Ask Slashdot: Advice For Domain Name Registration? 295
codepigeon writes: I would like to ask for your advice on selecting a domain name registration service to use (possibly registration with website hosting?). The last time I registered a domain name was around 1999, so I am out of touch with the current offerings.
I have visited a few of the major players' websites. They seem (mostly) similar in prices and services. I have also seen both positive and negative reviews for those companies. I am concerned about being locked in, or surprised with hidden fees. (I paid $75US for a year of service in 1999, now it is only $10.99US?)
I have been trolling Slashdot for about 15 years and respect the views of the users here more than anywhere else. I would love to hear your advice and/or warnings in this matter. I am looking to register a domain name for a development studio that is at the ground level (read: I'm the sole member). I have published a single app to one of the big app stores already and want to have a 'web presence' to publish information about my software and give users a place to submit complaints/requests. I currently don't see the need for any kind of major backend support for the website; simple HTML or JavaScript.
Which is the most trustworthy company to use for registration? Which ones have hidden fees or privacy problems?
I have visited a few of the major players' websites. They seem (mostly) similar in prices and services. I have also seen both positive and negative reviews for those companies. I am concerned about being locked in, or surprised with hidden fees. (I paid $75US for a year of service in 1999, now it is only $10.99US?)
I have been trolling Slashdot for about 15 years and respect the views of the users here more than anywhere else. I would love to hear your advice and/or warnings in this matter. I am looking to register a domain name for a development studio that is at the ground level (read: I'm the sole member). I have published a single app to one of the big app stores already and want to have a 'web presence' to publish information about my software and give users a place to submit complaints/requests. I currently don't see the need for any kind of major backend support for the website; simple HTML or JavaScript.
Which is the most trustworthy company to use for registration? Which ones have hidden fees or privacy problems?
You're the troll? (Score:4, Funny)
So it was you, all along?
NameCheap (Score:5, Informative)
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There is absolutely no reason you have to use your registar's name servers. You can set any name servers you want.
Paying separately for the name server (Score:4, Informative)
There is absolutely no reason you have to use your registar's name servers.
Unless you want to avoid paying twice. If you don't use the name server that typically comes with the registration at no additional charge, you have to pay for both the registration and the name server.
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I'd be happy to recommend NameCheap for .com and .com.au domains as well. But I have a question about domain name registration myself: I'll soon have to register some .cn domains, does anyone know a good registrar for .cn domain names with IDNA support?
Re:NameCheap (Score:5, Funny)
I'd be happy to recommend NameCheap for .com and .com.au domains as well. But I have a question about domain name registration myself: I'll soon have to register some .cn domains, does anyone know a good registrar for .cn domain names with IDNA support?
Check your spam folder for many messages from providers who'd be more than happy to register a .cn for you. They'll also sell you bulletproof hosting if you need it.
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Haha very funny. Just one problem: none of my spam actually has anything to do with that. Most of it has something to do with HARP, energy independence, diabetes, saving on mortgages and losing weight. I assume these are things Americans worry about.
Seriously though, I will be doing business in China and need Chinese domain names. I honestly don't know who a reputable .cn registrar is. Hosting isn't a problem.
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Re:NameCheap (Score:4, Informative)
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+1 for Gandi here.
The fact they support 2FA using Google Authenticator (and my Yubikey Neo) is a big win for me.
Switched to them from Tera-Byte who are bloody awful.
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Re:NameCheap (Score:4, Informative)
I recently came across this on a forum about NameCheap which would make me steer well clear of them
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=86&topicid=165962
Re:NameCheap (Score:5, Informative)
NearlyFreeSpeech.Net
Solid shared hosting and reasonably priced domain registrations.
https://www.nearlyfreespeech.n... [nearlyfreespeech.net]
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NearlyFreeSpeech? Are you kidding?! (Score:3)
These guys are crazy!
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Or...pay better attention to where your domains are expiring, especially if they are tied to a commercial venture.
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Or if it's a commercial domain, just buy a really long registration. It's not like domains are expensive, I've had a few clients who were renewing their domains annually and had expired one or come close to it a few times because they were doing it annually, but when I pointed out that it would only be a bit over $100 to not have to think about it for years they jumped on the idea.
Unlike domains, TLS certificates do not auto-renew (Score:2)
Or if it's a commercial domain, just buy a really long registration.
Agreed, and some search engines reportedly use expiry date to rank legit sites above spamdexing sites.
I've had a few clients who were renewing their domains annually and had expired one or come close to it a few times because they were doing it annually, but when I pointed out that it would only be a bit over $100 to not have to think about it for years they jumped on the idea.
