[ANNOUNCE] BuyBIT - Unofficial .bit registrar

[someguy123]

Buybit is officially closed.


Original Post

Many of you probably know that dot-bit's registrar is waaay overpriced (1.5BTC for a .bit? seriously...), but also that buying and configuring a domain with namecoin directly is a PITA.
So... I've started work on BuyBIT, the soon to come .bit registrar, I'm expecting to have it ready for an open beta by next week.
My Account
.bit Domain Info
Front Page

Just a little sneak peak for now ^

Most of the code is done, I've got a nice clean bootstrap template as you can see, and security will be a top priority as well

FEATURES:

• Will be costing around 0.5 or maybe 1NMC for a domain (that's only 0.008 BTC at current exchange rates)
• When purchasing a domain, you'll be able to choose whether to pay in bitcoins (currently only 0.01BTC for a domain), or you can get it slightly cheaper if you buy with Namecoins.
• Security is a top priority, SHA512 passwords, prepared SQL statements, NMC/BTC wallets are properly secured on the server, all transactions are logged in the database to allow investigation, etc.
• Full control over the domain, you can transfer a domain from your current Namecoin wallet into BuyBIT for free. To configure it, for the moment I'll allow selection between a Nameservers, or just directly onto an IP, so that people can configure the domain similar to as they would for a .com or .net, and also I'll have a JSON setting for advanced users who want to put more specific values.
• POSSIBLY an on-site market for auctioning/selling your .bit's to other users for BTC/NMC
• More to come...

UPDATE 24/05/2012 - Just got lulzplzkthx to do a quick bugscan of the site... looks like this is going to need a LOT more work. Probably won't be open til next week.
Okay, I'm redesigning it, the current code is full of dirty hacks and everything.
TEMPORARY BETA: http://buybit.sv.gd/
Don't complain at me if there's any issues, it's just a quick hack-up of a site at the moment, but it still works anyway.
A new version is planned for the next few weeks

If your domain is "stuck" and hasn't been processed for 24 hours, please PM me and I'll issue you a refund

[mc_lovin]

1.5 BTC for a .bit, I thought we were supposed to use NMC to buy domains!  Isn't that the point?

[REF]

I plan to try it once your finished. Its a great idea. Ease of use should also be in your mind as you continue to develop this. With any luck this will get more people using .bit domains.

[randomproof]

the problem with .bit domains is that it is hard to access them.  I figured it out but it involved adding another DNS server, which is weird since, if I have a namecoin client running I have all the info in its blockchain and I should be able to pull the info from there.  If anyone has some experience working with firefox extensions it should be possible to make something like the TOR .onion domains extension.

[lulzplzkthx]

I believe (I've talked to Someguy123 outside of this thread) that you can buy with either NMC or BTC. The reason for allowing BTC is called proxy-buying. It's convenient for end users, and I guess currently he can cover the funds for the NMC.

Also subscribing to this, and vouching for the fact that Someguy123 has put a lot of effort into making the process of buying a .bit domain simple.

[someguy123]

I've hit a small roadspike in the development of this...
The automation of setting off a name_firstupdate once the name_new has hit 12 blocks isn't too simple as I can't track the transaction ID.
name_new does return a long and short value, but there's no transaction ID returned, so it's not exactly easy to track the transaction to check whether it's hit 12 confirms or not.
I'm planning on a quick (possibly temporary) fix by storing the  block number at which the domain was pre-ordered, and then when the cron is ran in order to firstupdate all domains which are ready, checking which domains have been waiting at least 20 blocks after their name_new.
If anyone knows of a cleaner way of ensuring the domain has hit at least 12 confirms, your comments will be greatly appreciated.
Disregard that. I'm an idiot.

Also an update on the progress:
Done:

• Namecoin/bitcoin deposits
• Registration and login system
• Obtaining domain information
• (MOSTLY) Handling domain purchases
• Bootstrap design

To-Do

• Finishing the domain purchasing
• Adding more javascript validation in order to make the user experience a little bit smoother
• Adding more security to the login (Captchas after several failed attempts, and lockouts after too many)
• Cleaning up dirty debugging hacks all over the code

the problem with .bit domains is that it is hard to access them.  I figured it out but it involved adding another DNS server, which is weird since, if I have a namecoin client running I have all the info in its blockchain and I should be able to pull the info from there.  If anyone has some experience working with firefox extensions it should be possible to make something like the TOR .onion domains extension.

I really do hope someone is able to create a firefox and/or chrome extension for namecoin, that way .bit's are more accessible.
Foxyproxy already allows DNS requests to be forwarded through a selected proxy, so I'm pretty sure it'd be possible to maybe create an extension that could check for http://*.bit/ and forward the DNS request through one of the existing namecoin DNS servers.

[someguy123]

Okay, after an hour of debugging, it's mostly ready...
Now that I've got most of the major bugs out, I'm going to hold a private beta just so I can ensure that it's stable and safe enough for production.

If anyone would like to try it out, just PM me and I'll send you a link to sign up for BuyBIT

[someguy123]

Gave it a try, bought 5 days 2 days ago. All are still pending and none are in the namecoin explorer.

Sorry, namecoind glitched out, so my crons failed. Going to try to re-do the crons to unlock your domains, if that fails I'll refund your 0.05BTC so you can purchase them again (or withdraw)

[someguy123]

Thanks for the speedy response.

Yeah, you might be waiting a little longer, latest namecoind has a few compilation errors, I'm waiting for khalahan to figure out the issue.

[REF]

the problem with .bit domains is that it is hard to access them.  I figured it out but it involved adding another DNS server, which is weird since, if I have a namecoin client running I have all the info in its blockchain and I should be able to pull the info from there.  If anyone has some experience working with firefox extensions it should be possible to make something like the TOR .onion domains extension.

In case anyone missed the thread, here is a guide on how to use foxyproxy a FF extension. http://dot-bit.org/How_To_Configure_Foxyproxy. I believe the guide was written by khal.

[someguy123]

Just a quick update: A lot of domains are getting "stuck" for some reason, and are refusing to be firstupdated. Generally in this case I'm giving refunds and removing/resetting the domain from your account.
Currently waiting on khalahan to patch this issue or something.

If your domain has been stuck for more than 24hrs and want me to refund you, just let me know in the thread, PM me, or email admin at sv.gd

[someguy123]

Officially Closed. Site gone.