11–20 of 38 posts
Assuming the author submitted this, the sentence starting with "On what planet is a customer" appears to be a fragment.
Might not be the best contructed sentence, but it's a complete one. "On what planet is a customer, expressing a very clear wish, asking you to do something for them."
Here's some background. Each and every registrar, whether they are selling 1000 domains a year or a million pays exactly the same for .com/net/ domains. The variable cost is identical and essentially set by Verisign/PIR/Afilias and ICANN. As much as large registrars want you to believe they make it up on volume that isn't what's going on. They are selling you extra services and things that you don't need. There is simply no way to make money in domains at the prices out there unless you do that. It's that simple. Now I'm not even talking about the pre checked boxes that Dave is referring to. I'm just talking about taking advantage of people who don't understand what they need and what they should buy. (Like getting privacy protection on a domain used in a business as only one example under the guise of protecting you against spam and protecting privacy!). Or worthless cctld's
Now of course there is nothing new about this. It's similar to many things in technology. Such as selling a computer and making people think they need a large fast processor even if the are only surfing the web or using the computer for email (as only one example).
(Note: On .org and .info PIR/Afilias sometimes run rebates if a registrar exceeds a certain level of domains from the previous year or time period. But as everyone knows the bulk of domains are .com)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What the GP means is that the domain registrar business is what Scott Adams calls a "confusopoly". Just like banks and telco companies, registrars know that they can't compete on price alone, so instead they convolute their products and offerings as much as possible just to make it look as differentiation, but the main purpose is to make sure that the customer has no way to objectively compare two companies. As much…
Namecheap's $10 for a domain, $10 for a renewal, and has single-domain Comodo certs for $8.95 (wildcard certs for $89, which isn't the cheapest but is below average). I'm pretty sure that's a "cheap registrar".
With namecheap, they list as $10, but you can get the price even lower and use the code "SOPASucks"*
* Conditions apply. Conditions also apply.
All of these "conditions apply" kind of makes the point of my argument. For every $8.95 cert offer, there is another offer where you get a free cert by purchasing the domain name, or by transferring from some competitor, or by renewing some existing domain.
It is a true confusopoly. These schemes to extract more money from consumers may be slightly more or less scammy, but ALL domain registrars engage in these practices.
The sad part of it is that in the end, I don't know if I'd be better off being scammed into paying an extra $4/month for some service I'm not using, or being "socially conscious" and paying more to a company that does not pull these tricks, but that can only keep itself in business by charging higher prices.
...we've lost our focus on the real problem. This isn't internic. It's just a company in a commodity market whose service and policies people seem to dislike, but are about as far from a monopoly as you can get. They are relevant because we keep talking about them.
GoDaddy, like a bunch of other giant non-monopoly companies such as banks, cable co's, phone companies, etc. steal from their customers with fraudulent nickle and dime charges. Happens all the time and it collectively costs consumers billions of dollars a year. I'm confused by what your objection is with a prominent blogger pointing this out. Should people just keep quiet and let other customers be defrauded?
whoa now, that's quite the claim. I'm no GoDaddy fan, but come on.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
GoDaddy, like a bunch of other giant non-monopoly companies such as banks, cable co's, phone companies, etc. steal from their customers with fraudulent nickle and dime charges. Happens all the time and it collectively costs consumers billions of dollars a year. I'm confused by what your objection is with a prominent blogger pointing this out. Should people just keep quiet and let other customers be defrauded?
> steal from their customers with fraudulent nickle and dime charges whoa now, that's quite the claim. I'm no GoDaddy fan, but come on.
(Sorry -- a little bit of crankiness ahead. I'll try to moderate my tone accordingly.) OK, I've flagged this. Not only are the GoDaddy articles on the front page here getting out of hand, but this article adds literally nothing to any discussion anywhere. I'm sure the author is a wonderful and intelligent person, but this particular article is completely useless. In particular, I am completely underwhelmed by anybody…
As a competitor of godaddy's that charges what some, no actually most, believe is an exorbitant rate for domains (compared to godaddy) we hear every day from people who want to know why we charge what we do. Why? Because we don't sell you things you don't need and lure you in with low pricing, loss leaders or bait and switch. Here's some background. Each and every registrar, whether they are selling 1000 domains a ye…
(Sorry -- a little bit of crankiness ahead. I'll try to moderate my tone accordingly.) OK, I've flagged this. Not only are the GoDaddy articles on the front page here getting out of hand, but this article adds literally nothing to any discussion anywhere. I'm sure the author is a wonderful and intelligent person, but this particular article is completely useless. In particular, I am completely underwhelmed by anybody…
GoDaddy is the largest and best-known registrar. For people who don't know much about something, picking a large and familiar option is a common heuristic. That feels safe.
What will make it feel unsafe is frequently hearing bad things about them. Novice domain purchasers won't often read Hacker News or know who Dave Winer is, but they could well have a friend who does. Articles like this (and repeated Hacker News discussions about GoDaddy sucking) make it more likely that average consumers will hear enough negative buzz that they'll pick somebody else. I'm all for it.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
GoDaddy, like a bunch of other giant non-monopoly companies such as banks, cable co's, phone companies, etc. steal from their customers with fraudulent nickle and dime charges. Happens all the time and it collectively costs consumers billions of dollars a year. I'm confused by what your objection is with a prominent blogger pointing this out. Should people just keep quiet and let other customers be defrauded?
> steal from their customers with fraudulent nickle and dime charges whoa now, that's quite the claim. I'm no GoDaddy fan, but come on.
People have already talked about the confusion the generate with pricing, upselling, and renewing. But the other day I got an email that said:
"You are the administrator on record for the following domains listed for sale at Go Daddy Auctions:"
And it listed a domain I've had for 15 years, one that isn't even listed with GoDaddy. I thought somebody had hijacked my domain.
Turns out it was all a scam. They were just trying to get me to use their assorted services. They said that "someone" had listed my domain there, but couldn't say who or when. When I asked to be taken off their mailing lists, they told me there was no list to be taken off of, but that yes, they might send me more bogus notices at any time. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, the guy flat-out refused. Eventually he called me names and hung up on me.
As far as I'm concerned, they're assholes and scammers. They compete on marketing and the ability to confuse the rubes. I can only hope that Jon Postel's vengeful spirit haunts them unto suicide.