To Fix Whois Bug — ItsYourDomain Working
Bug affects 600 domain names as stated by firm.
ItsYourDomain, a registrar purchased by Tucows (AMEX:TCX, TSX:TC) last year, is working to fix a bug that keeps whois records as “Pending Renewal or Deletion” when domains are won at SnapNames.
As stated by Elliot Noss, CEO of Tucows, the bug affects regarding 600 domains. It affects existing ItsYourDomain clients who win expired domains through SnapNames. Following winning the domain, the whois record remains as “Pending Renewal or Deletion” instead of being transferred to the client’s name.
One example is the domain Oganesyan.com. The domain is owned by an ItsYourDomain client and doesn’t expire until January 28 but the whois reads:
Registrant
Pending Renewal or Deletion
SecureWhois, Inc.
[email protected]
96 Mowat
Toronto, ON M6K 3M1 CA
+1.4165315293
+1.4163520113 (FAX)
Ross Rader, Director of Retail Services at Tucows, states a fix is in progress. “We’re in the process of developing and implementing a patch that ought to address this problem and ensure that proper contact details are shown for the affected [names],” Rader wrote in an e-mail to Reglike.
Noss stated that regarding 22,500 domains go through the deletion cycle at ItsYourDomain at any given time. This is in line with DomainTools’ record of the number of domains using the e-mail address [email protected], which right now shows 19,135 domains.
The problem was identified by Stephen Douglas on his SuccessClick blog. Although Douglas identified it as a problem with domains being transferred to pending delete status prior to the expiration date, a check of the whois history for Oganesyan.com shows that the whois was never put into the client’s name.
Tucows paid $10.35M for ItsYourDomain with incentives if the firm hits certain targets. At the time of the buyout, Tucows anticipated the registrar would add $7M in yearly revenue and between $1M-$2M income in the first 12 months.
