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--- system:registrars [2023-09-16T10:56:07+0000]
michael_paoli + bit more information about AWS's relationship with Gandi
+++ system:registrars [2024-03-09T00:59:23+0000] (current)
michael_paoli Added bit about GoDaddy's shady auto-renewals that happen slightly after expiration
@@ Line 99: / Line 99: @@
 ----
-Will likely well fill out and organize remainder later,
+Did at least mostly well fill out and organize fair bit of detail,
-but in the meantime, some background "discussions"(posts):
+for the curious/interested, some earlier background "discussions"(posts):
 [[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/conspire/2023-February/012261.html|Various pro/con recommendations, including fair bit of supporting reasons]] \\
@@ Line 107: / Line 107: @@
 ----
-Will likely well fill out and organize remainder later.
 ===== Pros and cons and recommendations and not of various example registrars =====
+----
 ==== Gandi SAS (Gandi.net) ====
-====  NetworkSolutions.com / Web.com ====
+So, first note that Gandi SAS ([[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]]) has been acquired by Total Webhosting Solutions B.V. (TWS) ([[https://your.online/]]).
+However Gandi has been exceedingly excellent, and thus far it continues to appear that won't be getting screwed up and thus far to Gandi customers
+things appear to continue operating as before - oozing competence, excellent service and reliability, "No Bullshit", web and API interfaces, domain, etc.
+continue as before, and hardly any change to be noticed at all - mostly have to hunt around web pages and such to even know any change at all has
+occurred.  So, hopefully Webhosting Solutions is and remains smart enough to not mess with that, as that's primary driver that attracts and retains
+Gandi's customers, and if new ownership were to screw that up, Gandi's customers would scatter to the wind, and Webhosting Solutions would lose most
+all the value of their Gandi acquisition.  Matter of fact,
+[[https://news.gandi.net/en/2019/02/futureofgandi-the-adventure-continues/|private equity firm Montefiore Investment had earlier acquired Gandi in 2019]]
+and I don't think anyone noticed the slightest glitch or any drop at all in service or the like
+(I certainly didn't ever earlier notice - only catching that historic detail now about five years later).
+So, Gandi has been and thus far continues to be excellent.  They're very much "No Bullshit", and stand behind that.  They ooze technical and operational
+competence, and essentially just work and damn solidly well.  I've had zero negative experiences with Gandi.  Heck, I've not even heard of anyone
+having any negative experiences with Gandi.  And sure, they're not the cheapest registrar out there, but I find the value highly well worth it.
+It basically just works exceedingly well, in all regards, and continues to consistently do so.  Well worth it in the savings of headaches and problems
+and incompetencies etc. with many other registrars - just one such glitch with some other registrar, in the value of one's time, could quickly eat
+up years or more of the value of any such monetary savings with many such registrars - even the moderate annoyances and crud of many other registrars,
+well worth the slight extra price on Gandi to avoid the bullshit of over registrars and be able to operate much more cleanly, efficiently, free of
+hassles, glitches, problems, frustrations, etc.  And Gandi is very reasonably priced for the value one gets.  Can even get significantly discounted
+prices if one is a larger volume customer.  Gandi also supports [[https://www.debian.org/|Debian]], giving all Debian developers Gandi's deepest
+discount tier pricing that's otherwise only available to their absolute largest volume customers (historically they let Debian developers have domains
+entirely for free).  I also attended a Linux install fest in San Francisco that Gandi hosted at their facilities, so Gandi does give back to and
+support Open Source.
+In approximate chronological order, I'll lay out at least many of the
+ways I've been impressed by [[https://www.gandi.net/|Gandi.net]].  And haven't had any negative
+experiences at all with them (or even heard of such!) - so that itself
+probably also says something about them too.
+Supports [[https://www.debian.org/|Debian]] - I think when I first ran across the info (and they may
+even run based on Debian? - but I don't know regarding that), they
+allowed all Debian Developers to have domains for free!  Last I checked
+they no longer do that, however they make available to all Debian
+Developers their highest discount tier pricing, regardless of the number of
+domains any Debian Developer has with them.
+Not sure if they still have offices in San Francisco, but they at least
+did (and probably have at least some presence in the US?  Though they're
+headquartered in France - I think they may be located where and such
+that they're mostly not under the claws of US law (at least regarding
+controlling domains), but do fall under EU and GDPR).  They hosted an
+Open Source event at their offices there in San Francisco - Yes,
+[[https://web.archive.org/web/20150223033158/http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/ubuntu-california/2984-ubuntu-california-san-francisco-qa-jam/|Ubuntu California San Francisco QA Jam 2015-02-08]]
+Really everything I've heard/read about Gandi has been positive - or
+at least certainly not negative.
