DomainTools Blog

Elliot Silver, domain industry veteran, posted an good article yesterday about a notice of infringement that was sent to a domain registrant but not a domain owner – read the full article here. He brought up a good point about keeping Whois records accurate and a problems that can arise as a result.

DomainTools receives support tickets from customers with concerns similar to Elliot’s where the email address is accurate and they received a “Notice of Infringement” notification. Alternatively, we’ve noticed opposite situations happen to us where all the Whois business information is accurate but the contact email goes to a typo’d address. Either way, it is inaccurate Whois information and against ICANN policy as a domain owner.

We explain to customers that the proper  process for resolution is to submit an ICANN Whois complaint. You can do this through InterNIC, ICANN’s website for the public. To do this, visit the ICANN Whois Data Report Problem webpage here. As a result of the complaint, the domain owner is forced to provide accurate contact information if the individual wishes to keep the domain. If the domain owner provides that inaccurate contact information, you may use it to file a police report for fraud, serve him or her with a law suit, or take action using some other legal strategy. If the individual does not respond due to fear of reprisal, ICANN may disable the domain name.

Tip: Before reporting inaccurate Whois information to the ICANN Whois Data Report Problem web page, be sure to double-check that the domain name indeed appears to be inaccurate by doing a lookup at the registrar on the Whois record or use DomainTools’ Whois.

ICANN requires registrars to offer domain registrants the ability to update their contact details. Each registrar has slightly different procedures for changing the information that appears on a Whois record. It generally involves accessing account information via the registrar’s website, or contacting a call center representative. Whois record changes may take a period of time (often in the vicinity of 24 hours) to take effect. After submitting your complaint, we suggest that you verify that action has been taken with updated information by checking the domain’s Whois record, of course allowing sufficient time in the complaint process for record changes to go into effect.

We’ve heard some recent feedback about how helpful it is that DomainTools offers a Screenshot History tool. With that in mind, we wanted to spread the word about what it is, where to find it, and why it’s beneficial, in case you haven’t taken advantage of this great tool yet!

Best of all, Screenshot History is free for all users.

Here is a quick run-down on everything you need to know about Screenshot History and why it’s helpful:

What  is DomainTools Screenshot History?

The Screenshot History tool, started in 2006, is used to showcase screenshot images, collected over time, of a specific domain’s home page. The tool displays images labeled by the date the screen shot was recorded.

When you leverage DomainTools’ Whois and enter a domain name, you will see the domain’s most recent home page screenshot to the right of the Whois record. Under the screenshot image, you can even click ‘Queue for Screenshot for Update‘ (see below) to request screenshot updates!

How Do I Access Screenshot History?

To view screenshot history for a specific domain:

1. Sign into your DomainTools account.
2. Navigate to Screenshot History from the ‘Research’ tab.
3. Enter the domain name (including extension) into the Domain search field.
4. Click Search. All available historical images of the domain name appear on the page.

Tip: To view an enlarged image of a specific screenshot, simply click on the screenshot image. A larger image of the screenshot appears in a pop-up on the screen.

In Conjunction with Screenshot History, What Other Website Details Can I View?

Under the Screenshot History, you will see a ‘Site Profile’ section. You’ll find valuable website information such as Domain Status, DMOZ details, number of links and images, IP Address data, breakdown of visitors by country and city, Alexa trend/rank, plus much more. Many webmasters use this information for a quick statistical site review. It is also available on a Whois page under the same title tab. Here is a sample of what you will find under ‘Site Profile’, using nasa.gov as an example:

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To access DomainTools  Screenshot History, visit here.

ICANNWiki does a mural for each meeting.  Here is the one for the San Francisco meeting this week. There’s one particular logo in the background that immediately caught our attention! Happy Friday.

Whois DomainTools?

With a relaunched domaintools.com just a few weeks ago, we thought it was a great opportunity to update our DomainTools ‘About Us’ pages of our website. Our goal is to better communicate who DomainTools is as a company, and provide you with engaging ways to connect with us and learn how to join our team here in Seattle.

This went live last Friday and we wanted to point out what’s new on each of these pages:

• About Us: Here you’ll learn about who we are, what our mission statement is, along with fun facts about our employees (you’ll get a great sense of our personalities and the culture we have built here at DomainTools!). We also have a few photos of the office thrown into the mix and a link to more company photos.
• Connect with Us: We love to hear from you. You’ll find out ways to reach us via email, phone and see a listing of events and conferences we’ll be attending so you’ll know where to find us. You’ll also see a complete listing of various social media channels (yes, we’re actively online with open ears!)
• Join Our Team: For those of you in Seattle, we can let you know about opportunities to join our dynamic DomainTools team . In fact, we have a few open positions now! Check them out here. On this page, we also provide more details on what a day-in-the-life at DomainTools is like, along with more candid office photos!

We hope that you find these pages helpful! Let us know what you think by commenting on this blog, or via Twitter & Facebook.

One of the perks of living in Seattle is the proximity to Whistler, B.C. Canada is only a few hours away (you may recall that the 2010 Winter Olympics was held at Whistler). We couldn’t resist getting together for a snowy weekend at one of the top destinations in North America.

Group photo after a huge feast at the BrewHouse in Whistler village.

After a few hours on a group bus, we arrived at Whistler and immediately lined up some fun group

activities including skiing, snow shoeing at Lost Lake and Ziplining through old growth trees.

Ziplining was one of the highlights of the trip…be sure to check out the video below.

See Emily zipling through amazing old growth trees.

We are starting to add more DomainTools videos to our YouTube channel, so don’t forget to subscribe!

Snowshoeing around Lost Lake. The snow was falling through the trees and the view around the lake was amazing.

Some down time away from the snow and staying warm …which added up to playing a few Wii games  (Jeopardy was the game of choice) and eating some pizza.

It was an incredibly fun trip! Be sure to view ALL of our Whistler pictures (and all other DomainTools memories)  on our Facebook page.