RE: [registrars] WHOIS expiration date for Auto-renewed domains

[Christopher Kruk <kruk@domainpeople.com>]

This can get very confusing for Registrants who rely on the Registry supplied
whois information as the authoritative source of their domain expiration date
from sites like:

http://www.verisign-grs.com/
or
http://www.internic.com/whois.html

We certainly don't want to mislead Registrants into believing that all is well
with their domain and then, all of the sudden the domain is gone... or
worse, all their domains are gone.

One solution would be to try and explain to the Registrant that what they are
seeing on the whois may not necessarily be the real expiration date because
of this thing called autorenewal.

Another solution would be to do away with the autorenewal altogether and place
the domain on a Registry Hold status for the 45 day grace period. This 
would make
life much simpler for each of the 3 Rs.

I recall Verisign asking about the practicality of auto renewal last fall 
but have not heard
much on that lately.


Thanks & regards,
  -Chris Kruk
   DomainPeople.com


At 05:28 PM 1/27/03 -0800, Paul Stahura wrote:
>I agree. A more informative status expiration will
>increase renewals and decrease frustration and confusion.
>The registry knows that the name has not been paid for yet, correct?
>How about:
>
>"Expiration Date if name is renewed: 2004-01-01 (This name is pending
>deletion)"
>
>Paul
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Nezih Erkman [mailto:nezih@erkman.com]
>Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 3:15 PM
>To: VeriSign Global Registry Services
>Cc: Registrars Constituency
>Subject: [registrars] WHOIS expiration date for Auto-renewed domains
>
>
>In the new WHOIS format, verisign-grs shows the status and expiration date
>for the domains which we all like the feature. However,
>there is a little problem with Auto-renewed domains:
>
>When the domain is auto-renewed, the registry has the new expiration date
>and this one is shown on the registry WHOIS without any
>other indicator that we or the registrant can tell whether the domain will
>is expired or not.
>This creates a problem, because, the registrant thinks that the domain is
>renewed, and asks us to correct our records according to
>the parent company (the Registry). Or, they don't even contact us thinking
>that there is nothing to worry, then all of a sudden, the
>domain is deleted.
>
>PS: This is also problem for the registrar transfers. The gaining registrar
>will not know if the domain is Auto or Explicitly
>Renewed.
>
>Solution1:
>  Show the previous expiration date for the domains that are in the renewal
>grace period
>
>Solution2:
>  Show the auto-renewed date with an warning :
>ie: Expiration Date: 2004-01-01 (Temporary Expiration date)
>or
>PROJECTED Expiration Date: 2004-01-01
>
>Solution 3:
>  Show the auto-renewed date and use status field
>i.e. "status: AutoRenew Grace Period" or "status:Temporary Renew for 40
>days" or ."status: Pending for deletion" , etc.
>but NOT "status:AutoRenew", this would create more confusion.
>
>Best Regards,
>
>Nezih Jack Erkman
>R & K GBS, Inc.
>000Domains.com
>501-779-1934