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Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

blog.gitbook.com

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Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to whois, google.com, amazon.com, github.com, microsoft.com, netflix.com, reddit.com, baidu.com, youtube.com, twitch.tv and wikipedia.org all use MarkMonitor [1] apple.com, twitter.com and ocado.com use CSC Corporate Domains [2] I have no idea what such services charge, but they're all "call for pricing" and none of those companies would blink at spending $10k/year on their domains. Not every well known bra…

Google.com doesn't even use Google Domains....that is telling right there.

Google.com was registered long before Google Domains was created. Lots of other more modern Google domains---even .google ones---are registered with MarkMonitor as well. Google Domains doesn't compete with MarkMonitor for large businesses with extremely valuable domains.

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you wanted good customer support you shouldn't have gone with Google. There are plenty of other more reputable domain regrestrars.

99% of people never need customer support, so I doubt most people consider it when choosing a service.

You may be downvoted, but I think it is true. I think they consider price and convenience most of all (both of which happen to be google's forte)

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#43
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from the most obvious examples, I would also consider Cloudflare's new registry service. It's cheap, at-cost, and they support a lot of the new TLDs like .io which is also a lot cheaper.

> they support a lot of the new TLDs like .io which is also a lot cheaper. You might want to pick another example, .io is 23 years old [0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io

For some reason people keep forgetting that io stands for indian ocean and is actually a regional tld like co.uk .net .de etc

Same with .ai fwiw.

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#44
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from the most obvious examples, I would also consider Cloudflare's new registry service. It's cheap, at-cost, and they support a lot of the new TLDs like .io which is also a lot cheaper.

> they support a lot of the new TLDs like .io which is also a lot cheaper. You might want to pick another example, .io is 23 years old [0] [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.io

Ah yes that's true, I always seem to group .io in with the new crowd of TLDs in the sense that it became trendy "recently"; and I only mentioned .io domains since GitBook uses one, "gitbook.io".

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No we don't, we were already planning on consolidating everything on Cloduflare, we are just going to make the switch sooner. We'll share more details in the postmortem.

I'd be interested to know what this heavy handed policy was, assuming Google Domains gave you that information. I hope it wasn't something egregious or frivolous as I've seen with other parts of their organisation.

Ha, no way google will give any information/explanation

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#46
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which registrar is recommended?

I personally prefer Gandi, but also use name.com and Cloudflare - haven't heard any horror stories about either of those 3 registrars.

Cloudflare Registrar had some issues at one point but they had more to do with a broken system that assumed the domain was purchased elsewhere than anything else, if I remember correctly. Their support apparently handled that case very well.

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#47

GitBook CTO here: Our production domains (gitbook.com and gitbook.io) have been blocked and locked by our registrar (Google Domains). None of our infrastructure is impacted, all user content and databases are safe; our domains simply blocked by a heavy handed policy. As mentioned on Twitter, we are all hands working with Google to fix this issues ASAP. We'll then share an in-depth post-mortem https://twitter.com/GitB…

As a former domain registrar, I would get the authcode, unlock the domains, and transfer them away as soon as possible. It's been a while since I read the RAA (https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/approved-with-specs-20...), but it's rather extraordinary to put a domain on clientHold, which is what I assume they did to you, outside of non-payment or some kind of legal dispute.

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#48
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apart from the most obvious examples, I would also consider Cloudflare's new registry service. It's cheap, at-cost, and they support a lot of the new TLDs like .io which is also a lot cheaper.

> It's cheap, at-cost That to me is a downside since that means that that is not a core part of their business. Financially, it makes no difference to them if I use their service or not. I would rather pay a little extra to a company that has domain registration as a core part of their business and actually makes a profit from me. And domain names are cheap. Even if you pay twice as much as the cheapest service, it s…

The counter is it's also risky to use a company that only does Domain Registration since it's a very low margin business and thus the risk for them shuttering is higher -- or they'll try to make it up with various erroneous fees

I know the concern of putting all your eggs in one basket is real, but since CF's business is literally to take over your domain DNS and slap on some add-on services, adding domain registration in-house seems like a good fit.

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#49
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you plan to stay with Google considering the experience?

HN seems to be the last resort to get Google to help :/

You can do the same elsewhere, any sufficiently large or deep social networking would work.

Re: Google Domains blocking all Gitbook URLS: post-mortem

#50

Just out of curiosity- when Google is infamous for hard-to-reach human support, what in the Internet would make anyone interested to register their domain with them? Do they provide some sort of security or insurance that I am unaware of? All the popular dedicated domain registrars I have used so far have excellent human support. Godaddy, namecheap, namesilo to name a few. I don't know if big companies or corporate u…

Living in an autocracy is perfectly comfortable up until very moment it no longer is
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