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Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

status.gandi.net

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Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#261

Post by [deleted] »

eg312 wrote: post #27
aosaigh wrote: post #13

I don't have hosting with Gandi, but I do use them for domains and DNS. I'll be considering migrating my domains from them after this. Their response to this is exceptionally poor. To say essentially "this could happen to any other web host" it nonsense. I've never had this happen with any of the providers I've used for hosting and I'd be very angry if I had just lost an entire VPS. The fact that they've lost all sna…

I use Gandi for domains & DNS too. I've never had any problems so far but I don't want any surprises... Where do you want to migrate? What is a better alternative?

[deleted]

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#262

Post by l0b0 »

The "no bullshit" motto is mentioned a few times here. A motto is just another marketing device ­– a way for a company to pretend to have any sort of principles beyond making as much money as fast as possible.

Why would anyone believe a motto is anything other than a marketing device? It is only believable if people follow it contrary to pragmatism. Any company is eventually going to have a fair share of people who believe being pragmatic is more important than their motto. And in Western culture at least it's usually considered rude to bring up the "big guns" and have a fundamental values discussion when everybody just wants the meetings to end and to start making more money.

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#263

Post by porker »

dkarras wrote: post #251

This is like living in an alternate universe, I've been heavily involved in all things programming and webdev for years, following trends and whatnot and it is literally the first time I'm hearing of this particular company. What is (was?) so special about them that they attracted the HN crowd can someone briefly explain? Why would I buy domain from them when something like namecheap, even google domains exists? Why…

> Why would I buy domain from them when something like namecheap, even google domains exists? Why would I even host something there?

If you're in Europe, they're cheap for many European countries' domains.

Back 10-15 years ago they were special because it felt like a hacker kind of company. They gave free WHOIS privacy, what seemed like good DNS control/UI at the time. But it was the WHOIS privacy that got me onto them.

I still use them because they're around half the price for .co.uk than many registrars - and many others I've used have become more rubbish than Gandi has.

All my DNS is hosted elsewhere now, and I never understood why Gandi introduced hosting et al. I've never used it and never would, it seemed a terrible diversification for a good domain registrar.

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#264

Post by corford »

dcchambers wrote: post #85
EnderMB wrote: post #28

Oof, this Twitter thread looks particularly bad, especially the response from the official Gandi account. https://twitter.com/andreaganduglia/status/12151991477012316... While I appreciate that there are real people behind these companies that are probably having a really rough time right now, the criticism that Gandi are getting as a company is justified - and if Gandi are truly a "no bullshit" company they need to…

Wow. I've never used Gandi but I have seen it recommended before as a low-cost option. I will actively encourage people to avoid it from now on. That's scary.

They used to be very good if you wanted a non-scammy registrar with a huge selection of TLDs and ccTLDs. However, in recent years, success seems to have gone to their head and the service is nothing like it used to be (plus their latest control panel UX is an abomination).

Feels like the CEO has made his money, forgotten the company's roots in the process and is happy for Gandi to be just another generic, overpriced registrar running on auto-pilot.

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#265

Post by Tilian »

djmobley wrote: post #6

Gandi have something of a cult following, but in my only experience with them they literally lost my domain name during an inbound transfer. Their response was awful and rude and completely unprofessional. I never got my domain back. Based on that experience, this incident doesn’t surprise me at all.

I very recently transferred a few domains to Gandi, and they also managed to lose one. I had to contact their customer support and they were able to restore it - it was all very strange. Combined with this incident and their responses on social media I'm getting the feeling that I should move them elsewhere again...

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#266

Post by user1980 »

rorykoehler wrote: post #56
aosaigh wrote: post #13

I don't have hosting with Gandi, but I do use them for domains and DNS. I'll be considering migrating my domains from them after this. Their response to this is exceptionally poor. To say essentially "this could happen to any other web host" it nonsense. I've never had this happen with any of the providers I've used for hosting and I'd be very angry if I had just lost an entire VPS. The fact that they've lost all sna…

Same boat. As much as I hate to give Jeff Bezos another penny I can't look further than AWS for everything at this stage.

Don't worry, if you purchase a domain with a .biz (or 300 other junk-tier tLDs) extension from Amazon Route 53, Gandi still gets paid[1].

[1] https://docs.aws.amazon.com/Route53/latest/DeveloperGuide/re...

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#267

Post by TheChaplain »

anonred wrote: post #218

Gandi is the absolute worst. The last time I tried buying a domain through them, they took my money and then demanded "identification" via government ID (citing some bullshit in their ToS). I refused, so they closed my account and took the domain with them. Based on that, I'm not surprised at all by their CEO's response to this incident[0]: >If we led you to believe that you had nothing to do on your side when warned…

I had exactly this problem too but with NameCheap. Told them to put their id request and my money somewhere and left for Gandi.

After more than 8 years with Gandi, not had a single issue with them.

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#268

Post by thrwaway69 »

heurist wrote: post #153
rorykoehler wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same boat. As much as I hate to give Jeff Bezos another penny I can't look further than AWS for everything at this stage.

FWIW, I've found GCP a pleasure to work with in comparison to AWS.

I found their dashboard pretty sluggish in some parts.

I had one weird incidence with trying to host wireguard on it, I couldn't get it to work reliably even after changing MCU to suit them or trying other fixes.

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#269

Post by benhurmarcel »

capableweb wrote: post #232
Operyl wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They never had a real "no bullshit" policy. When I had my domains with them, I had been asked to verify my identity 34 times in 12 months. 34 separate fucking times. Because "ICANN says so" or some stupid shit (their words, not mine). It stopped the moment I moved to Google Domains, where they asked once and never again. EDIT: And, to make things worse, each time I was threatened with the "confiscation" of my domain,…

Since you're giving a anecdote, let me do the same. I have about 30-40 domains with Gandi, and have been using it for about ten years. I don't remember ever verifying my identity, but guess I most have done it at least once. I have not been asked to verify anything for at least the last five years of using it. Disclaimer: I don't work there or have any relationship, except I'm a happy customer

Same, I've been using Gandi for DNS and email for 9 years, without any issue or request on their side.

Re: Gandi loses data, customers told to use their own backups

#270

Post by squeaky-clean »

mystcb wrote: post #257
brianwawok wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect a human gets a dump of them and decides which to pay the $10 for. For example, asdasdahbdajsdbajdbhsbdahsdd.com... not worth the $10 ireallylikechicken.com... maybe worth the $10? (ireallylikechicken.com is available, go squat it and get rich)

I am sure, in the past, one of the domain registrars took the liberty of actually registering your searched domain, deliberately, so that you had to go through them to get the domain later on? - I can't remember who it was, but it was an automated process. I know it was very shortly stopped once people complained, but it goes to show that it has been done before. Getting rich off domain's - sounds like a solid busine…

I've got no evidence except anecdptes, but I've heard claims that GoDaddy used to do this a lot. For this reason I've only searched a domain I was going to immediately buy, otherwise I'll do a whois lookup to see if it's registered.
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