An important message from Snapnames

[CureCancer]

he was so high up the corporate ladder to be deemed "untouchable".

aka BARON

Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin (liber) baro meaning "(free) man, (free) warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman."

[Acro]

Ron Jackson wrote a great piece at DNJournal

[Mike Cruz]

Yankees win the world series!

[Acro]

Yankees win the world series!

Congrats - time for commercial break with Halvarez!

[Onward]

Recently, my accountant asked me for my purchase prices of my snap auctions and I gave them to her (I remember going through the bids and others biding on each auction as well...kind of nostalgic)...it was over the summer. Now I cannot see any of it.

I think we all knew this was going on, but just having it unfold now...and me thinking of the times I spent $550, $300, $900 etc.. instead of $59 - it just makes me sick

[Mike Cruz]

congrats - time for commercial break with halvarez!

lmfao!

[Acro]

Brendan, this guy Rob from Oversee claims the history was removed 2 years ago. This looks more and more like a full-fledged cover up by Snapnames - issuing rebates and removing all evidence that would challenge the amounts involved.

[Onward]

Brendan, this guy Rob from Oversee claims the history was removed 2 years ago. This looks more and more like a full-fledged cover up by Snapnames - issuing rebates and removing all evidence that would challenge the amounts involved.

That is bullsh*t I had that info this past summer.

[Acro]

I have no auction info right now. Zip, nada. Just the list of domains and the prices I paid for each, 49 total since 2005. I want to review each and every damn auction for halvarez.

And another thing: in 2005 I helped Snapnames patch a security hole and emailed Nelson Brady. Little did I know that asshole was picking my wallet at the same time.

[Onward]

You know...I remember one of the 1st "snap-backs" I ever had back when we could get them without an auction (the 1st couple years) I had the snap-back on closers.com in 2001 or 2002 - snap names claimed that they were not able to get the name. I remember calling snapnames when I did not get it...I think I spoke with Brady on the phone....he said someone else got it and they were not successful...I am wondering if that was true. According to domaintools history...NameAdministration got it. That is really strange. I never checked that until today.

[Acro]

I don't see how Oversee expects this incident not to balloon out of control. They hide auction history and expect us to take the word of a 3rd party forensics firm that works on their behalf. The wrapper is pretty, rebate and 5.22% interest - the inside is a maggot-infested piece of candy noone should eat. Waiting on the announcement of the class action lawsuit. Oversee needs to shape up or else.

[tonyk2000]

Oversee might also consider offering some good domains to affected customers... Why not? I beleive some customers would prefer receive real domains and not U.S. currency, or not only U.S. currency. Oversee has their own portfolio, and they also may obtain access to halvarez-owned domains (at least regged through Moniker etc).
(I am not speaking about halvarez-owned animalsexdb.com which, at the time of this writing, is parked at domainsponsor being hidden under Travel200.com feed)

Furthermore:
Four years ago, USD $1000 was about 846 Euros
Today, USD $1000 converts to just 673 Euros
Even with the "5.22% interest (the highest applicable federal rate during the affected time period)", customers doing billing in Euros LOST

[wishmeluck]

I don't see how Oversee expects this incident not to balloon out of control. They hide auction history and expect us to take the word of a 3rd party forensics firm that works on their behalf. The wrapper is pretty, rebate and 5.22% interest - the inside is a maggot-infested piece of candy noone should eat. Waiting on the announcement of the class action lawsuit. Oversee needs to shape up or else.

this is a very interesting story and we still don't know the details. i would expect collusion from multiple high ranking snapnames people beyond brady. brady might be the fall guy. but this is an enormously lucrative industry with zero regulation and the temptation for corruption is endless.

oversee must have done a cost/benefit analysis and figured they would come out ahead by announcing this.

what i am unclear at is why they came clean at all?

what forced the issue?

i can only imagine they believed that the impending scandal, potential lawsuits and expenses where somehow vastly cheaper for them.

many people are looking around in disbelief.

i cannot believe this is a snapnames only problem

aren't there other auction houses with have even LESS transparency, with un-named bidders the norm?

if you think the other houses aren't ROUTINELY employing these exact same strategies I have a bridge to sell you.

i hear you and i sympathize i hope to see change.

but i am unsure what change is required.

we all want more transparency, yet this means additional regulation and government involvement.

honestly i'm not sure who is the worse bed fellow.

govt protection generally flows towards those making the most money, so i would expect verisign or ICANN to somehow profit from this and a few smaller registrars take the fall.

[JuniperPark]

After reading how Kjel kept covering for "Halvarez" for years, and even refusing to look into some very specific allegations over the years, I have to wonder ---

Is Kjel going to jail along with Nelson?

It was just a few months ago pointed out (using Google street view) that "Halvarez" was using the address of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant as the registration address of his domains.... yet Kjel says he looked into it and it was legit.

[RMF]

You know...I remember one of the 1st "snap-backs" I ever had back when we could get them without an auction (the 1st couple years) I had the snap-back on closers.com in 2001 or 2002 - snap names claimed that they were not able to get the name. I remember calling snapnames when I did not get it...I think I spoke with Brady on the phone....he said someone else got it and they were not successful...I am wondering if that was true. According to domaintools history...NameAdministration got it. That is really strange. I never checked that until today.

Same thing happened to me on a few real nice domains way back when.. Something looked very odd when the domains were registered by registrars that were partners with snapnames, and I was the one who had the backorder in place... I got same excuse that someone else got it and they were not successful... Makes me wonder now more-so.

Also gotta wonder how many other accounts he had... or how many times he had 'secret dealings' with 'friends'..

[Stian]

Ron Jackson wrote a great piece at DNJournal

He's got some great mugshots of Brady as well.

[denny007]

I had many email exchanges with Nelson about Halvarez how the system works, now this is the last one from June 27th 2009, where Nelson was quite inconsistent, he started to make mistakes:
http://startseek.com/halvarez.html

[simon]

Bonkers was real...

he was a board member in another domainforum

[TheLegendaryJP]

I had many email exchanges with Nelson about Halvarez how the system works, now this is the last one from June 27th 2009, where Nelson was quite inconsistent, he started to make mistakes:
http://startseek.com/halvarez.html

Denny, there is old Czech saying...

When you go to buy, use your eyes not your ears.

You used yours eyes and changed to ears.

[katherine]

Hmmm there is still a lot to be uncovered but I smell a money laundering operation
Sad day for our industry.