Even though domains can be set to auto-renew, they would still have to think about it every once in a while because TLS certificates do not auto-renew [slashdot.org].
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. ;)
I'm sure you can find one horror story or two or three about any business out there, some of which may even be true and not planted by competitors. If you really "steer clear" of a business because of one bad review on the Internet, then you must not buy anything....
Here are a couple of reviews that use more than one data point:
Best domain n [digitaltrends.com]
Re:NameCheap (Score:5, Interesting)
From the forum poster: "The NameCheap terms and conditions state they will pass the domain on to a third party at their discretion from 12 days prior to expiry."
12 days prior, doesn't sound like any of the registrars I've used.
Sure go ahead and use NameCheap but read their T&C's very carefully first.
Email notifications aren't reliable, I keep a reminder alert in my calendar for my domain renewals.
Having said that I get bombarded by renewal reminders from freeparking, networksolutions and godaddy when I have a domain a few months from expiry.
You know, the "renew now and save 10% off" types?
Glad this wasn't one of my domains that got the chop 12 days prior to expiry and then held to ransom to get it back...
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I just skimmed through their ToS, and I don't see anything resembling the "12 days prior" thing.
Buried in there, it says they'll let you reactive a domain for a fee. It's the first paragraph after "22. AFTER EXPIRATION OF THE TERM OF A DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION"
The paragraph after that talks about their option to auction it.
"After the reactivation period, you agree that we may either (i) discontinue the domain name registration services at any time thereafter, (ii) that we may pay the registry's registrati
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Heh, slow news day. Here's your answer... (Score:3)
dyndns.org (Score:2)
I've been using dyndns.org since 1999, and upgraded to the paid service about 10 years ago. $30/year gets you, like, 30 custom subdomains, and some other features that I don't use much but seem useful.
Yeah, you have a bit less flexibility with the domains you can choose, but they have a great selection that you can get creative with. And the flexibility of being able to turn on a dime and switch hosts and IPs immediately is great... you don't have to wait hours or even days for DNS changes to propagate.
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I like keeping host and registrar separate. That way if something goes wrong with the host (and I've had lots of bad experiences with hosts, some of which may be due to being poor and looking too cheap during the 90's and 2000's) it's easier to move the domain somewhere else.
Registrar services are generally straightforward and low interaction, while hosting services may require frequent interaction and can really depend on quality technical support. They're different enough in my experience that you don't n
Not GoDaddy. (Score:5, Interesting)
Besides that, you're probably fine with any of them. My GoDaddy experience can best be summed up as:
Let's just say I ditched them within the first month, and we'll leave it at that. I switched to DreamHost, and haven't looked back. Their service isn't perfect performance-wise, but it is so much better than GD that it isn't even funny. (Yes, I know you're just asking about domain registration, but lots of folks do one, then the other, so....)
And whatever you do, don't get your hosting from the same company that provides your domain names. There are far too many horror stories of hosting-related disputes leading to frozen domain names.
Re:Not GoDaddy. (Score:5, Interesting)
I've had a single .org domain registered with and hosted by DreamHost for 7-8 years now, absolutely no problems.
I also have 6-8 other domains here in Norway (.no) which are all registered locally but still hosted on the same DreamHost account.
Dirt cheap, very stable and OK performance wise.
I have a tiny search program written in perl (http://tmsw.no/pi-search/ [tmsw.no]) which allows you to search for any given string within the first billion digits of pi:
Even though the database + index needs about 5 GB, so obviously not cached in memory, I tend to get replies within 0.1 seconds or so:
Find 19570725
Found at 45,109,789: 061632112341128 19570725 293694235201198
Total time = 0.099406 seconds (8 suffix lookups)
I.e. my birth date is located about 45 million digits into pi. :-)
Terje
pi-search (was Re:Not GoDaddy.) (Score:3)
I have a tiny search program written in perl (http://tmsw.no/pi-search/ [tmsw.no]) ...
This is about the most useful comment I've seen on Slashdot in a while
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Let's not forget about their behavior with SOPA which in itself speaks all that needs to be said.
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My experience has been that you get what you pay for. Had a domain registered with crazydomains, chosen because one of the other directors of the organisation is one of those folks who will always take the lowest bid. Surprise, surprise, we got nickel-and-dimed for everything else, and tech support was not encouraging. I quietly changed it to planetdomain (since then, absorbed by netregistry) when renewal time came around, and things are much better, even though we pay more.
