My habit of using Network Solutions to check the availability of domain names then jumping over to GoDaddy to buy them will have to stop. Whenever I get an idea for a site I brainstorm a bunch of domain names by checking availability/similar names through Network Solutions because, despite their outrageous prices, they have the best interface for doing so.

However for the second post in a row I must declare shenanigans.

The other day it was Mosso’s ‘new’ hosting service that was really their old service downgraded and repackaged. Today it’s Network Solutions new practice of holding any domain you search for through their system ransom for five days. “Front Running” (registering a domain someone is searching for) is one of the dirtiest tricks on the intertubes. I wouldn’t be half as pissed if Network Solutions didn’t charge more than three times what GoDaddy does. If NS had lowered there prices instead of implementing this system I might have switched because as I mentioned they have a better interface than other registrars, now I’ll never use them.

See for yourself do a whois on networksolutionssucksballz.com and you’ll see it’s held for five days and can only be bought through NS.

Apparently it’s been going on for about a month now and the natives aren’t too happy about it.

Domain Registrar Network Solutions Front Running On Whois Searches
Network Solutions Holding Domain Names Ransom
Network Solutions PR Damage Control

Shenanigans!

[UPDATE] A safe way to lookup domains http://support.suso.org/dns/saferdomainlookup.php