Lame registration

[Jeff Makey]

As if it weren't bad enough that we have to deal with lame zone
delegations on a daily basis, we now have lame registrations.  In the
same manner that "lame delegation" refers to the situation in which
authority for a zone has been delegated to a DNS server that is not, in
fact, authoritative for the zone, I propose the term "lame registration"
for the situation in which the InterNIC has delegated the registration
of a domain to a registrar that does not seem to know anything about it.
Witness exhibit A:

  % whois -h whois.networksolutions.com tdn.org
  Domain not found locally, but Registry points back to local DB.
  Local whois DB must be out of date.

  Whois Server Version 1.1

  Domain names in the .com, .net, and .org domains can now be registered
  with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
  for detailed information.

     Domain Name: TDN.ORG
     Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
     Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
     Referral URL: www.networksolutions.com
     Name Server: DNS2.SDSC.EDU
     Name Server: DNS1.SDSC.EDU
     Updated Date: 05-apr-2000


  >>> Last update of whois database: Tue, 11 Apr 00 06:01:21 EDT <<<

  The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU domains and
  Registrars.

  The previous information has been obtained either directly from the
  registrant or a registrar of the domain name other than Network Solutions.
  Network Solutions, therefore, does not guarantee its accuracy or
  completeness.

The explanation for this particular case is probably that the domain
registration has expired, and somehow the InterNIC has failed to
remove the domain from the whois database.  It is gone from the root
nameservers, however.

It's a lame registration.  You heard it here first.

                             :: Jeff Makey
                                jeff at sdsc.edu

Department of Tautological Pleonasms and Superfluous Redundancies Department