DropMail - Speculative email dropcatching system

[DaveBeasley]

Just released tonight!. Anyone new dropcatchers interested in an easy to use primary dropcatching system or backup system for established dropcatchers might like to take a look at this new software package that I've just released that runs from your Windows XP computer.

www.dropmail.co.uk

Dave Beasley

 

[philipp]

Yeah, but why pay 300 quid for something that a short line of shell script could do for free?

 

[DaveBeasley]

This may be true, I don't know programming so can't confirm/deny. This program is designed For those people without server setups and scripting knowledge. Perhaps you'd like to play the good samaritan and share this short line of shell script with others on the forum?, so they don't have to consider paying £300

Cheers

Dave

 

[chinesewhispers]

How does this work?

You need PGP, so I guess it uses a pre-signed email.
You need and SMTP mail client, so IT isn't an SMTP client.
You need Scheduler, so it isn't a scheduling program.

I am not against this product at all, just wondered what it does, without having to download and install it.

Thanks Dave

 

[rob]

Perhaps you'd like to play the good samaritan and share this short line of shell script with others on the forum?, so they don't have to consider paying £300

I know i have shared the basic code / principles with a fair few on this forum

The key bit to speculative emails is the counting or predicting of when the specs can be reused to prevent blocking.

I have a fully featured web based system I have considered selling but as of yet not done so.

Cheers,
rob.

 

[DaveBeasley]

How does this work?

You need PGP, so I guess it uses a pre-signed email.
You need and SMTP mail client, so IT isn't an SMTP client.
You need Scheduler, so it isn't a scheduling program.

I am not against this product at all, just wondered what it does, without having to download and install it.

Thanks Dave

Hi,

Yes, this program does presently need a pre-signed email, so you would need an implementation of PGP; it utilises your existing mail settings to send the email, and yes you need windows task scheduler.

It is a windows desktop based system for those who don't have a web-based system or the resources or knowledge to create one. As with any new piece of software it is still undergoing on-going development, eventually to encompass its own scheduler, or at least make better 'integrated' use of the windows task scheduler and is currently also undergoing the necessary changes to allow auto PGP signing of the outgoing emails. These are a bit away yet though.

It includes its own counters, to track no. email sent, along with no. requests sent.

Hope this helps,

Dave

 

[FC Domains]

Speaking as a part time code monkey, I'd say that it's simply a program to send an email, every 2 minutes. It doesn't even seem to check if the domain is still available and switch to trying another.

My latest code runs to about 1500 lines of source. I wish something good would drop, so that I could test it.

 

[tifosi]

Speaking as a part time code monkey, I'd say that it's simply a program to send an email, every 2 minutes. It doesn't even seem to check if the domain is still available and switch to trying another.

My latest code runs to about 1500 lines of source. I wish something good would drop, so that I could test it.

sorry, somethinggood.co.uk registered

 

[philipp]

Perhaps you'd like to play the good samaritan and share this short line of shell script with others on the forum?, so they don't have to consider paying £300

This is trivial, and it duplicates the functionality of your program as you have described it (without coughing up 300 quid!)

bash$ while (true) ; do cat signed-mail | mail -s 'TAG Domain Request' $ADDR ; sleep $DELAY ; done

Is that what you were after?

P.

 

[FC Domains]

Actually what's really annoying is that this sort of script does work.
Not very well, but a really well written one, might only be three times as efficient.

So I've seen my catching success rate fall, from about 50% to about 10%, due to a load of cowboys, with a bunch of TAG's and some crude code.

Obviously I've got no right to be annoyed about this. I just am.

As for attempting to sell things at hugely inflated prices, I think that's part of the rules here.

 

[Admin]

bash$ while (true) ; do cat signed-mail | mail -s 'TAG Domain Request' $ADDR ; sleep $DELAY ; done

What would someone need to use to compile this code into a useable EXE?

