So goes the title of someone who appears to have pinpointed a party engaged in
this practice:

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1991365,00.asp

Have a go. Quite interesting.

Interesting read.

Nothing illegal is being done though is it?

(Not that i'm on cyber squatters side).

Very interesting article

Nothing illegal is being done though is it?
It should be. Registrars are abusing their positon and ICANN/Verisign won't do anything about it.

Bob Parsons on "domain kiting":

"35 million names registered in May. Only 8% of registrations were paid.
32 million were part of a scam. It's called "domain kiting."
See the bottom of the page for the primer on how the scam works.
"A Domain Kiting Primer."
http://www.bobparsons.com/MayKiting.html

"35 million names registered in April. 32 million were part of a kiting scheme.
A serious problem gets worse."
http://www.bobparsons.com/DomainKiting.html

"The add/drop scheme. How millions of .COM names are used but never paid for."
http://www.bobparsons.com/adddropscheme.html

What we need is a script that does whois on some made up domains. If those domains are then taken a few days later by a certain names it could get other computers through distributed computing to hit the parked website just enough to that the domain tester thinks its popular. One the registration grace period is over they'll be stuck having to pay for the domain. Do that a few thousand times and Im sure it'll hurt their wallet.

Someone at Godaddy.com is doing the same thing.

My girlfriend had her domain taken for several days, just before she was going to register it. Then lo and behold it was available again.

This has happened on 3-occassions.

What they are doing is grabbing the domain, seeing how many type-ins they get, and if there are not many they release it. If they can make money on the domain I am sure they will not release it.

Quite the scam

Do that a few thousand times and Im sure it'll hurt their wallet.

I hardly think that expenses for 'few thousand times' will hurt their vallet too much. I you had at least the smallest idea HOW MUCH they are making, you'll realise that few thousand registrations are hardly noticeable compared to their total income.

I hardly think that expenses for 'few thousand times' will hurt their vallet too much. I you had at least the smallest idea HOW MUCH they are making, you'll realise that few thousand registrations are hardly noticeable compared to their total income.

I'm not talking about a day here. Do that through out the year with ten of 1000's of names and at $6 per name, even $4 per name when you start losing 100 of thousands it'll will put a dent in their wallet. At least make it harder.

Better then taking a dick up the *** and not doing anything.

Evolver - Domain tasters get their money back if they drop the name within 5 days. All but the ICANN fee, afaik.

As to the article. I only found it mildly interesting. It does indicate that this tasting is in fact a reality. There are certainly many more companies involved than the article covers.

DumbCommonHeard - I'd give GoDaddy the benefit of the doubt. I think we have seen examples of, if you go to the checkout with the domain (rather than just the search), their system could be "reserving" the domain. In all the examples I've seen, the domain has never been permanently taken, and could be registered after 5 days.

Evolver - Domain tasters get their money back if they drop the name within 5 days. All but the ICANN fee, afaik..

But if there is some kind of distributed software that cause page hits to those domains for longer then 5 days they might not drop the name and have to pay the domain reg fee. Then after a while the hits stop.

I am not trusting godaddy, dotster or any register, I use the internic site. who know who watching you

Internic, maybe? :)

Internic, maybe? :)

yes this is the one

It was a joke, solidar. in response to your question... who know who watching you :)