

GoDaddy support for SOPA aftermath - daily domain transfer impact graph - zeratul
http://entaroadun.github.com/dns_raphael_vis/

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tomcreighton
I have no idea what this graph is trying to tell me. Less Javascript, more
actual information, please.

~~~
amalag
Is very clear to me, just hover your mouse, my only issue is i think the graph
could be bigger, but i think the graphic is very communicative

~~~
tzs
I don't have a mouse. How do I hover on a touch screen?

Tapping various parts does show and hide numbers, but I have no way of telling
if those are the numbers that hovering gives.

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lachyg
You've got to bear in mind that this is domains moved off GoDaddy's
_nameservers_ , and I imagine a large percentage of transfered domains would
already have non-godaddy nameservers.

~~~
incongruity
Exactly. This data is somewhere between uninformative to downright deceptive
if we're trying to get a handle on how many domains were actually moved to
different registrars. As a proxy, dns servers seems somewhat poor to me.

~~~
poutine
Agreed, this sort of thing harms any sort of boycott by making things look
ineffective or perhaps less effective.

I know that for the 40 or so domains I transferred off of Godaddy none of them
used Godaddy's nameservers. Indeed it's ill advised to use your registrars
nameservers.

I would encourage you to take this analysis down less it get picked up by
conventional media.

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ivankirigin
This is a poor visualization, so I put the data into a google spreadsheet
[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApJroHQ6ZaKXdEJ...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApJroHQ6ZaKXdEJQTnVLVHdyLUVFZVpRZWxQUnVFSFE)

Note the multiple tabs

The source data is here:
<http://entaroadun.github.com/dns_raphael_vis/impact.js>

Here is my shitty python script to convert that json to csv for g.docs
<https://www.dropbox.com/s/tq821nglmijt11n>

~~~
zeratul
This graph is about daily domain changes. Maybe if you looked here, it would
help (the four values in the four tab headings):
<http://www.dailychanges.com/domaincontrol.com/>

I'm experimenting and leaning new ways to visualize the data. I think there
are better ways of doing it than a bar graphs or line plots. Well, it seems it
did not work that well. GitHub uses similar visualization technique, though.
Maybe next time I get it right. Here is my inspiration:

<http://raphaeljs.com/github/impact.html>

EDIT: Initially I wanted to do _Sankey diagram_ but that came out way too
complicated and there wasn't a good way to show new and deleted domains.

~~~
stephenatwork
One problem I have with the graph is that the height of the sections of data
for each day does not have a clear meaning.

For instance, look at Dec 23 and Dec 24: the top orange section drops from 31k
to 29k, but the visualization shows a thicker orange height on the 24th than
the 23rd. In fact, the entire graph is significantly higher on the 24th, but
it is not clear what this means either.

~~~
zeratul
I've updated the graph according to your suggestion.

Before every variable was normalized according to its own min/max, now there
is a global min/max. Thank you all for the suggestions.

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jrmski
You have to look at the broader context.... the transfers-out are totally
within the noise. See <http://mishanski.org/random/godaddy_exodus/>

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tangledweb
I don't think the data is meaningful at all.

I moved about 40 domains on the 29th. None of them will show up in that data.

Either I was using them, so I was already using a nameserver other than domain
control, or I was not using them, so I don't care what the nameserver settings
are and I let the new registrar copy them across. Those domains still show up
on domaincontrol.com, but are no longer registered through GoDaddy.

It's possible that porting to different registrars has different side effects,
but at least for my domains ported to name.com this data will show no change.
I'm not surprised then that the data shows no statistically important change.

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tlb
The graph is drawn or labeled incorrectly. For example, compare the 5
rightmost numbers in orange to the width of the line.

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mcritz
It'd be helpful to see the year-over-year data. Does GoDaddy usually get a
spike of new domains at new years?

Either way, tell everyone you know, “GoDaddy is a terrible business.”
elaborate if necessary.

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powertower
Meaningless without proper historical context (last year's numbers).

All-in-all, to me it looks like GoDaddy has slightly benefited from the
negative press, as far as overall domain registrations go.

Go figure!

But it kind of makes sense considering that the domain business is the "I
don't give a fuck as long as I save $1" type of market headspace.

~~~
loungin
I don't think the "I don't give a fuck as long as I save $1" mindset is
limited to just the domain business. In America, look at the proliferation of
Walmart and Winco (just to name a couple). Their service is crap and
everything they sell is of low quality. However, they are still in business
because _many_ only care about saving a few bucks.

~~~
jtreminio
I know it's cool to hate on walmart and all, but the people are nice to me,
and my Mr. Coffee Keurig machine that I purchased from them appears to be the
exact same model that's on Amazon, and I got it for less than Amazon. Go
figure.

One thing I do not buy from Walmart, however, are fresh fruits, veggies and
meats. Better quality comes from different sources.

~~~
deltaqueue
Actually, Walmart has improved their produce offering over the last few years.
They now source their fruits and vegetables from some of the same farms as
Whole Foods (at least, their organics).