+Even before I had any domains or services on/from Gandi, when I was
+just setting up an account on there (required before, e.g. having
+domains there - and can have an account there and no services/domains -
+no cost to simply create account there) - I ran across a slight bug in
+their interface - notably setting up account in US, and dealing with
+states.  I reported the issue to them.  They fixed it in quite quick order and
+were great on communication and follow-through to check and ensure that
+all was well and I was no longer seeing the earlier issue I'd reported -
+pretty impressive response for a non-paying (or at least not-yet-paying)
+customer.  I looked up that much earlier issue for the details and went
+(summarized) about like this: \\
+-01-23T04:55:34Z I opened issue and got automated response (RT support-en #5534422) \\
+-01-23T10:21:23Z I received notification they'd transferred it to relevant support area \\
+-01-23T16:12:40Z I received notification indicating it was resolved \\
+-01-23T19:06:27Z I checked, not (quite) resolved and notified them \\
+-01-24T15:06:33Z I received notification they'd forwarded to specialist \\
+-01-26T16:19:28Z I received notification they'd applied work-around on my account (effectively fixing it for me) \\
+-01-26T18:31:36Z I checked confirmed all good (not only work-around but bug fixed) \\
+-01-27T16:16:55Z I received notification confirming that they'd solved and fixed the issue \\
+This is vastly better than many registrars, when one often has to do battle with them and go
+trough 2 to 3 rounds just to get them to even understand or acknowledge that there's even an issue,
+after which other registrars may still fail to fix the issue and/or often provide incorrect information.
+And I got that great level of service from Gandi when I wasn't even a customer yet and for a relatively
+low priority pretty minor bug.
+Their No Bullshit slogan/motto really does very much apply.  No
+gimmicks, tricks, clean interfaces, they don't shove bunches of
+advertisements and stuff like that in your face - generally only the
+slightest mention of some offers - when they really are special/bargains
+- and generally only see that on their web site, and pretty dang
+unobtrusive - generally have to click or follow a link for more details
+on stuff like that - so it's generally only a small notice on screen -
+and easily dismissed - and won't come back and be nagging one.  And no
+promotional/sales/marketing/etc. emails - unless one opts into that
+stuff.
+Renewal and other official emails - you don't get other goop (unless you
+explicitly opt in).  The emails have exactly what's needed and very well
+laid out.  E.g. got a domain that's heading towards expiration?  Yes,
+you get the email - you also get in the Subject: what domain, how long
+until it expires, and body of the email tells you when it expires
+including timezone, and it also spells out exactly what happens and when
+if the domain isn't renewed - no guess work, and quite useful Subject -
+especially among the many other emails one might typically be looking
+over.  Essentially their communications, including email, also of quite
+high quality.  Amazing how many other registrars can't even manage to
+reasonably do that even with their renewal emails - bloody hell, many
+such from other registrars they can't be bothered to even put the
+domain name in the Subject nor there indicate how long until it expires
+or when it expires.
+As I'd similarly quite say of Debian, "It just works" - pretty much rock
+solid clean, well thought out, and about bug free.  Generally anything
+one needs to do with domains on Gadi, it's quick, easy, efficient -
+at least to the extent feasible (notwithstanding some mandatory periods
+for some operations and such - but it goes as fast as feasible - unlike
+some registrars that'll drag it out as long as they can get away with -
+e.g. like when transferring a domain away).
+They do continue to improve their interface - it was never bad in my
+experience, but they do add/improve features which are actually useful
+(well, at least to some/many) - e.g. pretty easily allowing one to split
+up and delegate various parts of registrant/domain administration (e.g.
+billing, whois, DNS, etc.).  They also typically don't instantly force
+interface changes on users - can generally use both the latest and
+greatest ... and also prior generation interface for quite some time
+after the latest and greatest becomes available.  So, no jarring forced
+fast hard changes ([[https://www.atlassian.com/|Atlassian]], et. al., are you listening? ... no),
+likewise they don't break stuff (again, unlike Atlassian).
+GDPR - I think they handled that about as best feasible.  Yes, the
+default changed (and they may have had to do that for practical and/or
+legal reasons), but if you want that data public - easy peasy - no
+support tickets, or emails, or trying to pass clue to clueless ... the
+stuff basically just works - unlike some other registrars where that's
+quite the battle to achieve - or they don't even allow for the possibility!
+glue records - likewise easy peasy - copy, paste, click, done.  And yes,
+IPv6 too, no problem at all (wish I could say that for all registrars,
+multiple registrars are poor to grossly incompetent at that).
+DNSSEC - likewise easy peasy.  Again, wish I could say that for all
+registrars.
+Quite same applies for any data one needs to change, e.g. whois, DNS
+delegation, etc.
