Go Fishy
If you have domains registered and/or hosted by Go Daddy, you might want to read these threads at Daily Kos and MetaFilter. The top of GoDaddy.com features a link to the personal blog of Go Daddy’s CEO, who recently used the space to publicize his politics.
Also, Photo Matt linked to a Niall Kennedy-authored post about a not-so-well-researched Go Daddy press release.
GoDaddy.com is just one of the companies under the Go Daddy Group umbrella. The others include WildWestDomains.com (a GoDaddy.com reseller), BlueRazor.com (another domain registrar), DomainsByProxy.com (WHOIS privacy service) and StarfieldTech.com (SSL certificates).
A few years ago, I almost registered a few domains at GoDaddy.com. However, something (I don’t recall exactly what) in the terms and conditions agreement made me look for a different registrar.
I use godaddy as a registrar. They were one of the services that helped break the Network Solutions registration monopoly. Plenty of little guys too but they made a business out of it. The folks at dealmac.com have been generally favorable about ease of use and service from godaddy. They are equally vocal thye don’t like godaddy for mail or host services and favor the “get hosting and registration services from different companies” model.
I decided to dig a little more. Yes, DailyKos diarists and Metafilter bent overbackward to thwack him. Bob’s initial responses were like the ones after the Superbowl ad controversy and the .us conflagration: if you want to leave, leave.
He gave a good fight on the censorship issue after the Super Bowl ad controversy. I didn’t much care for the ad but why it was unacceptable while Cialis and Viagra ads were…. [shrug]. He led the charge against the Dept of Commerce’s unilateral decision to block proxy-registration for .us domains; a selfish fight since he made money from proxy-registration but one that I thought needed attention. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7251-2005Mar4.html
Since the yelling back by some of his customers that his understanding of torture was wrong, he’s stepped back a little. So I’m still on the fence here. I probably will not reregister with GoDaddy in 1.5 years but I don’t yet feel a strong incentive to switch in the middle of a contract. I still like his DomainsByProxy service, which I pay extra for but I don’t feel like buying a post office box and answering service for my personal domains.
Digging around some more, I think I will leave godaddy.com sooner rather than later. But trying to find a “clean” domain registrar…
These guys seem relatively clean but maybe they are lying through their teeth: http://mapname.com/
http://mapname.com/FAQ.htm#notAreseller
(Hmm. Once again, I didn’t receive a notification e-mail — this time, about your second comment for this post. Usually it’s fine, so I’ll have to figure out what’s going on.)
Don’t get me wrong — godaddy.com offers a lot of services at competitive prices. I’ve heard pros and cons about the actual services. I might not even have written the post had the CEO not used the godaddy.com site to advertise his politics (and on the top of the front page!), even if he did drastically edit the text later on.
After a quick check, Mapname appears to be a reseller. According to WHOIS records, Mapname.com (the domain) is registered with Tucows’ OpenSRS registrar. Further research led me to a Mapname customer domain, which has Directi as its registrar of record.
Mapnames is operated by DewDesigns.net. The Dew Designs site says that it registers domains via Tucows and CORE.
AFAICT, neither are ICANN-accredited.
how ’bout these folks?
http://www.sustainablemarketing.com/aboutus
They’re resellers for Go Daddy.
(Seriously, what the heck is up with the comment e-mail notifications? Until I figure out what’s going on, I’m going to have to subscribe to my own comments feed.)