MSN/WLM blocks .info TLD

Posted in Website Content » Best Practices - Saturday 28th July 2007 at 5:49PM

Will
Administrator

Joined October 2005
Posts: 129

[QUOTE] Mess.be said:

Every year I alert Messers to the dangers of self-proclaimed "block checkers", but still many and even advanced computerists fall victim to phishing efforts disguised as fairytales. Really, block checkers are as trustworthy as a bedridden grandmother with hairy ears and pointy teeth.

A lot of these deceptive sites appear to be hosted on the once-free, now low-priced .info top-level domain using names such as newmsnlive, msnforyou, messengerweb, msnblog, etc. And because these URLs are unknowingly being spread by victims as instant messages to their online contacts (eg. "Snif, get surprise at http://www.***.info/ Unbelievable!"), Microsoft has made the drastic decision to block all messages containing ".info". Filtering messages containing ".pif" or ".scr" is one thing, but this overprotective move prevents us from sharing links to perfectly safe sites (and I know a lot of you have registered .info domains for personal use). I agree that phishing should be fought back as much as possible, but this is just absurd! And they could at least make the server return an alert that the sent message has been blocked and hasn't reached its destination.

Do you reckon this will devalue the .info domain any further? As well as Google's algorithms being changed to reflect the common use of .info domain extensions for spam and scam sites, this definitely marks another nail in the coffin for the .info domain.

__________________________________
Will Morgan
Freelance Web Developer
Next feature: How to fit 25 hours into a day!

Poll: Do you think MSN's actions will devalue the .info domain extension further?

Replies (10)

Replied - Saturday 28th July 2007 at 5:55PM [Post Link]
Brad Member Joined April 2007 Posts: 85	Sure it will. I mean, if you can't share links to the domain everywhere you want, why would you buy it? I know I won't be. __________________________________ Brad Purchase Programmer, Designer, and Apple Tart.

Replied - Saturday 28th July 2007 at 6:02PM [Post Link]
Ed Member Joined July 2007 Posts: 14	This is Microsoft... the only harm this is going to have is to do is discredit their client and reputation even more so. First they block any urls with 'download.php'; now this. But how many serious .info domains are there, pretty ridiculous TLD in my opinion, how many webpage are 'informative' and are not using '.info'. These sort of moves will only encourage the spammers / phishers to migrate to other TLD's. So this is hardly a preventive tactic. __________________________________

Replied - Saturday 28th July 2007 at 6:10PM [Post Link]
peacetwo Member Joined July 2007 Posts: 10	I personally have never liked .info I would use for a copyright page or something I dunno. But they do not seem to give the site a positive image. It makes the owner come across as one of the two things, 1) a cheap scate and 2) a lil bit dodgy. Lol! __________________________________ Peacetwo

Replied - Saturday 28th July 2007 at 6:11PM [Post Link]
Brad Member Joined April 2007 Posts: 85	[QUOTE] Ed said (28th July @ 17:02pm): This is Microsoft... the only harm this is going to have is to do is discredit their client and reputation even more so. First they block any urls with 'download.php'; now this. But how many serious .info domains are there, pretty ridiculous TLD in my opinion, how many webpage are 'informative' and are not using '.info'. These sort of moves will only encourage the spammers / phishers to migrate to other TLD's. So this is hardly a prevention tactic. You do definitely make a point there. It isn't a really aptly used domain anyway. __________________________________ Brad Purchase Programmer, Designer, and Apple Tart.

Replied - Saturday 28th July 2007 at 6:19PM [Post Link]
Will Administrator Joined October 2005 Posts: 129	Unfortunately, like a lot of existing sites out there, people go about their domain buying routines regardless of what they're "meant to" mean. __________________________________ Will Morgan Freelance Web Developer Next feature: How to fit 25 hours into a day!

Replied - Tuesday 31st July 2007 at 11:17AM [Post Link]
Xplicid Member Joined April 2007 Posts: 56	I've never once received a .info URL via IM. Never been to a .info site either, I don't think. No. __________________________________ Go play in traffic. Thx. Luv ya.

Replied - Tuesday 31st July 2007 at 4:57PM [Post Link]
Brad Member Joined April 2007 Posts: 85	[QUOTE] Xplicid said (31st July @ 10:17am): I've never once received a .info URL via IM. Never been to a .info site either, I don't think. No. I used to own a subdomain with a .info site..and I used to link my site to people (this was back 3 or 4 years ago) to it all the time. Since when was this in effect? Also, is this in the right forum? : __________________________________ Brad Purchase Programmer, Designer, and Apple Tart.

Replied - Tuesday 31st July 2007 at 6:03PM [Post Link]
Alec Super Moderator Joined April 2007 Posts: 124	I designed a site for a client with a .info domain. The Old Brewhouse. __________________________________ My Personal Portfolio Site

Replied - Tuesday 31st July 2007 at 9:27PM [Post Link]
Brad Member Joined April 2007 Posts: 85	[QUOTE] Alec said (31st July @ 17:03pm): I designed a site for a client with a .info domain. The Old Brewhouse. And...do you think the fact MSN now blocks .info is a bad or good thing? : __________________________________ Brad Purchase Programmer, Designer, and Apple Tart.

Replied - Tuesday 31st July 2007 at 10:09PM [Post Link]
Will Administrator Joined October 2005 Posts: 129	[QUOTE] Alec said (31st July @ 17:03pm): I designed a site for a client with a .info domain. The Old Brewhouse. I stayed there once. It's your house. __________________________________ Will Morgan Freelance Web Developer Next feature: How to fit 25 hours into a day!

1. Yes	(1 votes - 14%)
2. No	(6 votes - 86%)

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