ScamWatch

Warn your friends and colleagues.

Use this thread to rat out scammers!

VincentP
Moderator
Web Entrepreneur Advisory

Web Entrepreneur Advisory Launches Website

Web Entrepreneur Advisory is pleased to announce the July launch of EntrepreneurAdvisory.org.

Straight news. Straight reviews. Straight advice. That's our motto. Developed by a consortium of veteran internet marketing consultants, we're the affiliate marketing website that tells it like it is. EntrepreneurAdvisory.org, both technical and entrepreneurial in spirit, was developed for Search Engine Marketers seeking technical information, as well as entrepreneurs seeking new strategies for optimizing their Web properties.

The Advisory is not averse to grinding the occasional ax. Unscrupulous affiliate programs, payment providers, domain registrars — all fall under our watchful eye.

Site Highlights Include:

• Straight news and frank commentary
• Head-to-head affiliate program reviews, released in industrial strength form
• Deciphering search engine marketing trends
• Tools and strategic planning guides to help entrepreneurs make informed decisions
• Search engine optimization advice
• Expose of unethical affiliate marketing practices

Visitors may surf freely and anonymously. No sign-up required. We hope you'll find us refreshing. We're just getting warmed up...

VincentP
Web Entrepreneur Advisory

Registrar Shenanigans

Hi Everyone...

We're kicking off a little research project on domain registrar shenanigans and would like to hear your horror stories. This project was inspired by a hellish series of support problems with JumpDomain experienced by a colleague of ours.

First, JumpDomain wouldn't transfer a block of .com, .net, .org domains to another registrar, simply sat on them until they finally expired and slipped into the nightmarish Redemption period. Supposedly, the Registry releases transferred names in 5-7 days if the losing registrar does not acknowledge the transfer to the gaining registrar. But that didn't happen. The Registry didn't release the names. During this purgatory period, the domains were suddenly and mysteriously placed in Registrar-Lock status, which meant they couldn't be transferred. The JumpDomain web interface hasn't been updated since the Bronze Age, so the registrant had no way to unlock these mysteriously-locked domains.

And that's not all…

The Verisign records suddenly reflected that these names were registered to eNom (JumpDomain's parent), and listed eNom as billing, technical and administrative contacts. Which meant that the real registrant couldn't transfer them until the records are updated. And of course, JumpDomain didn't bother to respond to repeated e-mails on any of the aforementioned issues. Neither did it's parent, eNom. Neither did Verisign, who maintains the registry of .com and .net names. This stuff has dragged on for months! It's really beyond belief. Rampant negligence. Or unscrupulousness. Or both. Is it an attempt on JumpDomain's part to extort redemption fees and force the guy to renew with them? Or worse, be forced into buying back his own names at some exorbitant aftermarket price?

This poor guy filed repeated complaints with ICANN's Dispute Resolution, which apparently accomplishes nothing, since their only responsibility seems to be merely bouncing complaints back to the very (unresponsive) registrar that you're complaining about to begin with. Lotta good that did. All these transgressions are, of course blantant violations of ICANN registrar policies, not to mention an infringement upon individual intellectual property rights.

More and more, we're hearing these stories... registrants denied access to names they legally own, and a negligent, lumbering government bureaucracy that doesn't enforce its own policies. It seems that registrars are allowed to do whatever they damn well please these days, until it reaches the point where you have no choice but to pursue a legal remedy in court.

Sorry for the long post! (Believe it or not, this was the abridged version.)

Anybody else got domain horror stories? Not sure what we can accomplish with this yet, but anyway, let's hear 'em…


VincentP
Moderator
Web Entrepreneur Advisory

Web Entrepreneur Advisory Welcome & Forum Rules

Welcome to our new blog! We're not big on rules, so there are only a few.

First, promotional and/or affiliate links in your signature only. Shameless SPAM'ing only allowed under the label Hall of Shameless SPAM. Seriously! This forum is moderated, so cheaters will get bounced and their posts deleted. (In case you're not familiar with the new Blogger, enter "hall of shameless spam" in the "Labels for this post" field at bottom of Blogger post window.)

We encourage spirited discussions, but play nice. We don't censor posts based on honest (and polite) opinion, but we will enforce the aforementioned policies. We reserve the right to remove, modify or move posts at our discretion.

Eavesdroppers are welcome, but we encourage you to register — if you don't already have a Blogger.com account — to get the most out of this forum. Registration is free and allows you to post, reply, receive e-mail notification of replies to your posts, and send private messages to other members. Entering your email address doesn't get you spammed. Your account gives you the option to hide your email address from the public.

Join us, and help shape this blog into a useful affiliate resource. And, oh yeah...have fun!