Slashdot Mirror


Wikipedia To Dump GoDaddy Over SOPA

Reader jampola points out that Wikimedia's Jimmy Wales last week said clearly what was only hinted at earlier in the month; now "It's not only imgur (among many others) who are giving GoDaddy the flick; it also appears Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikimedia, will be making the change. While unsure to what effect Wikimedia utilizes the services of GoDaddy, I imagine this could very well be another public blow for GoDaddy in the wrong direction over their decision to support SOPA."

26 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Use Namecheap by InterestingFella · · Score: 5, Informative

    I can't but happy with their service. Clean, fast user interface with no horrible upselling like with GoDaddy. They are against SOPA and have worked great for years. I can only recommend them.

    1. Re:Use Namecheap by Method320 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can't but happy with their service.

      Learn to spell. Perhaps you can butt Grumpy or Sleepy with their service.

      I'm sure someone who has experience with the dwarfs will chime in.

      His spelling is fine. Learn to Grammar.

    2. Re:Use Namecheap by Dzimas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Learn to interpolate. Sometimes words get unintentionally dropped.

    3. Re:Use Namecheap by Stormwatch · · Score: 5, Funny

      When writing quickly I have a tendency to drop random words.

      So you accidentally the whole post?

    4. Re:Use Namecheap by djl4570 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Verbing weirds language.

    5. Re:Use Namecheap by spintriae · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I assume you're from Hacker News. I'd be very weary of Namecheap. I personally wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole. They have been very dishonest in their dealings with GoDaddy in order to make themselves out to be some David fighting Goliath. In particular, accusing GoDaddy of noncompetitively restricting their whois access. Experts have already confirmed that that's standard practice in the industry to prevent abuse, and honestly, even I, a nonexpert, already knew that. Their making an issue out of it public reeks of dishonesty. As most /.ers will gleefully tell you, no-name domain registrars can be as crooked as a barrel of snakes. If you look in the comments sections of most anti-GoDaddy stories, you'll see plenty of them spamming their SOPASUCKSALLCAPS coupon codes.

      My advice to anyone looking for a new registrar is not to go with whomever screams "Screw SOPA! Screw GoDaddy!" the loudest. Do some actually research on who provides quality service and has a long established reputation of not being a snake. I personally like eNom, but there may be better ones out there.

  2. In response... by itchythebear · · Score: 5, Funny

    In response, GoDaddy will now have various pictures of Danica Patrick at the top of all of their site's pages, urgently pleading people to register domains with them.

    The caption would be:

    If everyone reading this registered 5 domains with us, we could end the internet today. Please read a personal appeal. Please help.

    --
    If what I just said sounded like a troll, it was probably just a failed attempt at humor.
  3. Re:[citation needed] by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What do you mean by "big"?

    Do you mean:
    "big"==" well known companies who use godaddy"
    Or
    "big"==" companies that have a large number of domanis and related services from godaddy" ?

    Because there are people/companies with thousands of domains, which they could pull from godaddy and make a noticible dent in their profits instantly by making the switch, but they wouldn't inspire anyone else to do the same.

    However wikimedia, may only have a few domains and services, but inspire others to do the same.

    --
    Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
  4. More interesting question: who hasn't by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A lot of people/companies movies their domains away, not just wikipedia or imgur, or the humble bundle people. A lot of people have done it. I wrapped up moving my domains today (started after the previous domain dispute wit godaddy that was reported on /.).

    It would be more interesting to see what companies, specially those that rely on user contribution, decided not to move away from the shitty registrar called GoDaddy.

    For who care, I moved my domains to Gandi. So far the service is great, the gratis DNS management is also ok (you can pretty much copy paste zone files). Gandi is a non-US company (French), they support EFF (and a bunch of other projects /.ers like), oppose SOPA: http://www.gandibar.net/post/2011/12/23/Gandi-s-Opposition-to-the-SOPA-Legislation

    1. Re:More interesting question: who hasn't by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm also with gandi (been using them for what seems like 10 yrs now; quite a long time). just recently I decided to try their webmail (imap) and that works fine, too. after a few months testing, I moved all my gmail business over to my own domain and using gandi as mail transport, dns and occasional webmail (but mostly imap).