+Oh, and another data point for Gandi's rock solid reliability and
+dependability and quality API, etc.  When [[https://aws.amazon.com/|AWS]] entered into
+offering domain registration via their [[https://aws.amazon.com/route53/|Amazon Route 53]] service offering,
+AWS didn't themselves (at least initially) become a registrar,
+but resold Gadni's registrar services through AWS's Route 53 service.
+I might be forgetting some details and further examples, but pretty much
+solidly rocks, excellent service, and quite reasonable price for the
+quality.
+----
+==== NetworkSolutions.com / Web.com ====
+[[https://www.networksolutions.com/|NetworkSolutions.com]] / [[https://www.web.com/|Web.com]] - avoid like the plague.  They may not be
+the worst out there, but they're pretty horrible.  Some of their sh*t:
+  * Tons of marketing/sales/spam email, difficult to opt out (have to call a phone number and can take up to 30 days to opt out!).
+  * Overpriced - their default pricing is horrible.  But if you play the song and dance with their offers (e.g. yearly at renewal), you can get a reasonable price (just start to go through the motions like one is going to transfer the domain away - then you get offers for a reasonable price - about market rate and about 1/3 what they'd otherwise charge).  But alas, to take that offer, you have to opt in to their marketing emails ... and yeah, opting out ... ugh.
+  * IPv6 - last I dealt with them on that they still rather sucked, if I recall correctly - e.g. I think you had to do a support ticket to do IPv6 glue records ... at like about a decade after IPv6 was very much a thing on The Internet.
+  * Interface lacking - there's just a whole lot 'o stuff that requires a support email or call to get done, because their interface can't - and you tend to get fair amount of incompetence, and lots of sales/marketing when dealing with them on phone or via email.  Oh, yeah, and their web interfaces also pushes lots of sales/marketing goop - essentially lots of advertising for their own stuff all the time.
+  * Sometimes they'll opt you in for stuff you didn't ask for and don't want ... e.g. just gave you a crud yourbasedomainname.somecrudTLD without your asking or wanting ... then they of course want to sell you on renewing it.  Ugh.
+  * They also tend to push lots of announcing clueless offers.  Got [[https://www.sf-lug.org/|sf-lug.org]]?  How 'bout buy up all these sf-tote.someTLD and sftote.someTLD domains, I mean tote is like lug (as in sf-lug for San Francisco Linux Users' Group), right?  Ugh.
+So, yeah, general experience with NetworkSolutions.com / Web.com has
+been quite negative, with negligible exception.
+----
 ==== Joker.com ====
+Joker.com - their interface looks like a bad late 1990s web site loaded
+up with ads.  Their interface also isn't very functional.
+And sometimes they just suck.  E.g. GDPR ... yeah, can't opt out of
+the privacy goop for whois.
+Need to change glue records?  They were absolutely completely utterly
+incompetent at that - not only could their interface not do it, but the
+information they provided was incorrect, and even with numerous support
+tickets, they couldn't manage to to it.  It wasn't that hard, change
+some IP address(es) on the glue record - they just couldn't manage to do
+it //at all//.  Comparatively with gandi.net trivial to do - copy, paste,
+done - and IPv4 and/or IPv6 - all easy peasy on gandi.net. \\
+See also: \\
+[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2020q2/014825.html|done: proposed: sf-lug.org. change registrar from joker.com to gandi.net]] \\
+[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2020q2/014728.html|proposed: sf-lug.org. change registrar from joker.com to gandi.net]] \\
+[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2020q2/014726.html|proposed: sf-lug.org. change registrar from joker.com to gandi.net]] \\
+[[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2019q2/014183.html|registrar domain expiration notices - e.g. Joker.com vs. gandi.net ... & bit 'o registrar comparisons]] \\
+GDPR & whois: [[http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2019q2/013971.html|SF[-]LUG & domain(s) Re: Domain ...]]
+----
 ==== GoDaddy.com ====
+[[https://www.godaddy.com/|Godaddy.com]] ... uhm, probably just don't.  How 'bout start with their
+sexist/racist/... sleazy crud advertising ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTvYVxO_9N8|YouTube: Washington Post: GoDaddy's most controversial Super Bowl ads]], and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDqQhaUaVq0&t=84s|The Onion can't help but to take a well deserved parody shot at them]]) ... maybe they're better now on that?  I
+haven't particularly tracked.  They're also based in Canada, so if you
+have some serious issue/dispute with them, and want to take legal action
+... good luck with that (at least if you're not, e.g. a Canadian resident or citizen).
+Been a while, but last I dealt with them their
+interfaces were rather lacking.  Some of their behavior may be or have
+been shady - at least I've heard such - but didn't run into that
+personally.  Oh, but one thing I have repeatedly seen, that's quite shady, and as far as I'm aware they're still doing it.
