Domain name registration
Wildatheart
Posts: 195
I am considering registering 2 domain names and would like to be assured of some privacy regarding any personal data that might be requested - ie... I would like not to have a full mailbox every day containing offers and deals that are pushed as being too good to turn down. I guess I'm looking for, not the cheapest, but the most reputable domain registrar. New to this, so any discussion/advice would be appreciated.
Comments
They work out of France, and that's kind of nice too as your domain isn't seen as a US one off hand. This can be advantageous.
My hosting company on the other hand (1&1), spams me constantly.
Often, I supply e-mails unique to the entity I'm dealing with. Then I just put a filter in G-mail and it's all handled nice and easy. I also get to know who sells me out, and will regularly let them know that.
SPAM has never been too much of a problem operating that way.
-Phil
I view the domain name registration process as a way of identifying the owner to the rest of the world, which provides important contact data. If someone has a complaint against you or your web site, this data provides easy access to information pertinent to contacting you. Hiding information, such as an email address is not a good idea, because it breaks down the communication process. For instance, I once had an issue with a web site about being overcharged, so I made every attempt to contact them with the information available on their web site and registration information, which was inadequate by the way. After four days of trying to resolve this problem, with the contact information available to me, I finally gave up and went to my bank to file a complaint on the overcharge. In the end, I got my refund, and that web site lost my business. Over the years, I have spent thousands of dollars on their service, but since that one episode, I have not spent another penny there. This problem could have possibly been avoided if I had access to valid contact information. They could have resolved the issue and kept a customer.
Over the last two decades, I have had several web sites, and in all cases, I have provided detailed contact information for the domain name registration process. Occassionally I have received a random offer, but nothing uncontrollable.
As is the case with any business, you must verify your identity, not to protect yourself, but to protect others.
Bruce
For what it's worth, I have my full contact info in the registration of my domains, including phone number and street address (and email of course). It's very strange, but I'm not getting spammed in any way from that information which is all there in the open. I get spammed every other possible way though for my other email addresses.
-Tor
Yea, it is basically non-existent, as far as registration goes. As far as other spamming goes, I have had the same email address for at least a decade and I get very minimal spam, because it is mostly used for business correspondence.
One of the main issues here is the "harvesting" of email addresses. As we all know, spamming is illegal, but if you "harvest" email addresses for a spamming process, the punishment is much more severe. In order to make effective use of the registration information, a spammer would need to "harvest" the email addresses. In additon to the stiffer penalties provided by law, many registrars limit the number of searches permitted when accessing contact information, to prevent "harvesting".
Bruce
Yes they do domain registration ;x
-Phil
But anyhow, since I've been doing this since 1996, the only words of advice I offer are:
Look around. Checkout the folks you're planning to use, and those who offer similar services. Godaddy charges too much for simple domain hosting, but if you like their 24/7 live human support, it may be worth it for you. I've discovered that in general, domains run themselves, it's only the extras that require support, and even that can be minimized if you are aware of what you're doing, and know how to do it. Most of the hosting companies kater to newbies, and/or companies who don't know or care what they get/are doing.
If you're even partially technosavy, I suggest becoming your own reseller (loads of sites allow this) and host your own sites, you get the resller pricing, and except for the (usually) steep initial deposits/refills on the accounts, it's generally much better pricing than you'll find from any of the commercial retailers. I still have my reseller account, but don't use it, because I've discovered I really don't need loads of domains lying around doing nothing, so now my domain (softcon.com) lies around doing nothing, but it's hosted with a company that doesn't charge me for hosting (because I'm a member of some of their services) and although godaddy does have my registration, I grumble mightily every year when it's time for renewal, because I hate paying more than it should cost me. Of course, I could fix all that by just putting a deposit into my reseller account, and moving my registration back there, and I keep saying I'm going to do it, but I'm not nearly as active in the whole web site hosting thing as I used to be, so it's not irritated me enough the past few years to actually do it.
Now, of course, if I had actual customers, it'd be different, but I don't actively hunt for them, and none are asking for hosting, so the standard wait and wait and wait applies.
https://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/