Hi
Is anyone else seeing bogus renewals for .info domains from enom. I just received a notice to renew hundreds of .info domains that were never registered.

The domains have appeared in my enom account and expire in one month. the domains also match true domains.

for example if i had 123456.com registered i now also have 123456.info showing in enom and due to expire.

anyone else getting this ?

Enom ran a promotion via their sipence.com registrar and registered nearly 1 million domain names on behalf of their customers (using their information). Most of these come up for renew in September.

Happened to me too. I logged into my account, and saw FAR more domains registered than there should be. I thought they'd made an erroneous transfer, until I saw that all the extra domains were .info

Annoying as heck. They suddenly popped up out of nowhere, including a few for some .coms I let expire months ago!

Yeah, I got the same thing with RegisterFly.Com (enomm reseller), and it confused me. It's odd that they got it to read that it was registered a whole 11 months ago. I'm not going to renew the thing, even if they say it's "free". It isn't, of course. It's more expensive to renew their 'free' domain name, than it is to actually register it under their 'sale' $2.99 price (it's been the same price now for months).

Don't want it, don't need it, they better not autobill me for it.

I got the same with SharpRegister.com. As far as I'm concerned it's a cheesy, cheap, chowderhead way to do business. I figure they owe me for the hour of my time that it took me to figure out the scam and contact them to verify it wasn't a database error that would affect my "real" domains. If they want to do a promotion they should just knock a few dollars off their per/domain cost. I'll be looking for another registrar...

Originally posted by mccmac
As far as I'm concerned it's a cheesy, cheap, chowderhead way to do business.

:rofl:

That, my friend, is the funniest quote of the day.

Oh, and welcome to WHT.

Phew! Glad I found this thread. I didn't know what the heck was going on with my enom account. Doing this with no notice to the customer... man that's the lamest "promotion" I've ever heard of.

This makes me a bit leary of enom... I mean, you don't just go fiddling with a customer's account and sending out expiry notices with no warning whatsoever.

Yeah, I actually came to the domain name forum to see (or post) about the event. It's just so odd -- you'd think they'd tell people about the "free" domain name. As it is, it gently tweaks me out.

Originally posted by sakushamishou
you'd think they'd tell people about the "free" domain name. As it is, it gently tweaks me out.

They(enom) kinda slipped this under the radar last september when they did it

Well, I logged into my account at RegisterFly.Com about 4 days ago, and my domains list read one less than it does today, so they didn't just "slip it under the radar", they failed to tell me about it until just this month, all together.

So basically, what Enom has done, is to lock up all the .info TLD's that correspond to the .com TLD's registered with them. That would, in effect, lock out anyone wanting to "really" register a .info TLD for the last month - thus costing themselves business. All I can say to the TLD (Top Level Dork) at Enom is: "nice move".
Anyway, THANKS to WHT for letting me vent... I'm done ;)

For whatever reason enom registered these under sipence vs enom directly. maybe to avoid a backlash

Originally posted by dmaven
Most of these come up for renew in September.

If most of them aren't going to be renewed and they're tangible,
that's a lot of trash. :D

Yep, I think the vast majority of them will be dropped

Three dates are applicable for my situation:

9/28/05 - The renewal date for these bogus .info domain names paid for by ??? who was somehow able to register them with all my data. One would presume that they were registered at least one year ago - unless some registrar is in cahoots with someone to steal our identities for their own pecuniary purposes.

5/1/05 - This was the date I saved the HTML file reflecting the 40 domain names I owned at that time and had and still have registered with Enom.com - not one .info domain name was among them. This means that this identity theft has occurred since May 1st of this or that Enom.com was in cahoots with (party to the crime) whoever did steal my (our) identities for the purpose of registering .info domain names and was hiding that fact from us until some time after May 1st.