      --

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    2. Re:More interesting question: who hasn't by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 4, Interesting

      HADOPI targets "internet subscribers", i.e. the people at home and not websites. So Gandi, and it's clients are not affected by HADOPI.

    3. Re:More interesting question: who hasn't by Grishnakh · · Score: 4, Informative

      DomainsByProxy looks good at first, until you click on "About Us" and see that they're good buddies with GoDaddy.

      No thanks.

      Does anyone else offer such a service, without being tied to GoDaddy?

  5. Re:[citation needed] by skids · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wikipedia and imgur leaving GoDaddy isn't going to make them fold like Bear Sterns

    I don't think anyone expects GoDaddy to go belly up over this. There will always be bottom-feeding morons who only care about prices and nothing else. The question is how much business will no longer be absorbed by the GoDaddy sponge and will be available for smaller competitors, and the significance of Wikimedia leaving is that their prestige may inspire fence sitters to follow suit.

  6. Re:GoDaddy Reversal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    GoDaddy didn't reversed their stance on SOPA. They simply stopped actively supporting it in public. There is a big difference.

  7. Re:GoDaddy Reversal by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 4, Informative

    GoDaddy did NOT reverse their stance on SOPA. They only removed the publication on their supporting stance of SOPA. So they still support it, they just don't say it out loud.

  8. Two messages being sent by GoDaddy desertions by Morgaine · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1. Politicians and government no longer represent what the people want. The bribary by the copyright lobby has gone way beyond the pale, and the political corruption of government seems unstoppable.

    2. Politicians and government are now costing businesses money. While traditionally the government has supported businesses more than individuals, this has now reached the point where business finds itself at odds with the customers that provide its income, and that is a terminal situation.

    The messages are pretty clear. What's unclear is where this is going, other than sending SOPA to hell.

    --
    "The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
  9. Re:GoDaddy Reversal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    GoDaddy helped WRITE SOPA...they're exempt from many of its negative effects.

  10. I transfered a dozen domains today. But know this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    I wish I knew a few things before transferring my domains. I hope you find this useful.

    There are at least 2 registrars who will donate $1 to EFF for each domain transferred to them:

    1. namecheap.com (use coupon code SOPAsucks for a nice discount, I paid $7.17 per domain transfer + whois privacy)
    2. gandi.net ($8 for domain transfer + free SSL cert + free whois privacy + ...)

    I wish I knew that:

    1. namecheap.com offers SSL cert for $1.99 extra -- that you can use for ANY domain including ones you don't register with them.
              Since I didn't need SSL for the domains I transferred, I skipped this offer and am kicking myself for not getting a few certs

    2. gandi.net offers SSL cert for free with each transfer and it only costs $8 (US) and they provide whois privacy
              there were posts about gandi.net being more expensive than others, so I assumed the worst and found otherwise today

    Now you know of 2 registrars giving you a domain name, SSL cert and whois privacy for under $10, PLUS they donate a buck to EFF.

    I transferred around 12 domains to namecheap.com for $7.17/domain and will transfer additional domains requiring SSL to gandi.net for $8/domain.

    If you know of other registrars (not owned by godaddy) who will donate $1 or more for each transfer, then reply here with their coupon code, etc.

    Things to remember when transferring from godaddy:

    1. First, unlock your domain at the godaddy website
    2. Get your authorization codes from godaddy website
    3. Cancel your whois privacy at godaddy's: DomainsByProxy.com
    4. Make sure your Administrative Contact's email address is correct so you can respond
            (note that some changes like Company Name, etc. will lock your domain for 60 days!)
    5. And finally, initiate the transfer at your new registrar

    I found these instructions helpful when transferring my domains today:
    http://www.sitepoint.com/godaddy-supports-sopa-heres-how-to-transfer-your-domains/

    Here's your chance to vote with your wallet AND save money. If you procrastinate, you'll probably end up renewing with godaddy the night before your expiration and pay them a heck of a lot more than these prices. Transfer today and benefit.

