(Update to the post below about the Network Solutions furor)
A reader named Joel sent in these screenshots of his own little experiment:
f*ckyounetworksolutions.com:
Search 1: Available:
Search 2: Available:
Search 3: Taken:
This is an extremely important issue for democratization on the web. Network Solutions phone number: 1-800-333-7680.
Update: I called to complain, and they confirmed this:
"these domains are held with a Web-page notice saying that they are available for sale for a four-day period. This gives the Network Solutions customer a window of opportunity to purchase the domain before it snatched up by a scammer, Mitchell aid."
But (and this wasn't in the Times story), Network Solutions confirmed that their domains cost $34.99/year, while their competition sells them for less than $10/year. Once you search for a domain on NS, you can ONLY buy it from them. It's basically an anti-competition issue. Boycott Network Solutions!
just use dotster.com -- and fuck network solutions!
Posted by: marissa | January 10, 2008 at 03:39 PM
Dotster has a new spinoff created to compete with godaddy and the like (it offers many more free services than dotster.) It's http://www.mydomain.com/ and I've had really good luck with them (also their customer service is excellent.)
Posted by: lindsay | January 10, 2008 at 03:47 PM