Crisis at Registrar RegisterFly: company in disarray, 2 million domains at risk

[jezebel]

RegisterFlies last night

What about the Customers?

There's a lot of monetary damages caused by ICANN not acting sooner.  Many of your losses could have been avoided if there were checks-and-balances placed on both ICANN and Registrars.  Currently we have a deadbeat ICANN now trying to save face while ENOM is parking your domain names they had control over and trying to extort more money from the users of Registerfly who have already paid.  Then we have GoDaddy waiting for the opportunity to work with ICANN to handle the names of the dying Registerfly.  Then of course we have the cybersquatters snapping up these domain names that were lost by Registerfly's failure to renew or transfer expiring domain names.

Folks, it's a mess.  This entire industry needs to be turned upside down and shaken out.  Registerfly was a problem registrar for a long time and everyone involved was fully aware of this and none of them stepped up to protect your rights during this.  All of the sudden when this site starts getting the attention and we finally are being heard around the world, now they want to come in and act like white knights trying to save your names.

There's a class action in the works:

CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

I know we've been talking about this for quite some time.  The problem is that a Federal Class takes a lot of money and Registerfly will more than likely have no money to pay for a judgment in such a suit.  The expenses are very large in such a suit and usually the only one who makes money are the attorneys.  In this case, due to that actions of ICANN, Registerfly and ENOM I think there's a class action where all three should be named and I'm in the process of gathering evidence for a large firm that is interested in doing this.  This is going to be a long and complicated process of gathering information so as we move along in this, we ask that you keep your evidence and a tally of your losses which include any monies paid to ENOM above and beyond what you already paid to renew.

the rest of the announcement http://www.registerflies.com/registerfli...ement.html

[jezebel]

Instructions from the Poker Rouge Blog on how to get an auth code and transfer out of  RegisterFly

You may have noticed that this post may differ a little from our usual topics of poker and online gambling. The reason for this is that we were also affected by the soon to be extinct RegisterFly.com.

… However we have found and an emergency solution …

This solution exploits the loophole in their system and gets you your authorization codes quickly. This will work on all domains that have used the ProtectFly feature and the Domain-Lock feature and up until now have not been able to get the codes they need to transfer their domains to another registrar...

instructions here: http://pokerrouge.com/blog/other/registe...nic-sinks/

[BellisimaJ.]

Jez------your karma is no longer a negative!!!!!  :turkey1: :turkey1: :turkey1:

[regic]

ICANN today issued a formal notice of termination of RegisterFly.com's Registration Accreditation Agreement (RAA).

ICANN has issued a letter to RegisterFly indicating that it will cease operating as an ICANN-Accredited Registrar on March 31, 2007. Under the terms of the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA), ICANN must provide 15 days written notice to RegisterFly of its intention to terminate.

Effective immediately ICANN has terminated RegisterFly's right to use the ICANN Accredited Registrar logo on its website.

Between now and 31 March RegisterFly is required to unlock and provide all necessary Authinfo codes to allow domain name transfers to occur. Any and all registrants wishing to transfer away from RegisterFly during this period should be allowed to do so efficiently and expeditiously.

"Terminating accreditation is the strongest measure ICANN is able to take against RegisterFly under its powers," Dr. Paul Twomey, President and CEO of ICANN said today.

"ICANN has been frustrated and distressed by recent management confusion inside RegisterFly," Dr. Twomey, President said. "I completely understand the greater frustration and enormous difficulty that this has created for registrants."

When the Agreement is terminated, ICANN can approve a bulk transfer of all current RegisterFly domain names to another ICANN accredited Registrar.

"Of course, RegisterFly does not have to wait till then. They can request ICANN to approve a bulk transfer immediately. I call on RegisterFly to act in the interests of registrants and seek such a transfer from us straight away," Dr. Twomey said.

ICANN intends to hold a forum to discuss the reform of the Accreditation policy and process at its Lisbon meeting in a week's time*.

A set of questions and points to inform the discussion will be made public prior to the Lisbon meeting.

