GoDaddy Hosting

[Gene Steinberg]

I know to many people who have had issues with their domain service to agree with this (Myself included).

Namecheap is a much better service for domains.

Issues being?

I've had domains at GoDaddy without issues, though I gather they are infamous for being too proactive with potential content-related issues that might involve a domain, such as claims about spam, pirated content and so on and so forth.

Namecheap is very good, and offers a better rate if you want WHOIS privacy (free the first year, dirt cheap thereafter). But there are registrars that give you the privacy feature free.

 

[Dodgeboard]

Issues being?

I've had domains at GoDaddy without issues, though I gather they are infamous for being too proactive with potential content-related issues that might involve a domain, such as claims about spam, pirated content and so on and so forth.

Namecheap is very good, and offers a better rate if you want WHOIS privacy (free the first year, dirt cheap thereafter). But there are registrars that give you the privacy feature free.

Looks very cheap. I may have to consider them when my domains come up for renewal.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Looks very cheap. I may have to consider them when my domains come up for renewal.

You can always transfer to another domain 60 days after you've moved or made a change. Registrars will simply extend your registration for another year when you pay for the transfer service.

 

[jadmperry]

I have used GoDaddy for about 4 years. I have never had any problems, but, then again, I have nothing to compare their service to so it is hard to quantify or give any further insight. Small board, 40k posts, 15k members. As for when I have needed technical support for minor issues, I have always gotten great support.

I am not sure this should be considered a ringing endorsement. But, I think they are fine.

 

[Forsaken]

Issues being?

I've had domains at GoDaddy without issues, though I gather they are infamous for being too proactive with potential content-related issues that might involve a domain, such as claims about spam, pirated content and so on and so forth.

Namecheap is very good, and offers a better rate if you want WHOIS privacy (free the first year, dirt cheap thereafter). But there are registrars that give you the privacy feature free.

Most of the issues had to do with compromised accounts, and the amount of hassle they had to deal with to get access back (And sometimes their domains). Similarly, the same incident was cleared up much faster on the end of Namecheap (Both accounts were tied to an email that had been socially engineered).

They also are known to have a suspend first, ask questions later policy towards domains (Or thats been the experience of myself and friends), and was the main reason I left them.

I've never had issues with Namecheap, and I've got enough domains that they give me discount on any renewals and new orders. You do pay for the Whois Guard, but they also keep you completely private unless they're contacted by a law enforcement agency (Not all registrars do this). As far as support and stability, I'd say Namecheap hands down.

Looks very cheap. I may have to consider them when my domains come up for renewal.

I recommend them over almost any other service (I also recommend http://gandi.net if you're looking for less common extensions).

 

[Dodgeboard]

You can always transfer to another domain 60 days after you've moved or made a change. Registrars will simply extend your registration for another year when you pay for the transfer service.

Upon your suggestion, I looked at NameCheap. Looked great and I was ready to transfer. I started a chat session with a sales rep, but ran into a snag. In order for them to transfer your domains, you must turn off privacy protection on all your domains. I am not willing to do that on a couple of my domains. One of my forums is a community speak-out forum where discussions of local government corruption occasionally is posted. Listing my identity publicly on that domain would result in subpena's in the mail. So that's a show-stopper. Too bad, too. That would have meant 12 domains for them.

 

[Forsaken]

Upon your suggestion, I looked at NameCheap. Looked great and I was ready to transfer. I started a chat session with a sales rep, but ran into a snag. In order for them to transfer your domains, you must turn off privacy protection on all your domains. I am not willing to do that on a couple of my domains. One of my forums is a community speak-out forum where discussions of local government corruption occasionally is posted. Listing my identity publicly on that domain would result in subpena's in the mail. So that's a show-stopper. Too bad, too. That would have meant 12 domains for them.

You'll have to do that with every registrar, as it's a requirement of transferring domains.

 

[EQnoble]

I have used GoDaddy for about 4 years. I have never had any problems, but, then again, I have nothing to compare their service to so it is hard to quantify or give any further insight. Small board, 40k posts, 15k members. As for when I have needed technical support for minor issues, I have always gotten great support.

I am not sure this should be considered a ringing endorsement. But, I think they are fine.

I say whatever works for you works...if you can use gd hosting and your site plays out fine...don't change a damn thing.
_

For those looking for hosting...most solid hosting companies that have a solid product will give you a free/discounted month when you purchase....if it doesn't meet up to your expectations within a month...cut an run...try out a different one.

I could recommend what works for me....but it may not work for you and that is the point I am trying to make. You need to get your hands dirty and get up in the mix of things or you will never have the answer. As a note I know someone who runs a decent community on free hosting services, in summation you really need to just test the waters and find out what works for you...there really is no more of a solid answer than that.

 

[Dodgeboard]

You'll have to do that with every registrar, as it's a requirement of transferring domains.

looks like I'll be stuck at GD then, for years to come.

Aren't there sites out there that show domain ownership changes? Like archive.org? If you make it public, even for a second, it's out there...forever. So you may as well not ever even make it private again...waste of money.

 

[EQnoble]

I mean that is just your registrar though...and at best you only MUST deal with it 1nce a year. You can still host other places. I mean I love my hosting but if there was a service that was just head and shoulders above it I would be inclined to switch it up a bit. In the end though, my domain name can just stay at that registar no matter where I move.

Personally I can see no reason to consider moving away from godaddy at the moment, so I have to ask what are the real benefits I am going to get by moving my domains and new purchases over to a new spot?

