StackOverflow also planning to switch from GoDaddy due to SOPA concerns.

http://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/116891/1588

by xatax • 15 years ago

598 78 15 years ago

meta.stackoverflow.com

mekoka2• 15 years ago

Actually, what surprises me is that SO would be registered with them in the first place.

suhair• 15 years ago

It is registered way back in 2003. may be not many popular alternatives then.

AgentConundrum• 15 years ago

StackOverflow didn't exist until 2008, so I doubt Jeff & Joel registered the name in 2003. When they bought it off whoever first registered it, they could have easily moved it to someone else. ServerFault.com (by which I mean the domain, not the site) has only existed since 2009. Clearly they had the option not to go with GoDaddy then as well, just as they did with all the other SX domains.

josephcooney• 15 years ago

really? I'm the guy that suggested the name 'stackoverflow.com' to Jeff, and at the time I suggested it it was NOT registered.

see: http://jcooney.net/post/2010/08/26/Back-in-the-day-preferred...

foobarbazetc• 15 years ago

Why did anyone ever use GoDaddy in the first place?

There are much better options out there. Dynadot, Moniker, Gandi, ... the list is endless.

ceejayoz• 15 years ago

Gandi locks my Chase credit card each time I pay them. Using (ugh) PayPal is the only way I can use them.

jws• 15 years ago

The only time American Express has called me has been twice on my Gandi payment. Makes you wonder about their fraud algorithms. Surely Amex can see I make the same payment every year, or maybe that is the mark of a patient and not greedy fraud.

FWIW I haven't had any troubles in the last few years.

gujk• 15 years ago

Why would you use a credit card company that locks yo right account, ever? Fraud is the merchant's problem, not yours. Fraud investigation is a courtesy you provide to merchant customers, so the CC company should never have any reason or lock your account without your permission, unless they have tried and failed to reach you for close to the fraud-liability time limit.

ImprovedSilence• 15 years ago

I've got a chase card, they used to lock it every time I'd buy bike parts from the UK. But they've been real good at keeping notes when I call them, and I haven't had a problem since. I use my chase card with Gandi too, and I would guess they lock you up because Gandi is a foreign co, and you're card doesn't see a whole lot of action in Paris. One call to chase telling them you expect to make more purchases from Gandi should fix it.

biafra• 15 years ago

I also use GANDI since I could drop Network Solutions Inc. and never had any credit card problems with them.

dangrossman5• 15 years ago

> Why did anyone ever use GoDaddy in the first place?

Price ($1.xx .coms occasionally) pulls you in, inertia keeps you there. If all you do is use them as a registrar, you'll probably never have a problem, so no reason to reconsider. Plus, it's the biggest registrar, trust in numbers.

mjschultz• 15 years ago

This is precisely the reason I stuck with GoDaddy for so long. My first domain was registered on 07-Sep-01 and, at the time, GoDaddy was the cheapest registrar I knew about/could find. I think this was even before they really started pushing their "edgy"/sexist advertisements.

Since then I haven't really had a compelling reason to leave, though earlier this year I decided to--as my domains expire--move to name.com. Of course as of today I initiated the transfer processes on the remaining 12 domains.

It's a win-win for me.

ricardobeat2• 15 years ago

> probably never have a problem

https://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=godaddy...

http://css-tricks.com/15377-this-sites-domain-is-stolen/

etc.

shimon_e• 15 years ago

I rarely use Godaddy but I did recently. The reason was unlike name.com their website is not full of bugs. And unlike namecheap.com they take AMEX.

Really would have preferred not to use them but I did end up using their $1.18 coupon. So lets say I ended up abusing them.

k-mcgrady• 15 years ago

I started moving away from GoDaddy recently. I'm sick of the up-selling when buying domains. I know it's how they make their money but I now use Hover and it is much quicker and simpler to purchase domains.

I was also getting tired of GoDaddy's constant domain management changes. Every time I go there they have a new UI. Again Hover is A LOT simpler.

I still haven't moved everything off but I am gradually doing it. And all my new domains are with Hover.

sgaither• 15 years ago

Wow...this is like hearing that Github plans to quit Dreamweaver because it was feuding with Adobe.

mekoka2• 15 years ago

No it's not. Domain name registrars are a dime a dozen, people don't invest hours learning to use their panel, they also don't write "I know how to use GoDaddy" on a resume. As you can see, the switch from one to the next is trivial. People often procrastinate to do it because it's a bit of a pain, but it's simple enough that the motivation to do it is just one frustration away.

