I hope and trust, then, that t his is not GoDaddy, which certainly does not have “a record of customer service and satisfaction.”

Peace,
Gene

I’ve had nothing but good experiences with GoDaddy.

In any case, it will be nice to see this RF mess finally begin to get cleared up and safeguards installed to insure this never happens again.

With a little luck Medina will be behind bars this weekend (or on the run).

Carter - Your comments are good and to the point.

The unfortunately part of all of this is that white-collar criminals usually serve very short jail sentences and much much more-importantly, those companies, including mine, that were continually forced to lay-off people (including two today) and lost tens of thousands of dollars in time and income directly as a result of Medina’s actions…will probably never see a dime from Registerfly, commercial deal or not …due to the sheer magnitude and time-line of this ordeal. Maybe the acquiring registrar (hopefully, it IS GoDaddy) will consider setting up some sort of matching fund to help out those that have entirely lose their businesses due to this very unfortunate chapter in Internet history.
We were very lucky to survive this long. More than 50% of our business ceased directly as a result of Medina’s actions (and the decision by the judge in New Jersey when ’some’ progress was being made)…..

I own 923 domains which were purchased at RegisterFly. Over half of those domains are still with Enom. Last week I set up an Enom account and faxed them the identifying information they wanted, but they have not yet moved my domains into my Enom acoount. I have almost 400 domains which need renewing within the next 30 days, many are due within 10 days, and all these are are at Enom. I’ve read very little from ICANN about Enom’s legal responsibilities in this mess, and many complaints from registrants about their role. Does this pending transfer agreement also affect those domains which were bought at RegisterFly when they were an Enom reseller, and for which the WhoIs data still shows Enom as the registrar? If not, what is ICANN requiring of ENOM as the current registrar for many of the domains still carried at RegisterFly? Also, what provisions are being made for transfer of domains that have been stolen by RegisterFly? I have 8 domains which have had the registrations changed to RegisterFly.

Is there any word on what pricing will be at the new registrar? For example are renewals at the same rate as for the registrar’s regular customers? Is there going to be an automatic addition of a year at the time of transfer and the associated charge.

Hi,

I’d appreciate it if ICANN could follow up closely on the transfers to ensure that owners of domains which have expired more than 30 days ago, but are still visibly listed as registered with Registerfly (and as such are currently ‘held’ by PIR) will be able to renew the domain with the new registrar.

Thanks.

ICANN,

Thank you for the update. BUT, the question of expired domains has still not been directly addressed. What is going to happen to cho0b’s domains (and mine)?

Anyone who got caught up with RF knows the meaning of the word “annoying”. I’m glad iCANN is taking timely steps.

I too like Andrew and cho0b have a domain that expired in all this mess and am also wondering what is going to happen to the expired domains?

I still see it in my registerfly account just in the expired domains section. Will these domains be retained and accessable after the transfer?

Thanks for all your help thus far ICANN!

Dear ICANN Team,
why don’t you just re-enable the feature that allows the user himself to transfer the domains where he want’s to transfer it?
Thanks

Well, one of my domains got rescued today - thankfully the one that had expired. E-mail from eNom said they could get it for me, just click here and create your account. According to the e-mail (copied below), I could then transfer my account to the registrar of my choice. Couldn’t find a way to do that, and I was sick of playing games, so I just renewed it with them. At least they let me renew it! Not perfect, but I have my domain back, almost instantaneously. Now for the rest of my domains that are being held hostage by Registerfly…

{message from eNom}

HOW TO SECURE CONTROL OF YOUR DOMAIN NAMES WITH ENOM:

Using the coded link below, create a free eNom login ID. There is no charge to open an eNom account. Once you do so, your eligible domain names will automatically be moved to the eNom control panel. There you can instantly re-access management rights for your domain names.

Click this link to create your free account and move your domains to eNom: {account specific link was here}

After you’ve created an eNom account, you will also have the option to transfer your domains to any other ICANN accredited registrar of your choice.

I managed to get all but 2 of my domains out of registerfly.

The ones transfered out still show in my registerfly account, so I hope the new registrar does not try to steal them back.

We really appreciate the news.

I realize the majority of this is about domain names but what about those of us that had hosting through RF who’s intellectual property is being held hostage by RF and Sagonet.com in Florida??

All I can say is that ICANN has been moving way to slow on this matter and are totally useless. After the dust has settled, I would support a petiton for ICANN to give control or control to be took by another enity (Like the EU).

To be honest I think we, the registrants of these domains held at RF should have a say as to which registrar takes control of them, I feel you should have let us vote say out of the top 5 or so registrars which submitted interest.

How was this secret registrar chosen, was it all about $?

