Falsely returning “no match” results — Verisign whois

Have to submit query twice to get correct result on Verisign’s whois.

Verisign’s whois service for .com and .net is sometimes falsely returning a result of “no match” the initial time you search for a domain name.

For example, if you search for DNW.com on Verisign’s site or via port 43 whois, you’ll get a “no match” result the first time. Click “search” a second time and the correct whois will be returned.

You can see example screenshots on the DomainPunch blog.

I’ve also noticed that the web based whois at VerisignInc.com does not recognize the top level domain you select from the drop down box. If you just type something like “ESPN” and select .com or .net from the drop down, it will not recognize the associated TLD. You must type the actual TLD following the second level domain.

This problem appears to have been happening since at least last night, although some of my searches are working in recent minutes.

[Update: NameCheap is also reporting the problem, and saying it may affect domain availability lookups.]