It just shows that if you're about to express your unpopular political opinions as a business, at the risk of pissing off a good chunk of your customer base, you should make sure your product is so damn good and unique, that people will be compelled to use it despite their contempt for you. But in this case, people just went nah, fuck godaddy!

holman• 15 years ago

I just want to make it clear that none of us at GitHub have any plans of dropping our usage of Dreamweaver.

zdgman3• 15 years ago

This comment wins the internet for today. I wish it was at the top of the thread.

ajays3• 15 years ago

Wow... SO is still with GoDaddy? GoDaddy's position on SOPA has been clear since October; what took them so long?

mythz• 15 years ago

Where has this been made clear? They may have written their statements in October, but waited till today to publish it:

http://support.godaddy.com/godaddy/go-daddys-position-on-sop...

It's another sleazy move by GoDaddy (that wreaks of corruption) to wait till nearly the eve of the SOPA vote before making their stance and rationale public.

jeltz• 15 years ago

Another possibility is that they wrote it a couple of days ago and backdated it to October to try to make it look like less of a panic move.

ajays3• 15 years ago

Here's a link to an article mentioning that they announced support in October: http://blog.copyrightalliance.org/2011/10/in-case-you-missed...

ajays3• 15 years ago

Since I'm being downvoted, I figured I'd provide some links to back up my claim that GoDaddy's position has been clear from the beginning:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111029/07003216560/go-dad...

http://blog.copyrightalliance.org/2011/10/in-case-you-missed...

Anybody could have found these by doing a Google search.

maeon3• 15 years ago

Stackoverflow for president... Woah there is an idea.

moonlighter• 15 years ago

I recently started to point all name servers to Amazon Route 53. Clean and super easy to use now that it's available in the AWS Management Console. GoDaddy has been reduced to a registrar only, all DNS is managed from AWS now. And good riddance of GoDaddy's crappy Domain Manager UI.

markbao• 15 years ago

I cannot believe how many people are using the worst domain registrar in existence, even if you don't consider SOPA support. Out of all of the domain registrars, why GoDaddy?

rdouble• 15 years ago

Inertia. GoDaddy was great back when the other main option was Network Solutions. If you registered for multiple years, or simply forgot to transfer before the renewal period, it was easy to stay.

commandar2• 15 years ago

Not to mention that even many reasonably technically inclined people don't realize that you don't have to wait until your expiration date to transfer to another registrar.

thomasgerbe2• 15 years ago

Because it's cheap, popular, and most people don't interact with their domain registrar aside from registration and renewal.

Why do people buy clothes made in sweat shops or from chains that are terrible to it's employees? A lot of it just comes down to cost.

And even if you know how terrible something is (morally or ethically), some people aren't willing to change.

awt• 15 years ago

I don't think markbao was referring to their morality in his post, simply their terrible, terrible usability. I think also cost is not the reason, especially for the low numbers we're talking about. I would say people use GoDaddy because of GoDaddy's successful online and on air advertising campaigns.

onedognight• 15 years ago

Name another registrar that is cheaper and comes with DNS?

steve918• 15 years ago

eNom, Namecheap, like all of them?

BrandonM2• 15 years ago

Why do people equate registrars with DNS? Wherever you're hosting your site is where you should be handling DNS.

absconditus• 15 years ago

Every registrar that I have used in the last decade has come with free DNS. Why in the world do I need something cheaper than the ~$10 that most registrars charge?

orblivion• 15 years ago

Imagine a world where GoDaddy was the only major registrar not supporting SOPA.

Oh wait it's Christmas, not Halloween. Sorry.

ForumRatt• 15 years ago

hear, hear! Hard to believe StackExchange used them in the first place.

d_r• 15 years ago

Perhaps off-topic, but after reading GoDaddy's letter, I am surprised that our discussions against SOPA don't focus on the root -- the fact that the legislation is presented in an incredibly misleading and vague manner.

At face value, its purpose is to stop the foreign counterfeit drug/goods sellers -- you know, the same guys who spam us with "enlarge your..." and such offers. The same guys who pollute Google search results with "buy handbags" trash. Now suppose someone had asked you: "do you want legislation against these foreign illegal drug sellers?" Surely you'd say yes. Heck, I'd say yes. What reasonable person would oppose this?

