METHOD / LIMITATIONS
Follow the record.
How we record .UK drop-catching transfers and examine cheating and abuse concerns, with the limits of the evidence left visible.
Drop-catching and registrar TAGs
Drop-catching means attempting to register a domain when it becomes available after deletion. A Nominet TAG identifies a registrar account. These records link scheduled .UK domain drops, subsequent registrations and rapid movements between observed TAGs. A TAG appearing in a table is an observed association, not a finding of cheating or abuse.
What the rankings select
The rankings select observed rapid transfers following scheduled drops and subsequent registrations. They are a sample, not every registration or transfer. The recipient TAG differs from the originating TAG and is present in the same RDAP observation as the transfer event. We infer that event’s recipient from its first observed custody within the same registration lifecycle.
The ranking counts domain/registration episodes per recipient. “Pooled TAGs” counts distinct TAG identifiers, not proven independent people or businesses. The pooled TAG ranking includes movements to all qualifying recipients. A domain moving through more than one recipient can appear under more than one recipient; the headline domain total is deduplicated.
TAGs under the same registrar
Where TAGs are recorded as belonging to one registrar, public figures use one representative TAG label for that group. Movements within the group are excluded. External movements involving aliases are counted once per registration episode and recipient group, using the earliest qualifying transfer. Group members are listed on the representative TAG page; expanded evidence retains any different TAG identifiers reported in the original observation.
What Pooling Power means
Pooling Power is an illustrative upper bound, not a measured quota or finding of shared access. We count the viewed TAG and its distinct recorded associations, then model 1,000 CREATE commands for each. The model assumes every TAG represents a separate, unlinked registrar with a full allowance.
Nominet’s current limit is 1,000 combined EPP and Web Domain Manager CREATE commands for domains that already exist per registrar, across all its TAGs, in a rolling 24 hours. Linked registrars may have their limits aggregated. The records do not establish independent allowances, remaining capacity or coordinated use. Read the Acceptable Use Policies.
What the timestamps mean
Drop time is the registry’s scheduled time, not an independently observed deletion. Registration and transfer times are the event timestamps reported by RDAP. Our observation time is when we received that public response. “Average from drop” is the arithmetic difference between scheduled drop and recorded transfer time. A whole-second transfer timestamp does not establish subsecond timing, even when registration has greater precision.
RDAP does not provide a complete historical registrar chain. A transfer event has no explicit destination field: we associate it with the registrar observed alongside it. This is an inference, and later movements may overwrite or obscure the evidence. Unresolved or inconsistent lifecycle/event associations are excluded.
Coverage is deliberately limited
Recording began on 9 November 2026. Some initial observations look back at earlier drops; these are marked retrospective on domain pages. Public registry observations form a limited historical sample. We can miss the first registrar, an intermediate transfer, a later movement, or an entire registration. No movement observed does not mean no movement occurred.
Rate limiting does not itself confer permission to extract or republish registry data. The registry’s service terms apply independently. We do not describe this site as registry approved.
What the evidence cannot establish
A rapid transfer does not, by itself, establish resource pooling, shared control, a backorder arrangement, a policy breach or dishonest conduct. A TAG identifies a registrar account; it is not a finding about a person. “Domain cheating” is the issue being examined, not a conclusion attached to every entry. The rankings measure an observable pattern, not the value of the domains or the intent of the registrars.
Why record this?
Registry access should provide a fair opportunity to compete. Coordinating separately allocated access for one operator’s targets raises questions about equal access and the purpose of anti-avoidance rules. A public record allows registrars, researchers and the registry to examine those questions using specific transactions.
Check the source
Individual domain pages include the source event times and observation time, and link to the current public RDAP response. The live response may since have changed. Minimal historical facts and response hashes are retained by the collector; we do not publish registrant contact details.