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arg · 01-17-2005, 10:45 PM

here are a few impressions....

godaddy: they've been rumored to disable domain names if they get a message from anybody saying the domain might have been responsible in some way for spam. i don't do mail marketing at all, but i wouldn't mess with a registrar that gets involved with spam issues - hosting companies should be involved, sponsors should be involved, but unless they have a court order, i don't want a registrar involved in that sort of thing. it adds the risk of critical downtime at any time...even if you never spam, someone can always say you did. (people have mistakenly reported me to hosts before, because of those viruses that forge random sender addresses out of an infected machine's cache).

joker.com: just avoid like the fucking plague. (if anyone from joker reads this, FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES.) for that matter, if you're in the US, i wouldn't use a non-US registrar without a good reason...they may be great, but if you have a problem you can't resolve, you're looking at a lot bigger hassle if you need to seek legal recourse.

bulkregister.com: really klutzy interface when you've got a lot of domains to manage. when you transfer domains in, different contact "handles" can get assigned to domains, and it's a hassle to unify the handles...lots of crap that takes a dozen of clicks and several keystrokes per domain. they also didn't handle reporting on large numbers of domains (things like 100 domain-per-screen limits). most problems they say "well use the api interface"...which is probably good advice, but i like a workable web interface for basic domain management. i haven't used them for a large quantity of domains in a couple years, so my info could be outdated.

enom: they never seem to fix anything correctly, from minor annoyances to occasional critical errors, and they deluge you with "your domain was renewed" messages for each autorenewed domain (one of those minor annoyances they couldn't seem to fix). if you've just got a few dozen or even a few hundred domains this is no big deal, but it's annoying when you get dozens of unimportant messages per day. the critical errors i've run into are fairly rare, involving not registering domains when they should have, and based on the frequency of problems i had when i used them a lot, most casual users would never encounter such errors.

dotreg: global registrar-lock and autorenewal commands don't work if you have too many domains...try asking them to do it manually and they still can't...and they seem generally unconcerned about it. don't mess with registrars that can't get your domains locked realiably!! renewal notifications are also jumbled, so it's difficult to discern what soon-to-expire domains you need to worry about (i.e. aren't on autorenew)...they warn you about autorenew names just the same, so you need to check everything manually. again - not an area to be messing around with. in many ways i think their user interface is the best around for managing a large number of domains, it's a shame they have a few critical weaknesses, and don't seem able to address them well.

directnic: listed prices are expensive, bulk prices aren't listed (presumably you can negotiate). i've had a couple database screwups with them, but good support in fixing them. i prefer no problems in the first place, but they've built a reputation for strong support. seems like a nice interface, with good add-on services available, if you want them. i recommend them to quasi-newbs who want to register a small number of domains. like if your grandma decided she needed a website, they'd be a good pick.

netsol: historically, like more than three years ago, they made damn near everything really hard, especially things involving contact/ownership changes, and they were hella expensive. they've changed a lot lately, and might be better now, i don't know. i'm pretty sure they're still among the most expensive.

domainnamesystems: i've had some problems because they used to use enom and act as a reseller, and some of those domains went missing from their database interface, causing big problems...but with new registrations and transfers you don't have to worry about that. support is very good. user interface is kinda gnarly, especially if you use firefox, and i think they don't allow global changes for all their options, though i could be wrong on that.

01-17-2005, 10:45 PM
arg Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 1,164	here are a few impressions.... godaddy: they've been rumored to disable domain names if they get a message from anybody saying the domain might have been responsible in some way for spam. i don't do mail marketing at all, but i wouldn't mess with a registrar that gets involved with spam issues - hosting companies should be involved, sponsors should be involved, but unless they have a court order, i don't want a registrar involved in that sort of thing. it adds the risk of critical downtime at any time...even if you never spam, someone can always say you did. (people have mistakenly reported me to hosts before, because of those viruses that forge random sender addresses out of an infected machine's cache). joker.com: just avoid like the fucking plague. (if anyone from joker reads this, FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLES.) for that matter, if you're in the US, i wouldn't use a non-US registrar without a good reason...they may be great, but if you have a problem you can't resolve, you're looking at a lot bigger hassle if you need to seek legal recourse. bulkregister.com: really klutzy interface when you've got a lot of domains to manage. when you transfer domains in, different contact "handles" can get assigned to domains, and it's a hassle to unify the handles...lots of crap that takes a dozen of clicks and several keystrokes per domain. they also didn't handle reporting on large numbers of domains (things like 100 domain-per-screen limits). most problems they say "well use the api interface"...which is probably good advice, but i like a workable web interface for basic domain management. i haven't used them for a large quantity of domains in a couple years, so my info could be outdated. enom: they never seem to fix anything correctly, from minor annoyances to occasional critical errors, and they deluge you with "your domain was renewed" messages for each autorenewed domain (one of those minor annoyances they couldn't seem to fix). if you've just got a few dozen or even a few hundred domains this is no big deal, but it's annoying when you get dozens of unimportant messages per day. the critical errors i've run into are fairly rare, involving not registering domains when they should have, and based on the frequency of problems i had when i used them a lot, most casual users would never encounter such errors. dotreg: global registrar-lock and autorenewal commands don't work if you have too many domains...try asking them to do it manually and they still can't...and they seem generally unconcerned about it. don't mess with registrars that can't get your domains locked realiably!! renewal notifications are also jumbled, so it's difficult to discern what soon-to-expire domains you need to worry about (i.e. aren't on autorenew)...they warn you about autorenew names just the same, so you need to check everything manually. again - not an area to be messing around with. in many ways i think their user interface is the best around for managing a large number of domains, it's a shame they have a few critical weaknesses, and don't seem able to address them well. directnic: listed prices are expensive, bulk prices aren't listed (presumably you can negotiate). i've had a couple database screwups with them, but good support in fixing them. i prefer no problems in the first place, but they've built a reputation for strong support. seems like a nice interface, with good add-on services available, if you want them. i recommend them to quasi-newbs who want to register a small number of domains. like if your grandma decided she needed a website, they'd be a good pick. netsol: historically, like more than three years ago, they made damn near everything really hard, especially things involving contact/ownership changes, and they were hella expensive. they've changed a lot lately, and might be better now, i don't know. i'm pretty sure they're still among the most expensive. domainnamesystems: i've had some problems because they used to use enom and act as a reseller, and some of those domains went missing from their database interface, causing big problems...but with new registrations and transfers you don't have to worry about that. support is very good. user interface is kinda gnarly, especially if you use firefox, and i think they don't allow global changes for all their options, though i could be wrong on that.