
Namecheap.com: We say no to SOPA - mannymanifesto
http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/12/22/we-say-no-to-sopa/
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seldo
Totally independently of their SOPA stance, I would recommend Namecheap over
GoDaddy. I've been using Namecheap for years; they are reliable and have a
sane (if not terribly pretty) user interface.

~~~
guywithabike
I switched to Namecheap after I got bit in the ass by the RegisterFly fiasco.
Namecheap has been great to me ever since. I highly recommend them, despite
their spammy-sounding name.

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Lazare
I moved all my domains from GoDaddy to Namecheap a while ago. The experience
was really smooth, and Namecheap's interface is a TON easier to work with.

Although I support the idea of switching domains from GoDaddy to protest their
support of SOPA, I sort have to wonder why anyone technically oriented hasn't
done so already. Is there ANYTHING to recommend them other than name
recognition?

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gwillen
Historical reasons. I've had my domains with them for almost ten years. Ten
years ago they were the geek registrar of choice.

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jambo
Same here. I transfered all of my domains from Network Solutions to them about
10 years ago and have mostly been able to ignore them--I run my own name
servers & hosting. More recently, I've been registering domains on namecheap,
and this may provide the motivation to finally consolidate my names with a
less offensive registrar.

~~~
gwillen
I am planning to transfer my domains to nearlyfreespeech.net. The only thing
stopping me is that I renewed them 30 days ago, and apparently you can't
transfer a domain within 60 days of renewal for some reason.

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Legion
That's nice. But I prefer my registrar have freedom and anti-censorship be a
core everyday value, like NearlyFreeSpeech, rather than something to embrace
as a marketing opportunity.

Maybe that's unfair to Namecheap, but at any rate, all these issues with
GoDaddy that people seem to suddenly care about just now are the reasons I
have given NFS all my domain registration business for years now.

Just being anti-SOPA isn't good enough.

~~~
jtreminio
I like NFS, but apparently they have some caveats, such as you cannot set up a
domain to use its' own nameservers (buy foo.com, setup nameservers as
ns1.foo.com ns2.foo.com with dedicated IPs) without them charging you $50 (?)
/hour in tech support... PER nameserver.

Sorry NFS, I'm moving away.

~~~
soult
That's because they are a webhosting company, not a domain registrar. They
offer domains at a cost-covering price as a service for their webhosting
customers. Technically ns.phx1.nearlyfreespeech.net works just as well as
ns1.yourdomain.example, but the latter one requires manual work (adding glue
records) because their control panel does not support it.

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cdr
Note that while Namecheap doesn't support SOPA, they clearly do support some
form of new IP legislation: "not in favor of SOPA as it has been proposed",
"... only a surgical strike is necessary." Whatever comes after SOPA/PROTECT
IP - assuming they're defeated - Namecheap may well endorse.

~~~
cheald
Most sane people support sane IP legislation. It's perfectly reasonable for IP
holders to want to have legal recourse against the bad guys. There are lots of
people making a lot of money selling a lot of illegal merchandise online.

What people protest about SOPA is that it gives tools to companies (with a
history of abusing the recourses granted to them by law) that are akin to a
wrecking ball intended to be used as a flyswatter. Sure, you'll get the fly,
but you're going to take out three walls, a couple of load-bearing columns,
and an unfortunate cat in the process.

~~~
slowpoke
_> Most sane people support sane IP legislation._

Sane IP legislation is no IP legislation. I don't know why we are still
clinging to the ridiculous concept of being able to own abstract concepts. The
true insanity is IP in the first place.

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Lazare
I support, _in principle_ , the concept of IP, and the right of IP holders to
enforce their rights, and I hope everyone else on Hacker News does too.

The big questions aren't "should IP even exist as a concept", but instead "how
limited IP should be", "what rights IP ownership should give", and "what
avenues are available to enforce those rights".

Don't forget, "IP protection" is a really broad concept, and it's more than
just patent trolls and DMCA takedowns issued by corporations on content they
don't even control: It also includes, for example, the ability to release code
under your open source license of choice and then see it enforced through the
courts.

~~~
4ad
Many people, myself included, are against the very principle of IP for good
reasons: <http://www.stephankinsella.com/ip/>

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mvanveen
When I was growing up and learning about DNS, HTTP, protocols, and packets I
really wanted to get my own domain, but being under 18, I had no easy way to
pay a registar without a credit card.

Namecheap was one of the first registrars to accept Paypal, and this helped me
get started when I was first developing my passion for web development.

I've been using them for years and plan to continue using them for a long
time.

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sontek
Does namecheap have free DNS? I have 25 domains on godaddy and thinking about
moving them, but I will need to be able to manage nameservers through whoever
I switch to since right now thats all done through godaddy.

Also, whats the cost of transfering?

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xelfer
$6.99 using the SOPASucks code. <http://i.imgur.com/MDSHl.jpg>

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akadien
I've been a very happy Namecheap customer for years, and I have steered
everyone I know looking for a registrar to them. I moved from EasyDNS and
never regretted it. Now, I'm glad to see they are politically enlightened.

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Rhapso
maybe I have this wrong, but it sounds like they heard the rabble rousing and
made a well timed good marketing move. No surprise. But it does make me sad
when a political stance is a marketing move.

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cheald
I have no problem with it if their political stance actually lines up with the
marketing move. If folks are mad that your competitor likes to kick puppies,
it's totally fair game to say "Hey, we provide the same thing, and you don't
have to finance puppy-kicking if you use us."