 

[Brassneck]

I think it is important to remember that not everybody here with a interest in domains has the expertise to develop their own scripts or systems to catch domains. I would rather spend my time researching possible names that spending weeks getting to grips with programming. To some like me, - if it works - £300 does not seem an unreasonable price to pay, especially as it seems the tool is likely to be further developed over time.

Having been on the forum for a month or so now, I do get the impression that the domain catching world is a bit of a closed shop. I suppose this is for obvious reasons as the more involved the harder it will be to secure the most lucrative catches.

Stephen.

 

[rob]

I think it is important to remember that not everybody here with a interest in domains has the expertise to develop their own scripts or systems to catch domains. I would rather spend my time researching possible names that spending weeks getting to grips with programming. To some like me, - if it works - £300 does not seem an unreasonable price to pay, especially as it seems the tool is likely to be further developed over time.

I would completely agree - £300 is cheap as chips (based on purchase of six hundred portions) for the potential reward. My only fear would be this is a non product when DAC becomes stable.

Having been on the forum for a month or so now, I do get the impression that the domain catching world is a bit of a closed shop. I suppose this is for obvious reasons as the more involved the harder it will be to secure the most lucrative catches.

I will never forget the wonderful piece of 'advice' a well known catcher gave me ; 'a good catcher is one who keeps his mouth shut'. Obviously he objected to me dishing out code / advice to people

At the end of the day speculative emails just need to get to nominet before anyone elses when a name is free. philipp's code will do it, so will 1500 lines of code. The only real skill left is developing dac / whois based response systems.

 

[Brassneck]

My only fear would be this is a non product when DAC becomes stable.

Would be interested in the views of others on prospects?

Stephen.

 

[philipp]

I would completely agree - £300 is cheap as chips for the potential reward. My only fear would be this is a non product when DAC becomes stable.

It's not as cheap as chips!

My local chip shop sells a portion for just 50p. That's 600 portions of chips for a lousy bit of code!

And anyway, this 'dropmailer' doesn't give you any functionality that's not already available in your system (doesn't have a mailer, doesn't contain PGP, it even relies on the Windows scheduler ffs!) I think it should have been called the cough-and-dropmailer personally.

Also, its functionality is entirely duplicated by my free line of shell script!



P.

 

[rob]

No I do agree with you philip - my point is that any software that can catch names ought to be priced nearer a few grand, mainly as the potential catches would pay for itself right away - this from a selling point of view

For the record I am using a 13 line PHP snippet at the moment which has caught some decent names, however will be moving to a system with about 2000 lines of code. The functionality of sending specs is basically the same, after all there really is only a single way to send an email, however there is various bells and whistles on top plus sms intergration

I think the difference is that those who know how to code and can hack about wouldnt look twice at using such a product, however new catchers based on windows with a tag and want some action can immediatly compete (for now) with the 'big boys'. This pisses some people off (cowboys! ) however I have always held the belief that catching shouldnt be a closed shop and have always been happy to help new people to get going.

The problem will be when DAC goes fully live, 1000 specs a day will not beat the live whois...

Cheers,
Rob.

 

[domaingenius]

Please, what is "DAC" ?

DG

 

[philipp]

For the record I am using a 13 line PHP snippet at the moment which has caught some decent names, however will be moving to a system with about 2000 lines of code.

Ah ha! Well I am using 47 lines of bash (a few comments + vars), but my new code is only 380 lines. Although I haven't worried about SMS integration (tart!!)



P.

 

[bb99]

Please, what is "DAC" ?

DG

A new product from Nominet (for Nominet members only). Domain Availability Checker. It allows bulk querying (within limits) of the WHOIS database without doing a traditional port 43 WHOIS lookup.

More details here.

It's in beta stage at the moment - I've played around with it a bit but it seems a bit unstable!

 

[philipp]

It's in beta stage at the moment - I've played around with it a bit but it seems a bit unstable!

'A bit unstable' doesn't quite cover it!



P.