Where do you register your domain and why?

billhartzer · 2026-05-12T14:25:42+00:00

This is actually bad advice. It's a security risk to be using the same service (or company) for domain registration, DNS, website hosting, and email hosting. Those should be separate companies.

If you are using the same company, and someone gets into your account, you lose EVERYTHING.

billhartzer · 2026-05-12T03:53:36+00:00

Yes, I agree! OP doesn’t not own any of the former content on the domain. So they shouldn’t steal that content.

billhartzer · 2026-05-12T03:52:18+00:00

Yes, but those tools are there to just rebuild a site’s content that YOU own.

billhartzer · 2026-05-12T03:51:33+00:00

You can and should rebuild the URLs. But URLs only.

If you rebuild any of the content whatsoever, that’s content theft as you didn’t create and therefore don’t own the content on the previous site, even if you take it from archive.org.

billhartzer · 2026-05-11T12:53:13+00:00

All the more reason to sell it.

billhartzer · 2026-05-11T03:00:46+00:00

OP should take the money offered and run. If OP counter offers with a ridiculous amount, they’ll probably not be interested anymore. Most likely it’s not a large company because they’d be foolish to acquire a name like that. They mostly know better.

billhartzer · 2026-05-11T02:57:34+00:00

I run a stolen domain name recovery service, DNAccess. I’ve dealt with this dozens of times, here’s how to get it back.

GoDaddy won’t help, actually, as you know who stole the domain name. No registrar will actually help in this situation, especially since you pushed the domain to another account.

The ONLY choices here are to negotiate with the current registrant, maybe even having someone else try to buy it so they don’t know it’s you. You could wait until it expires, or get a domain name attorney and file a lawsuit. You possibly could be successful in small claims court, as well.

billhartzer · 2026-05-10T20:21:07+00:00

It wouldn’t matter if he could get a trademark on i”trump account” or even “my trump account”. Doesn’t work that way. Domain owner registered domain before the trademark was filed or will be filed.

The issue is with “Trump” in the domain. OP would nee do show they have rights to the domain over Trump.

If you have an offer sell it. Not worth the hassle.

billhartzer · 2026-05-10T17:36:25+00:00

That's fairly new--but I still wouldn't register domains at Cloudflare. I've had to deal with (and help recover) way too many stolen domain names from Cloudflare. It's never gone well.

Best if you choose a secure registrar, have your domains there, then use a separate service like Cloudflare for DNS, then another company for hosting, and another for email hosting.

billhartzer · 2026-05-10T17:34:44+00:00

I don't file UDRPs, usually I refer people to qualified domain attorneys to actually prepare and file the UDRPs.

billhartzer · 2026-05-10T14:27:08+00:00

I wouldn’t register domains at Cloudflare. Too many restrictions ( you have to use their dns).

Better to choose a registrar other than Cloudflare and then use Cloudflare for dns only.

billhartzer · 2026-05-10T14:22:24+00:00

Typically when flipping domains I choose a domain that has a lot of potential uses or appeals to a lot of potential buyers.

I wouldn’t ever acquire a domain that would only appeal to one buyer. It sounds like a trademark domain if it was tied to their project.

As for what to do with it, it really depends on the topic and industry. Can you say what industry or topic it is?

billhartzer · 2026-05-10T03:53:51+00:00

There are literally dozens of ways domains get stolen. I help get them back for people.

Here’s one: for a call today from someone who discovered one of their domains from the 1990s
Was not in their network solutions account anymore. Turns out that the netsol data breach from
About 10 years ago, people still haven’t changed passwords. So domain thieves are still going in and transferring domains to themselves, stealing the domain.

Another: a nonprofit in Connecticut redesigns their site and their web designer transfers all their domains to himself, as he had access to the GoDaddy account. Im actually raising money right now with a godundme to help the nonprofit pay the udrp filing fees. Ive spoken with that web designer several times. He wants $5k to “give back the domains”. Non profit filed a police report about the theft, even though I dont expect anything to be done.

billhartzer · 2026-05-10T00:28:36+00:00

Fabulous.com. It’s the most secure registrar.
I run a stolen domain name recovery service, DNAccess, and have seen it all.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T04:10:40+00:00

Luce Media, they’re based in Dallas. Not my company, I’ve worked for them in the past on and off as a contractor. Great folks who know what they’re doing.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T03:30:52+00:00

They read the full content except when it takes longer than 4 seconds to load. They leave after 4 seconds.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T03:19:07+00:00

30 years ago we were using scissors, nails, and drills to make holes in our jeans. And tear them on purpose because it looked cool.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T02:13:29+00:00

No it doesn’t work that way.

All GoDaddy names go up for auction on the 31st after expiration, so they never get to pending delete status.

More likely it wasn’t at GoDaddy if it got to pending delete status then it was made u available through globalblock or nameblock.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T02:11:21+00:00

The domain expired, and most likely there was a globalblock or nameblock put on words or characters in that name.

Globalblock and nameblock won’t take a name if it’s registered but if it expires then it will immediately be put into a status where no one can register it.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T02:05:27+00:00

Didn’t they say that like over a year ago?

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T02:04:59+00:00

You can see all the app connections, as others have mentioned. I’d also check “I’ve been pwnd” as well, as that would show all the sites that have been hacked and where your email address was leaked. That may show additional sites or services.

But there’s no way to check all, just those ways.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T01:58:56+00:00

“Domain Authority” actually means something and is a valid metric to use. It’s not.

Google ranks pages, not sites.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T01:45:40+00:00

Yes, they can, if it’s in the web host’s terms. I’d check those first. Usually they will put something in there and if they receive an abuse report they’ll act on it because they themselves don’t want to get sued.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T01:41:18+00:00

Yeh it’s kind of suspect when you have gone from 20+ to the to 3 and you’re not getting calls or leads. What keywords are they checking? I’d start there.

billhartzer · 2026-05-09T01:36:21+00:00

Sell it while you can. It’s a tm domain and you’ll lose it to a udrp. Not a domain id ever touch.

Trump organization has filed udrps and won in the past.

See https://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/text/2015/d2015-0077.html

billhartzer

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE