
GoDaddy is scrambling to do damage control - cheald
https://plus.google.com/111996409013825587891/posts/7AMw7gDQ7Bi
======
dorkitude
(copied from my response at [http://dorkitude.com/post/14691558851/the-
godaddy-victory-is...](http://dorkitude.com/post/14691558851/the-godaddy-
victory-is-a-red-herring))

The GoDaddy victory is a red herring.

That GoDaddy reversed its SOPA stance (or at least its PR stance) about SOPA
in the wake of our boycott is good news, but it's also distracting news. While
it does demonstrate that we, the citizens of the righteous internet, can have
P&L impact as consumers in the B2B world, the real and massive culprits have
been B2C companies.

A very small proportion of a normal B2C company’s revenues come from policy-
aware internet citizens. Tactics like the GoDaddy boycott simply will not have
an impact (any more than the ongoing boycott of Wal-Mart among the
idealistic).

_I don't want us to get distracted from that fact._

_Here are the questions we should be considering._

What can we do to flex our muscles before the many (far more evil) consumer-
facing companies out there? How do we legally channel our energy into harming
their P&L statements in an unequivocally attributable manner? What about the
B2B companies over whose procurement processes we regular citizens have no
control?

The companies of greatest concern should be those with contractual and/or
infrastructural lock-in:

    
    
        * telecoms like AT&T and Verizon
    
        * ISPs/media pipes like Comcast and Dish Network
    
        * top-down sales companies like Microsoft and Symantec
    
        * conglomerate-monopolies like Adobe and Autodesk
    

Unless and until we find a way to hamstring those attacking monsters, the
internet will always be in peril -- even if we somehow win this battle like we
_barely_ won the Net Neutrality battle a few short years ago.

~~~
jpdoctor
> _While it does demonstrate that we, [...] can have P &L impact as consumers
> in the B2B world, the real and massive culprits have been B2C companies._

Influence on the P&L is great. Influence at the voting booth is one better,
and somehow the tech community has to convince congress that the voting booth
is in play.

(Yes, P&L leads to political donations, which lead to reelection, but
politicians are always playing the trade-off game. So somehow they have to get
convinced that supporting dumbass legislation will come back to kick them in
the nuts.)

~~~
wycats
Politicians don't like distractions. If support for some legislation will end
up causing distractions, especially during campaign season, they will take
notice.

The best distractions come from primary challenges directly attributable to
their stances on issues, but even having hecklers show up to campaign events
can work.

The right has been using primary threats for a long time to keep politicians
in line. I suspect we could be effective using this strategy as well if we put
our energy where our mouth is.

~~~
phillmv
It's not a matter of distraction, it's a matter of support and influence and
money.

If you can convince a politician that a sizeable percentage of influential
people who are liable to donate money to a cause are for or a against a
particular issue that that they are legislating on, preferably people who are
from within his/her riding/ward/district and thus directly impact him/her.

Say, like well connected, high earning (mostly white, male) nerds. If you stop
to think about the amount of power we are actually capable of wielding, it's
actually really shocking that msft/goog/aapl etc seem to have really crappy
lobbyists.

(As an aside, here for instance is a good Planet Money podcast on lobbying:
[http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/01/141913370/the-
tues...](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/01/141913370/the-tuesday-
podcast-inside-washingtons-money-machine) )

~~~
wycats
"It's all about money" is a one-dimensional caricature that really doesn't
reflect the way most congresspeople actually think.

Money matters, of course, but it's not the only thing that matters.

~~~
phillmv
Well, I proposed three dimensions!

Check out that podcast I linked. Short of running as or supporting your own
candidate, it's kind of how politicians are swayed in any democracy.

If you walked up to a representative and say, "I have these many thousands of
members in your constituency, all of whom manage or work in large companies or
other institutions and we suggest you do this or that" then that politician is
likely to take notice.

The sad part is money is often required to grease all of those wheels, from
simply getting private quality time with your rep (see that lobbying podcast)
to paying someone to have the time to write up policy recommendations and
collect member names and so on so forth.

~~~
anamax
> If you walked up to a representative and say, "I have these many thousands
> of members in your constituency, all of whom manage or work in large
> companies or other institutions and we suggest you do this or that" then
> that politician is likely to take notice.

Nope. He'd say "you and everyone else who talks with me".

Most House members represent about 720k people. (310M/435 and small states get
at least one regardless of population.) On almost any issue, there are
"thousands" of people on both sides.

------
acabal
Too little, too late. I'm still moving my ~20 domains away. Their initial
stance, plus their ridiculous initial response ("We heard some people were
mad, but we're not changing our tune until we start losing money") indicates
that they don't actually care about dropping SOPA support.

I wouldn't be surprised in the least if behind this "we're so sorry" facade,
Bob Parsons and Lamar Smith are having dinner and a laugh.

~~~
gry
Same here. I've moved most of mine to gandi.net. They are foreign sites now.

~~~
wx77
Aren't they still applicable to SOPA if they are .com .net .org .us domains
such as homeland security taking down domains previous example shows.

~~~
culturestate
This is correct. They're not foreign if the registry is controlled by the US.

~~~
BasDirks
Which is why I prefer eu for my own stuff.

~~~
kkolev
Would one also need a non-US registrar to go with that .eu domain?

Right now i'm using Dreamhost, but what would you recommend for a completely
non-US solution with decent quality?

------
sage_joch
I'm not sure if I'm alone in this, but I had to actually look up the name of
SOPA's founder (Lamar Smith). He should be facing heavy criticism right now,
at least to the extent that SOPA-supporting companies are. It's as if his
career isn't in any jeopardy at all over this.

~~~
phil
This might help: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamar_S._Smith>

Lamar Smith is a Texas Republican in a district that is 2/3 R -- any effort to
unseat him would have to involve a primary challenge and thus speak to
Republican primary voters.

~~~
impendia
This says he represents (among other places) much of _Austin_. Isn't Austin a
tech hotbed?

Surely there are a couple hundred people _in his district_ who have a lot at
stake here? Judging from the campaign rhetoric I've heard, "XYZ's policy
destroyed [or will destroy] my business" definitely speaks to Republican
primary voters.

~~~
hughw
It's a ridiculously gerrymandered district, winding around to catch the
Republican precincts in Austin. I live in the district. Sure, I'll drop him an
email. Just for the exercise. I've done it before. There's zero chance he'll
react. You can't vote this guy out of office with a district like this. He
collects the big money -- not from constituents, but from The Interests -- as
Judiciary chairman. Untouchable.

~~~
karmajunkie
I live in Cedar Park, which is Judge Carter's district. I called to see where
he stood on SOPA, only to find out he's not only a supporter, but a cosponsor.
Williamson County is a similarly safe district, so it doesn't cost Carter
anything to support his buddy. My goal for the next few years is to make sure
that it costs him a lot more than he anticipated.

------
chrislaco
I can confirm damage control. I'm just your average nerd. 34 domains. Had some
of them for over a decade. Transfered to NameCheap last night.

Just got a call/voicemail from Mandy from the Office of the [GoDaddy]
President (480-505-8828) wanting to talk about my account.

I haven't returned the call yet. I bet others are getting this call.

~~~
tuxcanfly
Please do let them know that you are doing this for protest.

------
kermitthehermit
Migrate away from GoDaddy.

I couldn't care less that they have changed their position when they started
seeing people are migrating their domains from their services.

After all, let's not forget other "great" news about GoDaddy we've seen in the
past.

Migrate, migrate and don't look back. Any company which supported SOPA doesn't
deserve my money (or yours) in the future.

Who can say they will not be using that money to try to subvert the rights of
the people in the future or that they deserve to be trusted now?

------
apechai
GoDaddy is owned by private equity firms KKR and Silverlake. These firms aim
for short term profits at the expense of creating long term value.

Silverlake was the firm behind the whole Skype compensation fiasco, which was
basically a quick flip. KKR does dividend recaps where it issues debt and
funnels money out of the company. The company, such as HCA or Dollar General,
then has to fire people and raise prices on customers.

Do you think they'll do what's right for customers over the long term or try
to extract every penny? That's why they'll flip flop on an issue like SOPA -
no long term values. I moved my domains to namecheap a long time ago.

------
fletchowns
GoDaddy needs to become a very loud opponent of SOPA if they want to retain
any customers that have a clue.

------
blhack
"The true measure of a person is what they do when nobody is watching. You
lose, Godaddy."

------
amanuel
I got the same "yeah lol, whatever" email last night after I emailed them my
concerns regarding their support of SOPA.

Knowing they helped create SOPA is the most damaging fact in my opinion which
is why I'm still heading for the door.

I admired Bob back in the day but it seems things have changed over the years.

------
opreal
Stop being opportunist flip floppers bent on the bottom line Go Daddy (worse
name you could ever come up with for a company). Go Daddy deserves to go
extinct their time has come. You have shown your true face (forget the damage
control). You've only gotten by up until now because of people not willing to
their research and mass marketing, and now it's plainly obvious you are a
shill of a company, money can't buy everything. Go form yourselves a new
company under a different name. No knowledgeable person on Hacker News would
ever choose Go Daddy for anything so go do your online marketing somewhere
else. <http://blog.operationreality.org/2011/12/24/sopa-nope-a/>

------
lancefisher
It would be really interesting to know how many domains were transferred
yesterday. I moved 6 of my 9. On the other 3, I turned off auto-renewal so
they'll just expire.

------
MrJagil
So, who's next?

It's going to be immensely tougher to demonstrate power against the media
moguls as directly.

~~~
pasbesoin
I've been considering for some weeks whether I can simply go "cold turkey" on
paid, mainstream media for a period of time.

When I consider this, I have enough backlog of reading and (legitimately free,
e.g. SICP and the like) online videos in my mental queue to do so. I might --
really -- be better off for doing so.

I haven't formulated a well-worded proposal and scenario/approach to share,
but I would suggest working towards an opt-in mainstream media blackout -- or
brownout, for those who can't opt-out altogether (and that includes me as far
as needing to keep up with the news and maintain an ISP connection that
doesn't have a viable alternative).

This will seem too extreme to many. But I encourage you to stop and think for
a minute or five what a month or two's "brownout" would look like for you, and
for media companies currently trying to ramrod through SOPA et al.

Let them see what it really looks like when their U.S. (and other) revenue
stream "dries up", _for real_ \-- as opposed to their claims of losses.
Particularly right when they're foisting this crap on us.

~~~
tripzilch
> and that includes me as far as needing to keep up with the news

You don't actually "need" to keep up with the news. It's not a sin not to,
nobody's forcing you, and if something _really_ important happens, it'll
filter down to you via your friends.

I did this a decade ago and it was really refreshing. I did start following
the news again at some point, but if you plan on just a month or two, there's
nothing except a self-appointed "duty" why you "need" to keep up with the
news.

Not that following the news is a bad thing or anything (rather the contrary)
and maybe it is the most important form of media consumption, but it's not
_that_ important either, especially if you got a reasonably active social
life.

~~~
pasbesoin
Well, actually I do, for... let's call it reasons of "due diligence". I have
obligations and responsibilities that could go wrong if I'm not sufficiently
informed.

------
F_J_H
Thinking about moving my domains - any suggestions on the best alternative?

Update: For what it's worth, here's a reddit link that lists a number of
alternatives:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/no1ux/reddit_if_o...](http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/no1ux/reddit_if_one_wants_to_switch_domains_from/)

~~~
elliottcarlson
I have been a big fan of Gandi.net for quite some time - they have an anti-
SOPA [1] stand point for a while, their administrative tools are great and
easy to use, and their support for the one time I required it was friendly and
knowledgeable and last but not least offer a free SSL certificate with each
domain.

[http://www.gandibar.net/post/2011/12/23/Gandi-s-
Opposition-t...](http://www.gandibar.net/post/2011/12/23/Gandi-s-Opposition-
to-the-SOPA-Legislation)

~~~
onedognight
> Gandi.net [...] offer a free SSL certificate with each domain.

For _one_ year. <http://startssl.com/> offer them for free to anyone.

------
MrJagil
I was thinking, we can safely assume theres a lot of start-up
CEOs/founders/whatevers around here. What if all of these companies
prominently displayed dissatisfaction with SOPA. Wouldn't this be an
immediate, effective way to reach the uninformed masses?

If PG can involve politics in his company, why can't you?

~~~
opreal
What are you suggesting? I'm pretty sure we've all been voicing our opinions
or at least acting as conduits to expression against such endeavors.

Do the politicians take notice though? Sounds like we may all need to step it
up a notch? Apparently power in numbers in is the only thing that counts to
law makers and their lobbyists.

------
dlitz
GoDaddy needs to be boycotted anyway. We're talking about a law that would
create a national Internet censorship infrastructure in the United States.
This is serious stuff.

We need to send the message that when you pull crap like this, it might really
hurt your bottom line. Permanently.

------
hop
I would pay $100 to anyone that made a one-click (or close) auto transfer of
domains from GoDaddy.

~~~
georgemcbay
Transferring domains is fairly painless already, but one click transfer would
be insanity. The few speedbumps that do exist when transferring exist to
prevent domain name hijacking. If you could one-click transfer then domains
would be completely unsafe against hijacking.

------
ck2
Isn't it counterproductive to keep punishing a company where you've already
successfully affected their actions?

But I secretly wish PayPal had been dumb enough to sponsor SOPA.

------
popsift
ah s hit.. what's going on?

------
klausjensen
In the words of Bloodhound Gang:

"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire, The roof, the roof, the roof is on
fire, We don't need no water let the motherfucker burn, Burn motherfucker
burn"

------
timr
Urgh. I can't be the only person who is getting exceptionally tired of seeing
self-congratulatory blog posts about GoDaddy rise to the top of HN.

Dear interwebnerds: the point has been made. Stop obsessing. Every time you
get your knickers in a knot and write a crowing blog post about how you just
put it to The Domain Provider Who Shall Not Be Named, you give them more name
recognition, free press and SEO. So stop it. Transfer your domains, make your
point to customer service if/when they call, then _stop talking about their
service_.

Maybe you folks can spread a little more of your furor around to the _other_
companies on the list...a list that includes most of the major providers of
media in our culture.

~~~
quacker
It's only been a day or two. GoDaddy is getting free press but bad press. It's
getting name recognition but not the kind it wants. This will have a dramatic
effect on the image of the company, and personally I want to see how GoDaddy
handles this and what effect it has on the company and its competitors, if
any, as well as the effect on the bill's passage, if any. I'll agree that some
of the revelry may be unwarranted, but this submission is still entirely
relevant.

~~~
timr
As they say: _"there's no such thing as bad publicity"_.

This old maxim is particularly true when the publicity helps you to come up as
the #1 search result for "domain registration" (or worse, links directly to
your press releases), and most of your customers don't care about your
position on SOPA.

Every seething blog post you vote up to the front page of HN sends potential
customers to GoDaddy, if only to see what the fuss is all about.

~~~
rue
“There's no such thing as bad publicity” is a highly profession-dependent
proposition.

