Mastodawn

Now I'm curious how the data looks for us nerds over here on the fediverse: where do you register your domains?

If at multiple places, let's interpret this as if you were registering a domain today, where would you register it?

tackily if you don't mind boosting I'd actually like a lot of data on this I'm really curious!

GoDaddy

NameCheap

16.9%

Tucows (includes lots of resellers)

3.8%

GMO Internet / Onamae

Dynadot

0.9%

NameSilo

0.3%

Squarespace wtf

0.8%

Alibaba

Cloudflare

7.2%

eNom

0.2%

Porkbun

20.8%

Other

46.1%

Poll ended at Mar 15 at 5:18pm.

@gintoxicating @glauca since I found them last year. Domainbox before that because cheap and simple and I used to work for a related company (123-Reg/Heart Internet, owned by GoDaddy last time I bothered checking but thankfully I left before that).

@jwdt @glauca among many other things, any company with a page for their 88x31 buttons is probably based yeah

none of what i am about to say is a criticism or speaks poorly for the company, but my own subjective preferences have a couple of concerns for me personally:

the pricing is fine and reasonable to support a smaller company. if I had two domains, sure. but I have almost a hundred and the added expense would be pretty significant even just spot checking a few domains
i prefer to use registrars directly, avoiding resellers. resellers aren't a bad thing - i was one myself like 20 years ago - the bar for being a registrar is very high.

URLsnap... making getting a URL a snap!

@gintoxicating @glauca they are a registrar for .uk domains and are cheaper than a lot of other places which is actually how I found them. Nominet (UK domain org) has a page listing registrars and price. I saw the trans flag and figured "who better to trust with my internets". Most of my domains (and I only have a dozen or so these days) are .uk so it works out for me.

Will definitely put pork bun on my short list of "not terrible internet companies" though.

@gintoxicating love the clearly 2003 domain/hosting website! There's probably at least one similar from a bit later of my reseller attempt(s) but I'm not going to look. XD

Steven (but a Goblin) 💚Mar 12

@gintoxicating I only use canspace.ca.

They're a cheap and fairly trustworthy place to get the .ca CCTLD, and that's all I use.

Robotistry has moved Mar 13

@steven @gintoxicating In the US, we used HostGator, but since moving to Canada, we've been using CanSpace. Reasonable pricing, offers hosting so I don't have to manage multiple accounts, and I didn't have to learn a new interface for file management.

Luna Dragofelis ΘΔ🏳️‍⚧️🐱Mar 12

@gintoxicating I registered mine at OVH. They're an European cloud provider where I also intend to have my future fedi instance and website hosted. When/if I ever get around to doing that.

https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/116224178886676857

@LunaDragofelis @gintoxicating I used gandi.bet before #ClouDNS supported #AFNIC-maintained #ccTLD|s.

Kevin Karhan :verified: (@[email protected])

@[email protected] #ClouDNS! https://cloudns.net - At least I'd use them for #DNS because that works great there. - I used some big domain-hoster that had basically all TLDs but was more expensive. - #GoDaddy, #NameCheap et. al. get their #WHOIS crawled by #spammers whilst refusing to handle #AbuseReports. - And #ClowmFlare is a #RogueISP knowingly and willibgly hosting #Cybercrime and #Terrorism!

Infosec.Space

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Mar 12

@gintoxicating @matildalove Hostinger. I left Dynadot years ago when they stopped offering low-end hosting services. I was on GoDaddy before that, but left way back when they were ultra-sexist.

@corbden @gintoxicating @matildalove when was this? I remember a lot of bad things about them but wasn't aware of the sexism... wouldn't surprise me though.

Matilda Love Mar 12

@jwdt they ran ads featuring a fucking stripper cop, for one

@matildalove that's interesting because I feel like they wouldn't even allow that sort of thing to be hosted on their servers.

King Naga Calyo Lucere-Delphi Mar 12

@jwdt @matildalove Having worked very briefly in the web hosting world as a front-line CSR back in 2012-2013, I don't trust GoDaddy for a very different UX-related reason, sexist advertising notwithstanding:

Their domain registrar had, at least a the time, a known "bug" that occasionally switches the nameservers back to their own nameservers.

No, they never formally acknowledged this bug as far as I am aware.