1/3/05 - This is a date that appears on a WhoIs search for one of my bogus .info domain names - me presuming all the others reflect a similar date. The entry is:
Network Whois record
Queried whois.arin.net with "!NET-69-25-142-0-1"...

CustName: eNom
Address: 2002 156th Ave NE
City: Bellevue
StateProv: WA
PostalCode: 98008
Country: US
RegDate: 2005-03-01
Updated: 2005-03-01

[ I'm assuming that the 2005-03-01 uses the logical Worldwide convention of largest to smallest segment (year-month-day) and isn't the illogical USA convention making it March 1, 2005. ]

Not being in the internet business (all my domain names are used in not-for-profit web sites), I don't pay much attention to a lot of the mountains of administrative procedures, writings, etc. applicable but am assuming that the above quote indicates that thie applicable .info domain name wasn't really registered until January 3rd, 2005. It being, in consonance with a posting a couple before this, in conjunction with some Enom.com promotional scheme.

Comments:
Luckily, I don't have automatic renewal set for any of my domain names and (thanks to circumstances such as this) never will - preferring to send them money just prior to each bulk, multi-year renewal period. But, for others, they may never know what's happening until their credit card statement reflects an after the fact (too late to do anything about it) renewal of a name they weren't aware they owned.

Now, if in some way, these bogus names can be registered with our stolen identities but then redirected to some gambling, slanderous, pornographic or other site we don't want to be associated with, then a whole world of lawyers, court rooms, wasted money, wasted time and running in circles is going to ensue. Apprently, (I didn't check them all), these stolen identity registered .info names are now merely pointing to an already existing, validly registered and level 2 equal domain name. But, if the person registering the name and stealing the identity in the process can do that, why can't they point the new domain name somewhere else?!

Here is an informative link

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2004/10/08/sipence_grabs_1_million_info_domains_sparking_controversy.html

Thanks for the link - that pretty much explains it but still doesn't mention (or understand) that this is a form of identity theft - the use of one's name, address or other information without permission. Not to mention the liability issues involved with owning a domain name that could possibly to referenced or used by someone else without one's permission or, in this case, knowledge.

The article implies that these were all purchased a year ago. If so, then Enom was hiding that fact (and the liability ensuing to the registered owner) from us.

So, even though I'm very impressed with Enom's domain name management process, they still seem to be locked inside the mentality of their mother's basement or garage or wherever they started it up - actions like this making it seem that start-up was just a week ago.

chances are if you check 70% to 80% of these promotional names are pointed to enom parking pages so I am sure they are making a fair amount in PPC revenue.

Originally posted by dmaven
Here is an informative link

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2004/10/08/sipence_grabs_1_million_info_domains_sparking_controversy.html
And they are quoting one of the threads here:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=326763 :D

Yep, it is amazing it caught such little attention considering the scope of this

Someone with more than 5 posts needs to post a link back to this thread in the other one at this forum, so posters aren't wasting their time duplicating information - I couldn't.

Which thread are you referring to?

What drives me even more insane, is RegisterFly.Com is emailing 5 of my emails every week with renewal notices for this bogus .info

Originally posted by sakushamishou
What drives me even more insane, is RegisterFly.Com is emailing 5 of my emails every week with renewal notices for this bogus .info

Request they remove it from your acccount. They can do that

At this point it is just water under the bridge. Hopefully they do not do this again

The other thread is at:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=3351818#post3351818

All this stealing identity stuff, and complaining that the registrar did something without consent is a waste of time.
I get crap in the (postal) mail all the time that I didn't order, didn't want, didn't sign up for, what's the difference??

The idea here seems to be plain old business marketing. They offered a free registration, in hopes that we'd renew next (this) year.. right??

So, what's really the problem?

Originally posted by DNRookie
So, what's really the problem?

Using people's personal information without their consent is the problem.

DNRookie,
The new car that has been parked in your driveway for the last year belongs to you. I registered it in your name a year ago but forgot to mention it to you. The registration is due again, so if you would like to drive the car please send me a check for $30,000. Sorry if the car has been in your way - we will move it sometime next month.