I wouldn't touch anyone with word
I like dreamhost (Score:3, Interesting)
Gotta agree with Dreamhost first and foremost as a domain registrar. If you search back past Slashdots, you'll see folks have chimed in to say how simply searching and pricing your desirable domain name at a lot of registrars, effectively and immediately places your desirable domain name on other people's (or the registrar's) radar. In other words, it is not kept private for you, and if you delay much at all, you'll probably see someone else (like the registrar themselves) might very well snatch it up, so y
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Eh, we've been using GoDaddy to sign our top level public wildcard SSL certs for a couple of years now. They had competitive prices for those things (~$200/yr for 2 years, which we couldn't beat anywhere else while shopping last year), and the process was fairly automated and relatively painless.
We still learned how to sign wildcard certs as our own certificate authority for lots of internal backend subdomains, though.
Avoid lock-in... (Score:5, Informative)
host with someone different from where you register your domain. That way if you find the hosting isn't to your liking, you can repoint your DNS and won't get held to ransom. What I'm doing at present is registering with MyDomain and then hosting on GoDaddy, which is fine for low-volume sites.
For my Canadian sites, I register with webnames.ca, use MyDomain's DNS service, and host on whatever's cheap.
Hover (Score:5, Informative)
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Seconding Hover. The guys behind it, Tucows, are the same quality guys behind Ting Wireless and have been one of the best domain registrars for years now. They'll handle all of the DNS work of migrating your existing domain for you if you want them to, that way you don't have to worry about it, and their tools for managing your domain are simple to use compared to most.
Hover (Score:2, Insightful)
Hover.com is really great. Simple interface, has all the features/record types you'll need, and they are just super helpful if you ever need to talk to them. Not tricky at all and nothing hidden. They are slightly more expensive but we're talking a few dollars a year and it's really worth it. I just can't believe how bad other services are by comparison. Godaddy's crazy complicated interface, Networksolutions is just plain terrible in every single possible way and then even worse somehow.. just use hov
cheap-domainregistration.com (Score:2)
cheap-domainregistration.com
$8.99 .COMs
I haven't used them for hosting, but no problems with name reg.
Read the reviews, take the cheapest (Score:2)
Once you know what are the needs, che
Crosswinds.net (Score:2)
I've used Crosswinds.net for a long time. (Disclaimer: It's run by a couple of friends.)
DDOS attacks hurt them on the hosting front since they aren't a big company, but if you're looking primarily for registration and a great customer service rep then I'd definitely talk to them.
One company *not* to use: Network Solutions (Score:5, Insightful)
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Indeed, ever since they were bought by Web.com service has been going downhill. I recently contacted them about a mail routing issue they had (my mail stopped working due to it) and service (though trying to be helpful) was unable to grasp the basic concepts of what was the issue at hand.
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Avoid them like the plague.
Usually their pricing [networksolutions.com] is enough to scare away most of the normal human beings.
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But... but... but... everyone else in this thread is saying that you get what you pay for! How could that logic possibly be wrong? :/
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Avoid them like the plague.
Usually their pricing [networksolutions.com] is enough to scare away most of the normal human beings.
Yeah, but if you register with them for 100 years, their prices are only $9.99 per year.
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I agree (Score:2)
Troll ! (Score:3, Funny)
I have been trolling Slashdot for about 15 years and respect the views of the users here more than anywhere else.
Are you doing it now? It's quite subtle if you are, I can't make it out.
GD and Netsol highly (NOT) recommended (Score:4, Interesting)
Find a smaller outfit ... once they grow to a certain size and let their marketing goons settle in and run the show you don't want to be anywhere near the resulting cesspool.
godaddy and network solutions are the worst (Score:3)
Both are all about marketing. That's why you see them sponsoring race cars in NASCAR.
namesilo.com (Score:2)
Trying to get away from network solutions (lack of good service and not offering 2fa), I came across namesilo.com. The prices are good and everything works as expected. So far they have my recommendation.
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I second that. I moved all my domains to namesilo. Reliable, fast, and they support 2-factor authentication.
For .nl domains: transip.nl
Avoid like the plague: godaddy.
Dreamhost (Score:2)
I used GoDaddy for a long time.
Then whatsisname, the owner guy, goes and shoots up an elephant in Africa.
Now, maybe that elephant needed killing, I don't know,
but it wasn't his problem to solve and he can figure out something more constructive to do with his millions as I see it.
So, in irritation that I was contributing to those sorts of endeavors, and even though I think Danica is hot,
I switched my stuff to Dreamhost as I too read that people were happy with them.
Now I am happy.
One time my
I use domainmonster (Score:2)
One Word: NameCheap (Score:4, Informative)
Excellent (!!) service, competitively low prices, fantastic control over your domain (be the master of your domain!)
