Well, by now you probably know about how I feel about domains with hyphens in them. If you don’t, then you may want to read my post about a test that was done regarding domain names with hyphens. That certainly opened up my eyes, and now I prefer domains without hyphens in them. So, when I saw today that Microsoft registered two domain names with hyphens in them (multiple hyphens), and they didn’t purchase the domains without hyphens, I cringed.
Just recently, Microsoft registered these two domain names. I am assuming that they will use them for an upcoming Windows Phone contest, since these domains are French for “Windows Phone Contest”:
jeu-concours-windows-phone.com
jeu-concours-windows-phone.net
Here’s the whois record of the .com domain:
Domain Name: jeu-concours-windows-phone.com
Registry Domain ID:
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Updated Date: 2014-06-30T11:11:57-0700
Creation Date: 2014-06-30T11:11:56-0700
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2015-06-30T11:11:56-0700
Registrar: MarkMonitor, Inc.
Registrar IANA ID: 292
Registrar Abuse Contact Email:
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: +1.2083895740
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Registrant Street: One Microsoft Way,
Registrant City: Redmond
Registrant State/Province: WA
Registrant Postal Code: 98052
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.4258828080
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.4259367329
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Domain Administrator
Admin Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Admin Street: One Microsoft Way,
Admin City: Redmond
Admin State/Province: WA
Admin Postal Code: 98052
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.4258828080
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +1.4259367329
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email:
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: MSN Hostmaster
Tech Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Tech Street: One Microsoft Way,
Tech City: Redmond
Tech State/Province: WA
Tech Postal Code: 98052
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.4258828080
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +1.4259367329
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email:
Name Server: ns4.msft.net
Name Server: ns2.msft.net
Name Server: ns3.msft.net
Name Server: ns1.msft.net
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
Personally, I just don’t get it. Why would you register two domain names with hyphens and not register the domains without hyphens? Just seems to me that you’d actually use the one without hyphens and register the one with hyphens just in case.