Originally posted by mccmac
DNRookie,
The new car that has been parked in your driveway for the last year belongs to you. I registered it in your name a year ago but forgot to mention it to you. The registration is due again, so if you would like to drive the car please send me a check for $30,000. Sorry if the car has been in your way - we will move it sometime next month.

lol :rofl:

Try it this way.
Hello, it's Sept 2004, and we've purchased a car for you. It's just like your other car, just a different color.. thought you might like it.

If you don't want it, just let us know, and we'll take it off your hands.
No need to leave it parked there for a whole year, complaining, we'll get rid of it as soon as today if you want us to..

If you do want it, you need only to let us know, and we'll also pay the registration for this year for you.
We'll let you know when the registration is due for next year. Remember, you need only pay the yearly registration fee, not the entire price of the car.

Thanks for being a good customer.

Doesn't this sound much more like what's happened here>?

Do you call all the credit card companies that send you "Pre-approved VISA's" ???

DNRookie,
Perhaps we had different experiences.
I never knew I had the .info domains registered in my name until Enom sent me an email saying that the domains were expiring THIS month - if I wanted to keep them I would have to renew them. That was the FIRST time I heard of the .info domains - the domains NEVER even showed up in my Enom control panel until THIS month (just as they are due to expire).
For me, the scenario I outlined is accurate - maybe for you it was different.
Besides, if I wanted a pink car I would have bought one in the first place. ;)

Originally posted by DNRookie
Do you call all the credit card companies that send you "Pre-approved VISA's" ???

You call them companies that I would not do business with. I prefer to "opt in" to a promotion not for someone to opt me in on my behalf

You call them companies that I would not do business with. I prefer to "opt in" to a promotion not for someone to opt me in on my behalf


__________________
Domain Maven


Ok, but are you really so bothered by them, that you are out posting this kind of stuff about them??

I bet not. It's really not much of a bother either way...

it's just that there seems to be a great bunch of internet junkies that like to complain about everthing from down-time to free stuff....

I am curious how people did not know about the .info's being registered.. I got email notification about my names getting registered... (by the way, I didn't use them, just pointed them to a paid park page, and earned $$ on them..)

This board is so interesting.....

I am curious how people did not know about the .info's being registered.. I got email notification about my names getting registered...

1st I'd heard about them was when enom moved several hundred of the things into our enom account ready for renewal.

A quick call to enom got the reply "they've been there since last year on the 'promotions' tab in your enom account" - never really use the web front-end so had never noticed it.

One support ticket and 5 hours later they've all gone - along with 3 perfectly valid .info domains, so another ticket coming up :(

[i]
Ok, but are you really so bothered by them, that you are out posting this kind of stuff about them??

I bet not. It's really not much of a bother either way...

it's just that there seems to be a great bunch of internet junkies that like to complain about everthing from down-time to free stuff....

I am curious how people did not know about the .info's being registered.. I got email notification about my names getting registered... (by the way, I didn't use them, just pointed them to a paid park page, and earned $$ on them..)

This board is so interesting..... [/B]

The .infos were registered without permission. The hosts are effectively saying "renew these .info domains, or we steal them". These .info domains are of course relevant to your company and so might be of some use to you.

They're effectively cyber-squatting a million different .info domains that they know are worth something to their customers.

That's what I've taken from this anyway.

Not at All!

The window to register these info domain names for "free" from the registry was a short term opportunity about a year ago, which did not provide much time to coordinate with resellers. "Free" is something of a misnomer, since there was still an ICANN fee that was required, in essence costing eNom roughly $50,000. So, eNom paid money to try to get a great deal for their customers and give them domains that they would probably want (all of this occurred about a year ago).

I recieved a couple of emails from eNom in relation to this...

