im surprised no one mentioned namecheap.com. I would avoid godaddy like the plague, their control panel is horrible.

Namecheap is just a reseller of eNom. I was having some issue with the registrant contact setting today, as it is not setting correctly. A few email exchange with Namecheap later, they concluded that they cannot do anything about it, because "This is the format how eNom displays whois records".

D'oh.

Wow, no real consensus!

Mine are all through -- wait for it -- Network Solutions. The reason for it is I've just had many of them forever before there was any real choice, I'm more lazy than broke, and some of them I registered for 10 years back in 1999 when that option first came out -- and hence are expiring now, so I'm looking for options now.

I remember a horror story about one registrar going tits up and screwing over domain holders, so that scares me from switching too.

I'm also curious right now about private registrations. I have that through netsol for $9/year for each, which adds up, but they still show my real name in the WHOIS. I believe places like GoDaddy do anon registrations via some sort of proxy registration so technically you don't own it, the proxy company does and just somehow leases it back to you. True? That scares me -- and I have an SSL cert through godaddy and I hate their come-ons and web interface sucks.

Using fake info when registering is possible, but that also makes it easier for a malicious person to hijack it based on your violating icann rules.

I'd like to create a domain for (legal) whistleblowing a certain org that I'm a member of, and hence want to keep my own identity reasonably secure (short of court order) so what's a safe registrar that provides a decent privatized whois service? (I know I'd have to be careful about if that IP serves any of my own websites, what the mx record points to, the reverse IP, etc... -- probably would just get a new linode for it)

1&1 does free private reg for at least the .org TLD... I think my .us domain didn't have it, or I didn't check the box...

I had heard good things about Dynadot as well but it seems like the site is down so I am still looking. I currently use Aletianic.com, an ENOM reseller, and I have had horrible support problems with them. Would definitely NOT use them.

Terry

You can always go to OnlineNIC, pay a bit of money and become your very own reseller.
Then run them all yourself.
I've been using them for years. Customer service is a bit ordinary, but you don't need to contact them that much.

I use name.com

name.com ++

- If you have the domain locked the is next to no chance of hijacking.
- I register using Godaddy and proxy registrations. You own the domain, you just get an address in Arizona when you do a whois lookup. No third party ownership.
- Are people here confusing registrars and agents for registrars? Godaddy & Network Solutions are registrars.
- Godaddy is ugly but it allows me to register my own nameservers with rootservers. eg for LAPTOPLAND.BIZ the namservers are NS1.LAPTOPLAND.BIZ and NS2.LAPTOPLAND.BIZ . Its looks professional and makes it harder to trace (if you want that).
- you are right about obfuscating MX & reverse IP. For MX I use free google apps.

I agree with Godaddy, 10 percent off emails every other day.

I wish 1and1 had plans to support spf records - for domains that I'm too lazy to move over to linode ns.

They refuse to support SPF

Seconded. Otherwise, Namecheap.com.

A couple of my lesser-used domains just came up for renewal... I've been with GoDaddy for quite awhile, but found the upsell attempts annoying and figured I might as well throw my money some place more agreeable. I had no specific service issues with GoDaddy, but then again, my needs from a registrar are pretty simple: four NS records per domain, valid whois data, no drama.

After flipping through this thread and doing my research, I went with NearlyFreeSpeech.NET as the Official Registrar of HoopyCat. I like their policies and the "feel" of the organization, the billing and ordering process are sensibly automated, the pricing and offerings are right there, and I can buy or transfer a domain without wading through ads for stuff I'll never use[1]. In other words, they stimulate my Linode receptors. So that's the way I went.

Alas, they don't do .ca either, so my dream of having One Registrar shall have to wait. namecheap.com does .ca, though, so perhaps I'll try them too -rt

[1] "WAIT! Don't miss out on a FREE TRIAL of RACING STRIPES when you order UNDERPANTS for your DOMAIN for ONLY $6.99/year!"

Formally worn by Danica?

This is good to hear. SPF is bad news.

I just visited nearlyfreespeech.net. It is an interesting concept. I opened an account and set up a small domain. Their dns registration is very reasonable: $8.59 a year, about $2 per year cheaper than Godaddy.

I have been using Godaddy for years. I continue to use them mostly due to Newton's First Law - momentum. Their interface changes frequently and is always a pain in the neck! You must wade through a barrage of advertising just to register a name.

I must say that I have never had a functional problem with their domain registration. They all work as they should.

Jeff