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

[Phil Pennock]

On 2019-03-05 at 17:50 -0800, Doug Barton wrote:
> 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.

I know the people behind domainr.com; they're good honest folks who try
to do the right thing.  ObDisclosure: I've done consultancy work for
them.

<https://domainr.com/about> explicitly asserts that they don't front-run.

They've their website, but also apps for iOS, Android, Slack
integration, etc.

They've become my default choice for exploring domain names and seeing
what's taken.

-Phil