Today I was made aware of something that’s been pestering the Internet for ages. A trend that the pornography industry started ages ago, and has fooled more than one innocent web user. We all know how easy it is to make typos, both in letters, e-mails and when we enter the web address of the site we want to go to. This of course is really annoying, especially when we’re at work when we try to make this office friendly. So what is this method that so many use to fool innocent Internet users? Well, the technique is as easy as it is in terms ingenious. What companies do, is that they register a domain name with very similar spelling to a popular web site. For instance, it might be gooogle.com, googel.com, gogle.com etc. All possible misspellings of the word Google, that might get you to a site you didn’t ask for. So what happens when you misspell the domain name? Well, you’re taken to a page which in effect redirects your request to another site. This is something that porn industry has done for ages, and has gained them millions upon millions of unjustified hits.

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Oh how I hate the net from time to time. On second thought, that’s not entirely fair. I do though hate some online businesses. I just recently bought a web hosting account to host a few new domains that I had acquired, and with the account there was also a domain name that came with it for a small price, so I thought what the heck. I signed up, and I was now the proud owner of yet another hosting account and a new domain name. All was fine and dandy.

But things were about to change, I found the control features of the hosting provider to be abysmal and horrid to say the least. I was not at all happy, but things were only to become worse. After having tried to getting used to the new account, I decided it wasn’t worth it and came to terms that it was about time to use the 30 day cash refund option. I canceled the account and got my money back. But what about my new domain name that I get with the account, that I paid for? The domain that is registered in my name. Of course I wanted to take this with my and transfer over to my main registrar.

Well, I logged into my account on Dotster to proceed with the transfer. As the owner of the domain, I got a mail asking me to confirm the move. Of course, I agreed and confirmed and just waited for the confirmation mail. Well guess what, the domain had been registered with a registrar-lock, which makes it impossible to transfer a domain even with the consent of the domain owner. This of course pisses me off, so I contact the registrar the domain was registered with and ask them to remove it. They tell me I have to contact the hosting provider to have them make the change. HELLO!? You can’t do changes to your own systems? That’s just great!

Well, I contact my former hosting provider to have them do the work, but guess what!? THEY WON’T, THEY CAN’T, THEY ARE INCOMPETENT! The only thing they can tell me, is that I have to wait until 60 days after the account with them was registered until I can do changes myself. What a load of shite!!! So I’ve now written an e-mail to the registrar they do business with (yet again!), and told them in short plain terms that;

• It is my domain
• I paid for it
• I want full control over it
• Stop tossing me around, I’m no freakin’ ball
• It’s your systems, your databases. Get it done!

If not, I’ll contact my .ro friends and have them hack them from here until oblivion!

Update:
In retrospect, I understand my frustration and aggression. But in this case, there was nothing I could do, nor the hosting company. After a domain has been registered, it can’t be transferred over to a new registrar for a period of 60 days. This is in compliance with the regulations set by ICANN, the governing authority on domain names. But it still pisses me off though! :) It’s still MY domain!