Registrar recommendations?
August 23, 2021 7:05 PM Subscribe
After having been completely flurked over by GoDaddy, I am looking for another domain name registrar.
Which are the best, most reliable and ethical registrars now? Preferably staffed by actual human beings for if a problem comes up. TWO domain names have now been stolen from me under the auspices of GoDaddy and that needs not to happen again.
Which are the best, most reliable and ethical registrars now? Preferably staffed by actual human beings for if a problem comes up. TWO domain names have now been stolen from me under the auspices of GoDaddy and that needs not to happen again.
Best answer: Google Domains is my new go to. Super easy. Privacy protection by default.
posted by jasondigitized at 7:11 PM on August 23, 2021
posted by jasondigitized at 7:11 PM on August 23, 2021
Best answer: I’ve not had any issues in about a decade with name.com. My spouse is devoted to pair.
posted by mumkin at 9:43 PM on August 23, 2021
posted by mumkin at 9:43 PM on August 23, 2021
Best answer: I've been using NameCheap for my domains without an issue for several years now after transferring them out of GoDaddy. Granted, some more detail about the types of problems you had with GoDaddy might be helpful; domain setups vary wildly and some registers are better with some things than others I'd imagine.
posted by Aleyn at 10:54 PM on August 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Aleyn at 10:54 PM on August 23, 2021 [2 favorites]
Best answer: I've been happy with Gandi for many years.
posted by neushoorn at 12:26 AM on August 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by neushoorn at 12:26 AM on August 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Seconding Gandi.
I had namecheap for years but foolishly relied on them telling me when my domain would expire. Which their system, of course, failed to do so and it left them in the terrible position of having to sell my .com domain for a tidy profit.
Worked out great for them I’m sure, but I decided to move to Gandi (and manage my own expiration reminders).
posted by mr_silver at 1:10 AM on August 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
I had namecheap for years but foolishly relied on them telling me when my domain would expire. Which their system, of course, failed to do so and it left them in the terrible position of having to sell my .com domain for a tidy profit.
Worked out great for them I’m sure, but I decided to move to Gandi (and manage my own expiration reminders).
posted by mr_silver at 1:10 AM on August 24, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks all!
mr_silver, that is what happened to me. GoDaddy just sold a domain name out from under me, which 1. shouldn't have expired until November and 2. They did not email me at my correct email address. I am 100% sure both that I consolidated the expiration dates for my domain names years ago and that I changed my email address last time things were up for renewal (Nov 2020). I even have some confirmation emails sent to the correct address from back then. Somehow both the email address and the expiration date switched back.
GoDaddy will graciously allow me to pay $119 to get their assistance in dealing with whatever asshole now owns my domain name. This is just the starting money for "negotiating". They of course have not and will not do anything with the domain name except camp on it and try to extort money. This should be illegal.
Bluehost has given my publisher lots of problems as a host (not sure about as a registrar). I will avoid them. But thanks anyway for the suggestion.
posted by Flock of Cynthiabirds at 5:19 AM on August 24, 2021
mr_silver, that is what happened to me. GoDaddy just sold a domain name out from under me, which 1. shouldn't have expired until November and 2. They did not email me at my correct email address. I am 100% sure both that I consolidated the expiration dates for my domain names years ago and that I changed my email address last time things were up for renewal (Nov 2020). I even have some confirmation emails sent to the correct address from back then. Somehow both the email address and the expiration date switched back.
GoDaddy will graciously allow me to pay $119 to get their assistance in dealing with whatever asshole now owns my domain name. This is just the starting money for "negotiating". They of course have not and will not do anything with the domain name except camp on it and try to extort money. This should be illegal.
Bluehost has given my publisher lots of problems as a host (not sure about as a registrar). I will avoid them. But thanks anyway for the suggestion.
posted by Flock of Cynthiabirds at 5:19 AM on August 24, 2021
Best answer: n'thing Gandi, but do note that they're very inflexible about what constitutes proof of account/proof of personal information. This is a good thing under normal circumstances, but a user group I was involved in had a very unfortunate series of coincidences that required legwork and legal fees to get Gandi to accept that we were who we said we were.
posted by scruss at 7:01 AM on August 24, 2021
posted by scruss at 7:01 AM on August 24, 2021
Best answer: Seconding EasyDNS which I have used for (I think) at least 20 years also without a single hitch.
posted by The Bellman at 7:01 AM on August 24, 2021
posted by The Bellman at 7:01 AM on August 24, 2021
I would add--and I hate that it has to be this way as well--that my perspective on registrars tends to be a "trust-but-verify" one. I think it's worth it to set up independent monitoring on the domain's whois status or to set a reminder to log in every so often to make sure everything is copacetic, no matter your registrar. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone having a great experience with getting expired domains back with most registrars, even when it's the registrar's fault. I feel like most people's experience with registrars is that they're great, until they're not.
The additional fuckery with GoDaddy reverting the book-keeping and domain expirations sounds uncommon at least (though I've not tried to consolidate the expirations on my domains, I'll admit). Namecheap I have set up to send an email notification when anyone including myself so much as breathes on my account, so that paper trail is super nice to have. I'd look into enabling something similar at whatever registrar you go with, if you can.
Best of luck with your new registrar at least.
posted by Aleyn at 2:07 PM on August 26, 2021
The additional fuckery with GoDaddy reverting the book-keeping and domain expirations sounds uncommon at least (though I've not tried to consolidate the expirations on my domains, I'll admit). Namecheap I have set up to send an email notification when anyone including myself so much as breathes on my account, so that paper trail is super nice to have. I'd look into enabling something similar at whatever registrar you go with, if you can.
Best of luck with your new registrar at least.
posted by Aleyn at 2:07 PM on August 26, 2021
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posted by mhoye at 7:07 PM on August 23, 2021 [1 favorite]