Caution when using Domain name generators or domain appraisal tools. There are many of these websites out there offering these kind's of tools, but using these tools comes with big risk. Domain names are a multi-Billion dollar business, and when an industry is that big, they comes with their share of scammer's A bad experience I've had with such tools was a while back, but I used a domain name generator tool on a pretty popular site to generate some 3 letter domains. Of course they were all registered but it did manage to generate one with a number in it which was still a good find. I dont remember what I was doing at the time but I had to step away from my computer and when I did return a couple hours later the Domain got registered. I wasnt surprised because I was skeptical to begin with. I used the domain name generator because it was impossible for me to check if they were each available, but found out right away that it was not the way to go. Till this day I think about it but whats done is done. Being human I would love to name that domain name generator site here, but that would be petty. Getting a great domain is almost like hitting the lotto and should never be left to chance. Domain name generators can be a useful tool, being that it would be time consuming to go through every domain to check if one is registered. When it comes to these tools the risk far out weighs the benefits. Domain appraisal tools also comes with these risk as you dont know what scripts these sites use. Some of these sites can have a rating system for domains that have been appraised by users, and easily send a list to the owners of these sites of the domains that have been appraised high, for their own personal registration of these domains. If you dont already have these domains registered, I recommend you dont use these site as many publish recently appraised domains. Now a days looking for expired domains with page rank has become very popular. Many people spend alot of money to obtain these domains only to find out that the page rank has been faked or that the page rank has gone down like the Titanic just a few months after buying them. These domains more then not take a dive because Google does not give these domains much importance once they have been expired. Before buying such domains make sure to do a little research. For example if a domain has a page rank of 5 but has no alexa rank whats so ever, that could be a sign of the page rank being faked. Another example is if a site has a page rank of 5 and dosnt have any of its pages indexed in Google, it could be another sign that the page rank is faked or will definitely take a dive in the next Google rankings. When it comes to buying domains with page rank, it is wise to find one with a website that has its original content and one that has not been dropped. With so many scammers out there, it is more wise to buy a website with good page rank then just a domain with page rank. Also make sure that the website has enough pages indexed as the older the site is the more pages will be indexed and have more back links. Scammers usually put up content to trick people into thinking the site's content is original. What many people fail to realize is that they already have the have the best tool to find and generate these great domains, Its called a brain. You run a great risk buy using such tool's as domain name generators and appraisal tool's. The best practice is to take some time and come up with your own domains and if you come up with a great one, then register it RIGHT AWAY!!! Also be sure to use big registrars like go daddy or Enom to check if they are available. Using home made domain checkers does not guarantee that your inquiries will not be sent to the owners of these sites. When it comes to shortcuts the risk out weigh the benefits, and you may find yourself wondering what happened. Fact is Domain names are big business and so is scamming people out of and with domains. Use your heads when buying or registering domains and never leave it to chance. If have any good advice to add to this please post it as there is never a shortage of people in need of good advice when it comes to domains.
Being Paranoid can help in a lot of situations. I like to ussually thing of the worst case scenario when doing things in life.
I dont know if paranoid is the word for it. It's more of using common sense. I've read lots of post about people being cybersquaded by sites like these. If you have a good idea then keep it secret until you act on it, dont give it away by using questionable sites. You only set yourself up for failure.