* The Lisbon meeting is one of three meetings held a year by ICANN to meet with global stakeholders. It will take place from 26-30 March 2007.

http://www.icann.org/announcements/annou...6mar07.htm

copy of ICANN's letter to RegisterFly [PDF, 902K] http://www.icann.org/correspondence/jeff...6mar07.pdf

[mandy]

Good article on the continuing RegisterFly debacle:

Whilst most focus has been on the failure of the company's support systems, allegations of fraud and corruption were flowing freely Friday, not only from the principals involved, but from ICANN.

Meantime the control of RegisterFly.com, seized by Naruszewicz on Tuesday, was back in the hands of Medina late Friday. Both parties are accusing the other of hijacking the company's Web site and administration, which has been effectively dysfunctional for weeks. Medina has also replicated the current site at www.registerfly-inc.com so if he loses control again, or the original site is brought down, he can continue to trade on.

Whilst existing customers are up in arms over the loss of control of their intellectual property, and their inability to obtain redress, RegisterFly remains open for business, offering its services to new, unsuspecting customers. Despite its registration, renewal, and transfer systems all being dysfunctional, RegisterFly continues to take payments for orders it cannot fulfill...

full article: http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=230159

[regic]

RegisterFly remains open for business, offering its services to new, unsuspecting customers. Despite its registration, renewal, and transfer systems all being dysfunctional, RegisterFly continues to take payments for orders it cannot fulfill...

No announcements on the site and they're still advertising "ICANN Accredited"  :

[accentnepal]

Whilst the feces is impacting the rotary device    :chitfan:  , and whilst all the chickens are running madly about the barnyard    :whitebird:    :whitebird:, and whilst you wonder where the English get all these strange words....

I have found how to get the EPP code for domains still held in Registerfly's sway.   

I do not have within my keen if the domains may be, indeed, released by this ploy      , yet it hearkens me to tell the tale, whilst the fly is still open    heep5:  :

log in
click the name of the domain you want to transfer
just below the big heading of the domain name see: Domain Status - if it says "locked" click the word "locked".
Check the box that says unlock, click update.
Go back and do the same for protectfly and Auto renew (set to off)
Go back to the main page for that domain.

Here is where it is tricky. Just below the protectfly line is a blue bar that says Domain Contact Information. Click the little + on the right of the bar. It will either give you a black button saying configure, (click that) or it will give you the Admin, billing addresses and etc. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and there is a black button marked configure. Click that. Once you click configure you get another page of the addresses. Scroll down and you will find the Authorization code at the bottom on the left. Copy /paste that and provide it to your new registrar when they ask for it.

Thanks to Namepros for the info.    :action033:

Since the only thing that really can free our names is magic, I have brought in the good doctor and his staff:

                            :jcow:  :jcow:  :jgong:  :jcow:  :jcow:


*

[jezebel]

Escape Instructions "Flee with Glee" http://www.dyndns.com/images/pdf/fleewithglee.pdf

Registerfly Failure Video - Global Warning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsrvUqj6cdU

[bargainbloodhound]

BusinessWeek:

Still, the organization sees the RegisterFly mess as a call to action. Paul Twomey, ICANN's chief executive, plans on proposing reforms at a meeting of ICANN's board and interested parties in Lisbon during the week of Mar. 26. For one thing, he would like ICANN to have more say over the activities of companies downstream from the registrars, known as resellers, who also sell domain names. RegisterFly was a reseller until it became a registrar in its own right last year. Twomey also favors establishing a training-certification regime for registrars. These would be the first significant reforms for ICANN since it was established in 1998.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/con...technology+

When the Agreement is terminated, ICANN can approve a bulk transfer of all current RegisterFly domain names to another ICANN accredited Registrar.

GoDaddy seems to be ICANN's choice to take over the names...I'd be shocked if ICANN didn't transfer the names to GoDaddy.

[accentnepal]

That witch doctor has some really good JuJu..........

My Names are FREE  FREE  FREE!!!!!

It took two days, then I got emails from Registerfly for each name, click the link in the email (after being sure it is really from the fly) copy yet another code and...

The fly trap is sprung!!!