Switched from GoDaddy because of their extremely poor customer service and questionable business practices and politics
GoDaddy was a BIG supporter of SOPA and PIPA (google it up)
Also be sure to google Namecheap cupons and save a few bucks - there are always monthly specials
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Gandi (Score:2)
'nuff said. Gandi [gandi.net] is easy, fast, reliable, and above all honest: no hidden fees, no surprises, and all the functions you need.
I use it for all my domain registration, and I have never ever had a complaint with them. I have no idea if their hosting offers are as good as the DNS registration, though, and I have heard some bad things on their VPS. Make of that what you will.
I have been trolling Slashdot for about 15 years and respect the views of the users here more than anywhere else. I would love to hear your advice and/or warnings in this matter.
Flattery will get you nowhere.
Domain Name Front Running (Score:5, Informative)
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I've always used the DomainTools site to do my searching, since I've never had any issues with them grabbing up domains. I've not registered through them though.
I heard that GoDaddy did it, ran a test case, and saw it snatched up immediately. They are pure scum.
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This reprehensible practice has been going on for a decade. It sucks.
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I always use "whois -n" (whois lookup, but don't redirect to registratar whois servers) from the command line to test a domain. That way you avoid any 'domain tasting'.
Webnames.ca (Score:2)
We have used webnames.ca for over a decade. They are principled, courteous and honourable. We have never had an issue or been victims of lock in.
The Canadian dollar is tanking so it's great value for Americans (26% off)!
Seperate Domain Registrar from Hoster! (Score:3, Interesting)
The only general advice I can give you - since I'm not in the US and I presume you are - is to seperate your Domain Registration service from your hosting service. That way you can, in a jam, close down your hosting without having to give up your domain. Or simply redirect the domain if you have to scale or something.
However, it might be worth looking out for a Doman Registrar that offers to handle all the email stuff - setting up an E-Mail server is a real drag.
Most of my domains are tied in with an ancient hosting package, and it's a bit of a drag, quite simply because today I probably wouldn't use webhosting offers altogether but rather run my on webspace on some cheap Linux vhost.
Personally I wouldn't put my eggs in one basket. (Score:2)
If the shit hits the fan at a domain registrar there is a good chance your domain will remain active but with no way to reconfigure it until things are straightened out. If the shit hits the fan at a hosting provider there is a good chance your server will disappear.
So putting both at the same place seems stupid to me.
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If the shit hit the fan at your domain registrar, your hosting may be useless anyways if you rely on that domain name as your business front. And if your hosting disappears, you'll have your backup that you can move to a new host. Right?...
gandi (Score:4, Informative)
gandi.net because they have anonymous redirection of the whois data. they handle hostmaster messages in store-and-forward so that your details are not given out. there are other benefits as well, not least that they properly grok ipv6.
Nearly Free Speech .net (Score:2)
Trustworthy? Gandi or PairNic (Score:2)
Gandi.net [wikipedia.org]. French open source geeks. They've been in the registrar business for about as long as you've been on Slashdot. Many consider it an advantage for their registrar to be outside US jurisdiction. Their terms of use and conduct in the face of legal challenges have received thumbs-up from privacy activists and lawyers.
PairNIC [pairnic.com], operated by Pair Networks [pair.com]. From their web site: "Launched in January 1996 and profitable since its second month of operation...". I have hosted with them for many years and their
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PairNIC [pairnic.com], operated by Pair Networks [pair.com]. From their web site: "Launched in January 1996 and profitable since its second month of operation...". I have hosted with them for many years and their reliability is unbeatable. If you are a US-based business you can't escape US jurisdiction anyway and probably won't mind paying a couple of dollars more.
I've been using Pairnic for all of my domain names, no complaints, and the prices seem reasonable. I use them to host my website, too. At one point I switched to someone else (phpwebhosting.com, I don't know if they're still around) and complaints from my site's users about slow/unresponsive pages went from zero to daily, at least. I switched back to pair.com and those complaints dropped back to zero.
EasyDNS (Score:2)
EasyDNS has great support and is very easy to use. You have the option of an email address with them that appears in the official public record, but only works from within easyDNS.
I have a couple dozen domains with them.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) (Score:2)
Many hosting providers offer a free domain. (Score:2)
I pay $8/month for hosting with Arvixe.com (the Linux hosting is cheaper/month) and comes with a free domain name. If you're going to pay for hosting beyond a free "parked" page, it might be better to shop for hosting instead of shopping for a registrar.