~~~
Rhapso
I hope you are right, and the order of things is as you say. If not we are
trading one evil for another.

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8ig8
Just adding a shout for Hover. They've been opposing SOPA for a while now:

<https://www.hover.com/blog/hover-opposes-sopa>

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tsycho
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to transfer domains from Godaddy to
Namecheap:

[http://blog.jeffepstein.me/post/14629857835/a-step-by-
step-g...](http://blog.jeffepstein.me/post/14629857835/a-step-by-step-guide-
to-transfer-domains-out-of-godaddy)

PS> I didn't write the guide. I am not affiliated to Namecheap. I just found
it useful.

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cowkingdeluxe
Namecheap.com: We say no to SOPA but only accept Visa and Mastercard, both of
whom support SOPA.

~~~
endtwist
They also gladly accept PayPal, to be fair.

~~~
ars
And PayPal accepts Visa/MC - how far does the contagion spread?

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Natsu
I think Discover and American Express are not on the list.

There's not much after that except for BitCoins.

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radicalcakes
I'm glad I started using Namecheap instead of Godaddy. I was inexperienced
about registrars at that time...it was Russian Roulette choosing the right
registrar. Thank goodness Namecheap's interface wooed me over GoDaddy's. I
beat the bullet.

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zdgman
Just moved my two domains over to Namecheap from Godaddy. I then went and
purchase a third domain directly from Namecheap that I want to use for a side
project. Not a crazy amount of money by any means but ever little bit counts.

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l0c0b0x
Namecheap was the most referenced domain registrar when I was planning on
moving away from GoDaddy. They really have their act together and I've been
happy with them ever since. Way to go on your SOPA stance.

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jqueryin
If anyone here works at NameCheap, can I catch a break somehow if I try to
transfer all of my domains over? I've got 20+ and hate spending extra money if
they aren't up for renewal anytime soon.

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krober
A manager from Namecheap said that there's a deal when you transfer 50+
domains. You might be able to work something out with them for 20+, but the
manager didn't respond to a request for a 43 domain transfer, so it seems
unlikely.

[http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/nmnie/godaddy_supp...](http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/nmnie/godaddy_supports_sopa_im_transferring_51_domains/c3aaeji)

~~~
yourapostasy
Someone could ask Namecheap to allow people to "bundle" a transfer to hit
their discount levels. Enable customers to get together and transfer all their
domains from a single registrar like GoDaddy all on the same day. Customer Foo
has 43 domains, customer Bar has 7 domains, they both transfer all of these
domains on the same day and both key in a bundle code. They both show up in
the same transfer bundle, so both get the 50 domain discount.

The bundle code could be an extension of the discount code, like Foo would
enter BYEBYEGD:Email-addy-of-Bar while Bar enters BYEBYEGD:Email-addy-of-Foo.
That type of structure would limit the bundling to two customers coordinating
with each other (so Namecheap doesn't lose out on handing out too many
discounts). Other structurings of bundles are possible, of course, depending
upon Namecheap's internal sales and marketing goals.

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firefoxman1
Now there is a perfect marketing opportunity seized by Namecheap. Reminds me
of when LaLa was acquired and Pandora offered a month free of Pandora One to
"LaLa refugees."

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chjj
Happy to say I've been using namecheap for a little while now. Never had a
problem with them.

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ilanrabinovitch
Unfortunately you do not have DNSSEC or IPv6 glue record support though.

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brianbreslin
Do any non godaddy registrars offer bulk discounts?

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simonsarris
Ask!

Many do not advertise it but will do a bulk discount if you ask. I'm pretty
certain Namecheap is one of them (if you have more than 50 I think).

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telemekus
Contacted a help person @namecheap. when I asked for 50+ domains, was told,
there is no bulk discount other than the current SOPASuck type deal. The
current SOPASucks is limited to 10 domains.

I _Wish_ there was a bulk discount. Pity namecheap couldn't come up with
tiered bulk domain transferring pricing.

~~~
brianbreslin
yeah with almost 100 domains, I'd love to move them all at once and save some
coin.

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ballstothewalls
namecheap isnt saying "no" to SOPA; they are saying "yes" to all the transfers
from godaddy.

P.S. I <3 namcheap

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iSloth
Quote "Let us be clear: Namecheap is not in favor of SOPA as it has been
proposed."

Yes that's very clear, the agree is some kind of SOPA...

