Domain investor, Sahar Sarid, “mysteriously” disappeared from active domain investments two years ago.
Sahar on a trip to Asia.
The popular domainer decided to travel the world and according to various reputable sources such as Mike Berkens at The Domains, he’s doing quite well on his planned sabbatical.
It’s not a secret that many years ago, Sahar Sarid owned the domain name Mugshots.com and its content, after acquiring the domain on eBay along with another partner.
As social media expanded, the appearance of people’s arrest photos on web sites such as Mugshots.com led to inquiries of various intensity, and searches about “who owns Mugshots.com” erroneously return Sahar Sarid as the current owner.
The truth is, that Sahar Sarid does not own Mugshots.com – the domain was sold in 2011 for an undisclosed sum and although its operators are managing it behind protected WHOIS, this LinkedIn profile of a ‘Michael Robertson’ lists him as the founder and CEO:
“Within 18 months we were able to put together a team, buy a domain without a website, and turn it into a world’s top 1,000 website destination.”
The reference to a top 1,000 destination worldwide is inaccurate, as Alexa displays a worldwide ranking of approximately 10,000 for Mugshots.com, with no higher ranking recorded. But that’s not really indicative of the popularity/notoriety or traffic commanded by Mugshots.com, both of which are quite high.
Note: The following section is obsolete and is retained only as a record. The non-availability of WHOIS records at the time the article was written, was the result of a technical issue with DomainTools. Current WHOIS queries return proper records for the years referenced below, either under WHOIS shield or otherwise. Setting the record straight is as important as debunking any conspiracies regarding ownership of the domain.
There is another interesting aspect of Mugshots.com related to DomainTools.
Although DomainTools provides membership accounts that can view “historic WHOIS” records, Mugshots.com ownership records have been removed for the course of several years, mostly covering the time-span that Sahar Sarid owned the domain. Every record that is not hidden behind WHOIS protection, between 2003 and 2011 has been erased; DomainTools instead displays in bold red text that “This Whois record is not available.”
DomainTools does not display most past ownership records of Mugshots.com
It is our logical assumption that these WHOIS records were removed per a request or agreement; we aren’t aware of any DomainTools option, paid or otherwise, that would result in the removal of domain records automatically recorded, nor we have seen this actively demonstrated on any other domain name’s info at DomainTools.com.
Sahar never disappeared. He simply went home to his family in Remulak to regenerate.
David – “Coneheads” is one of my favorite movies too 😀
Love the ‘Domaining’ shirt haha
Because a few people have approached me about this, for the record, I do not own, nor am not involved with MugShots.com.
Cheers,
Mike
DomainGuardians.com
I don’t think it’s fair to say the claim of being a top 1,000 website is “inaccurate” because it’s not in the Alexa 1,000. There are other ranking companies that are well respected. Quantcast shows MugShots.com as #507.
FYI, at some point in time DomainTools offered whois history blocking. I don’t think it offers that service anymore.
Andrew – The reference to “top Internet sites” is de facto linked to Alexa and its rating, whether it’s accurate as a rating or not.
The WHOIS records appear to be blocked years after they were stored; the issue isn’t the lack of WHOIS records (the links exist) but rather, their linking to the page I mentioned in the article.
Domaintools may have blocked the WHOIS records due to threats to the individual. It’s possible.
Sahar is still around. Isn’t this him with Adam Dicker and Rick?
http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2012/dailyposts/20121006.htm
Kev – No, that’s not him. I was in TRAFFIC 2012 and Sahar was missing.