Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com • Hacker News Board

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#241

Post by Flowsion » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:53 PM UTC

ted0 wrote: post #226

Ted from Namecheap here. I cannot speak to GoDaddy's practices. However, I can say that for Namecheap, this is not something we would ever even consider doing. In my experience though, lookups are more complex than most think. We are querying so many different sources to give you availability status, some of which are less reliable than others. For example, with smaller TLDs like .ai or .is, lookups may be less relia…

I've been using Namecheap for domains and domain searches since at least 2009. I haven't used any of their other services, besides their WHOISGuard offerings.

I have never had issues with them stealing domains after searches or any other problems w/ my account.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#242

Post by dublin » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:53 PM UTC

adityapatadia wrote: post #152

aerovistae wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recommendations for superior alternatives? I'm an indifferent GoDaddy user but would be happy to switch to something else since I've never liked them as a company.

We use AWS Route 53 for domain registration. Works like a charm.

If your servers are in AWS, then Route53 is a no-brainer - it lets you do things no other DNS host can do, and it's infinitely better plumbed into the AWS ecosystem (CloudFormation automation, etc.)

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#243

Post by ted0 » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:53 PM UTC

Flowsion wrote: post #241

ted0 wrote: post #226

Ted from Namecheap here. I cannot speak to GoDaddy's practices. However, I can say that for Namecheap, this is not something we would ever even consider doing. In my experience though, lookups are more complex than most think. We are querying so many different sources to give you availability status, some of which are less reliable than others. For example, with smaller TLDs like .ai or .is, lookups may be less relia…

I've been using Namecheap for domains and domain searches since at least 2009. I haven't used any of their other services, besides their WHOISGuard offerings. I have never had issues with them stealing domains after searches or any other problems w/ my account.

Thank you for being a longtime customer. We appreciate you!

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#244

Post by narwally » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

wenc wrote: post #119

mdorazio wrote: post #33

I had this happen as well in the past when researching domain names for a new product. Pro Tip: Stay the hell away from GoDaddy for everything. I've had the unfortunate task of managing a server hosted with them and it's been consistently awful (ex. I literally cannot upgrade PHP because the VPS doesn't support it and there is no upgrade path without spinning up an entirely new VPS on a different, and of course more…

Godaddy spammed me so much and so often that I transferred my domain to porkbun.com. It's been so problem-free that I couldn't even remember the provider's name -- I had to WHOIS my domain to figure out who was hosting it.

I've been really happy with Gandi on this front. I just checked, and I haven't received an email from them since I had to confirm my email address two months ago.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#245

Post by tubularhells » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

I wonder if I search for extremely offensive domain names, will GoDaddy register those too? Worth a try!

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#246

Post by axaxs » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:55 PM UTC

Shorel wrote: post #163

aerovistae wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recommendations for superior alternatives? I'm an indifferent GoDaddy user but would be happy to switch to something else since I've never liked them as a company.

Basically everyone else is a superior alternative. I use gandi.net because every domain includes email hosting. And France privacy laws.

Same, but different reasons. I just like seeing 'No Bullshit' on their site, since that's basically what I'm thinking when looking for such services.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#247

Post by BrianOnHN » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:56 PM UTC

kovacs wrote: post #213

cloudwizard wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whenever I talk to startups, I check their domain. If they are on GoDaddy, it means that they are technically incompetent.

Absolutely. You sound like someone that could really be of benefit to my latest startup. We're doing bigly things. If you're interested in finding out more drop me a line... gator3827@aol.com

Wow, samesies!

brian1999@yahoo.com

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#248

Post by TaylorGood » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:57 PM UTC

I have a theory that GoDaddy also sells domain search quieries to HugeDomains. After the third domain I finally learned. Basically would mash two words together that were brandable, low letter count and all three times, within 24 hours HugeDomains purchased and put up a landing page selling said domain for $1.5k-$3k. Wtf, but doesn't surprise me if so. GoDaddy is the king of funnels.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#249

Post by edoceo » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:58 PM UTC

cloudwizard wrote: post #184

mdorazio wrote: post #33

I had this happen as well in the past when researching domain names for a new product. Pro Tip: Stay the hell away from GoDaddy for everything. I've had the unfortunate task of managing a server hosted with them and it's been consistently awful (ex. I literally cannot upgrade PHP because the VPS doesn't support it and there is no upgrade path without spinning up an entirely new VPS on a different, and of course more…

Whenever I talk to startups, I check their domain. If they are on GoDaddy, it means that they are technically incompetent.

There is another option here.

I'm technically competent but have one domain on GoDaddy for a startup I'm handling.

See, the domain we wanted was after market, and the purchase deal was done through a service that requires GD as the registrar.

So, after $12000 for the domain, we have to wait before we can transfer into our AWS.

Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

#250

Post by narwally » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 6:59 PM UTC

Shorel wrote: post #163

aerovistae wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recommendations for superior alternatives? I'm an indifferent GoDaddy user but would be happy to switch to something else since I've never liked them as a company.

Basically everyone else is a superior alternative. I use gandi.net because every domain includes email hosting. And France privacy laws.

No spam either. Their UI is also really transparent. You can even edit all of your DNS records as a single plain text file.