On the Whois.net results page, we added a couple new features the week of March 18th, 2008. One thing you will notice is that every search results now produces two types of search widgets. These changes are one of many, as we improve Whois.net to be the top destination for whois lookups as well as the most trusted name in domain name lookups online.

The first search widget is a name suggestion tool for whois searches. This name suggestion tool allows users, while using the whois tool, to easily be able to see available domain names while viewing the whois results. This widget also includes several quick whois links at the top to .com, .net, .biz and .info domain names.

The second widget is a new type of search on the Whois.net website. We are now providing links to domain auctions, for domain names that are up for auction, as well as the bid price and number of bids.

In general we are changing and improving this feature and there will be new page configurations and layouts in the near future. Please let us know if you have any comments about this change or any other Whois.net feature.

Sitetiki.com, a new FREE website listing site became live as of January 1, 2008. Sitetiki.com offers website owners a place to post information about their website in order to drive new traffic to their site.  As a sister site to Whois.net, Sitetiki.com continues the ability of Whois visitors to gather additional information about a website. Both Sitetiki.com and Whois.net, both sites are sponsored by Verio, Inc.

Users will find that a link now sits on every Whois results page on Whois.net that offers a link to an article on Sitetiki.com. Sitetiki.com is based on the very popular open source MediaWiki application. Users of Sitetiki.com can register and modify the web page information on the site.

A while back Whois.net added a few new tools such as a Whois by IP lookup, Ping, DIG, Your IP Address, About Your Browser. This was the beginning of a growth of Whois.net into new services.

The first couple of services we are offering are for simple lookups such as Whois by IP. The Whois by IP service allows surfers to quickly ascertain which network organization is hosting or managing the IP block referenced in the results. For instance, Whois.net is managed on servers hosted and managed by Verio/NTT.

Ping is a simple check to see if a site can communicate back. It is often used to see if the physical server is alive. Site servers do have the ability to turn ping off. So if a website returns a not found message, it could be that ping was turned off for security purposes. You would use ping to see if you server is still running, in case the web site is not functioning. This would let you know if the physical server is still up and available.

DIG is a quick way of determining all the nameserver information about a domain name assigned to a server or an IP address.

Your IP Address helps you figure out the IP address assigned to the PC or terminal you are surfing through. Many systems use DHCP, or dynamic assigning of IP addresses when you log on to your network. So it is very possible to have a different IP address each time you login to your network.

About Your Browser explains the type and version of the browser you are using. For instance a popular new browser is Firefox, but yours may be IE version 6 or IE version 7.

Tools like these are useful for quick examinations of your domain name, website or network. Whois.net is looking into a variety of new free tools to serve the vast number of people who visit Whois.net on a regular basis. So let us know if you have any questions about our tools, or our services, which we are planning on improving and upgrading over the next few months.

Welcome to the first entry on the Whois.net blog.  This blog is being managed by the same people who have built and maintained Whois.net.  The purpose of this blog is to announce site changes and improvements, as well as to solicit feedback from our users.

Whois.net has been around, almost as long as the Internet.  Whether you are a first time user of Whois.net or a repeat user, we believe this site serves a significant purpose in helping people find out “Who” owns a domain name.

We are in the middle of making improvements on Whois.net and fixing bugs and would like to make this site work as best as it can for you.  So, let us know what you think.