[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/the-
grea...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/the-great-
grocery-smackdown/7904/)

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flixic
After two rough days, they consistently keep on getting twice as many
transfers in than out.

Storm in a tea cup...

~~~
mitchellhislop
However, when you look at how many of those are GoDaddy transferring in their
own domains from their other properties, it becomes an actual loss.

If NameCheap is to be trusted, they had like 80K come in the week before, and
another 36K come in with their anti-SOPA coupon code.

Also, you are ignoring the long-term effects of this - most geeks will no
longer touch them with a 10 foot pole. They lost some major customers. This is
going to actually hurt them.

~~~
dspillett
_> most geeks will no longer touch them with a 10 foot pole_

A great many geeks wouldn't have done anyway though, so that might bit be a
significant long-term change.

~~~
mitchellhislop
What I meant by the 10 foot pole part is now, when asked by people about
getting a domain, more people than before will actively go against GoDaddy. By
itself not a huge change, but with everything else I think they actually got
hurt long term

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ilkandi
Not a good visualization. And it lacks some context too.

Three points (1) tons of bulk-registered names are NOT hosted on GD's
nameservers (2) People complained that transfers were slow and cancelled some
of them. (in the background, GD refused to do transfers or delayed it for
days, gambling that people would get frustrated and blame the new registar).
(3) bulk-registered names (think of hundreds of marketers with 1000+ domains
each) are usually split over numerous fake names to minimize their footprint
and prevent wholesale site copying. GD allows fake name purchases. After the
transfers started, GD began a policy of requiring a scanned drivers' licence
for transfers. They also seize domains for themselves and resell them. So...
many CAN'T transfer their domains out yet.

Cheers!

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wkdown
The point was not to put GD out of business, it was to show that the internet
is serious in its opposition to SOPA and their supporters. Media outlets have
picked up and reported on this, and GD has changed their stance. Mission
Accomplished XD

~~~
joshmanders
Supposedly changed their stance. Anyone can make a blog post and say they no
longer support it, or request to be taken off the public list of supporters.
Honestly do you think they truly did change their stance? Or is it just a
scramble to fix their public image in regards to SOPA?

I personally believe if they first supported it, they'll always support it. No
turning back. One simply doesn't just not support SOPA anymore.

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superkinz
How am I supposed to read this? This makes no sense. Figure out the point you
want to make with the graph, and make sure it conveys that quickly and easily.

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lachances
Pretty sure the graph proportions are off and misleading.

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nextparadigms
Didn't they run an ad campaign soon after that? One thing is for sure, I won't
be recommending Godaddy to anyone ever again. There are probably quite a few
people who think the same way, too, and I doubt there will be many new
articles on domain hosting anymore where they will recommend Godaddy. They
will probably recommend one of their competitors now.

~~~
drdoooom
I still don't understand why people recommended them in the first place.

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fsniper
This graphs show there is a pike in a single day for domain transfer outs. But
seems like it would not impact GoDaddy business.

~~~
davej
Three days actually. You can scroll the graph to the right.

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fsniper
oh sorry. But this graph is mostly misleading than. Look at 24/25/26 Dec.
numbers and heights are not consistent.

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egor83
Thanks!

It would also be nice to see a summary, or at least put new+in above zero, and
deleted+out below it.

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jordonwii
Hey, everyone who participated in the boycott should check out
<http://www.boycott-godaddy.com> and add the number of domains they moved.

I'm hoping to see I can get a somewhat accurate total that way.

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alexchamberlain
I fear that the colours chosen for each of the categories is a little
misleading.

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bborud
ok so ... almost no impact then. well, I guess people really do not care then.

~~~
thibaut_barrere
It had a big impact; only on a very small subset of the human race :)

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manuscreationis
Appears like it made a dent for a small period of time, then back to business
as usual.

Also, as other state, this is an over-designed graph. There are much simpler
ways to get this data across.

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bitops
For all of those folks who want to get better at visualization, the canonical
text is <http://amzn.com/0961392142> (Tufte)

~~~
zeratul
Very useful. Thanks.

There are so many books on data visualization it's hard to judge just from the
reviews which are the canonical textbooks. So far I was just recommended this
book: <http://book.flowingdata.com/>

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Jakegissing
Doesn't have 29th on there? That was the official move date

~~~
rpledge
I'm not crazy about this site either, they seem to have selected the dates
they graphed very carefully:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3407428>

I agree with many other comments though, this is a poor metric for measuring
how many people left GoDaddy.

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motoford
Seems weird that the transferred in and new domains spiked right along with
transferred out. Is this graph accurate?

~~~
ktsmith
Not really. A lot of people could have moved their domains off of one of the
go daddy parking services which use different go daddy name servers than
domaincontrol. This particular method of determining transfers in and out is
completely flawed.

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Splines
How many non-US customers use GoDaddy? I wonder how many people outside the US
know or care about SOPA.

~~~
DallaRosa
I believe a lot of the tech-entrepreneur community knows and cares about it.

