Registerfly.com -- Yikes!

[Jason]

I hope nobody here is experiencing problems due to this chaos   

http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/030707_RegisterFly_Web_Site_Goes_Offline.cfm

RegisterFly Web Site Goes Offline
March 7, 2007 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) -- Domain registrar RegisterFly (registerfly.com) went offline yesterday morning and remains unavailable, reports Netcraft (netcraft.com). The downtime follows weeks of problems with the registerfly.com site, with domain name owners saying they have been unable to manage or transfer their domains.

ICANN has asked a California court to order RegisterFly to turn over its database of domain data and compel an emergency audit of its books and records, and has called on the help of central domain registries to protect domain owners.

"Last Friday, ICANN convened a telephone conference among those needed to implement a plan that will help cease unintended deletions," ICANN said on its blog. "This will prevent names from being deleted from the registry and becoming available for re-registration by others."

The company descended into chaos last week in the midst of allegations that former RegisterFly president and CEO misused company funds. Thousands of customer domain names are in danger of being lost, with at least 75,000 customer domains expired as a direct result of the company's financial and management problems.

RegisterFly's parent company Unified Names has filed a lawsuit, blaming the operational problems on misuse of company funds by president and CEO Kevin Medina, who was fired by the company's board. Meanwhile, RegisterFly customers have complained to ICANN, saying that the group should have acted sooner.

[Mishenka]

  Wow! what a scary situation!

[Mark]

Holy crap!!! I'm sure glad I don't use them! That's crazy.

[Jason]

It keeps getting wilder!

http://www.thewhir.com/marketwatch/030907_Ex_Registerfly_CEO_Regains_Control.cfm

Ex Registerfly CEO Regains Control
March 9, 2007 -- (WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) --

The strange saga of embattled domain registrar Registerfly (registerfly.com) took another surprising turn this week when a US District Court Judge ruled on Thursday to hand control of the company back to ousted CEO Kevin Medina.

Medina had been CEO of Registerfly parent company Unifiednames before being fired by other board members February 12 among long term allegations of poor service, and more recent claims of claims of more serious breaches in service.

Over the last few weeks, Registerfly's service had been interrupted repeatedly, and domain names registered by customers were reportedly lost, as the companies principles struggled for control of the business. John Naruszewicz, who co-founded the company and succeeded Medina as CEO, accused medina of stealing money from the company. Medina denied the charges and accused Naruszewicz of using fraud to assume control of the company.

The judge's ruling declared stock certificates held by Naruszewicz to be null and void, and ruled that Medina owned the company.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers has reportedly taken steps to stop domain names registered by Registerfly customers from being lost. The group has asked several of the registrars controlling the majority of domain names to help ensure that the expiring domains remain with their registered owners.

Medina has less than a week to right the ship, as ICANN filed notice with Registerfly February 21 that the company had until March 14 to fix its operations or lose its accreditation as a registrar.

The company's specific breaches of contract, according to ICANN, include failing to provide ICANN with records of who owns accounts, failing to provide proof that it is paying the domain name registry operators for its customers' names and replacing customers' names with Medina's name.

Naruszewicz reportedly does not plan to appeal the decision. He says he expects the company to implode within a few days.

[Jason]

Update:  5/29/2007

It looks like RegisterFly's domains will be moved to GoDaddy.

http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2007/05/29/go_daddy_assumes_850000_registerfly_domains.html

pasting in full (unedited):

Go Daddy Assumes 850,000 RegisterFly Domains

Embattled registrar RegisterFly will transfer 850,000 domain names to GoDaddy.com, the world's largest domain registrar under an agreement brokered by ICANN, the parties announced today. The move will be welcome news to domain owners who have been unable to manage their names since RegisterFly collapsed into financial and management turmoil in February.

"We worked with ICANN to effect a migration of the RegisterFly domains to GoDaddy.com and help those customers left in limbo," said GoDaddy.com CEO and Founder Bob Parsons. "It's what many RegisterFly customers asked us to do. After they are moved over to GoDaddy.com, all RegisterFly customers will once again be able to manage and renew their domain names with confidence and will also enjoy the world-class support we provide all our customers. We expect the move to be completed over the next week."

"The RegisterFly situation has been extremely difficult -- first and foremost for registrants, as well as for the entire registry and registrar community," said Dr Paul Twomey, ICANN's President and CEO. "The GoDaddy.com agreement is the best possible solution for RegisterFly customers since it's a direct and automatic transfer to a competent and experienced customer service oriented organization."

Go Daddy says it now manages more than 20 million domain names, and more than 4 million customers using its domain name registration, Web site hosting, SSL certificates and related products.

RegisterFly's web site management system stopped working properly in February during a business dispute between company founder Kevin Medina and business partner John Naruzewicz, who claimed that he owned 50 percent of RegisterFly and said the company's board had fired Medina. At the direction of "new CEO" Naruzewicz, the company filed a lawsuit accusing Medina of mismanagement and misuse of company funds. Medina denied all charges, saying he remained the sole owner of RegisterFly. A Newark, N.J. court agreed, awarding sole control of the company to Medina.

The resolution of RegisterFly's ownership issues didn't resolve its operational problems. ICANN stripped RegisterFly of its accreditation, but had to resort to court action to force Medina to accept a transfer to another registrar. On Friday United States District Court Judge Manuel L. Real issued a permanent injunction against RegisterFly, clearing the way for today's transfer.