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Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com

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

#481

Post by IggleSniggle »

jefftk wrote: post #182
echelon wrote: post #107

Back when I was in college, GoDaddy let my at the time close friend break into my account and steal several of my domains, including https://strategywiki.org . This was while I was on an overseas study and couldn't regularly check in. GoDaddy gave me no recourse to dispute. He had server access because I trusted him. He wasn't supposed to have access to my domain account, and I didn't share my credentials. I had anot…

That sounds really unpleasant! It's not clear to me, though, what you're saying GoDaddy did wrong?

> GoDaddy gave me no recourse to dispute. He had server access because I trusted him. He wasn't supposed to have access to my domain account, and I didn't share my credentials.

Seems pretty clear that although they had server credentials, they were never given any account credentials, but they were able to get into the account and transfer ownership anyway.

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

#483

Post by burnte »

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 use Namecheap and I'm happy. However, this is known behavior from GoDaddy. You can't really say a lot because you're a competitor, but I can because I've seen them do it and many other shady things to customers.

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

#484

Post by snowwrestler »

thiht wrote: post #111
Marc_Bryan wrote: post #64

They are a bigtime scammers. Recently was assisting a friend to get access to a domain name which was registered in godaddy. They scammed him for a couple of hundred dollars for contacting the domain owner to get a deal on the domain and eventually nothing happened. Not even a mail was sent on behalf the scammed money as we found that the domain was owned by another friend and eventually got it transferred. He confir…

If the domain was a a gTLD or new gTLD (more than 2 characters on the TLD), they could get sanctioned by the ICANN, if you decided to report them. If it was a ccTLD (2 characters on the TLD), they could also be sanctioned, depending on the rules of the extension. The sanction can range from a (huge) fee, to a revocation of their accreditation, so it's not nothing.

Why would they be sanctioned? If GoDaddy is the registrar for a domain, GoDaddy knows who the real owner is. They have to, per ICANN rules.

And if GoDaddy reaches out to that customer on behalf of another customer, they don't reveal any private information. Each customer only sees their own interaction with GoDaddy. They don't see each others' info.

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

#485

Post by rayalez »

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 have switched to Namecheap from GoDaddy, and it's been great. I've been using Namecheap for a few years now, and never had an issue.

Just wanted to add my opinion to the thread and thank you guys for a very good service.

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

#486

Post by Igelau »

samaxe wrote: post #394
ThePadawan wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> brian1999@yahoo.com I'd be interested to know what percentage of 21 year olds know what yahoo is (they would have sold Tumblr right around them being 18 years old).

You assume 1999 is their birth year...could be a graduation year.

Or a random year. I like using random dates in usernames.

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

#487

Post by timcederman »

timdev2 wrote: post #463
timcederman wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi Ted - can you speak to Namecheap's stance on bulk spam domain registrations and the fact that Namecheap does nothing to stop it? There has been (at least in the Bay Area) a large increase in text spam. They all have a very similar format, e.g. pretending you missed a delivery, and try to get you to click on a link, usually a .info domain. They are all hosted on Alibaba Cloud, but they are registered in bulk via Na…

> How do you feel about registering hate speech in a domain name, or someone else's trademark? In the US, all kinds of speech is "awful but lawful", including hate speech. I don't think registrars should be policing legal speech. If there's trademark infringement going on, there are legal processes to which the injured parties can avail themselves. If there's more serious criminality afoot, law enforcement should gen…

It's not a legal requirement for them (AFAIK) to make decisions on allowing someone to register a domain or not. They're a private business, so my argument is it's (probably) in their best interest to not upset their customers and partners. There are plenty of examples of limits on almost all registrars, and I was curious why they have such a hands-off stance on bulk registrations very clearly being used for illegal activities. Ted's answer gives me partial insight, but my takeaway is not enough damage, legal risk, or people complaining to say no to the money.

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

#488

Post by ryan-allen »

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 used namecheap for over a decade, very happy customer :)

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

#489

Post by IgorPartola »

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…

That’s really good insight, thank you. I am curious why everything isn’t just tied into Whois since that is what I typically use to do quick lookups.

Also, will Namecheap ever add a second factor method that isn’t SMS? Security aside, logging in just feels clunky.

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

#490

Post by esdf »

rconti wrote: post #442
filmgirlcw wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use a combo of porkbun, Namecheap, Google domains (primarily all the .dev stuff from that landrush), hover (some legacy stuff) and Isnic (the Icelandic registrar for .is domains). I like Porkbun quite a bit but sometimes Namecheap is cheaper or it’s easier to just add to that account. I think I can proudly say I’ve never used GoDaddy as a registrar, but I’ve been with some bad ones over the last 20 years so I can’t…

I found it interesting that Ted mentions Namecheap searching .is. I have a .is domain through Isnic (actually just renewed yesterday), and I'm using 1984 for DNS because Isnic requires a domestic NS provider. But Ted's comment implies you can register .is through Namecheap. I wonder how/if they get around the Icelandic NS host problem.

ISNIC doesn't require domestic NS providers. They do require the nameservers to register a contact though. https://www.isnic.is/en/domain/req#req-hosts
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