Comments on: UltraRPM.com aka MetaPredict steals unregistered domain names

By: ketyung

ketyung — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 14:14:54 +0000

Ummm useful info, thanks man

By: Pocket SEO

Pocket SEO — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:54:17 +0000

Not sure of anything, but if you visit the link in my last post you can see a screenshot of the companies list that includes UltraRPM, Twitter, Digg, Revision3, and others. There is a link that will take you to the company page.

By: ketyung

ketyung — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:51:12 +0000

Hi Pocket SEO,

Are you sure they’re also backing digg?

By: Pocket SEO

Pocket SEO — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 13:30:34 +0000

I found out some information about the backers of UltraRPM:
http://pocketseo.com/domains/7#comment-785

It looks like one of their investors also backs Twitter, as well as Digg and Revision3.

By: Balasubramanian

Balasubramanian — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 01:19:29 +0000

Dear Guy,

I come across the same problem, and get insight by uninstalling my addon. In my computer I install megaupload addon, when I am searching any domain name in the navigation toolbar, when the domain exists, the searched web page will appear but the searched domain name does not exists, the result appears not my browser’s page but in megaclick web page(How this hijacking happens?). First I don’t mind, but when I am trying to re-search the domain name after few days, I was shocked it was registered, not one but many searched domains. This will make me doubt that, the searched but unregistered urls are mine and like me others also are taken to somebody’s database. Anybody who knows the truth can reveal it. But as a causious move I uninstall my addon from my computer and now the searched results are not hijcked, and the results are returned in my browser’s page.

By: aj

aj — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 02:29:40 +0000

Hey guys!
I thought a storm happened or something when i did a search about a domain name and when I came back to register it it was gone. I am still angry at this and I think that who ever does this should pay the price. And if the regulators don’t do anything we should do something about it . It’s not fair that people spy on us.
Is there any site safe to search a domain name on?

By: Sean Roberts

Sean Roberts — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:02:48 +0000

I just had the same experince with http://www.networksolutions.com after doing a search then going to a competitive registrar foudn that the domain was already registered, the internet is a dark place it seems with lots of idiots running around causing people to waste thier time, Internic what are you doing as the regulator, if you are not helping you are part of the problem.

By: Rob

Rob — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 17:59:51 +0000

John you are right, we shoudl stiimulate the metapredict bussiness as to break it and caue them problems, they are so full of it… its really casued me lots of problems costing me lots of time and effort….

We devloped a site and then came up with a name and then did a search on networksolutions what a mistake, they are false and it really irritates me. SCAMMERS!!!! This is like steling someones address…..

I want to hurt them!!

By: John Lee

John Lee — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:32:34 +0000

Would it not be worth doing loads of searches for domains we do not want, let Metapredict snap them up and then email them showing interest so that they keep them longer than the five days so that they have to pay. If we all did loads of searches this would tie up an awful lot of money with no hope of a return. Hit them where it hurts.
I had a look at Webhosting Info and it shows that in the period shown that no domains were renewed and nearly 250,000 were deleted in the same period. If this does not raise any eyebrows at Icann then what do they do ?

By: Norman

Norman — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:08:44 +0000

I got mine back. I’ve posted my experience here:
http://www.imagevertex.com/norman/?pg=4

All I did was do nothing at all. Contact them, and you make things worse.

By: those_assholes

those_assholes — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:09:20 +0000

They don’t pay to register (’taste’) domains, so trying to get them overloaded with bullshit domains won’t work. It’ll likely motivate them to expand their business.

Here’s what you do if they steal your domain:
* Never visit it, never tell anyone about it, remove all references to it. You want to make the domain inactive, which makes it unattractive to them.

* NEVER contact them. If they see that you want the domain, they’ll charge you a lot for it, obviously. That’s how their business works.

* Wait 5 FULL days before trying to register it again. Unless it’s getting enough hits to keep it, they will release it after the ‘taste’ test expires (exactly 5 days).

* They release 99% of domain names due to inactivity.. the 1% of people that contact them, or the few domains they get that make lots of money off clicks, keep them in business.

By: Norman

Norman — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:46:22 +0000

Thankfully, I found an alternative that was better than the one they stole. So they can sit tight realizing their plan didn’t work with me. But I wont be repeating this mistake again, however.

By: jb

jb — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:59:25 +0000

So sleazy! The internet age equivalent of high-pressure, door-to-door vacuum cleaner sales or the kind of sleazy real estate sales depicted in the film Glengarry GlenRoss. This has happened to me twice. My first domain was hijacked when I let it expire. Another name was registered by MetaDirect the same day I did a lookup. Amazingly, when I called my web hosting company, they tried to suggest that it WASN’T a case of domain ‘tasting’. The domain was hardly obvious, either. I suggest we all go to UltraRPM.com and spend 10 minutes entering a hundred of the most obscene domain names. Or give MetaDirect a call at (626) 796-1004 and flood the inbox

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:41:16 +0000

Thanks ketyung. I wish I saw this before. Thanks for the suggestions . Lets hope they release it soon for me. Mine is small online grocery site. Thats all

By: ketyung

ketyung — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:29:39 +0000

Hi Jason, my experience is I didn’t contact them at all, just remained silent. As the more you contact them the more they feel that you’re desperate to want the domain name. So, they’ll hold it longer and ask for much higher price! Since you’ve contacted them, I guess they won’t hold it for 5 days only. As they already know that someone eagerly wants it. If you can wait why not wait for a few weeks. Instead of using domain name search on the website of any registrar, u can try using “nslookup” command to check on Windows XP command prompt or Linux, such as nslookup -q=any domainnameiwant.com for several times. If the result keeps showing that the domain ain’t exist then the chance is they’ve released it, then proceed to register immediately without doing a search. (Note: During registration process it’ll also tell you if it’s available or not). Hope it helps!

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:17:25 +0000

@ketyung –
I wrote to them a couple of times asking them to release it. Does this mean I wont get my name back?

By: ketyung

ketyung — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 04:04:41 +0000

FYI, even renown registrar like Network Solutions is also doing the same dirty tactic. Network Solutions even worse, force you into buying the domain name in much higher price, you can read about this on my post about it here

By: Norman

Norman — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 03:05:02 +0000

Same things happened to me too. I was about to register my domain on the 9th but have found its been registered by them on the 8th. How do these guys find out whats goind to be registered? I had search for it a day before. Not sure which who is I used. I wrote to them and they replied saying they want US1000+ for it.

By: mm

mm — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:26:01 +0000

Same thing happened to me, I have searched for a good domain registrar, someone recommended godaddy.com and I’ve checked it via there.. yes the domain name was stole the day after.
I am not going to search anymore and hope that in a few days time MetaPredict will release the domain name by then.
Doug Soderstrom, are you sure your domain is gone?

By: Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D.

Doug Soderstrom, Ph.D. — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:30:08 +0000

Today I was in the process of registering my name (Doug Soderstrom) as a domain name when I happened to find out that http://www.dougsoderstrom.com has already been registered by UtraRPM Inc. DBA MetaPredict.com with MetaPredict as the registrant. So I began asking myself why would someone like UltraRPM/MetaPredict want to register my name as one of “their own domain names?” I am not saying that what has taken place is illegal, but such does raise questions in that of my own mind.