An important message from Snapnames

[Acro]

Oversee won't be going bankcrupt. So far, they've taken steps to ensure that the number of complaints will be minimized.

Even with the cost of hiring a consulting firm, the resulting rebates are fairly accurate with regards to true financial losses: how much one ended up paying versus how much they'd have to pay had halvarez not been 2nd in the ending line. That's the true monetary loss. Oversee will write off the tally as a huge but manageable expense and in the process they will clean house.

There is a chance that they will overhaul the entire bidding software developed by Snapnames from the Nelson Brady stable of developers; by doing so they would ensure there are no backdoors and other malicious software that would jeopardize the course of auctions and which would endanger and further damage the Snapnames brand.

I am confident that in the process they will sue Brady for whatever amount they believe is fair in this case.

The more information Oversee can push out to us about this ordeal, the quicker it will die down. If they just trickle or unintentionally leak the information slowly, this bad press PR problem could stretch out for months.

I agree, and that's the reason that from day 1 I was adamant about Snapnames disclosing the full history data for auctions, going all the way back to the beginning of one's account. They will have to speed up even more, with regards to reassuring the domain industry that the damage is under control.

[Fearless]

a few more names worth checking out which may or may not be connected as i am connecting the dots......

Are you on a witch hunt? I'm sure those two guys don't appreciate their names showing up in this thread. Show the dots or shut up.

[demaxxus]

Are you on a witch hunt? I'm sure those two guys don't appreciate their names showing up in this thread. Show the dots or shut up.

Agreed. "Innocent until proven guilty" isn't always the way it goes, so I'm sure they would take issue with their names being linked to this fiasco if they had nothing to do with it.

[BILLBO]

The problem for Oversee goes much deeper than just a 'monetary loss' repayment. They have taken an immediate hit on registrations at Moniker (my guess), the number of domainers backordering at SnapNames will show through in the next few weeks as backorders are often placed well in advance, and then you have the highly likely investigations by different authorities. Often overlooked as a cost is the time and resources that a company has to spend in 'assisting' such investigations, and of course should authorities persue to court then the legal fees and possibly monetary penalties involved.

Few domainers look as if they wish to settle at what RUST has suggested, and IMHO they are right not to. However, it is a case that they have not been forthright with domainers, no Executives have offered a 100% final statement on behalf of either SnapNames or Oversee, this could be their undoing, for it indicates that they are either:

1. Unsure of the facts

or

2. Not willing to divulge certain facts

In either scenario they are losing confidence of domainers, their very lifeblood.

[Acro]

Obviously, everyone is entitled to pursuing their own course of action, depending on how they intend to battle it. There are people that consider their 4-figure rebate fair and others that believe a 6-figure rebate is not enough. However, a class-action lawsuit will only make rich a very specific group of lawyers and in the process it would most likely force Oversee / Snapnames to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If that happens, the case will be locked for months and years.

[mike031]

Are you on a witch hunt? I'm sure those two guys don't appreciate their names showing up in this thread. Show the dots or shut up.

you should read my previous post, in case you missed it... was kinda important

halvarez domains were hosted with TRICKJOHN.COM = ACTIVEIDEAS.COM

trick john has been a longtime customer of snapnames..... probably one of the first few actually, all the way back to 2002 if not 2001... so, nelson and him could of had a nice little friendship goin

and jason peterson, well... i've seen him around, and he is connected to activeideas.com as well as of late somehow.

now you connect the dots.......

[britishbulldog]

So what happens to all these domains ? i believe there is some dodgy shit still going on at snapnames.

For example,I have backordered a few domains lately which are registered with moniker and are in deleting status so are guaranteed to drop and guess what ?

They don't drop and are still registered and parked at moniker,can anybody explain this ?

[dvdrip]

They were renewed maybe?
I think everybody after what happened has become a bit paranoid. And they should be, but please don't go around blaming everybody about anything.

[fischermx]

Correct. And there's thousands of auctions where "halvarez" pumped the prices up - ending up as a 3rd or 4th etc - thus leading the chase as he knew what each bidder's reserve was.

Well, those are not my cases.
In some of my auctions the only other bidder was halvarez, so, for sure, those are auctions affected and I had to receive my rebate.