Gandi (Score:2)
Advantages: Offices in both France and the US. Provides a free 1-year domain-validated SSL/TLS certificate with every domain, and will happily sign a 4096-bit certificate despite advertising only 2048 bits. Provides free e-mail service with any domain, with up to five accounts and unlimited per-account aliases. Free WHOIS e-mail aliases. Free private registration for TLDs that allow it (a lot of them do, a few don't, some TLDs in Europe default to it). Lots of TLD selections, including some of the more obs
Dyn.com (Score:2)
name.com (Score:2)
I haven't really tested performance but I've had a much better experience than GoDaddy.
easydns.com (Score:2)
Why?
They are reasonably priced. Definitely not the cheapest, but reasonable.
They are outside the US (Canada).
They actively resist pressure from people like the City of London police, unlike some other fairly well known registrars.
The guy that founded it, Mark Jeftovic, blogs frequently and aggressively about what he considers good service, and I find myself most of the time agreeing with him.
They do do web hosting as well, haven't used it myself.
Their real claim to fame is their DNS service, which I have u
Recommendation against (Score:2)
I can only say anyone but GoDaddy.
Gandi.net (Score:2)
I have been using Gandi since around 2000. A few years back I was late renewing a domain and didn't get it submitted until the day of expiration - I had hours to spare. That, combined with delays in whois expiration data updates, made me very nervous so I phoned Gandi and...... I spoke to a real person! They were friendly and helpful! They told me no problem, not to worry. There is even a grace period of a couple weeks after expiration where you can renew without penalty.
I am now a loyal customer and it wo
godaddy if you know what you're doing (Score:2)
Their admin tools can be slow at times but have always worked. I've managed 5-10 domains at a time for over a decade - some with hosting at godaddy and some at other places. If I need to add service quick it's always been easy (e.g. a client decides they need godaddy's email blaster today or I decide they need a CMS set up for something they just decided to do this weekend).
Support has been 50/50 the few times I or my client has needed to contact them so it helps if you know what you're doing with domain
For free ... (Score:2)
... Geocities.
GoDaddy Changes (Score:3)
Re:1and1.com (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:1and1.com (Score:5, Informative)
$14.99 a year is not expensive.
For a domain name it is. Go buy yourself a 10-year domain registration at OpenSRS, Name.com for $11/Yr, or Namecheap for $10.50, or EasyDNS for $12/Yr.
Let's see.... the 1and1 registration costs $150. The others are $135 or less for 10 years.
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gOh wow, a whole $15 difference for 10 years. Big whoop. Penny pinching at the finest.
Maybe in 6 years domain names will only be $5.99/year for renewal and then you screwed yourself!\
1and1.com and Linode (Score:3)
I have been on 1and1 for over 10 years (since they had done a "free 2-year linux hosting" around '04) and I have had zero problems. Very fast shared hosting, tried their virtual hosting, also good, great prices. They don't have such a good reputation, but if you read through the bad reviews, a specific pattern emerges: it always starts with a failed auto-payment. Just be very careful with your credit card, don't let it expire, don't let it go over-limit. 1and1 will not warn you twice and they will suspend y
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I didn't use them as a registrar, so I can't comment on that side, but as a host they were a little spotty, and I had instances of hair-pullingly-bad customer service. Often you don't interact much with the registrar anyway, so it may not matter much as long as they don't break something.
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No bullshit! https://www.gandi.net/no-bulls... [gandi.net]
Gandi: why pay less?
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I agree with gandi, they have always been great with me and they have very good support too.
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Highly recommend gandi.net
Agreed.
Although not the cheapest (a .com with NameCheap and whois protection costs $13.57/year. With Gandi it's $15.50), I find that you get what you pay for: for an extra ~$2/year or so you get clueful staff who respond promptly and competently to issues, built-in whois protection (lots of registrars charge extra for that) that ensures that you're still the legal owner of the domain (your name is listed as the registrant, but all the contact information can be masked with Gandi's information by the whois p
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I have had several domains with active-domain.com AKA enom.com AKA domainpanel.com for several years. It's a good basic domain and DNS service for $11.99/yr (.com) + $2.50/yr for whoisproof. I also use easyDNS for their DNS+ services ($55/yr) on one domain. And I recently tried Amazon Route53 for a couple new domains $12/yr (.com), which includes whoisproof. The latter is good, but the $.50/month DNS fee ends up making it more money compared to enom.
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They must be paying off the right regulators...
What regulators? This is the 21st century dammit. Regulations are for industries that existed when our government worked.
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I too have been using Joker for probably a decade and have had nothing but good experiences. The whole thing is nicely automated, their messages all come gpg signed and their customer service is pretty good and they helped me out recently by making exceptions to their automated rules.
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