Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever • Hacker News Board

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#111

Post by caryme » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 6:02 PM UTC

pieter wrote: post #20

I agree with GoDaddy being horrible, but this really isn't just their fault. Certificate revocation does exactly what it says. It's a technical term that everyone using SSL should know and understand the implications of. Their offer of creating a new certificate for you for $15 actually sounds pretty decent. And, you don't have backups of all your data and domains? While running your sites on a shared host? This real…

I ran into the same situation the author did when getting SSL for a freelance client of mine.

The problem is that nowhere in GoDaddy's certificate purchasing or setup process do they ask you what domain name you want the certificate to apply to. They just apply it to the "primary" domain on a hosting account, which is basically the first domain you set up and associated with that hosting. I kept expecting that the next step in the setup process would ask me what domain I wanted to use the certificate for until there was no next step and the cert was pending setup on the wrong domain.

At no point did they indicate that their single-domain certificate only works on the primary domain until I was on the phone with customer service before revoking it. We ended up going with a multi-domain cert (which they did give us a discount on) rather than change the primary domain on the hosting account because their service representative said that would require downtime for all the sites on that hosting account.

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#112

Post by jeffbozek » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 6:08 PM UTC

joelhaus wrote: post #109

jamesbritt wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counter anecdote: I've quite a few domains on GoDaddy. I've transfered a few over the years, both to and from GoDaddy, and while the steps where not explained clearly I never had an issue where I was prevented from controlling my domains. I also used their DNS service for the first time last month and found it pretty straightforward. Maybe I wasn't trying to do something that would have been complex (I didn't set up…

I share both your criticism and praise, but would add that GoDaddy allowed me to do bulk contact editing which (along with pricing) was the reason I switched to them c. 3 years ago. Margins may be low, but the domain registrar market seems ripe for disruption. Are there any interesting upstarts in this space?

I'm taking a stab at simple registrations and management with Coffee & Domains (https://www.coffeeanddomains.com).

The goal was to make a domain name registration and management system I'd like to use. That means no upselling and no charging for standard services like whois privacy, url forwarding, and email forwarding.

I also made it easy to set your domain names to not auto-renew and to transfer away your name.

There is also no magical price change the second year or hidden fees that show up at the end of the purchasing process.

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#113

Post by mgkimsal » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 6:37 PM UTC

GoGlobal wrote: post #56

KaeseEs wrote: post #3

No one should use GoDaddy, ever; there are many other registrars in their price range that don't share their onerous practices with regards to transfer, takedown, security and privacy and which have much better customer service.

which 1?

I've got most domains with omnis.com now - still have some with godaddy, but I move them over when I can. omnis has been fine for me for the past 2-3 years, haven't had price increases yet, and I get a small discount > 50 domains - my per domain cost is $8.20/year IIRC.

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#114

Post by dholowiski » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 6:37 PM UTC

wvenable wrote: post #58

pieter wrote: post #20

I agree with GoDaddy being horrible, but this really isn't just their fault. Certificate revocation does exactly what it says. It's a technical term that everyone using SSL should know and understand the implications of. Their offer of creating a new certificate for you for $15 actually sounds pretty decent. And, you don't have backups of all your data and domains? While running your sites on a shared host? This real…

Backups don't matter in this case. What is he going to do with backups?

His sites were down for "days". If he had backups he could have restored the sites to a different server.

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#115

Post by sneak » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 6:47 PM UTC

nicpottier wrote: post #65

Does this really even need to be said here? A single visit to GoDaddy and their insane upselling strategies should be enough to disuade anyone that they are in it for anything but ripping you off. namecheap.com has been quite pleasant so far. I used joker.com for years before that without complaint as well. Plenty of reasonable options out there.

Another vote for joker.com. I use them because they are not based in the US, but in Germany, which may result in a smidgeon more sanity when it comes to yanking delegations without court rulings. Maybe.

Also, they are nerds and pgp sign all of their outgoing emails.

