[Hidden-tech] domain name acquisition

[Bruce Hooke]

Thanks Rich,
 
I agree with everything you said.
 
In light of what you said I should clarify what I said.
 
To most people the "effective" registrar is the company you go to in order
to manage and renew your domain and get support related to your domain so
that is how I was using the term "registrar" to keep things simple. Yes, in
almost all cases that company is simply a reseller, but they are who you end
up dealing with for domain issues. Yes, if that company runs into problems
you can usually go "over their heads" to the real registrar. I've done that.
It does work but it can be a pain, and if for some reason the domain was
either registered in the name of the reseller or registered in the name of
someone who is no longer available or associated with your business it can
get to be a real hassle, or even a lost cause (if you can't demonstrate that
you are the person/business listed as the owner of the domain you can't get
control of it). So to me, in the end, leaving aside the technical details of
how it all works, the company you go to in order to register your domain is
who you want to feel confident about working with for your domain name
registration.
 
Thanks,
Bruce

  _____  

From: hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net
[mailto:hidden-discuss-bounces at lists.hidden-tech.net] On Behalf Of Rich Roth
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 6:42 PM
Cc: hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] domain name acquisition


I need to clarify something here:
There appears to be a confusing in this discussion between a registrar and a
hosting company.

There are NO small registrars - a registrar is certified by ICANN (the group
that 'runs' the internet structure) 
and you can't get certified without serious bucks and showing a major
investment in system infrastructure.
Similarly there are no 1-location registrars,
See http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars

What you will find is many small hosting companies are resellers (RSP for
many) of the registrars.
We an RSP of Opensrs.com (TNR Global has 2000 some domains we handle) - as
is Hover.com
The 'original registrar' is Network Solutions. (NetSol to many)

The key item to understand is that gTLD domains (.com, .net, .org) shouldn't
cost you more then $15/yr

As for support, that is a very different issue - many of the larger hosting
companies will provide a 'free domain'
as part of a hosting package.  Or first they will tell you is that you MUST
transfer your domain to them
if you already have one - this is patently not true.
Smaller hosting companies resell names (just like we do, only we do volume
accounts), and a smaller one
can be terrible or great -- talk to our own Matt Crocker (Crocker.com) for a
great local one.

The other warnings are good about making sure you know how to mange your
domain and to make sure the renewal get 
handled - automatic is good for any active domain.  For a critical domain,
renew for 5 or even 10 years.

Make sure any corporate domain is registered with a role email address and
company information: domreg at YOURCOMPANY.com
NOT sally_the_admins_home_email at gmail.com - although
mycompany_domreg at gmail.com is not a bad idea so it is detached from 
your domain email.

BACK TO THE QUESTION - what Kris asked was: "best, most ethical site to
obtain a domain name?"

I don't think anyone really answered that question -- I can second that
Hover.com (for retail domains, not large volumes),
as a division opensrs which is a branch of the long lived tech company:
TuCows.com that dates from 1994 online,
as far as ethical.  I vote against either GoDaddy or NetSol for that rating.

On 4/10/2013 4:43 PM, Bruce Hooke wrote:


 

Thanks Matt,
 
Fair enough. 
 
This is at least a question to ask of any registrar: make sure they have
24/7 support, are not dependant on one physical location that could be taken
out by natural or man-made disasters (I'd prefer to see them not even be
dependant on one region, where a weather event could cut off power to
everyone), and are certainly not dependant on one person. Also do a little
research and make sure the registrar you have in mind has a good reputation
when it comes to support.
 
It doesn't happen that often but I've seen people run into major problems
with small registrars, where it ended up taking a lot of work to recover
control of the domain name. This, of course, shouldn't happen with a
well-run registrar because a well-run registrar will have systems in place
to manage things like natural disasters. It is important for the domain
owner to handle their end properly too: keep the contact information up to
date, if the owner is a business, make sure the business name is listed on
the registration, not just a single person's name, and make sure to keep
track of any userIDs and passwords. Also, if you work with someone who
manages your domain name registration and website hosting for you make sure
you are listed as the domain name owner not that person, because if
something happens to that person it is much easier to get control of the
domain name if your name and/or your business name are listed as the domain
owner (the other contacts can be the person who manages this stuff for you).
 
Where I've seen real problems develop is when both the registrar and the
domain owner failed to do things properly. One or the other probably won't
be that big a deal, but both can be a real mess!
 
My basic point is that the domain name registration is the "key to the
kingdom" when it comes to websites and some attention should go into the
registration.
 
Thanks,
Bruce

  _____  

From: matt lampiasi [mailto:mattl at florenceit.net] 
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2013 4:06 PM
To: hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
Subject: Re: [Hidden-tech] domain name acquisition


Hi, 

those are valid points, however: 

At Jagfly Hosting we use a system that allows your domain to be auto renewed
without intervention if you choose for setup that way. We also have a
management team monitoring help desk tickets 24/7. So, if, in the sad event
that I did end up in the hospital, you're covered. 

I do know that some of my friendly local competitors use similar systems of
domain renewals.

I hate to see local business steered the wrong way for the wrong reasons. 
 

Best, 

Matt Lampiasi 
Florence I.T. / Jagfly Hosting
888-688-7096 for Jagfly
413-584-3239 for Florence I.T.
twitter: @florenceit <http://twitter.com/florenceit> 
newsletter signup <http://eepurl.com/fHbT-/>  


On Apr 9, 2013, at 4:27 PM, hidden-discuss-request at lists.hidden-tech.net
wrote:


When it comes to domain names I highly recommend going with one of the big
places (at least assuming we are talking about a professional website, not a
small personal site). You want a place that you can be confident will be
around for the long haul, and that you can be certain will be reachable at
any time of the day or night, every day of the year. This is not the place
to go with a small, local operation where if the owner lands in the hospital
you suddenly have nobody to call. This is also not the place the save
$10/year by going with the cheapest place you can find, at the expense of
customer service. 

Bruce Hooke
B.G.Hooke Consulting


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