Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

[childers.paula AT epamail.epa.gov]

Whois.com can search for "on-hold" names, and provide some info, but the
joker.com entry probably means they (as the name registrar/DNS host)
have deleted DNS forwarding entries from the associated record. In other
words, it isn't pointing anywhere right now.

Perhaps someone else knows more, but I thought there was a time period
in which a name registrar "holds" a recently-expired name (presumably
waiting for a late renewal?), after which they are required by
regulation or law to either release the name as available or "register"
it as their own. I was thinking this time period was between 45-90 days.
***see http://www.domain-watcher.com/expiry_process.htm for info on this
process from domain-watcher.com

If that is the case, then it will simply be a matter of waiting for the
name to release, and grabbing it as a new registration. Or they could
just choose a new name.

As far as new registration & hosting, your friends could do a couple of
things, such as:
-- Pay a full service web hosting and name registrar to provide name
services AND hosting space;
-- Pay a name registrar, and have them point their DNS entries to IP
addy and/or URL for space/site hosted elsewhere.

For example, I registered my name with NamesDirect/MyDomain; for about
$15-30/year, they put your name on their DNS servers, and you use an
interface there to point the DNS resolution to your actual web site,
hosted elsewhere.  This is perfect if your friends already have some web
space somewhere, perhaps the space provided by an ISP?

And I would grab the stuff from the Wayback Machine ASAP.  You can
decide where to put it later.

Paula