
Ask HN: People with custom domain names: what's the plan if you lose the domain? - md5person
There&#x27;s a thread right now on the front-page, titled &quot;Degoogle: Cutting Google out of your life&quot; (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=24245817). Many on this thread are advocating for using a custom domain name, to front email communications (and thus reduce your dependency on services such as gmail).<p>People who currently do this (or those that plan on doing it): what is your plan in-case you end up losing the domain name (either temporarily, or otherwise)? How do you prepare for this, reduce the risk, etc?<p>Losing your domain name can happen due to any number of reasons: hacked account (at the registrar), social engineering, etc. There can also be issues with registrars going bankrupt, increasing fees (see recent dot-org case [1]), laws changing (especially with ccTLDs - see the dot-EU case with British citizens post Brexit [2]) and much more...<p>[1] - https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.eff.org&#x2F;press&#x2F;releases&#x2F;org-domain-registry-sale-ethos-capital-rejected-stunning-victory-public-interest<p>[2] - https:&#x2F;&#x2F;eurid.eu&#x2F;en&#x2F;register-a-eu-domain&#x2F;brexit-notice&#x2F;
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stephenr
Use a vanilla extension (I have .com’s and .net‘S).

Use a registrar that takes security seriously.

Take security seriously yourself.

Pay the renewal fees.

That’s it.

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joezydeco
And find a registrar that offers a privacy option, hide your contact info from
Whois.

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jolmg
Use an address with the domain of your paid email provider for site sign-ups.
The email provider is going to have more to lose than you if control over the
domain is lost.

Use a custom domain for person-to-person communications. This allows you to
change email providers later without having to make sure all your contacts
know you've changed your address, by just informing the sites you're signed up
at.

The risk from losing your personal domain then is just someone impersonating
you to your personal contacts (if they know them) or site users if you're
hosting anything at that domain.

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thepra
No plan, I basically pay for owning and keeping a domain up and functioning,
it's up to the domain hostel hoster to take care of security and the main
thing account security that I did was to use a very long and computer
generated password through my password manager.

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replwoacause
Not remotely worried about it. I have had my personal domain for almost 20
years and renew it 10 years at a time.

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zeestar
Move on and start over ️ It’s just a domain name, just an email, it’s nothing
important: mostly spam and dumb clients.

