nialong254: Cardinals flock to Rome as domainers flock to their keyboards

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Cardinals flock to Rome as domainers flock to their keyboards

Want to register the domain of the next pope? You?re probably too late.

After the shocking news that Pope Benedict is resigning, the rush is on to figure out the ?name? of the next pope and to register the corresponding domain names.

You?re probably too late, at least if the next pope takes one of the likely names. Here?s a run down:

Pope Clement XV

An Illinois man was quick on the news today, registering PopeClement.com as soon as the news of Pope Benedict?s resignation went public.

Although the name in whois is different, the registrant also appears to have registered PopeClementXV.com in December.

One registration is to Alex Bickle and the other to Alex Christopher, both residing at the same address.

But Rogers Cadenhead beat them to the punch. He registered ClementXV.com in 2005.

If that name sounds familiar, it?s because Cadenhead gained some notoriety in 2005 after he registered benedictxvi.com. He?s also been involved with some high profile domain cases.

Pope Urban IX

The same Illinois man/men who registered PopeClement.com today and PopeClementXV.com in December also registered PopeUrban.com today and PopeUrbanIX.com in December. What did he know that we didn?t?

UrbanIX.com was registered in 1999 and its whois record is protected with a privacy service.

Pope Innocent XIV

Once again, the same Illionois guy(s) got PopeInnocent.com and PopeInnocentXIV.com. Rogers Cadenhead has InnocentXIV.com. It?s one of the domains he registered in 2005.

Pope John XXIV

PopeJohn.com was registered in 2001 and is protected by whois privacy. It looks like it might be part of Kevin Ham?s portfolio.

Alex Bickle registered JohnXXIV.com in December. A New Zealand man registered PopeJohnXXIV.com in 2007.

PopeJohnBerryhill.com is still available for registration. I think that would be called a future trend registration.