4 ms·

OnlyFans snipe domain from Notify, a small startup

diebeforei485 6y ago
Is there a way to "watch" a domain that's about to expire and snap it up? Or did they just check manually on the date it was to expire?
- ronsor 6y ago
  Yes, backordering domains is a fairly common thing.
ZephyrBlu 6y ago
Well that sucks a lot. I guess OnlyFans was watching the domain and snapped it up as soon as they saw it was available?
luma 6y ago
Better headline: pre-launch startup forgets to re-reg their domain after several expiration notices.
- gnicholas 6y ago
  Apparently the notification emails went to an ex-founder, but the CEO does take responsibility for the error.
  - prepend 6y ago
    Yeah, I think it’s the headline that’s wrong and editorializing. The founders statement just explains what happens, takes responsibility, and shrugs.
- JakeMakesStuff 6y ago
  Eh, I think it was wrong for a large company based on content creation to exploit a mistake from a small startup.
  - ryanlol 6y ago
    That’s putting a bizarre spin on what happened here. Are you suggesting that they should have emailed and asked for permission to register that domain which the previous owner did not care to renew? This isn’t exploiting anything, it’s just how domain names work.
    - corobo 6y ago
      Especially a domain "sub.to" I'm honestly surprised another company got it rather than a domain flipper
- chrismorgan 6y ago
  But here’s the thing: the domain name system is designed to protect you against this, and it looks like Sedo bypassed those protections, approximately selling something that they had no right to sell. I’m pretty sure that if this happened on most registries, they could appeal to the TLD domain authority, win, and have it transferred back, and that Sedo might possibly face real repercussions. It’s possible that .to policies lack these protections. Bad policies are common on smaller ccTLDs. Jamie Pine is saying that the domain went straight from resolving to their site, to resolving to OnlyFans. On mainstream TLDs and registrars that’s not how it works at all: at some point between expiration time and a week later, the domain will switch from your name servers to some belonging to the registrar which will direct HTTP and hopefully HTTPS requests to some kind of “this domain has expired” page, where it will remain for another ~30–60 days before another few days in the Pending Delete status, before finally being dropped. That way, if renewal fails and you don’t receive the emails, you will still notice it if you use the domain at all at any time in at least a month—emails will bounce, the website will be broken, &c. But what happened here sounds like that Sedo abused their position as an aftermarket domain seller to bypass that process and sell the domain name with none of this DNS-based notice at all. It could also be the .to registry that has wacky rules that led to this (in whole or in part), but the strong vibe I’m getting is that Sedo is culpable here, having actively worked against one of their paying customers because they thought someone else might pay them more. I’m not certain whether they’re allowed to do that or not on mainstream TLDs, but the concept of domain tasting was a slightly similar concept (the registrar acting in its own interests rather than their customers’) and that got slapped down pretty hard. If all occurred as claimed here, Sedo has acted extremely shadily.
  - johntash 6y ago
    This is my understanding at least. I usually send people this diagram from ICANN when they have questions about domains renewing/expiring: http://archive.icann.org/en/registrars/gtld-lifecycle.jpg http://archive.icann.org/en/registrars/gtld-lifecycle.jpg I guess I don't know if the rules can be different for certain ccTLDs, but generally you have up to 30 days after expiration to renew with no penalty. And then you have another 30 days where the domain is in "redemption" status and can be redeemed/renewed by the original owner (usually for by paying a redemption fee on top of the regular renewal fee.)
simonbarker87 6y ago
This is a shame for the small startup but the mistake is totally theirs, OnlyFans bought a legitimately expired domain name.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
tzs 6y ago
It is a good idea for things like domain renewal, trademark maintenance fees, patent maintenance fees, paid certificates, and renewals of any services your business depends on (hosting, email service, etc), it is a really good idea to have some internal mechanism for reminders to take care of them rather than relying on notifications from the services that they are due for renewal. You also need some backup in case the person who is suppose to handle them fails to. The notification mechanism might simply be placing an event on your calendar. If you register a domain and it expires on, say, June 1, I'd go with a calendar entry for May 1 called "check domain" and set to repeat annually. Another good way to go is to have a file organized as an outline (or use a dedicated outline program) where the top level items are of the form "YYYY-MM-DD name of service", and the child items can be instructions and notes and data you will need when dealing with the item. Make opening that file or outline and looking for due items something you ritually and habitually do first thing on Monday morning at work. I like the outline approach because I can conveniently store more information about the task than I can with a calendar item, and it relies on fewer services. I just need my outline and OmniOutliner. For the backup, you need someone who knows for each item when it is due and who is supposed to take care of it. The too need a calendar or outline or something to remind them to check. Their notices should come a bit before the item is due for the person who actually renews the thing, so they can make sure that the renewer is still with the company and still in charge of renewing. If that looks good, the backup person can then set a short term notice on their calendar to check after renewal should be done to verify it was done. Note that the backup person isn't there to do the task if the person who is supposed to do it fails (or no longer exists). Backup's job is to catch when such a failure is going to happen or has just happened and bring that to the attention of someone who can do the task or who can assign it to someone who can do it.

