GoDaddy Faces boycott over SOPA support

Most Internet companies oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act, but the domain registrar GoDaddy supports it. Furious customers are pressuring the company to change its position by declaring December 29 "move your domain day."

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-faces-december-29-boycott-over-sopa-support.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[beebee]

I dumped Godaddy after the elephant shooting. I went to Hover.com.

 

[sfoaventurero]

I have a couple domains that I bought through GoDaddy, but don't know how to bring them to another service. Does anyone have any recommendations or instructions on how to do this? Sorry, not very tech-savvy here...

 

[C3IO]

GoDaddy is a poorly provisioned host. Our webmaster used them until we had trouble with delays in getting emails (small ones, no less) to clients. It turns out that they "gray listed" incoming email from Covad (my home ISP), evidently to manage capacity.

Cheap hosting = inadaquate bandwidth just like cheap registry = poor tech support. We moved to Mailtrust.com (now owned by Rackspace) and no more delays. A big plus is that most spam is stopped as well.

Breasts Si, GoDaddy No.(can't go against 20 million years of evolution, can you?)

 

[iamaelephant]

Oh no! An internet boycott!

 

[vivify]

I transferred out the last of several domains yesterday; not sure why I let GoDaddy handle them all these years, other than their unlock/cancellation process is ridiculously time consuming. Happy to be done with them.

 

[Smoken Joe]

I have a couple domains that I bought through GoDaddy, but don't know how to bring them to another service. Does anyone have any recommendations or instructions on how to do this? Sorry, not very tech-savvy here...

http://blog.jeffepstein.me/post/1462985 ... of-godaddy

 

[Edoren]

I dislike GoDaddy as much as the next person but the hypocrisy here seems alarming.

Are you all also going to boycott all the other media companies supporting SOPA? You better stop listening to music, stop watching TV , movies...etc etc.

Also cancel your Visas and MasterCards too...

You're right, we can't boycott every name on that list. But what does that matter? If even turning to one company and saying no can bring awareness to the issue, isn't it worth it?

 

[bzupnick]

theres even a website that is counting domains & people transferring away from GoDaddy:
http://www.zirtz.com/nogodaddy/

 

[bigseth]

I don't see what the big deal is. Ars ran a pretty biased story, and there are two sides to every story. So what if GoDaddy supports SOPA, a lot of other companies do but I don't see a run on Disney or ABC anytime soon. What they're doing by boycotting SOPA is reverse censorship at it's finest.

 

[Evolution]

They're like the second largest registrar in the world and third larges webhost - it'd require millions of people to boycott them to make any difference. I think such boycott is just a waste of time and energy. There ought to be better ways to use your energy to fight against SOPA.

Why don't you ask Netflix about customer outrage.

Also check with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Region's Bank, SunTrust, etc. See what they think about customer outrage about their debit card fees. You know, the ones they had to quickly backpedal on and drop entirely. (But still lost lots of customers to smaller banks and credit unions because they waited too long. Those customers aren't coming back either.)

Customer outrage can work, it just takes enough people getting outraged. Just shrugging and saying it won't work because they're too big doesn't help, it makes you part of the problem.

If this boycott keep on its route it's only a matter of time godaddy will fall from its second largest registrar to second to non registrar business that is IF ALL godaddy clients read this article and aware of godaddy's involvement of SOPA. Probably many of their clients are unaware of a boycott is going on against godaddy and the reason godaddy officials are not holding their breath on this.

[side note] Wells Fargo required a minimum of $500 deposit in Checking and Saving to avoid this additional fees of $5 a month.

 

[sydbarrett74]

I've always thought GoDaddy was a shitty, scheisty hosting company. This latest move is further confirmation. Fuck GoDaddy. There are thousands of better options out there.

 

[bartl]

<blockquote>but we have not seen any impact to our business</blockquote>

That may be because it's not the 29th, yet.

 

[stmiller]

One more plug for hover.com - they are great. No hosting, just registrar with a nice interface.

 

[Doctorb Jay]

theres even a website that is counting domains & people transferring away from GoDaddy:
http://www.zirtz.com/nogodaddy/

Anyone can submit bogus info... nothing can possiblie go wrong... no, wait... possibly.

 

[Darine]

theres even a website that is counting domains & people transferring away from GoDaddy:
http://www.zirtz.com/nogodaddy/

Anyone can submit bogus info... nothing can possiblie go wrong... no, wait... possibly.

Done, and done.

