Then I went to godaddy.com and found I had been locked out. afer hunting around the net for a while, I found this blog and the advice above — thank you. I called NetSol who unlocked the domain, which I registered at godaddy immediately. I will never use Network Solutions again, and will be transferring my other domains from them as soon as I can. I will aslo be telling everyone I know to avoid using the company. It’s a scummy way to do business, and their justification of their actions is pathetic.

I made a point of complaining to the NetSol operator about this immoral and unethical practice. I also made a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and urge any person with similar experiences to do the same.

And just a though, what if a malicious programmer was able to cull from the domain registry database all those NSI domains marked “clientHold”, again meaning they were recently searched on NSI, I’m really not sure if that’s even possible to do but if it is no telling how much damage could be done to the domaining landscape.

While possibilities are always possible, the VeriSign COM/NET Registry will likely ensure that doesn’t happen, especially since they’re a publicly-trading company. The responsibilities of such are great, and the penalties for not doing their responsibilities are even greater.

My advice is find a domain name provider that does not use this tactic and get a guarantee from them that their whois look up and availability searchers are secure.

Some registrars like Go Daddy consistently guarantee their searches are secure and they don’t sell their queries. But that hasn’t stopped some people from “losing out” domain names they don’t register on the spot, nor has it stopped others from still believing they’re conspiring to cheat them out.

While people can believe Network Solutions is “holding your domain name hostage”, can someone kindly explain how when: a) Network Solutions has no obligations to users, and b) users don’t “own” domain names until they’re registered to them and paid for? Or do people just find that conveniently easier to believe, even though it has no factual or logical basis other than pure emotion?

The best “advice” is to be ready to register the domain name on the spot. No registrar or provider on earth can guarantee that the domain name you saw available will remain that way by the time you finally get around to it.

And yes, just don’t use Network Solutions for searching domain names if you don’t agree with their policies. It’ll make your lives a whole lot easier.

If this trend includes domains released from ‘Client Hold’ then you will go into to a landrush scenario for the domain if you decide not to register with NSI.

Ultimately the most sophisticated and fastest technology will register the domain. On this basis I imagine that domain tasters will secure the domain.

If you are lucky there will be limited or better still no traffic for the domain and you might be lucky to find the name dropped at a later date.

My advice is find a domain name provider that does not use this tactic and get a guarantee from them that their whois look up and availability searchers are secure.