Hacker News Reader

Network Solutions has been doing other unethical things for years. I used to search for available domains using Network Solutions to only find that the domain instantly had become inaccessible to purchase. I later found out they were buying the domain people were searching for , for a period of 5 days so that you wont be able to purchase it from anyone else. very shady

View on HN

It was called front-running, and they still do it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Solutions#Controversy_o...

I remember when this...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_tasting

got so bad in the mid-2000's that it was best just to buy the domain if you even thought you wanted it.

So why doesn't someone just programatically search for a bunch of garbage domains from them?

As a registrar, someone's suggested they can put domains on hold at no cost. Not sure if domain tasting is still a thing too.

They don't even buy it. As a registrar, they can put a hold on it for free.

Is that still true? I though ICANN now charge some nominal fee (12c? 20c?) for domains even if you don't keep the registration past the 4 or 5 day "grace period"? (Not that it'd stop a truly evil registrar - if you can occasionally sell ~$10 worth of front-run domains for $39 or $69, you'd still be making money on 2% "conversion rates"…)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com