King Naga Calyo Lucere-Delphi Mar 12

@jwdt @matildalove Yes, it's as frustrating as you can imagine if you worked for a competing host and had to field answers from confused customers calling in demanding to know why GoDaddy suddenly stole their domain, when the facts are that their domain was with GoDaddy, their hosting was with my employer, and somehow the nameservers got reset, and here I am needing to either walk them through *someone else's interface* to fix their nameservers or tell them to harass GoDaddy about it. =_=;

@dragonarchitect @matildalove nice, around the same time I was at 123-Reg doing the same job.

Was always fun having customers complain and say they're moving to GoDaddy then the next call is someone asking how to transfer from GoDaddy.

King Naga Calyo Lucere-Delphi Mar 12

@jwdt @matildalove I worked for Hostgator, and then we got acquired by The Webhost Borg™—I mean—Endurance International Group, and things just started to go downhill from there. :)

@dragonarchitect @matildalove 123 got acquired by Host Europe Group whilst I was still there. Wasn't too bad, but I got out before HEG got bought by GoDaddy. So glad I never had to work for GoHeggy.

@dragonarchitect @jwdt @matildalove #GoDaddy supportibg #Cyberfascism like #SOPA costed them #Wikimedia / #Wikipedia as client - among any other decent client I knew back then...

Mx. Luna Corbden 🐸Mar 12

@jwdt @gintoxicating @matildalove Maybe 10-15 years ago. I'd have to spend a few hours trying to remember the details. Back then it seemed obvious to everyone? They of course had the GoDaddy Babes in all their advertising, and they were unrepentant upon criticism. But then there was a bigger scandal of some sort at corporate. Twitter had a fit and there was a mass exodus. They soon cleaned up their act, fired some people, hired a woman CEO and got better, but I'd already moved. Looks like worked!! Both in cleaning up their image so much that people forgot, and in fixing the problem.

@corbden @gintoxicating @matildalove if I was aware of any of that I think I just lumped it in with "GoDaddy bad" and forgot the details but wow.

10-15 years ago covers just before to just after I left 123-Reg as they were getting bought by GoDaddy. Glad I did.

Ludwig Vielfrass Mar 15

@corbden @jwdt @gintoxicating @matildalove They're based in the Phoenix metro and it's pretty much an open secret in among tech workers there the reputational cleanup at GoDaddy is a surface level.

They recruited me hard several times, but I had no interest whatsoever.

@jwdt @corbden @matildalove I moved just because their order/renewal flow got incredibly obnoxious with pages of upsells. Then the corporation leaned into being gross. The founder/owner is a hard conservative and proudly hunted and killed endangered animals. GoDaddy and Bob Parsons controversies

I also just found out their terms of service doesn't allow personal use lol. "Our Services are not intended for private, personal or household use" which is weird af

Also perhaps most pragmatically and universal, their pricing sucks lol

GoDaddy - Wikipedia

@gintoxicating @corbden @matildalove when I have to use their system for clients I struggle to find the pages to do the technical thing I need to do because there's 3 buttons to sell me something for every one button that's useful.

They also have (or had, but wasn't worthy of a bug bounty when I pointed it out so probably haven't fixed it) a vulnerability in the protected domain upsell where you need to give a 2fa code to change DNS. But you can add a 2fa device without a 2fa code.

https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/116224178886676857

@gintoxicating @jwdt @corbden @matildalove so basically the exact different experience as #ClouDNS, cuz they don't care if you have 1 domain or 1.000+…

Plus they don't do bs and just have a clean interface and #API!

Kevin Karhan :verified: (@[email protected])

Infosec.Space

zarajohnson Mar 13

@corbden Interesting journey through different providers.

In the end, people usually stay where they get stable performance, clear policies, and support that actually helps when needed.

@Zarajohnson @corbden +1

Kevin Karhan :verified: (@[email protected])

Infosec.Space

Mari the Deer

@gintoxicating used to be on NameCheap but just to be safe I've moved to Arsys, a Spain-based registrar where I also got VPS hosting as well (having moved from Linode). IIRC it's a subsidiary of IONOS, which is Germany-based, but as long as it's all inside the EU it's fine for me.