I hope Net. Sol. isnt the winner…

Perhaps we need to cool our approach and allow ICANN to work through this process. If I was the company taking on this problem I wouldn’t want the world to know until I had all the technical issues worked out and was ready to receive the thousands of questions from previous RegisterFly customers. I assume that ICANN is withholding this info from us so that the new registrar can get ready to handle the incredible demand that is about to hit them. We’ve also been informed in the ICANN post that they will allow us to transfer out to other registrars once the announcement is given.

I think we just need to calm down and let them work this out. I am a small business owner who has been badly hit by this, but I also know that all the railing against ICANN won’t help anything. We wish there was a magic wand to fix everything or that ICANN would have all the legal authority and manpower to fix it all right away but that is not realistic. Our US legal system is a mess and nothing happens quickly there. This is a big learning time for ICANN and the entire Internet community. Hopefully as a result of these problems the Internet will become a little safer place.

Unfortunately, it seems ICANN was aware of problems with RegisterFly at least two years ago (that I can find - maybe longer) and did nothing. As you know ICANN has made two announcements so far that the situation is resolved and we have seen no actual action on the domains.

I’m not willing to allow more of my domain names to disappear just because ICANN states something is happening or they’re working on something. Having a transparent process would at least restore some confidence that the organization charged with safeguarding domain holders is really doing something.

Perhaps I’ve just been lucky, but I did find out how to find the Authorization Code for my domains at RegisterFly. I also was able to retrieve two expired domains so I could get those Auth Codes, too. And to complete the transfers, I had to change the admin contact e-mail that had been pointing to support@registerfly, so when the verifying e-mail comes, it’ll come to me and not them.

I only mention this because for several days I was really frustrated at not getting support tickets answered and believing I could not get the Auth Codes required. Network Solutions pointed me in the right direction to find the info and everything seems to be in process now. Just waiting for the WHOIS info to reflect my e-mail and the process will hopefully be able to be finalized.

The hints are: Auth Codes. When you’re managing a domain, open “Domain Contact Information.” Wait for the long list of info to come up, then click “Configure” at the very bottom. You’ll see bunches of boxes with contact info (change what you like, but the only necessary one for transfers is Admin e-mail). Just above the “Update” button at the bottom, over on the left, is the Authorization Code.

Expired Domain. I didn’t want to throw good money after bad, but it was worth it to me to try to get these domains active so I could, hopefully, get the Auth Codes. When you’re at the screen showing the expired domains, select all and then click “Modify.” Go from there.

Hope this helps someone else. Of course, all of this might be overtaken by events with the data moving elsewhere, but I just hate sitting around waiting.

As of 22 May 2007, R’Fly continues to accept orders for new registrations, but continue in their failure to honor those orders. I base this on a test registration I attempted on the above date. Consistent with other reported experiences, the system would report a successful registration, deduct funds from the “Quick Pay” account, but would take no further action (and not even their own whois system operated properly). Needless to say, reports have been numerous with respect to dishonored renewals.

Not sure what conclusion to draw except that I don’t think the continued operation of the website is related to any deal that might be in the works. Frankly, R’Fly’s ongoing behavior can only serve to create further headaches for any acquiring registrar, since it’s forseeable that customers would expect ordered but unfulfilled domains to transfer over. –SJR

Paul, what happens to a domain name that has been “Hijacked” by RF. orn.com has invalid whois info in it and I have had that name since the early 1990s the put some guy in Russia as the owner. The DNS is still set to my provider so my site still works. Once the new registrar takes over, my guess is that my domain name will be sold to the highest bidder. (The name never expired, the whois info was changed)

Mark Emanuele

Thanks for this info!!

I’m afraid you will have to pay again…

Call your credit card company and ask for a refund/chargeback for the $45 you’ve been charged for (explain that RF has gone bankrupt).

My understanding from ICANN announcements is that any receiving registrar will not be commercially the same but operated by an existing registrar. Also, that once domains are with them, extra years won’t be added so that renewal/transfer can be made to the registrar of your choice.

This does however leave those of us with expired domain names with a major cost problem. If other registrars expect the standard redemption busting fee (as Enom does currently) then 100 domans at $12 becomes 100 domains at $160. Even a moderate or small company would have to look at the cash flow implications of that unexpected expenditure.

What caught my attention was that they definitely had not been accepting new registrations for a while and lost the “ICANN Accredited” logo. The logo is still off, but they are taking registrations again.

Mark, see my complete post just above yours, but here’s the relevant part:

The hints are: Auth Codes. When you’re managing a domain, open “Domain Contact Information.” Wait for the long list of info to come up, then click “Configure” at the very bottom. You’ll see bunches of boxes with contact info (change what you like, but the only necessary one for transfers is Admin e-mail). Just above the “Update” button at the bottom, over on the left, is the Authorization Code.

Expired Domain. I didn’t want to throw good money after bad, but it was worth it to me to try to get these domains active so I could, hopefully, get the Auth Codes. When you’re at the screen showing the expired domains, select all and then click “Modify.” Go from there.