  11. So help fund them by rbrander · · Score: 4, Informative

    Funny coincidence, five minutes ago, the Wikipedia funding request hit my mailbox. Says they stop asking for funds every year once they hit a goal...but alas this year did not make it.

    Really, it is a very impressive service to offer with, as the letter says, 679 servers and 95 staff. They keep it all very, very tight. I felt good donating this year, and that was BEFORE the SOPA thing.

  12. Re:[citation needed] by skids · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No, but it is bottom-feeding to prefer price over other important aspects, such as the business ethics of the provider, the level of customer service, the features of the service, and the general principle that a near-monopoly is bad for both the marketplace and the technology and the obligations that result from the fact that consumers are (barring government) one of the only entities in a position to prevent such a situation from occurring.

  13. Re:Coupons! by Just+Brew+It! · · Score: 4, Informative

    They're losing future revenue (due to current customers moving domains) and future customers (due to bad publicity). Presumably some of those moved domains were up for renewal in the very near future (possibly even within the next few days); so they are losing the revenue from the automatic (by default) credit card charges for the domain renewals.

  14. Re:GoDaddy Reversal by Zaphod+The+42nd · · Score: 4, Informative

    Amazingly, there is a specific exemption for a few sites inside SOPA, of which GoDaddy is one. -__- The corruption knows no bounds.
    godaddy supports sopa because of exemption Quote,

    "Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), the only member of Congress present at the hearing with any tech experience, having founded several web companies... Polis pointed out that SOPA and Smith’s amendment already excluded certain operators of sub-domains, such as GoDaddy.com, from being subject to shutdowns under SOPA. If companies like GoDaddy.com are exempt, why aren’t non-commercial domain servers exempt?” Polis asked."

    --
    GCS/MU/P d- s:- a-- C++++$ UL++ P+ L++ E+ W++ N o K- w--- O M+ V- PS+++ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5- X R++ tv+ b++ DI++ D++ G+ e++ h-
  15. GoDaddy now opposes SOPA and PIPA by DragonWriter · · Score: 5, Interesting

    GoDaddy did NOT reverse their stance on SOPA. They only removed the publication on their supporting stance of SOPA. So they still support it, they just don't say it out loud.

    Wrong.

    GoDaddy, the domain register targeted by online activists in response to its enthusiasm for a pair of Hollywood-backed copyright bills, has finally denounced the legislation in response to a boycott scheduled for today.

    Warren Adelman, the company's chief executive, said today that "GoDaddy opposes SOPA," meaning the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is facing a House of Representatives committee vote next month.

    A GoDaddy spokeswoman confirmed to CNET this afternoon that "we oppose PIPA, as well." That's the Senate bill known as Protect IP, which will be debated on the Senate floor January 24. (See CNET's SOPA FAQ.)

    1. Re:GoDaddy now opposes SOPA and PIPA by symbolset · · Score: 4, Informative

      It was this afternoon. Get this: they helped write this bill. They funded it. They're written into it as an exception, and a holding registrar for seized domains. They let their arrow fly. If these bills pass GoDaddy cannot escape blame for the harm they do, repentant or not. It's in their best interest now to ensure that these bills are killed deader than Canasta.

      If they do manage to kill it then they're just stupid and negligent. Which many of us could let go.

      --
      Help stamp out iliturcy.
  16. Re:You are doing it wrong by jc42 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I must have missed the meme.

    How could you have the meme about typing a sentence but accidentally the verb?

    Of course, Method320's post was a submeme of the original missing-verb meme, with a compound verb in the usual place, but the infinitive missing. Maybe that what confused you? Compound verbs too difficult for a lot of English-speaking people nowadays.

    (And some of us now studying Engrish and Chinglish instead. Those languages will valuable in coming Chinese century. ;-)

    --
    Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
  17. Re:This just in... by asdf7890 · · Score: 5, Informative

    They did not bow to anything. They just removed some supporting posts in the hope that would con some people (it seems to have worked in some quarters).

    They certainly haven't come out against it.

    Key members of their staff are still openly supporting it in blog posts (which the company would likely squash fairly quickly were they to be against the company position).