 

[matthewslyman]

I tried using GoDaddy's support hotline a few times. Invariably, I found their support technicians:
* Provided no help whatsoever, and didn't listen to anything I said;
* Kept me "on hold" for minutes on end (sometimes for 15 minutes at a time without feedback) while pretending to confer with their superiors, before returning and pretending their superiors had given them instructions on how to deal with my cases without escalating them (they had no respect whatsoever for the fact that I was calling them on a voice call from half way across the world);
* Failed to escalate complaints that should have gone to Level2 or Level3 (acting as though they get wages docked for doing so), even though their Level1 people were clearly incapable of even understanding what I was talking about;
* Pretended their company had no influence over the practices of suppliers who were not following the correct procedure for propagating WHOIS details (don't EVER get an .eu domain from GoDaddy), and even pretended that while paying millions of dollars to these suppliers to act as a reseller for them, they had no way to pick up the telephone and TALK to those people! Their refusal to talk to a supplier on my behalf almost made me lose control of domains...;
* When they'd had enough of looking foolish, they always ended calls abruptly with a smarmy, annoying and incongruent:
"Have a nice day!!!" - as though they were being paid for the number of calls they handled (not the number or difficulty of problems they actually resolved, and as though they weren't being penalised for repeat calls from customers who didn't have their issues handled correctly the first time around).

GODADDY SUPPORT TECHNICIANS ARE TOTALLY USELESS. This plus the pornographic ads I'm hearing about (which we fortunately don't see in the UK, as far as I know); plus the SOPA issue; has surely sealed the deal... I'm transferring a dozen domains on 29th December.

 

[Deleted member 14629]

Well, this just finally got me off my duff to remove the domains I had at GoDaddy.

 

[mert]

I was going to move my domains from GoDaddy anyway. I got tired of the constant upsell, nagging reminders about expiry dates 6 months away, asinine account credentials recovery process, and retarded hosting policies.

I've had one domain with 'Daddy for probably more than a decade. All I use it for is to forward email and a Web address, both of which are included in the cost of the domain. I guess I'm not actually "hosting" anything with them (I assume that cost extra?). I've had my domain set for auto-renewal from day one (I can't even recall what it costs, $9/year?, without looking up on my credit card statement).

I agree with another poster that their Web site is atroshish, but I only go there once every 5 years (less?), to add or change what an email forwards to. I receive maybe one email from GoDaddy a year.

From my viewpoint I don't see what's so bad about GoDaddy's service, but I guess Im not really using it for half the features you folks are. I don't like to hear about their support for SOPA, and would be willing to switch to another provider, but it seems like a too much of a hassle since, again, from my usage pattern, I've seen nothing bad about their service. Some other poster asked for a "switching-for-dummies" tutorial. I hope someone responds to it as I be interested in reading about how.

(EDIT: Danica is pretty)

 

[Cagny]

Stay classy, GoDaddy. Stay classy.

 

[Deleted member 216601]

Count me in. I just initiated the transfer of the 5-6 domains that I'm not letting expire from GoDaddy to name.com, based on user suggestions here. Also, to whomever mentioned the "nodaddy" promo code, thank you very much. That saved me a little bit of money too.

 

[Redshift]

What is a good alternative source for certificates?


Summary of the domain reg alternatives in this thread (sure I missed a few):

http://www.namecheap.com/
http://www.10dollar.ca/
http://www.name.com/
http://www.networksolutions.com/
http://www.domaindiscover.com/

 

[OldKat]

You know the biggest threat to the first amendment? Silly boycotts.

Everyone is so concerned about protecting their free speech, they have decided to not allow the people at Godaddy to exercise THEIRS. I wish people - especially people that think they are so much smarter than "the rest of us" would actually think not just about their actions, but about the impact that kind of mentality has. Mob rule is not good for ANYBODY. The next silly boycott that follows your lead may put your favorite company out of business, because the business owners thought they could exercise their free speech rights, and support something that YOU support. It works both ways.

Last time I checked, and maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the government made and passed laws. Not Godaddy. Not Walmart (also maligned in the comments). If you want to control the voting habits of the government, moving your domain name that nobody cares about from one registrar to another will not influence people in the Senate. Boycott the Senator (take away your votes) - and they will notice. The boycott is a total waste of energy, directed at the wrong people.

GoDaddy existed long before their commercials. I think the commercials are stupid. I think their name is stupid. But in 12 years of being a Godaddy customer, I've had a single 15 minute service outage. Not my entire website, just the MySQL server. I emailed, and it was fixed. 15 minutes in 12 years - I consider that a very solid service record.

For being a customer of a company that has been nothing but solid for over a decade, I'm a nerd, stupid, retarded and attracted to good looking women (not sure how that one qualifies as an insult, but ok...)

My first domain was registered with NetworkSolutions via Register.com. Back when NetworkSolutions had the monopoly. When I first saw a GoDaddy ad online, I thought it was fake. NetworkSolutions was the only "real" registrar, and a domain was $40/year, not $8. $8 had to be a hoax, right? Not right.