+So automatic renewals ... no biggie, right, should be quite straight forward.  Yeah, ... the way they do those ... they actually do the renewals
+//slightly after the domains expire//.  Yeah shady as fsck - basically completely and totally exposes one to the mercy of GoDaddy
+every single time they do that.  They don't even renew day, or //hours// before expiration, but only slightly after expiration.
+----
 ==== Namecheap.com ====
+[[https://www.namecheap.com/|Namecheap.com]] - sucky interface,
+and not so competent staff.  Ugh, 2022
+and they still can't do IPv6 for glue records on their interface ...
+even though they have
+[[https://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/292/10/how-can-i-update-my-personal-nameservers-ip-address/#comment-601548546|support requests open to do that for more than a decade]]!
+So, have to do support request for that ... ugh, really, in
+... and they're not very competent about handing it at that.
+Oh, and API ... 2023 and still:
+[[https://www.namecheap.com/support/api/intro/|whitelist at least one IP before your API access will begin to work. Please keep in mind that only IPv4 addresses can be used]].
+Also much of the information their support staff provides is incorrect ... ugh.
+----
 ==== AWS.Amazon.com ====
-==== cloud.Google.com ====
+[[https://aws.amazon.com/|AWS.Amazon.com]] offers registrar service via their [[https://aws.amazon.com/route53/|Amazon Route 53]] service offering.
+As far as I've been able to tell, they've always been competent at that.
+And, for better and/or worse, that's just a very small part of what Amazon and AWS does.  So, yeah, most registrars
+(or their owning companies) don't also ship about 1.6 million packages per day.  So domain registrar certainly isn't Amazon's, nor AWS's core business.
+But if one wants, e.g. tight convenient integration with AWS, well, they certainly have that.
+Of course if one wants to put all one's eggs in one basket, best be sure it's a damn good safe secure basket.
+Of course since AWS has quite ample APIs, it would be very feasible to use AWS as registrar, and do so quite independently,
+and well integrate that in with other things in interoperability.  But then many registrars offer good/excellent APIs, so that's hardly
+something that's unique to AWS.
+Also of note. when AWS first offered registrar services, they resold through Gandi - which also speaks to Gandi's great
+reliability and dependability and quality APIs.  Not sure if AWS still also does that, but at least since those earlier beginnings between
+AWS and Gandi, AWS has also become registrar in their own right, so AWS may or may not still also be using (reselling) Gandi's registrar services.
+----
+==== domains.google ====
+So, [[https://domains.google/|Google Domains]] has been a competent reliable registrar.
+However, on 2023-06-15 [[https://www.squarespace.com/|Squarespace]] concluded an agreement to purchase the Google Domains business.
+So, what has been Google Domains is being migrated over to Squarespace.  And, though I'd expect that for the basic registrar services that
+would continue to be functional (but may be a bit different), it's certainly not being an entirely smooth transition for many customers.
+But that may mostly be due to differing interfaces, and that Google Domains offered services beyond that of registrar which Squarespace
+doesn't offer at all.  E.g. Google Domains, in its DNS offering, has supported hosting of Dynamic DNS (DDNS).  Squarespace has no such
+offering, so there are many customers not so thrilled with such changes, and many have been scrambling to find suitable replacement services.
+Note historically and generally, Google often launches things, and later drops them, as/when they find/decide they're not (sufficiently) profitable
+and/or don't well (enough) fit to their core business model, etc.  So, although Google was quite competent as registrar, I find it no great
+surprise that they're exiting the registrar business.  Do I see that as an issue with failed or reduced integration with
+[[https://cloud.google.com/|Google Cloud / Google Cloud Platform (GCP)]]?
+Not particularly, as that can probably be integrated with the API of most any registrar that
+competently makes such available, without too much difficulty.
+----
+==== DreamHost.com ====
+[[https://www.dreamhost.com/|DreamHost.com]] - most notably //gross//
+technical and operational incompetence.  Having been screwed over multiple times by
+DeamHost.com's hosting (see:
+[[https://lists.balug.org/pipermail/balug-admin/2017-September/000919.html|Many times that DreamHost.com majorly and repeatedly f*cked up hosted data]]),
+there's no way in hell I'd trust 'em, let alone
+with anything at least potentially as important/critical as a domain
+and the registrar's responsibilities thereof.  Even though they offer
+some services //for free// to 501(3)%%(%%c) non-profits, my best advice would be,
+even at that price, far too costly and dangerous/hazardous, wouldn't want to
+touch 'em with a ten foot pole, and I'd strongly recommend running away
+as fast as feasible.

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