The new gTLD extension .GOP was suppose to go live today July 7th for general availability but as far as I can tell you can’t register one.
The Dot GOP registry proudly announced in the Wall Street Journal back on April 23, 2014, that there go live date would be July 7, 2014.
Landrush applications were being taken as late as Friday night on Join.GOP.
I actually submitted A Total of 14 Landrush applications at $100 per domain name.
The Landrush domain name applications seemed to go through and got receipts and was billed for the domain names.
Today was the day where you were suppose to be able to go and register a .GOP domain name for $20.16 on a first come, first served basis.
.GOP like all new gTLD’s, were required and held a Sunrise period.
The Sunrise period ended on June 30th, 2014 and the Landrush period ran for just for a few days after.
Since Saturday July 5th, the Join.GOP site has either had a “down for maintenance page” or a “password protected page” which is currently has,
I have been checking the DotGOP Twitter Feed but nothing has been updated today regarding the launch. The last update on the launch was on July 1st when it said only “6 days until GOP launch.”
I can’t find anywhere what time the registry is suppose to be opened for business but typically new gTLD’s registry’s have opened for business either at 10am, 11am or noon EST.
As of publication its after 2PM neither the DotGOP site, Join.GOP or MindsandMachines.com is taking registrations.
MindsandMachines.com has a live chat box but no one has been on it all day.
The DotGOP site simply has the message “Get your .gop domain today! Make history with the first political domain.” but again is silent on where to register one or where you can go to “Make History”
I reached out to both representative of the DotGOP registry and MindsandMachines.com but no one has responded.
Even more curious the Zone file for .GOP is basically empty.
Typically after the conclusion of Sunrise period of a new gTLD, the Zone file will reflect any domain names taken in Sunrise and often also contains the up to 100 domain names the registry is entitled to use to promote the registry.
Now that Landrush is concluded it would not be unusual to see the domains taken in Landrush also show up in the Zone file.
However I just pulled the Zone file and these are the ONLY domains contained in it:
nic.gop
a.ns.nic.gop
b.ns.nic.gop
That’s it.
We will update the story if and when we get any updates.
The whois for MindsandMachines.com does not reflect any records including for domain names I applied for in Landrush.
All of the domains that were available to be registered in Landrush which I paid for seem to be registered at Tucows, not to me but to:
Minds and Machines Limited (Ireland)
Here is one of the whois records for one of the 14 domain names I applied for in Landrush, ThePresident.GOP.
Needless to say if I don’t wind up with any of these domain names, unless they go to a Landrush auction of which I’m a participant in, I will not be a happy camper.
Registry Domain ID: 58423-Minds
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.mindsandmachines.com
Updated Date: 2014-07-07 13:40:48
Creation Date: 2014-07-06 22:35:38
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-07-06 22:35:38
Registrar: Minds and Machines Limited (Ireland)
Registrar IANA ID: 1416
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.4165350123
Reseller: Minds + Machines Registrar
Reseller: [email protected]
Reseller: +1.3104521491
Domain Status: ok
Registrant Name: Minds and Machines Limited (Ireland)
Registrant Organization: Minds and Machines Limited (Ireland)
Registrant Street: 32 Nassau Street
Registrant City: Dublin
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code: Dublin 2
Registrant Country: IE
Registrant Email: [email protected]
Admin Name: Minds and Machines Limited (Ireland)
Admin Organization: Minds and Machines Limited (Ireland)
Admin Street: 32 Nassau Street
Admin City: Dublin
Admin State/Province:
Admin Postal Code: Dublin 2
Admin Country: IE
Admin Email: [email protected]
Tech Name: Minds and Machines Limited (Ireland)
Tech Organization: Minds and Machines Limited (Ireland)
Tech Street: 32 Nassau Street
Tech City: Dublin
Tech Postal Code: Dublin 2
Tech Country: IE
Tech Email: [email protected]
Registration Service Provider:
Minds + Machines Registrar, [email protected]