I already sent an email to snapnames support, with c.c. to rustconsulting, but they replied that if I didn't receive an email, I have to call rustconsulting
and I don't like that!!

[Acro]

Well, those are not my cases.
In some of my auctions the only other bidder was halvarez, so, for sure, those are auctions affected and I had to receive my rebate.

I already sent an email to snapnames support, with c.c. to rustconsulting, but they replied that if I didn't receive an email, I have to call rustconsulting
and I don't like that!!

If you and havarez were the only bidders but he did not bid up e.g. the opening price was left at $60 and you won the domain there is no refund, which makes sense.

If that's not the case, and you didn't receive a rebate email check the email account used as contact info for domains caught by Snapnames. That's where my rebate ended up at.

[ilovedomains]

They were renewed maybe?
I think everybody after what happened has become a bit paranoid. And they should be, but please don't go around blaming everybody about anything.

Me and my right wing tea party group investigated this, and when we connected the dots we figured out this was all Obamas fault!

[James]

For example,I have backordered a few domains lately which are registered with moniker and are in deleting status so are guaranteed to drop and guess what ?

They don't drop and are still registered and parked at moniker,can anybody explain this ?

http://www.moniker.com/help/dtc.jsp

6. DOMAIN RENEWAL, DELETION AND TRANSFER OF EXPIRED DOMAIN NAMES


You agree that we may, but are not obligated to, allow you to renew your domain name after its registration term has ended and its expiration date has passed. You agree that after the expiration date of your domain name registration and before it is deleted or renewed, we may direct your domain name to an IP address designated by us, including, without limitation, to an IP address which hosts a parking, under construction, or other temporary page that may include promotions and advertisements for, and links to, Moniker's Web site, Moniker product and service offerings, third-party Web sites, third-party product and service offerings, and/or Internet search engines and/or advertisements, and you agree that we may place our contact information in the WHOIS output for the expired domain name. Should you not renew your domain name prior to the expiration date or during any grace period, such grace period to be granted in our sole discretion, you agree that we may, in our sole discretion, renew and transfer the domain name to our control, or to a third party on your behalf (such a transaction is hereinafter referred to as a "Post Term Renewal and Transfer"), and your failure to renew the domain name in question shall constitute your consent to such a Post Term Renewal and Transfer. In the event we are able to identify such a third party and effectuate such a Post Term Renewal and Transfer, we may notify you via email after the transaction is completed.

BTW the last name registered at moniker I backordered through the big 3 and it was caught by pool.com

jim

[fischermx]

If you and havarez were the only bidders but he did not bid up e.g. the opening price was left at $60 and you won the domain there is no refund, which makes sense.

If that's not the case, and you didn't receive a rebate email check the email account used as contact info for domains caught by Snapnames. That's where my rebate ended up at.

Of course he did bid up!
I already did my own math and have it ready in an Excel spreadsheet.
I'll make a call tomorrow.

I guess being foreign might have caused some delay.

[TheLegendaryJP]

If you and havarez were the only bidders but he did not bid up e.g. the opening price was left at $60 and you won the domain there is no refund, which makes sense.

However he had a trick which allowed him to order first yet become second. So technically he should have won all those, while it didnt cost you anything extra it saved him from paying for what wasnt bid on again.

[Doc Com]

However he had a trick which allowed him to order first yet become second. So technically he should have won all those, while it didnt cost you anything extra it saved him from paying for what wasnt bid on again.

Exactly. I've noticed this as well and mentioned it earlier. Technically, the domain should have been pushed to auction. Somehow, it was not. This just goes to show how deep this problem is and how he was able to manipulate and influence an auction from the front side and the back end.

He had what appears to be total control over the system, able to enter into an auction and exit an auction at will at any point during the process. Plus, he would know precisely what anyone's proxy bid would have been.

Now, question is, could he have been manipulating start and stop time or, minimally, blocked bids so they would not appear to have made it within the final phase of bidding?

All of this stinks like rotted fish - or worse. Being able to bid based on known proxy bids of others.

