A few questions...

[conkermaniac]

I have a few questions. Please help me with these problems. Thanks! :)

1) I'm thinking about registering a domain with GoDaddy. Any problems that you have experienced or heard about? I like their cheap prices, and privacy of WHOIS info is a major plus. Of course, I don't want to go with a scam, so I want to collect as much info about them as possible.

2) If GoDaddy is not reliable, what other alternatives would you suggest? I would prefer that it is under $10 a year, and that WHOIS info cannot be seen easily through NetworkSolutions/Verisign.

3) Which one of the following domains do you think would be best? I would consider the number of type-ins and the ease-to-remember. I am creating a database of remotely hosted forums and scripts.

freeboards.net
freewebboards.com
freewebforums.com
free-boards.com
0boards.com

Thanks! :D

[biggulp]

I like freewebforums.com

[murat]

Originally posted by conkermaniac

2) If GoDaddy is not reliable, what other alternatives would you suggest? I would prefer that it is under $10 a year, and that WHOIS info cannot be seen easily through NetworkSolutions/Verisign.


dont all domains have a whois? (except .tk.to.ag.bz etc)

[conkermaniac]

Originally posted by murat


dont all domains have a whois? (except .tk.to.ag.bz etc)

What I mean is...Well, look up any domain registered with GoDaddy. They don't provide the actual details of the person to be billed. The details shown are the ones of GoDaddy.com. Therefore, that ensures the privacy of the people registering the domains.

Thanks for the suggestion, biggulp!

[DesElms]

Use any stand-alone WHOIS client (zillions of them are downloadable from places like WebAttack or NoNags) and interrogate whois.godaddy.com for a GoDaddy-registered domain and you'll see the complete registration record.

It is against ICANN rules for any ICANN-approved registrar to hide registration information. It must be public and it must be both easily accessible and accessible via conventional means.

Spammers typically don't use the web-based WHOIS interface on registrar web sites to harvest email addresses anyway. They purchase and download email address harvesting software that does at least one or two things (usually others):

1. Scans web pages for email addresses, and/or,

2. Interrogates WHOIS servers and/or performs reverse DNS searches to stumble onto and harvest email addresses in domain registration records.

GoDaddy's password protection method on its web site gives a false sense of security. Indeed it may hamper harvesting software that does item 1, above. But it has no effect on harvesting software that does item 2. And, sadly, most spammers perform the item 2 method most of the time.

[lotsofissues]

The alternative I use is www.stargate.com
Its reliable and VERY cheap. $8.85 for a domain with forwarding and a pop3 account or $8 for 2 domains each.