There's a domain name I'd very much like to acquire for myself! I've looked, and when I go to any browser and type in, http://www.thedomain.com or http://thedomain.com or, simply, thedomain.com ... I get no results (Error screen such as "Try looking for ..." or "Did you mean ..." or ...like that.

However, when I attempt whois, I receive either "Taken" or (when I use my own .bat file) server timeout.

Whadya reckon?

(Incidentally, I'm glad yer back up, folks!)

it's possible the domain has no nameservers, or that the nameservers point the domain to a server that does not exist.

The domain is purchased, but not linked to a website. I have domains like that too. Never had a chance to develop a website for them!

Check whois.domaintools.com/thedomain.com and see if it brings some info.

Yep, sounds like the domain is registered with no site yet.

First, a domain name "taken" does NOT necessarily mean it has a website.

Secondly, use an authoritative whois (e.g. Verisign for .COM), and you can tell the nameservers of that domain. But then again, whether that domain is properly configured at those servers is another question.

Some domains are registered for purposes other than web sites. I have three domains that I use only for email, one of them has a "hello world" type holding page on it, the other two (both registered for many years) have no web site whatsoever on them for the simple reason that I've never bothered to set one up.

A friend of mine has a domain with lots of web content but none that you can get to by typing www.[domain].com into your browser window - it's all hidden.