No more WHOIS from May 25th

@grant

On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation will take effect. This means the WHOIS will “disappear”.

How will this affect us with reporting domain registrations please?

13 Likes

Oh no! That feature is invaluable to figure out who registered names. This will be horrible for us.I predict incidents of names being registered will be on a sharp rise, and we’ll be powerless to do anything.

6 Likes

I not sure it makes a difference. Out of the 50 or so domains I’ve had registered, maybe three or four actually had a name as the owner and the owner never matched the CH. And Ive personally never had a ch say they registered the name. Most have private or NameSilo, NameCheap, etc. Not sure what else SH admin looks at to determine the answer other than maybe an email address.

4 Likes

Our understanding is that this change will not be immediately, as ICANN and other registries are working through the implementation of this update. We will continue to follow our standard procedures (similar to a private registration). Base on our experience, 90% of domain registrations are private, so this update will only effective that small percent that is public - and we will continue to follow our policy in all situations. We always recommend, if you do have strong domains, make sure you register them yourself.

2 Likes

It’s not that simple for ppl like me. I clearly don’t know how to tell the difference between a strong domain and a mediocre one. I’ve submitted several domains I thought were strong and they don’t get chosen as a winner or accepted for marketplace. Leaves me scratching my head wondering why I think it’s so great but nobody else does. It’s even more of a slap in the face when they end up registered and you think, I knew it was a good one!!

Now…let’s say I trust my gut and register it. What will likely happen is SH will reject it (in my experience) and then I’m left with a handful of domains that I can only use in contests here and there (that won’t get chosen…in my experience) and no way of reaching hundreds of buyers (like in the marketplace) because I’m simply not a domainer with the knowledge, skill, and know how. I’m just a SH enthusiast that is trying to protect my IP. Furthermore, I only enter about 20 contests a month and it would be highly unlikely my owned domains would be fitting for all 20 contests a month. My point being I’d buy up a domain and virtually no one would see it.

So I feel it’s in my best interest to not purchase if SH isn’t interested because who’s gonna see it other than a few CHs here and there, and again I have no interest in using other sites or trying to learn the ropes of selling domains on my own.

A creative owned domain page (as mentioned by another creative) would solve all these problems. Charge a listing fee, take a small cut of the profit, and put nothing into it…no logos, trademarks, audience testing, etc…just a link to non-curated domains owned and priced by the creatives. In this case I’d probably buy quite a few domains.

Plus, it’d probably make the SH handpicked domains look that much more elite with their logos and perks!!!

Thanks for listening!

7 Likes

We understand your concerns. However, we do not expect to become an open marketplace. Our focus is more curated.

There are other options available such as Sedo and Godaddy Auctions without any curation on their end, if you want to sell your domains.

If you list with one of the above platforms, you can still submit those names into Squadhelp contests via the My Owned Domains feature, even though you have them listed on an external marketplace.

2 Likes

Boooo :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: Thanks for that info, Grant! I may look into it…then again probably not lol we’ll see…

4 Likes

Checked these platforms… but I feel all are money game…still feel SH is best! :blush:

2 Likes

Especially given this change, the rule that you can’t report private registrations if it’s been more than 30 days since you submitted the name really needs to be re-examined. It should at least be 30 days after the contest closes-- especially since Contest Holders are given so much leniency on not declaring a winner for up to 2 months and more-- because until the contest is closed, they still have access to all of the names submitted to them.

8 Likes

Now with this privacy thing…that means Whois is useless now and we have zero way to report registered names? How is this going to protect us? This means a CH could potentially help themselves to any names, and because it does not show who purchased the domain…it’s open season?

In my experience of using WHOIS, to begin with, when looking into registrations – it’s usually been registered privately anyhow, or the person/business/entity that registered it pays extra to have the information hidden or whatnot as it is so it’s rarely ever helpful as is. Many here have said this too so it’s actually, sadly, not going to be much different than it’s already been. SH tries hard, and I am appreciative of this – all of us definitely are because they try to do what they can, but there really isn’t much protection unless we sub for marketplace and get approved or we buy the names ourselves. I wish it were different. I wish we had some way of claiming intellectual property or something, at least – especially since we’re termed as ‘creatives’ and it’s in the interest of not only ourselves but those we are being creative for as well – but again … marketplace or purchasing your own. That’s the nature of the beast of this type of industry. Unless @AbleBrands or someone that may understand it better than me can offer any insight.

Edited to add:

@Chasity2ku

In my opinion, there is no such thing as a mediocre one unless it is thehubonhubstreetcali.com (just as an example) – long domains of three or more words and/or ones that are highly specific and relatively only can apply to maybe one or a few businesses in history – ones that no one is ever going to want or need unless they fit that specification. Why am I so bold to say this? Well … the internet and its domains are highly proprietary. This was realized back in the 90s and that’s when people started snagging up any and all ones that first were real words with real meaning that many people could have use for in the efforts of having virtual real estate to create income streams to be a supply for the demand that they knew would be coming. Since most of the real word domains of most extensions have been claimed up, the good ones – like most of you come up with can and more than likely will – at some time have a value. I’m serious. I’ve seen some pretty bizarre names out there that have been nabbed up and are now being peddled for quite some money. Ones that you wouldn’t think would necessarily be the first choice. But you know what? To most domainers, they don’t mind that. Because in the end if the first, second, or third choices are already taken in 2 weeks or 2 years – or they are offered out for a exorbitant amount of money – that person that is seeking for one will then come to them for the next choice if they’re priced right and/or available. Domaining is a long game. But as the internet is bought and sold more and more, soon more and more extensions will have to be offered up and .com will be the ‘hollywood hills’ of domain real estate – no matter what the address is, as long as it can be remotely relevant in location to what’s needed.

2 Likes

Holly, a registrant data concealment realizes at registration of the domain by default. But the registrant can refuse the concealment by having put a tick in the corresponding small square. Thus, who doesn’t want to hide, won’t do it. As was earlier.

Interesting. I just know every single domain registration I have looked up in the past few days only lists what domainer it was registered under…and not the person.

And who would refuse concealment? How many do you guess would take the time to read and then make a considered decision to uncheck the box? Based on my experience very few, less than 1%. Why would any person, not a business, want their name, address, and various phone numbers available for public consumption?

I agree with you. But there was a same 1% of open information.

Thanks for saying!!! @Chasity2ku

1 Like

So how do we protect ourselves? It is financially unfeasible (at least for me) to register every good name I have. I have seen a marked increase of my names being registered since there is no way to track who registered it and report it. Isn’t this new situation creating a free for all for people to take your names? It creates a different situation now that people can think why not, since now we have zero recourse or proof. So what do we do?

3 Likes

I’m confused because I haven’t noticed any difference on Whois.com. It still shows names and addresses if it’s not private. What exactly has changed?

1 Like

Here is the official (boring) blurb (feel free to skip this link): https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-protection-eu_en

A slightly more interesting version and a bit about the delays in implementation can be found here: https://www.cyberadviserblog.com/2018/04/2791/

3 Likes