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The spanish IDN launch was set for 19.00 UTC, and your system didn't allow registrations before then.

All of the best names were taken between 18.33 and 18.45, by other registrars such as domainsite, etc. Dynadot customers didn't even have a single chance at them.

I am considering filing complaints with ICANN and the dot info registry.

What do you have to say about this?

el caso de españa.info es el mas escadaloso

Domain Name:XN--ESPAA-RTA.INFO
Created On:19-Jan-2008 18:35:06 UTC
Expiration Date:19-Jan-2009 18:35:06 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Gal Communications Ltd. (R111-LRMS)
Registrant Name:Domain Admin
Registrant Organization:Match Domains LLC

Esta gente de matchdomains.com ni siquiera tiene sitio web


[This post has been edited by l_r_g_tulua_co on Jan 19, 2008 12:23pm.]

The issue here was that we were misleading into thinking Dynadot was our best bet to get the domains. Dynadot was a bit naïve on this.

It was ridiculous to see the countdown and the preorder system on Dynadot website and other registrars like Domainsite allowing the free registering of the names, since 18:30.

We have emailed Afilias to see why they launched early. It was our understanding based on several emails and a phone call that the launch was supposed to be at exactly 19:00 UTC.

Some of the most important ones, were registered between 18:30 to 18:50 UTC by the same company and the same registrar.

I have nearly 500 domains at dynadot and was moving the rest over from domainsite and enom.

After this, I seriously have to question how much faith to put in Dynadot.

The thing is that you specifically wrote on your page that you have a "real time launch check" directly with the registry, and I was checking before 19.00 UTC and it said that it wasn't launched yet. This, in fact, means that you did not have a real-time launch check indicator. That is tantamount to fraud.

yes, the españa.info case is VERY strange.

If they opened the floodgates early, you would expect that español.info would have been regged almost the same moment, not 19 minutes afterwards.

Something doesn't smell right.

I don't think anybody really cares to hear why they launched early, and I'm pretty sure that they are just going to ignore your email. In any case, knowing why they launched early doesn't give any of us a chance at any of the domains which were gone before the officially announced starting time.

Two things are at issue here:

1. You falsely stated that you have a real-time launch indicator which checks with the registry, and I have a screenshot of that page as well. This misled your customers into believing that they had as fair a chance as anyone else to get pre-registered domains. In reality, all you had was a function which was built in to your system to only allow pre-registrations before 19.00 UTC - this is not a real-time launch check indicator with the registry in any way, shape, or form.


2. Many people loaded several hundred dollars into your system to do pre-registrations to compete for the best names. Not one of them got any of these names. I am not asking for a refund, as I will use the money in any case, but what about those who would like a refund? I understand that you normally don't give refunds for failed pre-registrations, but based on the facts presented in point number 1 above I think you should send out an email to all of those people and offer this to them.


Another issue I have with your pre-launch registrations was the Japanese/Korean .biz launch. Many dynadot customers and pre-registered the same domains and the ones who got a lot of them were actually on this very same site doing manual registrations right after the launch occurred. If you are accepting pre-orders, then would it be too much to prevent manual registrations of the very same domains until your pre-launch registration queue has been checked?

This is the last pre-launch that I will ever participate in, and I encourage others to take the same position. You have a better shot at getting the domains at domainsite a half an hour early, or assuming that the registry launches on time then you have a better shot at doing manual registrations here a split second after launch.

I really hated to publicize this info, as I have actually been promoting dynadot (for free) to everyone I know. The user interface and domain management system beats domainsite hands down. Very bad rating for the operational competency during launches, though.

Hi Everyone,

We are still trying to contact Afilias and figure out what happened. We have been monitoring this thread, and will address all the comments and criticisms soon. Sorry for the delay. Just want all the facts before we comment.

Thank you,
Todd Han
President
Dynadot

I believe they will simply ignore requests for information regarding this. That doesn't change the fact that there was no real-time launch check with the registry, just a hard coded time set into dot info registrations when spanish was checked as the language.

Hello,

Well Afilias still has not gotten back to us. But it is pretty clear that they launched early. I have emailed them a complaint but I don't expect to hear back.

We were not prepared for the early launch. We should have been but we were not, and I apologize for that.

Since we were not able to get the top domains this time, we will offer a full refund to all pre-order customers that want one. Just email us your order number and we will take care of it.

I know many of you are disappointed. Actually I am too. Sorry for the poor performance.

Todd Han
President
Dynadot