 

[Dodgeboard]

Cost savings...?

 

[EQnoble]

How much are we talking though? (let's assume the privacy protection thing is not an issue at all) Is this a savings that will continue year to year on renew?

 

[Floris]

Issues being?

I've had domains at GoDaddy without issues, though I gather they are infamous for being too proactive with potential content-related issues that might involve a domain, such as claims about spam, pirated content and so on and so forth.

Namecheap is very good, and offers a better rate if you want WHOIS privacy (free the first year, dirt cheap thereafter). But there are registrars that give you the privacy feature free.

Issues being that you basically don't have control over the domain, are limited to what godaddy allows you to do, get very crappy support on it when needed. And when it counts, because of their restrictions you end up with quite a risk of losing your domain.

As soon as they notice you got a bulk of domains and want to transfer away, almost all of them get locked, etc. Without you doing anything. And if you change 1 thing, they claim that the domain was managed, and can't be transferred for 90 days, etc. Despite that expiry dates are closing in.

They don't want to lose a customer, because they stay popular and big if their numbers are big.

It's the vBulletin of domain registrars, and I am glad I've moved to Namecheap. With all 200+ domain names. After 2 years of fighting over ownership, the ability to transfer something or update records, to actually properly manage them without losing settings and what not .. it was time to let go and stop wasting money.

A lot of ppl register, get it to point somewhere and never look back - and then claim they never have problems.

That's right, they don't do anything with their domain. They don't control name servers, or custom servers, don't setup fallover, mx records, sub domains, 25+ round robin pools, etc. And therefor never see the real problems nor realize how godaddy believes strongly they are the full owner of the domain, and are basically just holding it for you as long as you pay them ahead of time. Rather then helping you own a domain via their service.

 

[Forsaken]

Issues being that you basically don't have control over the domain, are limited to what godaddy allows you to do, get very crappy support on it when needed. And when it counts, because of their restrictions you end up with quite a risk of losing your domain.

As soon as they notice you got a bulk of domains and want to transfer away, almost all of them get locked, etc. Without you doing anything. And if you change 1 thing, they claim that the domain was managed, and can't be transferred for 90 days, etc. Despite that expiry dates are closing in.

They don't want to lose a customer, because they stay popular and big if their numbers are big.

It's the vBulletin of domain registrars, and I am glad I've moved to Namecheap. With all 200+ domain names. After 2 years of fighting over ownership, the ability to transfer something or update records, to actually properly manage them without losing settings and what not .. it was time to let go and stop wasting money.

A lot of ppl register, get it to point somewhere and never look back - and then claim they never have problems.

That's right, they don't do anything with their domain. They don't control name servers, or custom servers, don't setup fallover, mx records, sub domains, 25+ round robin pools, etc. And therefor never see the real problems nor realize how godaddy believes strongly they are the full owner of the domain, and are basically just holding it for you as long as you pay them ahead of time. Rather then helping you own a domain via their service.

Its a requirement that domains are older than 60-90 days for a transfer, that isn't just GoDaddy's policy.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Yes, one of those ICANN things.

I've never had problems transferring domains from GoDaddy or anyone else for that matter. Although I have domains at GoDaddy, rather than pay the full price for WHOIS privacy the second year (they give it to you free for a year with five or more transfers in one shot), I might move them elsewhere.

Note that 1and1 and DreamHost, for example, give you free domain privacy. Not such a big deal for a handful of domains, but when you're dealing with dozens or more, the annual bills can accumulate if you need privacy.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

You'll have to do that with every registrar, as it's a requirement of transferring domains.

It's only for the few days it takes to transfer. You shouldn't have it public long enough to become a huge spam magnet, unless there's another issue that creates the need for privacy.

 

[Floris]

Its a requirement that domains are older than 60-90 days for a transfer, that isn't just GoDaddy's policy.

Very true, but they require you to edit your domain in some situations before you can transfer it. Therefor you trigger this nonsense. Stuff that doesn't happen with other registrars, including namecheap.

I've had 4 domains lost, because they refused to allow me to transfer it, because I needed to make a single character change to them.

But whatever. After spending 2 years trying to get domains in my full control, I am glad I am away from that company, and I can only warn others. If people have no problems with them that's fine with me.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

OK, here's my experience as of this week.

With one of my domains, theparacast.tv, up for renewal by the end of the year, I opted to move the registration from GoDaddy to Dreamhost, to get free WHOIS privacy, and save a few bucks.

Both GoDaddy and Dreamhost document the same procedure, which involves canceling WHOIS privacy at GD if you have it, unlocking the domain and, if needed, requesting the authorization number (the latter isn't needed for .tv).

So, technically, I did make a change, from private to public registration, and a second change in unlocking the domain for transfer.

However, the process went forth without a hitch. No delays. I just acknowledged the email received to accept the transfer, and that was it. As of this morning, the transfer has been completed.

So I don't know about your particular situation. It didn't happen to me.

 

[Dean]

...So, technically, I did make a change, from private to public registration, and a second change in unlocking the domain for transfer...

But in theory couldn't you enter fake contact information while that is public? At least the address and phone #?

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Technically that's a violation of ICANN's terms. If you have an invalid WHOIS address you could, in theory, lose the domain if you're caught. Obviously the email has to be accurate, so you can acknowledge the transfer request. But I'm not so worried that a few days will suddenly turn my mailbox into a spam bin. I have 30 or so domains and, during the brief period when they may have been public to allow for transfers, I've not had a problem.