Oh, wait a minute. The same thing happened with the .asia auction. The auctioneer won most of the premium words (if you want to call them that). Yet, the auctioneer claimed there was nothing wrong with the process, there was no conflict of interest, and the CEO of the .asia registry backed him on this.

Lets hope those people are not representing Nelson and Snap. Otherwise, y'all are screwed.

[Beachie]

Seems Nelson filed a very interesting patent application back in 2007.

SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO SELECTIVELY ACQUIRE A DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION DURING AN ADD GRACE PERIOD

Abstract
A method to selectively acquire a domain name registration comprises obtaining a registration for the domain name, and, during an add grace period, collecting traffic data regarding the domain name and determining whether to keep or cancel the domain name based on the collected traffic data. The registration of the domain name may be cancelled based on the collected traffic data falling below a threshold level. The domain name may be kept if the collected traffic data exceeds a threshold during the add grace period. Additionally, one or more domain names may be advertised together with the collected traffic data to receive a response from a third party expressing interest in the domain name.

Filed on: 2007-06-19; Filed by: Nelson Brady; Application Number: 11765061; Publication Number: 20070299967;

[Acro]

Priceless. Let me re-write the patent application:

A method to place shill bids in order to acquire a pole-position at a domain name auction; obtaining a registration for the domain name, and, during an add grace period, bidding up other unsuspecting bidders in order to inflate the final price of the auction based on collected traffic data. The domain name may be kept if the collected traffic data exceeds a threshold or returned via a refund to a secret account under the "halvarez" alias. Additionally, one or more domain names may be resold as portfolios to large corporate entities, such as iReit or private investors.

[DTalk]

Some folks seem to think that because Nelson Brady designed & controlled the auction platform at Snapnames, no one else could understand the system, that he, alone, controlled all info about all auctions etc - and, therefore, other top management were innocent of it all...


I've been the CEO of a MultiNational corporation....And, I have owned, and run, a successful business that advised large corporates on strategy.


...And, I'm here to tell the people that believe that, that a properly run organisation NEVER allows ONE person - no matter how senior, no matter how trusted - to have sole knowledge of vital operating systems, the design of them, and the operation of them - without effective oversight procedures to ensure against precisely the risk of misuse that we're seeing from Snapnames. NEVER.


Online auction systems - by their nature - are, perhaps, uniquely susceptible to the possibility of system-rigging. Any online auction system has red flag processes all over the place, if wrong-doing is afoot.....Its not rocket science....You DON'T allow the guy that designs the auction system to be the ONLY person that understands the system - and, at the same time, controls the system...!!


...Any decent top management group should make it their business to have in place independent audit processes - a separate group that understands, and monitors, the system, and, ensures that there are checks, balances, and double-checks, happening all the time - at every operational level - so that fraud cannot happen....Your organisation - its reputation - and, its very survival - depends upon it.....As Snapnames, and its management, are shortly about to find out.


They knew this. They didn't do it. And, the fact this didn't happen says to me that this fraud was systemic, and known, inside that organisation, from the top down.


It looks like a deliberate, management-wide, scam, imo - not saying it was, we don't know - but, if so, most probably designed to inflate the total value of Snapnames, for resale.

.

[Acro]

Chris, you probably worked for Utopia Inc.

But seriously, I've seen large corporations lacking basic security measures, like tiered access to company data. I've been with companies that openly discussed all strategies and didn't use VPN's. I've talked to CEO's that would be social-engineered by simply asking them the questions directly.

So I would not be surprised if a single person, able to be persuasive enough and smart enough to keep all the processes secret and to himself, abused the infinite amount of trust bestowed to him.

[DTalk]

Chris, you probably worked for Utopia Inc.

But seriously, I've seen large corporations lacking basic security measures, like tiered access to company data. I've been with companies that openly discussed all strategies and didn't use VPN's. I've talked to CEO's that would be social-engineered by simply asking them the questions directly.

So I would not be surprised if a single person, able to be persuasive enough and smart enough to keep all the processes secret and to himself, abused the infinite amount of trust bestowed to him.

Gawd, Acro...

Then...Lord preserve us from the follies of the fools and the idiots - and, place them beneath the bums of Orangutans, where they all belong...

.