an ad in instead of an admin contact and tech contact, so when you try and move you have to pay them for changing it, against ICANN regs, as it's an unmonitored mail addy :eek: , they used to use Joker.com (very apt) I actually had an e-mail response with the phrase 'we don't care'in it, they now use TUCOWS/OPENSRS who are prepared to change things readily without UK2 being involved, suggests more than one complaint.

Anyone received a response from GoDaddy yet? No-one from GoDaddy seems to be interested in responding to this.

-Matt

Nope, I did not. There is also a domain issue I have, and their support seems dead also.

This is really not the godaddy it used to be.

I hear rackshack registrar now ;)

I see it on whois.net,

but not betterwhois.com :S

I see the Ad on betterwhois.com too.

I have stayed far away from GoDaddy for a while. Why? They made a couple of my customers' domain registrations just **poof** disappear for a couple days until they were able to contact them and get the situation resolved. One had a domain expiring in 2004 and it got taken offline on the correct date, but 2 years too soon in 2002.
I have never seen or heard of any other domain registrar simply loosing domain registrations or making them expire 2 years early. That is just unnacceptable.

Originally posted by John[H4Y]
I have stayed far away from GoDaddy for a while. Why? They made a couple of my customers' domain registrations just **poof** disappear for a couple days until they were able to contact them and get the situation resolved. One had a domain expiring in 2004 and it got taken offline on the correct date, but 2 years too soon in 2002.
I have never seen or heard of any other domain registrar simply loosing domain registrations or making them expire 2 years early. That is just unnacceptable.
Enom lost one of mine last year.....Not one that I cared greatly for, but I had found a project that it would work with and found out it was "gone". After a whole lot of BS I just gave up on it and let it really expire.

So, any news yet?

Sounds scary... I only just started using GoDaddy... but after this I have my doubts already!
So does anyone recommend any other registrants?

let's all move to Namecheap to stick it to GoDaddy.

that is very wrong.

Please post responses you get from GD...and for something to be done, we all have to take action.

Originally posted by pcpowerplay
I see it on whois.net,

but not betterwhois.com :S

Just tried whois.net and godaddy is now refusing connection from whois.net

Actually, I see there is not one whois service that I can find that won't get a refused connection note now. Can someone confirm? This looks like they are trying to stave off information dispersal.

It is pretty ugly, but SiteFinder is global. This you can easily change with a simple registrar change.

Simple registrar change? You may not realize how many domains the people in this thread manage =)

Maybe my account hasn't been sucked into the machine yet, but I'm still not seeing the ad on any whois I check, domainwhitepages, betterwhois, whois, godaddy, etc. on any of the eleven names I checked.

Still nothing from the original posters?
I don't happen to have any domains at Godaddy, so I can't check for myself ;)

So no recommendations for a good domain handler besides godaddy?

Could prove to be a very costly mistake for godaddy.

There are many places where you can do bulk transfers, it may be time consuming yes, but how much time are you spending here discussing it?

Originally posted by gamemaster
So no recommendations for a good domain handler besides godaddy?

We use enom and we are very happy with them.

Interesting, I don't see the ad in anybody's whois. I've tried about 10 whois servers, and all are lacking the advertisement. Darn, and I was thinking about sending them an invoice for advertising in my space. :(

Looks like the advertising data was removed. No update from GoDaddy though, must've been a silent change.

Sincerely,

-Matt

the sneaky buggers... :D

Darn....They never did put the ad in my domains. I feel left out.

Matt, if you think about it - it was you who made them change it. Thanks to you and a good couple of complaints that came as a result of your post.

However, they still be offering domain-grabbing services.

Hmm i been checking a stratified selection of my domains since this post was published here and out of around 850 domains of mine the ones i checked (not all of them i admit) didn't have any advertising, i asked Bob what was going on and if this was to be a regular feature on AIM and he just said it was being tested but later removed because they were contacted by ICANN.

Thanks to the original posters of this thread. Seems whichever one of you went to ICANN got this thing resolved. Or whoever else outside of this community may have reported it.

It must be enough of us contacted them that they re-thought their position. I looked at some of ours that 'used' to have the ad. :)

I wouldn't mind an ad. It was just the ad they had that was wrong.

Some of our resolds still show this ad.

I also have contacted WWD about this and explained "Perhaps you could explain the ad in the 8,000 domains we registered thru you in the past 6 months."

They have not responded as of yet.

Very bad business idea.

Originally posted by RackNine
Looks like the advertising data was removed. No update from GoDaddy though, must've been a silent change.

Sincerely,

-Matt

Whois is still showing the ad Matt, its still in cache so it must of just been removed.

http://dnsstuff.com/tools/whois.ch?ip=racknine.com

They have all been removed from GoDaddy.com domain names, period. WWD domains are still in the process of being updated. If you're WWD domain is still showing it then it will go soon, if you're GD domains are still showing it then the whois server you are using is referring to a global cache and should be updated soon.

That's the word from Bob on AIM.

Originally posted by Adam
That's the word from Bob on AIM.

wow.. connections... world of connections.. :stickout:

Yeah, our domains no longer have the AD - which is good.

In my letter, it was pretty simple an AD or I move elsewhere. And trust me, I have more than one domain with them.

lol yes i have enough connections around the Internet now.

And AceWeb, glad to see that the ad has now gone for you.

GoDaddy is just looking for another place to flash thier crappy little ads. I left them along time ago and I am so glad I did.

^^^

You missed the thread. :)

... nothing like missing the party.

Has anyone tried to call godaddy lately? All of their numbers are out of service.