Nominet, the .uk domain name registry, is taking action to prevent 'domain tasting', which will put a stop to the potential abuse of its automated registration service.

Domain tasting has been a growing issue for .com for over a year. It is the practice of registering domain names, assessing revenue generation potential and, if they create an insufficient return, deleting the domain names before the registry requests payment. From 8 August Nominet will put a limit on the number of registrations that can be deleted by registrars.

Nominet provides registrars with the facility to delete domain names registered in error before they have been invoiced. This allows, for example, domain names containing spelling mistakes to be deleted and then re-registered with the correct spelling. Domain names deleted in this way do not incur a registration fee.

To date there has been no limit on the number of domain names that can be deleted. However, it is clear that some registrars are now abusing this facility by domain tasting. This practice is a breach of Nominet's acceptable use policies and places unnecessary load on its systems, potentially jeopardising access for other users.

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www.nominet.net

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