Alright, I have been searching domains on GoDaddy a lot and I have found 2 or 3 really good ones that were available but I'll leave them for a couple days then when I come back GoDaddy says that it was registered on May 18, 2009 by domainsbyproxy.com and when I goto the domain it's just an add for goddady.com

I get really confused because the date on the site info does not line up to when I looked it up before so I just figure that I must have typed it wrong the first time...

But this is the third time it has happed and they are all registered to domainsbyproxy.com on May 18, 2009...

I'm pretty sure GoDaddy saves all searches then has someone go over them and registers them with fake whois info if they sound good.

Is there another site that I can use to search domains that won't steal them?

Also isn't it illegal to post fake whois info and can I sue them? Not that I am actually going to but it just does not seem legal...

Domains By Proxy is GoDaddy's private domain hiding service; they're part of the same company service.

Since I'm on a Mac, I use the "whois" command in the terminal to get website information or to check if sites are unclaimed. I'm sure Linux has a similar command, and there's probably one for Windows as well. I don't trust the whois websites to not collate all their search info for domain squatting purposes.

I've also got my domains registered via GoDaddy, although I'm not sure I'd recommend them these days. I haven't had any especially bad experiences with them, but they're very pushy with their sales tactics. You're almost certainly going to end up paying for extra services you don't need due to their deliberately confusing sales interface. The only real reason I'm still with them is complacency - they're not bad enough to put in the effort to research other domain registrars and switch.

GoDaddy is the last site you should be using to search for domains. There's a zillion stories of them buying up domains immediately after someone does a search.

There's a site I want that was registered through them by domain squatters. The squatters account was 'suspended' for 'spam and abuse' with no possibility of renewal. I contacted them to see if I could buy it, and they told me I couldn't because the owner could still renew (even though they were banned from renewing). I can all but guarantee that a day before it expires some 'private service' will somehow manage to acquire it.

Basically: they're sleazeballs. Any site is safer to use than GoDaddy.

A quick search brings up a lightweight Microsoft whois program here.

Quote: Original post by SteveDeFacto
I'm pretty sure GoDaddy saves all searches then has someone go over them and registers them with fake whois info if they sound good.

It's unlikely they have anyone go over them before registering them. The good news is, they probably won't last long. They're using a practice known as "domain tasting", whereby a registrar can grab a domain for up to five days free of charge. As long as there haven't been many visits to the domain, the registrar will cancel the registration before the 5th day is up.

Network Solutions has done the same thing, unfortunately it isnt against ICCAN rules. They are allowed to register it for a period of 5 days without paying for it. Haven't tested it lately but I did a few years ago by searching for fghfghfgh.com and 5 mins later it only available from NS.

For the PC you can get the SysInternals pack, it contains a whois program.