I've also been watching a domain name that expired on April 5th. Checking Whois today showed the database refreshed this morning and the lasted updated entry showed June 4. I'm 99% certain that the original owner didn't submit any changes or renew the name, (it's a squatter who had lawyers sicked on him) so I'm wondering why the change in the update record. Could this be an indication that NetSol is preparing to release the name?
Here is what NetSol shows for the only remaining domain I have registered with them.
Domain: gregboser.com
Record last updated on 31-Mar-2000.
Record expires on 31-Mar-2002.
Record created on 31-Mar-2000.
Database last updated on 5-Jun-2001 11:41:00 EDT.
I checked with Sam Spade as well and I got the same thing. The last updated record is the date I registered it, and I haven't made any modifications to it since. So what would cause that record to change if I hadn't submitted any change requests??
I don't know the answer. Perhaps someone "attempted" to crack a change and it registered the date. You would have gotten an admin email as the contact no doubt ( unless of course you use a filter which would have deposited anything from netsol in the "spam" can)Only thing I can think of.
>>>been watching a domain name that expired on April 5th
I think they tie them up considerably longer than that. I've heard of people waiting 6 to 8 months or more.
Start trying to purchase the domain name 6 days (or earlier) after the shift.
Whois has a lag time, I lost a domain I was watching for months because of the lag time.
Whois said it was for sale, when I tried to purchase it was gone:(
Today the record shows:
Record last updated on 27-Apr-2001.
Record expires on 12-May-2001.
Record created on 12-May-1999.
Database last updated on 6-Jun-2001 14:59:00 EDT.
Still expired, but now only a month old! What!?!
It is quite difficult to figure out what NetSol is doing with the DNS. Each name is different and none can be predicted to act in a certain way. Even so, there are several general trends and most of the names tend to fall within these parameters, except for the one YOU want. (It always seems to work that way.)
NetSol generally places expired names (expired meaning the expiration date has passed) into what is known as a "grace period". Similar to a credit card grace period before penalties, the registry will not drop the name until further notified by the registrar. This "grace period" generally lasts about 45 to 60 days.
After the 45 to 60 day grace period, NetSol puts the name in a "drop cycle" which lasts about 5 or 6 days. After this 5 or 6 days, the name will be released, generally around 6:30am EST. (The registry is located in Virginia.)
Other names get stuck and there is no telling what's going on. NetSol WILL tell you on occasion what's really going on...
You can easily tell when NetSol names go into the "drop cycle" because the DNS record in the whois will disappear and be replaced by words to the effect of "local whois DB out of date".
Today there are almost as many names dropping each day as there are being registered and there are several good expiring domain name lists available on the net that range from free to around $99 a year. They come out by email everywhere from every day to once a week.
The best way to get the name you really want (90% of names are not being used I think) is to go to a name list place like www.domainsbot.com for a list of names (there are others if you search "expired domain names").
Also there is a new company called www.snapnames.com that will backorder the name for you and register it for you for a year when it drops. They charge $35 and they give a money-back guarantee if they can't get the name for you.
(There was an interesting article in USAToday about these two companies and a couple of others last week. Its probably on the Internet.)
Anyways, I hope that helps and that I didn't bore anyone.
Cheers
>NetSol is preparing to release the name?
It could be the dns changed, or the dns servers were changed.
Record last updated on 08-Jan-2001.
Record expires on 04-Nov-2000.
Record created on 03-Nov-1997.
Database last updated on 13-Jun-2001 16:02:00 EDT.
Record expires on 04-Nov-2000:
This is the official last day of the domain's life. It will sometimes go as much as 2 months over this period in order to give you time to pay the renewal fees. It can also be the indication that 2 companies are fighting over the domain name and tying it up because of legal disputes.
Record created on 03-Nov-1997:
This is the day that the domain was created in their databases.
Database last updated on 13-Jun-2001 etc :
This is when the registrar last updated their database. This does not concern your name, but indicates how up-to-date their information is. If the date does not indicate today, then you know that the information you are reading is old, and changes (or deletions) may have occured since then.