I remember it being in the email that I recieved that domain owners had the choice of having the names deleted if they wanted. If I remember correctly there was a couple of different ways to have the names deleted... including a special email address, a support ticket, and I can't remember for sure or not, but I think there might have been something on the website as well.

If domain owners wanted the domains they very easily could move them into their main domain list via the "promotion" tab.... which sounds like was ignored by some domain owners.

Personally, I like a couple of the free .INFO domains and have used them and even renewed them... but the rest I'm planning on letting just expire.

QRGames seems paranoid....

Originally posted by Divaqs
Not at All!

The window to register these info domain names for "free" from the registry was a short term opportunity about a year ago, which did not provide much time to coordinate with resellers. "Free" is something of a misnomer, since there was still an ICANN fee that was required, in essence costing eNom roughly $50,000. So, eNom paid money to try to get a great deal for their customers and give them domains that they would probably want (all of this occurred about a year ago).

I recieved a couple of emails from eNom in relation to this...

I remember it being in the email that I recieved that domain owners had the choice of having the names deleted if they wanted. If I remember correctly there was a couple of different ways to have the names deleted... including a special email address, a support ticket, and I can't remember for sure or not, but I think there might have been something on the website as well.

If domain owners wanted the domains they very easily could move them into their main domain list via the "promotion" tab.... which sounds like was ignored by some domain owners.

Personally, I like a couple of the free .INFO domains and have used them and even renewed them... but the rest I'm planning on letting just expire.

QRGames seems paranoid....

Look at it this way: at some point in the future, I will probably want to buy all the domains possible associated with my company and products. However, it is not feasible at the current time.

If my registrar suddenly registered all the .org, .co.uk, .net address for the domains I have in .com and effectively said 'pay us or we gain control of them' I'd be miffed, as I would be unable to pay for them at the time.

Whilst that is an exaggeration, it is the same situation a few of enom's clients may find themselves in.

Originally posted by QRGames
Look at it this way: at some point in the future, I will probably want to buy all the domains possible associated with my company and products. However, it is not feasible at the current time.

If my registrar suddenly registered all the .org, .co.uk, .net address for the domains I have in .com and effectively said 'pay us or we gain control of them' I'd be miffed, as I would be unable to pay for them at the time.

Whilst that is an exaggeration, it is the same situation a few of enom's clients may find themselves in.

It is not feasible at the current time to register the .INFO TLDs since the customers already own the domains. I don't see the problem.... its seems perplexing to me to be upset that you can't buy something due to already owning it.

If I understand correctly the paranoia on your part is that you think eNom is going to renew domains and hold them "hostage". There is no business sense in this. Any registrar (including eNom) has to pay money to renew domains... and when we are talking about roughly a million domain names... that is a whole LOT of money (at least over 5 million US $) ... especially for domains that are of questionable value and seem to be currently unwanted. Businesses that remain in business are not in the habit of wasting that kind of money to hold "hostage" products or services that likely are unwanted.

eNom tried to act proactively to get a great deal for their customers and give them free domain names. I personally really appreciate some of the domains and am happy to have them.... the others will just fade away as I choose to not renew them.

Why are you so paranoid?

Originally posted by Divaqs
It is not feasible at the current time to register the .INFO TLDs since the customers already own the domains. I don't see the problem.... its seems perplexing to me to be upset that you can't buy something due to already owning it.

If I understand correctly the paranoia on your part is that you think eNom is going to renew domains and hold them "hostage". There is no business sense in this. Any registrar (including eNom) has to pay money to renew domains... and when we are talking about roughly a million domain names... that is a whole LOT of money (at least over 5 million US $) ... especially for domains that are of questionable value and seem to be currently unwanted. Businesses that remain in business are not in the habit of wasting that kind of money to hold "hostage" products or services that likely are unwanted.

eNom tried to act proactively to get a great deal for their customers and give them free domain names. I personally really appreciate some of the domains and am happy to have them.... the others will just fade away as I choose to not renew them.

