

Namecheap to Double EFF Donation if 25,000 Transfers Made Today - tnd
http://www.elliotsblog.com/breaking-namecheap-to-double-donation-to-eff-if-25000-transfers-are-made-today-3718

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brlewis
I transferred 7 domains today. What a great way to support the EFF at no cost
to me.

For those of you who think this costs something: the $6.99 price is for an
additional year of domain registration that is added to whatever time remains
at godaddy. If you were going to renew your domains at some point anyway, it's
essentially free.

I will have no downtime since my DNS is not at godaddy. If you use godaddy DNS
see
[http://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/...](http://www.namecheap.com/support/knowledgebase/article.aspx/582)

I don't know for sure that namecheap is the world's best registrar, but I
decided not to overthink it, since if choosing a registrar were really such a
key decision I wouldn't have stayed at godaddy for years. And with transfer
being so easy I don't expect there to be a problem if I decide to move
elsewhere later. In the meantime I'm supporting the EFF and exercising
meaningful opposition to SOPA.

~~~
dwyer
> I don't know for sure that namecheap is the world's best registrar, but I
> decided not to overthink it

I really wish people would. Who here ever heard of Namecheap before they
blasted GoDaddy for ``breaking ICANN rules'' by restricting their whois access
just before industry experts confirmed that it's standard practice for
preventing abuse? It reeks of dishonesty and Namecheap seems to be doing
whatever they can to stay viral. Registrars have always been a shady bunch and
adopting one without research has never been a good idea.

~~~
brlewis
I'm not convinced deeply researching registrars is worth my time. I skimmed
through the terms of service before switching to namecheap and that's it.
They're a commodity. If the only thing distinguishing this one is that they
might put out a press release about 25,000 Internet power users voting against
SOPA with their money, that's enough for me. Considering that the only harm I
suffered from staying with godaddy for years was a sense of dissatisfaction at
being associated with them, I doubt namecheap will do anything in the next 60
days (after which I can transfer elsewhere) to make me regret switching.

If you've got a non-shady registrar and reasons to think it's the best, post
something and maybe I'll transfer to them in March.

------
tnd
Update: Namecheap hit 25,000 transfers today, set to make $50,000+ donation:
[http://www.elliotsblog.com/namecheap-hits-25000-transfers-
to...](http://www.elliotsblog.com/namecheap-hits-25000-transfers-today-0665)

------
mikegirouard
Perhaps this is in response to Ghandi's similar offer?

Who cares though, I'm happy to see them compete for such a great cause.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
_"Perhaps this is in response to Ghandi's similar offer?"_

It's the other way around: Gandi's offer was posted on Dec 29 [0], while
Namecheap's offer was announced on Dec 27 [1].

[0]
[https://www.gandi.net/news/en/2011-12-29/539-gandi_supports_...](https://www.gandi.net/news/en/2011-12-29/539-gandi_supports_the_eff/)

[1] [http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/12/27/move-your-
dom...](http://community.namecheap.com/blog/2011/12/27/move-your-domain-day/)

~~~
kbd
Yes, so as to 1-up Gandi, Namecheap announced _today_ that they'll be doubling
it if they make it to $25k. That's what this post is about...

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Ah yes, you're right. Now I see what mikegirouard meant.

In any case, I already transferred 20 of my domains from GoDaddy to Namecheap
yesterday. I only have some domains at GoDaddy with ccTLDs that Namecheap
doesn't support, but I turned the autorenewal off for those domains while I'm
looking for an other registrar to transfer them to.

------
jamesbritt
I moved my last (of those I'm bothering to maintain) today. That's a total of
25, I think, over the last three days.

BTW, if you're pasting in the domain and EPP key, make sure there are no
spaces around the comma.

    
    
         domain, key # bad
         domain,key  # OK
    

This seems to have tripped up my initial bulk transfer.

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dazbradbury
Seems like this is getting main-stream community support:

[http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/move-your-domain-day-
nameche...](http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/move-your-domain-day-namecheap-
offer-6-99-4-53-transfer-1-year-extension-with-1-1104272)

I posted onto HotUkDeals not knowing what to expect, but seems like people are
very aware of SOPA. Well, that and the crowd are even more techie than I had
anticipated.

All of this mainstream attention perhaps caused this tweet (even if the news
itself is old):
[https://twitter.com/#!/DrBobParsons/statuses/152473462399713...](https://twitter.com/#!/DrBobParsons/statuses/152473462399713280)

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GoldenMonkey
Transferred All domains from GoDaddy today, after being with them forever!
Feels great! Had been unhappy with them for awhile.

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jfaucett
moved my domains today, glad to help along freedom as much as I can, as the
article says EFF really needs it so come on guys!

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OstiaAntica
I'm trying to move names right now and am getting an error from NameCheap. I
hope they are over-capacity on this special!!

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xal
These guys really milk the hell out of you guys. That's barely even a
meaningful amount of money for them or for EFF.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
>$50,000 is barely meaningful? Any charity would be thrilled to receive such a
sum.

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pkmiec
I just did 4 domains.

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swombat
I transferred to DNSimple instead, based on the general impression that
namecheap is just GoDaddy in another guise, and the reports from users of
namecheap that their interface is just as bad as GoDaddy's.

Gotta say I'm happy so far. DNSimple is the best DNS management interface I've
found yet - well worth $3/month.

~~~
commandar
>reports from users of namecheap that their interface is just as bad as
GoDaddy's.

Completely untrue. Namecheap's interface is barebones and is by no mean
flashy, but that's what I _like_ about it. It gets out of my way and lets me
do what I need.

GoDaddy's interface is a labyrinth designed to make you want to slam your own
hand in a car door just to make the hurt stop.

~~~
jfaucett
gotta second you on this one, namecheap is simple, plain and a huge breath of
fresh air (when your just escaping the godaddy labyrinth)

