Unfortunately we have no way of knowing just how many registered domain
names don't resolve. But what's the difference between domains that don't
resolve and those that do resolve to a generic parking page? Neither one
does anything useful, and neither one can be registered by someone who wants
it. (I'm not condemning either, you pay your registration fee and use or
don't use your domain as you see fit.) In addition, hundreds of thousands
of domain names which ARE in the zone files don't resolve - just because you
choose name servers when you register your domain doesn't mean those servers
are ever configured to service it.
I think the practice of putting expired domain names on hold (removing them
from the zone file) serves a very useful purpose - it's a wake-up call to
let the owner know the domain is expired and in danger of being deleted.
It's hard to ignore, at least if the domain is being actively used for
something.
What I find much more irritating is the large number of long-expired
(according to the whois record) domain names which continue to be active.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Opensrs-Discuss" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2001 5:42 PM
Subject: RE: Re[2]: zonefile count
> >
> >
> > It isn't that I'd mind sharing the information, but since zone file
stats
> > are worthless for figuring out how many domain names are
>
> but rather how many are actually resolveable. If they aren't in the zone
> file they aren't resolveable. If they aren't resolveable, they aren't
> currently useable, regardless of what other status they may have or not
> have. Any other 'status' would indicate that they aren't "fully"
registered.
> Expired, on hold, in progress, whatever. It's like being a little bit
> pregnant. If you are resolveable you're registered - if your not
> resolveable, you're not (correctly/fully) registered I'd have thought
>
> Some of these companys may be holding names, and not "releasing" them from
> the whois servers and so on - but a registered domain name shouldn't be
> missing from the zone file. If it is missing - it's not registered. At
least
> it shouldn't be, and I suspect that this is the beef. This business of
> holding names up for auction amounts to cyber squatting. If they aren't
> registered, and have truly passed any expiry date, then they should be
> released. If they aren't released, then they should be registered and put
> back into the zone files as well as the whois and be resolvable.
>
>
> 2cw
> Bob
>
>
> > registered I don't
> > feel I could provide any kind of accurate or useful data. I would be
> > skeptical of any registration figures that don't come directly from the
> > registry (maybe even then!).
> >
> > If a new domain name shows up in the zone file, it may be a new
> > registration, or it may be a renewal of an expired name, or a release
from
> > hold for some other reason, or someone added name servers to a domain
that
> > had none. I'm not interested in running the new names against the whois
> > servers to find out, and I would have no way to account for domain names
> > that are still registered but have been missing from the zone
> > files for ten
> > years, or which expired ten years ago but haven't been released.
> >
> >