Why are you so paranoid?

Why are you so bleeding judgmental? :stickout:

I'd like to point out I don't have any special interest in this, since I don't have any business with eNom or their resellers anyway.

The point is, some small businesses may not have the money to renew the .info domains at the time (due to a mix of not having enough revenues and the fact they were given such little notice). They will then fall into the hands of the registrar. Given eNom can afford to host them ALL for a year, I don't think they be against keeping 10,000-20,000 which they feel might want that .info domain in the future. As the small businesses grow (You know, as they tend to do :)) they'll find that the domain they want is parked/controlled by eNom.

If I'm paranoid about registrars, it's because they are all out to get money in the long-term remember? ;)

Originally posted by QRGames
Given eNom can afford to host them ALL for a year, I don't think they be against keeping 10,000-20,000 which they feel might want that .info domain in the future. As the small businesses grow (You know, as they tend to do :)) they'll find that the domain they want is parked/controlled by eNom.

If I'm paranoid about registrars, it's because they are all out to get money in the long-term remember? ;)

Your reasoning still doesn't make sense to me.

As stated before, there was a short-term promotion by the .INFO registry a year ago, in which people could register for free .INFO domains (though ICANN fees/taxes were still required). During that time, eNom on behalf of their customers registered as many domains as they could and made them available for free to their customers as a "promotion". The $50,000 or so that eNom spent in ICANN fees is nothing like the $200,000 to $5,000,000+ you are suggesting they would have to spend to speculatively register likely unwanted and unvalued domain names. It doesn't make good business sense and smacks of paranoia.

Originally posted by Divaqs
Your reasoning still doesn't make sense to me.

As stated before, there was a short-term promotion by the .INFO registry a year ago, in which people could register for free .INFO domains (though ICANN fees/taxes were still required). During that time, eNom on behalf of their customers registered as many domains as they could and made them available for free to their customers as a "promotion". The $50,000 or so that eNom spent in ICANN fees is nothing like the $200,000 to $5,000,000+ you are suggesting they would have to spend to speculatively register likely unwanted and unvalued domain names. It doesn't make good business sense and smacks of paranoia.

Ok, now you're not even reading my posts :disagree:

Time to close the 'discussion' down (sorry, your excuse to pile into me, if i'm being more accurate)

Originally posted by QRGames
[B]The point is, some small businesses may not have the money to renew the .info domains at the time (due to a mix of not having enough revenues and the fact they were given such little notice).They were notified last year, when the domains were registered on thier behalf. I got the notice, and immediately told Enom I didn't want any of the registrations, and they promptly stopped before going through the whole list of names I have there.
They will then fall into the hands of the registrar. Given eNom can afford to host them ALL for a year, I don't think they be against keeping 10,000-20,000 which they feel might want that .info domain in the future.If that were the case, that they wanted to hold them "hostage", why offer them to the customer at all? Why not start out by setting up a "bet you wish you'd bought the .info now eh?" type page? Because this was a promotion, and they wanted to try and spark interest in the TLD, not to force people into buying.

If I'm paranoid about registrars, it's because they are all out to get money in the long-term remember? Aren't we all? I do believe you're being too paranoid, and that this was just a promotion that wasn't received well by the end user, most of which seemed to feel it was "identity theft", even though it was actually a free gift.
A misconception, nothing more.

I've been with Enom for several years. I never received a notification about these .info names that I considered valid - it could have been received at one of my spam email addresses and I assumed it was a 'phishing' attempt to get some personal information from me -- especially since it wouldn't have made any sense to me. Things initiated by others on my behalf (especially when from Nigeria, for example) are moved to my trash basket faster than a blink of an eye.

Duh, that might be one of the additional problems having Enom doing things like this without our consent. Or maybe I'm just too old and used to being in control of my life - maybe the youngsters coming up these days are more trusting and used to having other people make their decisions for them. ;)