Another poster stated that she has her 100 domains at NetworkSolutions. I checked. $35 a year at NetworkSolutions. $11 at Godaddy. She spends an extra $2,400 per year for......not liking commercials? This - from the "smart" people?

Thankfully I'm stupid.

 

[CrispyCritter]

Any gov't official, be it representative or senator who supports either SOPA, Protect IP or both will immediately forfeit my vote. I hope you all (those of you of voting age) will make your voices heard through your votes in the next elections...

 

[dlux]

http://www.zirtz.com/nogodaddy/

I just wanna say:

"Letting designers strut their stuff, and get money for it!"

http://www.zirtz.com/


If that's what 'strut' looks like, I'd hate to see 'mosey'.

 

[Deleted member 216601]

OldKat, funny you should bring up the First Amendment. Have you even read anything about SOPA? Or are you just a paid schill for GoDaddy? GoDaddy, of course, is free to exercise its freedom of speech in its support for this utter piece of crap being passed around as possible legislation. However, it should be ready for the consequences. Just as it's free to speak its mind, people are free to speak their mind with their wallets. There is nothing wrong with this. It is freedom of speech and the free market in action, working as it should. It's no different than a person being free to express their political views vehemently -- but they should also realize they risk alienating people. This is no different so I don't see what point you were actually trying to make.

Furthermore, you bring up price. A quick check of all the other possible domain registrars mentioned would show you that most of them seem to actually be CHEAPER than GoDaddy. So the price argument is moot.

 

[Nisuo]

Oh no! An internet boycott!

As others have said...

How's that Netflix doing?

 

[jdavidlove]

I will personally always use GoDaddy moving forward simply because they have the guts to stand up to all of the weenie file stealers (goofs) out there. Make your own IP and give it away if you want. Don't steal others'.

 

[alphadog7]

I highly recommend Dyn.com for domain name and other related services. These guys are serious internet business, not tits-based marketing.

@OldKat: So, what you are saying is that if someone exercises their right to free speech by spewing hate in the town square, I am *obliged* to listen? Your point makes no sense whatsoever. Anyways, fanboyism aside, there are known cheaper, professional, more reliable services elsewhere.

PS: And, stay away from Network Solutions. I can't believe people actually recommend them. They aren't as bad as GoSOPA, but pretty darn close. The marketing is annoying as all aitch-eee-double-hockey-sticks.

 

[socratesfoot]

I only have two domains, not significant. I don't really want to abandon my investment or repurchase the time with another domain provider, but that doesn't mean I have to renew with them either. I have no loyalty to GoDaddy beyond having pre-paid my domain for the year. If many customers are like me, GoDaddy will see a slow decline, not an immediate effect. But it won't stop even if they change their stance because they have made their stand perfectly clear and it's anti-consumer.

 

[apple4ever]

You know the biggest threat to the first amendment? Silly boycotts.

Everyone is so concerned about protecting their free speech, they have decided to not allow the people at Godaddy to exercise THEIRS. I wish people - especially people that think they are so much smarter than "the rest of us" would actually think not just about their actions, but about the impact that kind of mentality has. Mob rule is not good for ANYBODY. The next silly boycott that follows your lead may put your favorite company out of business, because the business owners thought they could exercise their free speech rights, and support something that YOU support. It works both ways.

What they hell are you talking about? Boycotts are not threats to the first amendment- they are an exercise in them, and using money to show it. We're not forcing GoDaddy to shut up, they can speak all they want. But they must know their are consequences to their actions.

Boycotts can be good or bad, but they are not threats to free speech. What IS a threat is SOPA, which is passed by the government and will give them and companies power to shut down free speech. We've already seen the MegaUpload and UMG situation- just imagine if all the media companies had that power!

Last time I checked, and maybe I'm wrong, but I thought the government made and passed laws. Not Godaddy. Not Walmart (also maligned in the comments). If you want to control the voting habits of the government, moving your domain name that nobody cares about from one registrar to another will not influence people in the Senate. Boycott the Senator (take away your votes) - and they will notice. The boycott is a total waste of energy, directed at the wrong people.

We are already doing all of that, but this is also a good way. If the supporters go away- the law will have less chance of passing. So, yes, it CAN influence the Senate. "Oh hey, look at that- people are so mad they took down GoDaddy. Maybe this law is a stupid idea after all"

Another poster stated that she has her 100 domains at NetworkSolutions. I checked. $35 a year at NetworkSolutions. $11 at Godaddy. She spends an extra $2,400 per year for......not liking commercials? This - from the "smart" people?

Thankfully I'm stupid.

Yes, you are stupid. Do you know what principles are? Those things have costs to follow them. If they were easy to do, they'd be worthless. So yes, we may pay more and we may suffer, but we are following our principles for a reason- a better life.

