GoDaddy is imo the literal worst registrar. It's unfortunate how often they're a go-to name for people, but hopefully it won't last forever.
An example where marketing to average person works quite well.
Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
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Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#212I 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…
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.
Big fan of NearlyFreeSpeech.net and use them for any TLD they support, unfortunately not including some of the newer more esoteric ones like ".cool", but I'm sure that's probably in the works. I moved over from GoDaddy after GoDaddy pulled down seclists.org for Myspace with no due process: https://mashable.com/2007/01/25/myspace-godaddy/
Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#213I 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.
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
Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#214This sounds like something that could be easily exploited - search for a bunch of nonsense domains on godaddy, let them register every one of them, at some point that becomes unprofitable. Use the xkcd algorithm - horse-battery-staple.com, parrot-bananna-nachos.com, dog-cat-chicken.com, etc. Even if they only pay a couple dollars each it becomes unprofitable at some point.
Front running domains used to be a widespread practice but I thought it was abolished at some point before all the new TLDs were added.
Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
Searching (on DDG) for "Bill Hartzer" and "GoDaddy" doesn't turn up any obvious affiliation. There are DNS related articles by "Bill Hartzer", but they seem more to be calling out places for doing shady crap. Including GoDaddy (for front running?). eg: https://www.billhartzer.com/domain-names/godaddy-caught-regi... That's just an initial impression anyway. ;)
I ran into an article on GoDaddy's blog [1], that's why I thought of an affiliation. Might still be a random coincidence, there are probably quite a few people sharing the name with a certain German cheese. [1] https://www.godaddy.com/garage/what-is-deep-linking-and-how-...
Oh, that does look like there's a relationship between them.
Good find. :)
Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whenever I talk to startups, I check their domain. If they are on GoDaddy, it means that they are technically incompetent.
Not necessarily. I used to think that, but it's rather common for the person with the idea to just go and buy the domain on GoDaddy. Then they'll search for technical people to implement their idea. So being hosted there is not necessarily connected with the people actually doing the work. I think you may be used to cases where the startup idea generator and implementer is the same person. But it's not always that wa…
Yeah, I joined a startup as the first engineer and inherited a GoDaddy registration, which the non-technical founder had purchased. I may have been technically incompetent but the startup's GoDaddy registration had nothing to do with it. :-)
Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#217I 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…
Then they must hand select the ones they frontrun because I’ve looked up silly names to see if they did this )like a bunch of random stupid queries like bvrankdorfgherbd.com and I don’t think they squat those. Of course I’m still leery and never use them to search for my actual target domains.
Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#218It's odd I search on GoDaddy every other day and never had this happen. I wonder how they decide you fit the buy profile.
Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#219I had this issue with a registrar (I assume it was Network Solutions because they kept it in holding) many years ago. My firstnamelastname.com domain was registered and I had to get firstname-lastname.com instead. A year later, the domain wasn’t renewed BUT Network Solutions did this gross thing where they kept the domain in their own escrow/holding area for 90 days before releasing it.
Twitter was very early at the time (this was late 2007 or early 2008) but I happened to have a follower who worked at NetSol who released the domain name so I could get it.
Scammy industry.
I usually trust Namecheap not to do this (porkbun too), but this is why I’ve become accustomed to doing incognito domain searches or searches via the command line and whois to try to curb this sort of stuff.
Re: Tell HN: Never search for domains on Godaddy.com
#220Back 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…
They defrauded you & violated your copyright. If the SoL hasn't passed you might want to consider filing a police report. It's possible that you could get the current registrar to give it back. It seems like they are still violating your copyright, so you might be able to go that avenue if the SoL keeps refreshing as they keep violating it (not sure though). GoDaddy has terminated accounts on copyright grounds before…
Thanks for the feedback.
This happened back in 2008? SoL has definitely lapsed.
I think it's better to just walk away. It hurt a lot at the time, but that pain has largely healed. Thinking about it doesn't cause me pain or regret anymore, just... I feel sorry for them? It doesn't change what I accomplished then. I'm still proud of what I built, and I know it could have been better with me steering it.
Since then, I've continued to build really cool stuff and not let these folks hold me back. My projects have been bigger and have impacted more people. I'm at peace, and I've got a lot to look forward to.