This was posted on another board and I thought it was worth sharing
Protecting Your Domains
1. Do your due diligence and chëck on the reputations of your prospective registrar before registering domains with them. Try searching with their name followed by "complaint" or any other related words and see if you find anything alarming. Most large registrars will have a complaint or two which is understandable but definitely go the other way if you see too many or if, in the worst case scenario, you see a movement such as ww.registerflies.com .
2. Do NOT host your website with your registrar or use their DNS records because any downtime on their part may turn your website into a 404 .
3. Be careful registering your domain with a hostíng company. Just like a registrar, a hostíng company can leave you in hot water if it goes South. Generally hostíng companies are just resellers of domains so all is not lost; with some effort you may be able to skirt around the hostíng company and contact the core domain registrar.
4. If you must make your whois information private then use a 3rd party privacy service - one that is not directly affiliated with your registrar. This way you can be reasonably sure that your privacy options are under your control only.
5. Do NOT allow your registrar or hostíng company to have any stake in your domain whois records. For example, making a hostíng company contact the Admin of your domain opens you up to potential problems.
6. Make certain your whois information is accurate so you can be contacted should complications arise. You are out of luck if privacy is in effect but that should be an understood sacrifice of such a specialized service.
7. Register important domains for a few years instead of just one so that you can be sure you will not löse your domain to renewal should you find yourself with a bad registrar.
Closing Remarks
My heart goes out to all of those affected by this horrid situation. The idea that clients of RegisterFly may have lost domains after investing thousands of hours and dollars in their website - is a sobering thought. I can only hope that those most painfully affected by this mess get some justice - better late than nevër.
PS. I don't think this post would be complete without a creative video that YouTube user "hd1080i" used to put the RegisterFly events into perspective.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=jsrvUqj6cdU