Is there a way to "watch" a domain that's about to expire and snap it up? Or did they just check manually on the date it was to expire?

ronsor 6y ago
Yes, backordering domains is a fairly common thing.

ZephyrBlu 6y ago

Well that sucks a lot. I guess OnlyFans was watching the domain and snapped it up as soon as they saw it was available?

luma 6y ago

Better headline: pre-launch startup forgets to re-reg their domain after several expiration notices.

gnicholas 6y ago
Apparently the notification emails went to an ex-founder, but the CEO does take responsibility for the error.
- prepend 6y ago
  Yeah, I think it’s the headline that’s wrong and editorializing. The founders statement just explains what happens, takes responsibility, and shrugs.
JakeMakesStuff 6y ago
Eh, I think it was wrong for a large company based on content creation to exploit a mistake from a small startup.
- ryanlol 6y ago
  That’s putting a bizarre spin on what happened here. Are you suggesting that they should have emailed and asked for permission to register that domain which the previous owner did not care to renew? This isn’t exploiting anything, it’s just how domain names work.
  - corobo 6y ago
    Especially a domain "sub.to" I'm honestly surprised another company got it rather than a domain flipper
chrismorgan 6y ago
But here’s the thing: the domain name system is designed to protect you against this, and it looks like Sedo bypassed those protections, approximately selling something that they had no right to sell. I’m pretty sure that if this happened on most registries, they could appeal to the TLD domain authority, win, and have it transferred back, and that Sedo might possibly face real repercussions. It’s possible that .to policies lack these protections. Bad policies are common on smaller ccTLDs. Jamie Pine is saying that the domain went straight from resolving to their site, to resolving to OnlyFans. On mainstream TLDs and registrars that’s not how it works at all: at some point between expiration time and a week later, the domain will switch from your name servers to some belonging to the registrar which will direct HTTP and hopefully HTTPS requests to some kind of “this domain has expired” page, where it will remain for another ~30–60 days before another few days in the Pending Delete status, before finally being dropped. That way, if renewal fails and you don’t receive the emails, you will still notice it if you use the domain at all at any time in at least a month—emails will bounce, the website will be broken, &c. But what happened here sounds like that Sedo abused their position as an aftermarket domain seller to bypass that process and sell the domain name with none of this DNS-based notice at all. It could also be the .to registry that has wacky rules that led to this (in whole or in part), but the strong vibe I’m getting is that Sedo is culpable here, having actively worked against one of their paying customers because they thought someone else might pay them more. I’m not certain whether they’re allowed to do that or not on mainstream TLDs, but the concept of domain tasting was a slightly similar concept (the registrar acting in its own interests rather than their customers’) and that got slapped down pretty hard. If all occurred as claimed here, Sedo has acted extremely shadily.
- johntash 6y ago
  This is my understanding at least. I usually send people this diagram from ICANN when they have questions about domains renewing/expiring: http://archive.icann.org/en/registrars/gtld-lifecycle.jpg http://archive.icann.org/en/registrars/gtld-lifecycle.jpg I guess I don't know if the rules can be different for certain ccTLDs, but generally you have up to 30 days after expiration to renew with no penalty. And then you have another 30 days where the domain is in "redemption" status and can be redeemed/renewed by the original owner (usually for by paying a redemption fee on top of the regular renewal fee.)

simonbarker87 6y ago

This is a shame for the small startup but the mistake is totally theirs, OnlyFans bought a legitimately expired domain name.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

tzs 6y ago

It is a good idea for things like domain renewal, trademark maintenance fees, patent maintenance fees, paid certificates, and renewals of any services your business depends on (hosting, email service, etc), it is a really good idea to have some internal mechanism for reminders to take care of them rather than relying on notifications from the services that they are due for renewal. You also need some backup in case the person who is suppose to handle them fails to. The notification mechanism might simply be placing an event on your calendar. If you register a domain and it expires on, say, June 1, I'd go with a calendar entry for May 1 called "check domain" and set to repeat annually. Another good way to go is to have a file organized as an outline (or use a dedicated outline program) where the top level items are of the form "YYYY-MM-DD name of service", and the child items can be instructions and notes and data you will need when dealing with the item. Make opening that file or outline and looking for due items something you ritually and habitually do first thing on Monday morning at work. I like the outline approach because I can conveniently store more information about the task than I can with a calendar item, and it relies on fewer services. I just need my outline and OmniOutliner. For the backup, you need someone who knows for each item when it is due and who is supposed to take care of it. The too need a calendar or outline or something to remind them to check. Their notices should come a bit before the item is due for the person who actually renews the thing, so they can make sure that the renewer is still with the company and still in charge of renewing. If that looks good, the backup person can then set a short term notice on their calendar to check after renewal should be done to verify it was done. Note that the backup person isn't there to do the task if the person who is supposed to do it fails (or no longer exists). Backup's job is to catch when such a failure is going to happen or has just happened and bring that to the attention of someone who can do the task or who can assign it to someone who can do it.