I have had two domains, months apart (back in 2009?), that I looked-up via GoDaddy and then were gone the next day when I went to register. These were obscure

I have had two domains, months apart (back in 2009?), that I looked-up via GoDaddy and then were gone the next day when I went to register. These were obscure names, one with numbers. This is just my experience, could be plain bad luck/timing. However at the time I wondered about this (nice to know it has an actual term) - emailed them angrily and got a placating response. This makes me reconsider.