Damn Beautiful Nameservers
May 10, 2024 Update and SPOILER ALERT ( jump ahead if you want to read through the post first) I incorrectly attributed my success to DNS cache. But it wasn't DNS cache that saved my butt. It was nameservers (and I got lucky with timing.) The information I was searching for was available not because of cache, but because GoDaddy's nameservers hadn't yet received the updated instructions to remove the DNS records. Looking at some of GoDaddy's documents for removing domain entries, they do list out recovery times if something was done in error, but that is likely some other process. I also asked someone at GoDaddy how the UI and DNS were connected, and they stated that although UI changes are typically updated on the nameservers quickly (within an hour), it can take longer. THIS is why I was able to look up values well beyond the often generic TTL of 1 hour and the records I needed were therefore published long enough for me to go back and look them up...