Jana Mar 12

@gintoxicating Been using INWX as my only source for a while already and I‘m very happy with them.

saxnot Mar 12

@jana @gintoxicating me too

It was recommended to me at my local hackerspace
don't know why they're special

Tilton Raccoon Mar 12

@gintoxicating Well now that I know about Porkbun because of this poll, I might have to move my domains there!

Damir Mar 13

@tilton @gintoxicating Unfortunately, Porkbun now requires third-party ID verification for new accounts. Wanted to transfer to them the other day and was unpleasantly surprised.

Bussphomet Mar 12

@gintoxicating

Fucking GoDaddy….

See when I first heard that name I thought it was a pimp site

@bussphomet a vibe they certainly leaned into hard

Dec [{(

)}]Mar 13

@gintoxicating @bussphomet
With none of the attitude of the original 1999 Datapimp email host.
https://wowablog.com/datapimp/

The Last Word on Datapimp - Wow. A blog.

Almost a year and a half ago I wrote up a little summary of datapimp, the weird email and website hosting business that I ran for nine years.

Wow. A blog.

Frank Skornia Mar 12

@bussphomet @gintoxicating Remembering their early ads, it was hard to tell that they weren't. Or a livecam site.

Xayo Mar 12

@gintoxicating some via inwx, some via hosting.de
(have used others in the past, but those two stuck around)

Lunya 🌸

@gintoxicating porkbun

luna the doggie

@gintoxicating porkbun or ovh depending on the price and availability

I use OVH.

@gintoxicating I would on glauca.digital if it wasn't so expensive (no shade, just namecheap is somehow substantially cheaper)

Nelson Mar 12

@gintoxicating I've been using Namecheap but I think I want to switch: https://jawns.club/@skyfaller/115607643790886503

I just haven't had time to evaluate alternatives, I don't know what would be better or more trustworthy.

@skyfaller oh yikes. I moved off NameCheap a bunch of years ago when something they did annoyed me :shrug:

I've used porkbun the past few years and have been really happy

Haelwenn /элвэн/

@gintoxicating bookmyname and OVH (don't want to put all my domains at the same registrar)

halcy

@gintoxicating i think it might skew heavily EU and German providers. I use Domaindiscount24 / Key-Systems personally

Farshid Hakimy / فرشید Mar 12

@gintoxicating netcup, because it is cheap and works.

DB Schwein Mar 12

@gintoxicating

TigerTech.net

I loves them. I have 5 domains personally, one of which has been active since 1999.
I've probably helped another ~30 or so, and not one that is still active has left.

They either do just the domain, or roll the domain in with hosting and auto renew it unless you request otherwise.
They also charge like ~$20/year for any additional domains including renewal and hosting if they're under a single billing account.

Helle, Queen of Dissociation

@gintoxicating https://glauca.digital/ by a fun fedizen

Home | Glauca Digital

Domains and DNS, just without all the fuss. On a mission to make interneting just a little easier. Possibly anarchist, definitely antifascist.

Glauca Digital

Jojo (now with 200% more girl)Mar 12

@gintoxicating

I use Regery (no recommendation, but they work) because they offered the ccTLD I needed and there wasn't a lot of other competitors with full English sites.

Prices are fine, but not the best.

gandi

Justine Smithies Mar 12

You might want to look at @[email protected]

Christopher M0YNG Mar 12

@justine @gintoxicating @beasts +1

Ryan Castellucci (they/them)

@gintoxicating Tucows but I'm my own reseller.

dmi 💽 Mar 12

@ryanc @gintoxicating ohh? do tell more, how does that work / what are the benefits? :D

Ryan Castellucci (they/them)

@domi @gintoxicating I get access to the full reseller API for domain management, and in theory I handle my own abuse reports.

@ryanc @domi @gintoxicating so like ClouDNS?

Kevin Karhan :verified: (@[email protected])

Infosec.Space

nocci [cyberpunk'd]Mar 12

@gintoxicating

i usually choose inwx or Netcup.
But I have some domains @ dynadot too.

I always look at https://tld-list.com/ for the best (or good) price before registering.

Compare Prices of All Top-Level Domains | TLD-List

Compare the prices of 3,495 domain extensions from 54 registrars. Check domain availability, discover free features, and find the best domain registrar.

@nocci hadn't heard of tld-list, that's super cool! (The TLD Launch Schedule is dope!)