After extensive research spanning several dozen dusty volumes of ICANN material, the shocking news is that the oldest domain name application isn’t that of Symbolics.com.
“I know that this will shock many who for years believed that Symbolics.com is the oldest domain name,” said ICANN research manager, Chris Mouse.
“The fact is, that there was another domain, applied for registration two weeks prior, at a time when ICANN wasn’t as organized – or financially secure – as today,” added Mouse.
Apparently, the domain name MamaLeona.com was applied for registration on February 29, 1985. The day was a Friday, and naturally the domain application was delayed until the following Monday.
But that didn’t happen, as expected.
“An ICANN employee, Berry Beckstrom – incidentally, a paternal aunt of former ICANN CEO, Rod Beckstrom – fell sick with e-coli during that weekend. She was in charge of managing incoming correspondence, and in the pre-email era it all happened via fax,” said Chris Mouse.
For more than two weeks, the application remained in the incoming bin of the now retired Berry Beckstrom; eventually, upon her return to the ICANN offices, the top application in the inbox was that of Symbolics.com.
With ICANN rolling out the specs for hundreds if not thousands of new gTLDs, let’s hope that registrations of important domains will be managed in a better fashion, than that of MamaLeona.com.
Who’s going to be the first to register this million dollar domain? 😉
After typing the question, I did a whois: Created on: 15-Jul-13 🙂
David – The new registrant might or might not have a precious digital gemstone in their possession. The real question is, what would have happened if Berry Beckstrom didn’t have a case of the Mondays?
The fact is, Berry was on top of the game, and she actually regged her name first, but due to the Conflicker C worm issue, the registrar at the time had to run a manual, thus being over ridden by the famous 1st domain!
Anyway, this is what I was told via CB radio by Berry’s uncle, Duce, back in the day, still I can’t confirm this, it’s just the word!
I’m just glad Berry Beckstrom, finally got a mention in the historic event.
Howie – I appreciate the additional inside info! I believe some early mention was published in one of the last issues of CRASH magazine, in the Peek & Poke section. As for the CB radio, those were the days! 😀