[dns-operations] Safe public whois site/tool?

[Doug Barton]

Folks,

I know that there are a lot of public whois sites, and purveyors of 
domain name tools, but I also know that a non-trivial number of them are 
scams, to the extent that some of them will even register good names out 
from under you if you use them.

Is there a safe place for me to send folks to look up domain names? I'm 
particularly interested in a way for folks to determine if a name is 
registered, or available.

https://whois.domaintools.com looks promising, but I don't have direct 
experience with domaintools.com.

Doug