But the problem is that the legislation is presented as this, but is actually likely going to be used for other things (censoring online content, special interests of the movie industry, etc.)

So when we write to our congresspeople and explain our concerns with SOPA, I wonder: do they think "Hmm, I am just protecting the internet from so-and-so baddies selling drugs. Why are all these tech people suddenly up in arms about this? Do they somehow not want to stop those baddies?"

When we write, we say that we oppose SOPA. Would we be more effective if we asserted that we do hate those sellers and oppose SOPA because of its specific implications? Unless of course, the bad "side effects" are actually the main purpose and the "good" cause is just a very clever gimmick.

jpdoctor• 15 years ago

I don't think it's off-topic at all. What you are describing is how the topic is "framed", and is why companies pay large sums to lobbyists and PR firms.

pork• 15 years ago

> Now suppose someone had asked you: "do you want legislation against these foreign illegal drug sellers?" Surely you'd say yes. Heck, I'd say yes.

Let me stop you there. I'd say no, because I feel that in many matters, especially those concerning the Internet, legislation is about as effective as politely asking the rain not to drip through your leaky roof.

vidarh3• 15 years ago

Even for the sake of argument assuming legislation is the right answer here:

The problem with SOPA is not so much what can be done to stop "bad guys", but how it can be done, namely without a court order, and only based on "reasonable belief".

It is massively chilling by virtue of causing large liabilities if someone don't act, even if/when they don't or even can't know for sure if the claim made is true, while granting immunity if they do act.

It creates a de facto assumption of guilt by creating a strong incentive to act without evidence of any wrongdoing.

tjogin• 15 years ago

> Now suppose someone had asked you: "do you want legislation against these foreign illegal drug sellers?" Surely you'd say yes. Heck, I'd say yes. What reasonable person would oppose this?

I would. Not every nuisance should be outlawed, most nuisances probably shouldn't. Legislation always bears a cost, and, for instance, in this case the cost outweighs the benefits by a wide margin. As is often the case.

dclowd9901• 15 years ago

Precisely. While it is a cat-and-mouse game, I think the tech industry has shown that there is a vested interest in cleaning this crap out of our lives. The internet seems to be the last place where a market is free to tackle and solve problems on its own.

jebblue3• 15 years ago

I have to think there is a huge financial worldwide cost associated with fighting what you characterize as a nuisance.

scriptproof• 15 years ago

These sellers change domains each day. According to my host, they can even change servers several time per month. The process involved by SOPA, a judge decision to close the site will be absolutely inefficient against them.

nextparadigms• 15 years ago

I think the drug related part has more to do with the fact that you can buy drugs from other country, just like they've forbidden you even buy drugs from Canada online - even if they are good drugs. They just don't want you to use anything that isn't from an American company.

While some online drugs may actually be dangerous to people's health, and it's obviously risky unless you know what you're doing, I think education on this issue would be much more effective than legalizing banning of online stuff.

I mean, people with common sense should already know that they need to be careful what kind of drugs they buy online. I don't think the Government's intervention is mandatory even for that, and just like trying to ban most everything online, it will probably hurt more than help.

wangjing168993• 15 years ago

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wangjing168993• 15 years ago

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wangjing168993• 15 years ago

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vertr• 15 years ago

I am not a fan of Godaddy.

However, it is clear that Godaddy thrives on being controversial. We are giving them their greatest wish.

kuahyeow• 15 years ago

GoDaddy just upped the publicity of SOPA a whole lot. I wonder will this shine a light on SOPA within the mainstream.

zdgman3• 15 years ago

Did StackOverflow actually comment on when the switch would occur? I am sure they will post about it but I see a bunch of large companies saying "we will switch". I don't see a lot of companies saying "we have switched".

Proof or it didn't happen.

ghurlman• 15 years ago

Ping whois over and over if you need proof... seems like an odd thing to assume they'd lie about.

zdgman3• 15 years ago

WHOIS on stackoverflow right now shows its still with GoDaddy. I am not calling them liars but I do want to actually see them make the switch.

sidcool• 15 years ago

GoDaddy changes their stance on SOPA.

StackOverflow also planning to switch from GoDaddy due to SOPA concerns.

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