 

[incubi21]

I choose to do business with companies with similar values to mine. Granted this isn't always possible but I will in this case. I have 16 domains, 6 SSL certs, and 1 web hosting account with GoDaddy. I am more than happy to spend a few hours getting these changed to networksolutions.com. Which is a bit more expensive but they have great service unlike my 7 years with GoDaddy. It isn't that the idea of SOPA is just bad, it is the way it is written and enforced. GoDaddy has it's own interests in mind for supporting SOPA. Companies can support anything they want but that will always have consequences.

 

[SteveinOhio]

My primary use for GoDaddy has been taking advantage of their occasional $1 domain deals to snap up names for personal use or future projects. I admit, I'm not exactly a customer they will miss given that I've probably sent them less than $30 total, but nevertheless I plan on moving my domains to another registrar over this issue.

Anybody have any good/bad experiences with Namecheap?

 

[SteveinOhio]

I choose to do business with companies with similar values to mine. Granted this isn't always possible but I will in this case. I have 16 domains, 6 SSL certs, and 1 web hosting account with GoDaddy. I am more than happy to spend a few hours getting these changed to networksolutions.com. Which is a bit more expensive but they have great service unlike my 7 years with GoDaddy. It isn't that the idea of SOPA is just bad, it is the way it is written and enforced. GoDaddy has it's own interests in mind for supporting SOPA. Companies can support anything they want but that will always have consequences.

Totally agree. This is how our business works as well. You always try to get the best price for the best product, but whenever possible you make sure that you are dealing with good people and people who are unlikely to support things you oppose.

Particularly in light of the Citizens United case, I think it's more important than ever to make sure you aren't funneling your money towards a company whose values differ from yours. It's a sad commentary on America, but if money is speech and corporations have unlimited opportunities to "speak", then you have to treat every consumer decision as a political donation.

 

[alphadog7]

if money is speech and corporations have unlimited opportunities to "speak", then you have to treat every consumer decision as a political donation.

+1000

I never thought of it quite that way, but you gelled it into one perfect sentence.

 

[Jim Salter]

Everyone is so concerned about protecting their free speech, they have decided to not allow the people at Godaddy to exercise THEIRS.

Look, I'm a business owner myself - and you're really, REALLY far off on this one. When you take a political stand, as a business, you invite your clients - real and potential - to disagree with your politics and take themselves elsewhere. Which is why, despite Teresa Heinz herself being a staunch Democrat, you don't see "GOP SUCKS LOL!!!" on your ketchup bottle - and why, although I have a Veterans for Obama sticker on my personal vehicle, I avoid getting into political arguments with those of my customers who are both Republican and argumentative.

Once you make the decision to cross that line and formally endorse a political party, stance, or bill... well, you've crossed that barrier, and you've nobody but yourself to blame if you lose the business of people who disagree.

That said, let's move on to what the First Amendment actually says:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Unless and until the US Congress makes a law telling GoDaddy to STFU, its First Amendment rights would appear to be in no danger. Also note the complete lack of verbiage to the effect of "you can say anything you like, and everybody else has to like it, and never a consequence shall there be."

 

[Tim Lee]

Which is why, despite Teresa Heinz herself being a staunch Democrat, you don't see "GOP SUCKS LOL!!!" on your ketchup bottle.

This made me laugh.

 

[alberthrocks]

NameCheap gets nothing but my love. Their service is nothing but awesome, and their support is heavenly. They even credited me for things I've forgot to get (for free), like SSL certificates and WhoisGuard. My support is with these guys.

 

[Nisuo]

@OldKat

Once again, the internet fails to understand the difference between "freedom of speech" and "freedom of speech without any consiquence for anything you say."

And since corporations aren't people, I don't care what the Supreme Court says, it would be moot anyways. There's a difference, at least in my mind and I'm sure many others, between the CEO personally believing SOPA is a good idea, and him endorsing it on behalf of the company.

 

[davethepak]

We have four domains there, and are looking into what it will take to move them.

 

[Doubletwist]

I have been happy with Dreamhost for the past four years with two low traffic domains. They are pretty cheap and have some easy installs. Like Godaddy but not Godaddy.

Count me as another happy Dreamhost customer. They've been a great company with a good attitude, and I just can't beat their prices. I'm not sure if this deal is still available, but I get 2 years of shared hosting [just personal sites] for $48 [$1.95/mo], and it includes a shell account on a Debian box from which I use irssi to hang out on freenode. I get unlimited domains, unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth. The shared servers may not be as nice as a dedicated box, but I've never had an issue with the performance on my small wordpress sites. I believe they also give you 1 free domain registration with your account, then it's $9.95 for additional com/net/org domains.

I honestly don't know why I've never bothered to transfer my domains off of GoDaddy to Dreamhost before. Mainly because aside from their crappy website/interface, I myself never had any issues with GoDaddy personally, but their support for SOPA is an excellent excuse to finally make the switch.