About Domain Registration

January 12, 2017 5:29 PM

When ICANN Whois says a website has been updated, what does that mean?
posted by CollectiveMind to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Do you mean the "Updated Date" from the WHOIS record you can get form the command tools or a whois website? If so, that means the date that the domain record (owner, contacts, addresses, etc) were either changed or refreshed as part of a renewal or otherwise by the domain owner or registrar.

if thisis an email, it's probably phishing (bad) or spam (also bad), if it's about a domain you own or are some sort of contact on.
posted by skynxnex at 6:14 PM on January 12, 2017

I've never run across ICANN saying a website has be updated. Are you confusing "website" with "domain"?

You need to expand a little on just what it is you're asking.
posted by humboldt32 at 7:44 PM on January 12, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: ICANN doesn't give me much else, so I can't expand much more. But you are right. I do mean "domain", not website. Thanks for your comment.
posted by CollectiveMind at 2:42 AM on January 13, 2017

It basically means that some attribute of the registration - nameservers, contact information, possibly billing info - was changed at that time.
posted by jferg at 6:19 AM on January 13, 2017 [1 favorite]

Renewing the domain will also "update" it as it changes the listed expiration date.
posted by kindall at 8:44 AM on January 13, 2017

As will changing transfer locks.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:23 AM on January 13, 2017