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#116

Post by iaskwhy » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 6:58 PM UTC

jeffbozek wrote: post #112

joelhaus wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I share both your criticism and praise, but would add that GoDaddy allowed me to do bulk contact editing which (along with pricing) was the reason I switched to them c. 3 years ago. Margins may be low, but the domain registrar market seems ripe for disruption. Are there any interesting upstarts in this space?

I'm taking a stab at simple registrations and management with Coffee & Domains ( https://www.coffeeanddomains.com ). The goal was to make a domain name registration and management system I'd like to use. That means no upselling and no charging for standard services like whois privacy, url forwarding, and email forwarding. I also made it easy to set your domain names to not auto-renew and to transfer away your name. T…

Sorry for asking this under such a nice idea but what happens to those who have domains with a company that goes out of business?

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#117

Post by mmahemoff » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 7:00 PM UTC

drivebyacct2 wrote: post #5

Why is this news?! I can't count the number of times this has come up on HN, let alone reddit, let alone random prominent blogs, let alone from other big names that have had problems with GoDaddy suspending service, locking them out of their control panels and/or siding with law enforcement and acting before asking. Stop using GoDaddy. It's trivial to find other registrars, and not hard to find better ones. (Examples…

Stopped using it years ago. A little research should prevent people using it in the first place. I know reviews for any host are usually bad on average, but with GoDaddy, there ought to be enough scathing reviews to ward people off in the first place.

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#118

Post by ohashi » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 7:01 PM UTC

jeffbozek wrote: post #112

joelhaus wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I share both your criticism and praise, but would add that GoDaddy allowed me to do bulk contact editing which (along with pricing) was the reason I switched to them c. 3 years ago. Margins may be low, but the domain registrar market seems ripe for disruption. Are there any interesting upstarts in this space?

I'm taking a stab at simple registrations and management with Coffee & Domains ( https://www.coffeeanddomains.com ). The goal was to make a domain name registration and management system I'd like to use. That means no upselling and no charging for standard services like whois privacy, url forwarding, and email forwarding. I also made it easy to set your domain names to not auto-renew and to transfer away your name. T…

How do you deal with increasing registry fee of 7% annually then?

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#119

Post by ohashi » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 7:06 PM UTC

mikeleeorg wrote: post #85

akkartik wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How long have you been using it?

I'll chime in. I've been using them since 2007. For me, they're nice and straight-forward. They don't offer any bulk discounts (NN% off for 5 years, etc), but they do occasionally hold sales. They also raised their rates a few times. When I first joined, they were $8.88/mo. Then they went to $9.29/mo, then $9.69/mo, and now $10.16/mo. Arguably, this may be one of their downsides, but I've never minded. I believe othe…

You realize VeriSign increases the registry fee 7% each year. NameCheap from my calculation is actually eating into their own margin each year slightly.

I used to use them back in around 2004, love the company, owner is wonderful. Only reason I don't use them is I got a much better deal at Fabulous.com which is designed for large portfolios. I still recommend them to basically anyone looking for a registrar that isn't holding 100 domains or more.

Re: Startups should not use GoDaddy. Ever

#120

Post by jeffbozek » Wed, Sep 07, 2011, 7:14 PM UTC

ohashi wrote: post #118

jeffbozek wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm taking a stab at simple registrations and management with Coffee & Domains ( https://www.coffeeanddomains.com ). The goal was to make a domain name registration and management system I'd like to use. That means no upselling and no charging for standard services like whois privacy, url forwarding, and email forwarding. I also made it easy to set your domain names to not auto-renew and to transfer away your name. T…

How do you deal with increasing registry fee of 7% annually then?

Good question. I did not mean to be misleading. I was referring to having an initial yearly fee of, say, $8.99 but hidden in the fine print a renewal fee of $12.99. I can't control the yearly rate increases but I'll always just have one fee regardless of transfer, renewal, or initial registration. Sorry for the confusion.