The meaning of creation date for an internet domain in whois

If example.com has a creation date of January 30 1998 in whois (for example), does this mean the domain has been continously registered since 1998? Or could there have been stretches of time since that date when the domain didn't exist (was expired) and so the date means the first date it was originally created at?

Thanks!

Solution 1:

If example.com has a creation date of January 30 1998 in whois (for example), does this mean the domain has been continuously registered since 1998?

Likely, yes.

Could there have been stretches of time since that date when the domain didn't exist (was expired) and so the date means the first date it was originally created at?

There may be exceptions but, as far as I am aware, the Created date reported by icann.org should generally be the latest registration date of the domain. That is, if the domain existed prior to that and had an actual lapse, then this date should be reset in the new WHOIS record. Domains that have expired but not reached a pending delete state should keep their last registration date.