
GoDaddy and Felons.io – The life of an unregistered domain - gmays
https://www.godaddy.com/garage/godaddy-felons-io-unregistered-domain/
======
rdtwo
I guess I appreciate the transparency. There have historically been
accusations of domain name squatting by godaddy so weather true or not I think
they did the right thing trying to present a case that they aren’t a bad
actor. The posts definitely did some additional damage to their brand and I
think it’s good for them to address the accusations, especially when the
thread got dogpiled by their competitors.

~~~
Ayesh
Or, they could make that up too. There is no way to verify what GoDaddy says
in the blog post is true.

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wdr1
I wonder if GoDaddy is unwittingly helping others exploit when someone is
searching for domains.

E.g., if there's ML in their suggestions, and they look at cohorts, when I
search for D after A, B, C, they'll start to suggest D to others looking for
A, B, C.

Then all I have to do is watch A, B or C for changes, and when I see D, I know
it's become _someone_ is interested.

~~~
rdtwo
Yes if they aren’t doing it themselves I bet someone is combing through their
suggestions algorithms and mining it for recent searches then squatting

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jonincanada
yes, they stole swipekit.com "from me" two days after I searched for it on the
godaddy site (in 2014). Last I checked it was owned by one of their employees
(who has been taken to court for similar troubles) can't we f'n do something
about that? or suppose that's business as usual

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crazygringo
The fact that a completely unsubstantiated accusation [1] from a throwaway HN
account got an astounding _1,615_ upvotes yesterday...

...really saddens me.

Like they say, "a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth puts on
it boots."

I really wish people had higher standards for actual evidence before jumping
to conclusions.

Now let's see if _this_ post gets a similar 1,000+ upvotes, as fairness would
dictate. Something tells me it won't, but I'd love to be proven wrong. I'd be
shocked if it even makes it to 50.

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24506303](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24506303)

~~~
mindslight
My reaction to the original post was a casual "must be a new generation
learning", because I thought this was just _longstanding expected behavior_.
At least at some time in the past, registrars (and IIRC, Godaddy specifically)
definitely _did_ do this. To the point you could enter any string of random
characters in their search box and it would show up in whois shortly
thereafter. Apparently things have changed, but the initial accusation was not
far fetched.

~~~
dpcan
Can you provide proof that they did do this?

~~~
mindslight
I personally remember going to some prominent registrar's webpage for
searching domains, mashing the keyboard or typing in phrases about how said
registrar sucked, and then those exact domains showing up registered with
whois(1) shortly thereafter.

I can only describe my anecdote and others are chiming in. If you're still
skeptical you could search. It was probably a story on Slashdot, as things
were.

~~~
bb88
You mean this one?

[https://slashdot.org/story/07/12/28/1458247/domains-may-
disa...](https://slashdot.org/story/07/12/28/1458247/domains-may-disappear-
after-search)

------
londons_explore
How many "fraudulent" registrations and cancellations does GoDaddy do each
day?

Could it be that it isn't GoDaddy being malicious, but perhaps a third party?
It's pretty easy to get a feed of queries into the GoDaddy search box - all
you'd need to do is partner with any registrar.

~~~
toyg
Or it could be this is GoDaddy’s version of the classic “I GOT HACKED!!1!!1”
excuse when caught exploiting their users. Which is even easier.

------
hasperdi
Just avoid GoDaddy if you can. They treat customers like shit anyway. Trying
to upswell you stuff all the time. It’s the kind of company that you can’t
rely to behave and act in your interest as a customer.

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cipherzero
GoDaddy’s response to the earlier accusations from the throwaway account here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24506303](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24506303)

~~~
jimmydorry
Awfully coincidental, but I guess it’s possible that these things can happen.

~~~
dylz
It doesn't even seem coincidental to me, it's a one word dictionary word.
"Mafia"-esque games are popular as hell, look at stuff like Among Us.

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andrewmcwatters
Who cares. Why would anyone use GoDaddy after the December 2011 boycott?

~~~
NullPrefix
Collective memory is short

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zatel
Thank you for reminding me to buy [my name].com back since it's lapsed

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toyg
This is all extremely convenient. It’s not just “it wasn’t me” but even “it
wasn’t me, somebody was hacked, the domain will become available again
tomorrow”. Methinks the lady doth protest too much, this might well be
godaddy’s SOP when caught red-handed.

Be as it may, the fact that GD is so casual about pwned accounts being an
everyday occurrence should suggest people that it’s better to stay away from
their lumbering carcass of a service.

~~~
dylz
> Be as it may, the fact that GD is so casual about pwned accounts being an
> everyday occurrence should suggest people that it’s better to stay away from
> their lumbering carcass of a service.

My assumption is that the vast majority of GD accounts almost certainly are
people that have their first domain, are nontechnical, and have a credit card
linked. The same would not apply for, say, Gandi, based on their advertising
and upsells.

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aaron695
Gell-Mann Amnesia effect

This is every HN post.

~~~
aaron695
We'll see how a story that refutes the also popular but also nuts
"Whistleblower: Mass Hysterectomies at ICE Facility" goes -

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24526130](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24526130)

~~~
mhh__
I'm in the process of reading it now, but the top comment suggests it may not
a simple refutation

------
gigmana
You can use a tool like this one to search for domain name securely.
[https://www.domainhamper.com/](https://www.domainhamper.com/)

