Nominet have established an issue group to review domain name expiry policy while also launching two customer satisfaction surveys. The review will take into account issues relating to the expiry period, post expiry and the renewal of expired domain names more generally. To get discussion going there is an issue brief available to outline the focus of the group’s discussions. The issue group process is designed to allow stakeholders to continue to give us regular input as the issue group discussion progresses. The group brings together expertise and experience from within and outside the domain name industry with participants who will form the core of this issue group, chaired by Gordon Moir, a lawyer and former Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Task Force on Telecoms and ICT. The group’s first meeting will take place on 27 September 2011. For the customer satisfaction surveys, they are designed to measure the level of satisfaction with the support services that Nominet offers. These surveys are being carried out on Nominet’s behalf by an independent market research company called The Leadership Factor. The findings from both these surveys will be published once the research and analysis is completed. The member and registrar satisfaction survey will help Nominet measure service levels and identify areas for improvement through a short telephone research interview for members and registrars, who have recently used support services. The second survey is a registrant satisfaction survey for registrants who have used support services. For this survey an email will be sent inviting participation. The registrant satisfaction survey measures the level of satisfaction delivered by Nominet’s registrant support service. The survey results will be used to make further improvements to our systems and services. Previous years surveys are available here . To register your .UK domain name, check out Europe Registry here .

August 8, 2011 — Mike Zobitz, director of sales at SingleHop, started his presentation “In Your Customer’s Shoes: World-Class Hosting Sales Techniques” at HostingCon 2011 by asking the audience words they associate with sales. Words like commission and lies came up. Zobitz says that a lot of times sales people are equated with liars, but he says effective sales techniques involve the “brutal truth.”

Domain name theft is a significant problem claims Morgan Linton, with thousands of domain names stolen each year – some belonging to hobbyists, others to business while others can be premium domain names. In an announcement announcing the establishment of DomainTheft.org , Domain Investor Morgan Linton says that unfortunately law enforcement agencies do not have a procedure in place to track the theft and generally nothing is done. Most domain registrars and marketplaces try to stay-out of these situations as well and assume zero responsibility for the loss, even if the customer put their life-savings into the domain. There is no domain name police, theft database, or recovery agents, until now. Linton’s company plans to make a major impact in the domain security and theft prevention space. DomainTheft.org is a centralised database of stolen domains all verified by a proprietary algorithm called DTVS or the Domain Theft Verification System. DTVS does an initial check to ensure that the theft being committed is valid and then sends it along to a member of DomainTheft.org’s task force for investigation. “People have been buying and selling domain names for over 15 years, and thieves have been stealing domains for the same amount of time,” says Linton who runs a popular blog that attracts Domain Investors from all over the world. The service will work through domain owners paying a small monthly fee to list their stolen domains in the system and the database is available to every major domain name sales platform and marketplaces like eBay and Flippa. “If every marketplace checks our database before listing a domain for sale it will not only dramatically reduce the number of stolen domains, but also improve the chance of recovery,” says Linton who is pioneering the space as the founder of the first Domain Theft Database available online. “Along with listing domain names in our database we have dedicated recovery agents that will work with registrars and law enforcement agencies to recover stolen domains.” The amazing thing about DomainTheft.org’s recovery service is the price – there is none. “The cost of this service is entirely up to the customer. At the end of the day we want to make the domain world a better place and financial gain is not our primary focus.” The service start-up coincides with the decision last week of the first case where a domain thief was criminally prosecuted in the United States. Daniel Goncalves was sentenced to five years in prison after stealing P2P.com from domain investor Mark Ostrofsky and attempting to sell it to retired NBA star Mark Madsen. In cases like these it can take high-powered lawyers and big bucks to recover a domain. “Our goal is big and the challenge is even bigger, but we think that we can make a huge impact in the Domain Name Security space. Just think, if everyone checks our database before they buy a domain name, it will be almost impossible for thieves to sell domains.” Linton feels strongly that by making it harder to sell stolen domains, thieves will become less inclined to even attempt a theft. “Some people want to make the physical world a better place, I want to make the virtual world a better place and DomainTheft.org will do exactly that.”

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) –- Web hosting provider Dotster ( www.dotster.com ) announced last week it has launched website creator Instant Website ( www.dotster.com/hosting/instant-website.php ), which allows customers to build a one-page website that can be assigned to a domain name in just minutes. The product appears to be aimed at those users who have zero or limited website development knowledge, as it simplifies the sometimes lengthy process of buying a domain name and creating a website

(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) –- Web hosting provider Dotster ( www.dotster.com ) announced last week it has launched website creator Instant Website ( www.dotster.com/hosting/instant-website.php ), which allows customers to build a one-page website that can be assigned to a domain name in just minutes. The product appears to be aimed at those users who have zero or limited website development knowledge, as it simplifies the sometimes lengthy process of buying a domain name and creating a website. “Instant Website is a great tool for small business websites or personal portfolios and resumes,” says Dotster CEO Clint Page.

Web Hosting Company Provides Hosting to GTP Solutions Ltd Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) April 25, 2011 ORCS Web Inc., a managed hosting provider specializing in Microsoft Windows solutions, has announced that GTP Solutions Ltd, a leading provider of account cards and prepaid cards, has completed the migration of their server hosting solution to OrcsWeb. Contis Group Ltd, the parent company of GTP, determined that moving the hosting from an in-house solution to a managed hosting provider would be the best option in planning for and meeting their long range business requirements

Regardless of your feelings about GoDaddy’s moral standing , its service is frustrating and restrictive. If you’re sick of paying for crappy hosting and want to jump ship, here’s how to leave GoDaddy behind for one of many better web hosts on the net. A Personal Note: Why GoDaddy Sucks A lot of people feel they shouldn’t support GoDaddy because GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons shot an elephant