As soon as I respond to my new registrar’s verification e-mail, all my domains (some in the same situation as yours) will have been transferred away from RF. Finally!

Much as I dislike ICANN’s slowness in this whole matter, I have to agree with their current course of action.

They can’t “just” allow us to transfer wherever we want on a per-domain basis, because in case of many domains, it cannot be easily established who the rightful owner is. Remember that RF has made it a habit to change people’s whois info to their own for no good reason.

It is thus quite reasonable that the domains be first transferred to an organization with resources capable of handling this mess domain-by-domain. Whether we like it or not, that’s GoDaddy.

IF you try and pay at RFly you’ll probably loose your money. As it is very close (within 3 months - I’m not an optomistic person anymore) you should wait for GoDaddy or whoever is allocated the contract. Later today (or next week) we should be told what happened in court today (25th May 2007) and maybe have a better idea of what is likely to happen soon.

I have moved out about 14 domains succesfully, had to pay Regfly so I could get to the auth codes because most had just expired.

Then I had to pay again at my new registrar to get them moved.
Fortunatelly the moving went smooth and pretty fast.

So please don’t make me loose or pay a third time for my succesfully moved out domains… Four of those domains show active in my Regfly account, fortunatelly Whois is showing my new registrar.

A couple of .info and .com domains would not renew, some locked error.. So these are still in my Regfly’s expired list. I hope we will be able to keep and renew such domains. I would need standard or lower prices and extra time to make that possible.

Sher,

Thank you! I will try it and let you know!

MY QUESTION TO

I

C

A

N

N

Is this:

I just had more names be moved over to Enom from Registerfly. This is the 5th time. The last time I just sent them the list of my names and they went through and managed to get 70+ out. They said that was it.

Last Friday, I got an email saying 8 more were found to be in my name and were being pushed into my account at Enom. NOW, these names are expired ones. They want $50.00 for 6 of them and $150.00 for the other 2.

When I called, they said I could either pay it, or they will be released.

They say they can not avoid these charges.

I say ICANN has the authority to make Enom let us renew our names at a reasonable price. Instead of letting Enom EXTORT this money out of us and make the situation worse.

My question is, why is ICANN allowing this to go on?

Simple question. Do you think you can answer it? (Thats 2 questions, I know)

I say ICANN has the authority to make Enom let us renew our names at a reasonable price.

Such a conclusion is easy to reach if one doesn’t care to read and understand the agreements reached in the first place. ICANN has no authority to dictate to registrars how much they “should” charge their customers for, and neither will the registrars appreciate them imposing such.

Would you like someone to impose their will on you, especially if it’s for something neither of you agreed to in the beginning?

Just like the pizza guy. Thank you. Thank you. This is great news.

Autoresponder Letters

Godaddy should not be considered as they have a serious security problem. Someone there stole one of our most valuable domains. We can’t figure out how they did it but godaddy is complicit in their failure to provide a simple verification email to us to confirm or deny the transfer. It was quite simple for the thief but not so easy to get it back. It will cost us thousands to get it back. Godaddy basically told us to go pound sand. To get this back we have to file a cease and desist letter through an attorney. Then after a predetermined period of time if the crook fails to comply then we have to file a formal action with ICANN or better put “ICANNT” and give them $1,500.00 to impanel a board of arbitrators!
Total bill with all legal fees could reach several thousand dollars.
I got hosed by godaddy and Bob Parsons didn’t even send me flowers.

This method of recovering stolen domains is counter-intuitive and needs to be transferred to the courts.

$1,500.00 to recover an obviously stolen domain is itself a crime. Simple cases should be handled like a simple case like small claims court in the U.S.

ICANN might as well just advertise “sorry we only protect the interests of large corporations and the wealthy”.

The 9-5 type of guy gets the shaft.

Light on facts? I have an entire paper trail between Godaddy and myself showing exactly what happened. The FACT is that ICANN is a useless organization that only stands in the way of protecting owners of domains. Your outlandish fees and lack of common sense practical solutions to problems like mine only highlights why your organization needs to be absorbed by a real organization actually interested in protecting the rights of those who expect some form of protection against theft of property. If you guys ran world war 2 the world would be speaking German.

And why would I pay to fly out there to participate in an organization that is no more powerful than a homeowner association?

You are completely useless and ineffective and should be disbanded to make way for a real and viable solution to domain theft!

Jack Durban,

Victim of domain theft and the ineptness of ICANN

The gentleman has a point. You are, as an organization, of little value and utility unless the complainant is a large corporation with deep pockets. The illegal theft of domains is a growing problem and icann is not equipped to deal with the issue. Your insensitive bureaucratic responses to inquiries is further evidence that icann is indifferent to this issue and should indeed be dismantled and replaced by regional authorities.

Your rather juvenile response is troubling.