Hi,

I'm about to start hosting my first -- very basic, no bells, no whistles -- website. So I'm also about to register my first domain name.

Can anyone give me a sense as to how big a deal the distinction is between registering publicly and using a proxy registration (like the system GoDaddy uses).

To be honest I'm not entirely comfortable with the idea of my contact details being available to all and sundry, but I don't have any sense of how big a deal it is with the WHOIS database.

Also, is my control of the domain name likely to be reduced if I register it using one of these private proxy services? Will it still be "my" name, or will they effectively own it and lend it back to me.

I'm sure there are people on this forum who have made this decision dozens and dozens of times before. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

ACOL

Well, the domain name will still be yours, but what they do is essentially hide all your information from the whois database.

Now as for if you want to pay the little extra at godaddy to do this or not really depends on how you feel about your privacy, and what kind of website you will be running. If the website is a personal one, then there is no reason for other people to know who you are, but if it is a company website, then registering it with the company information could be helpful for anyone wanting to know a little more about your company, and they aren't going to know exactly where you live, just where the company is.

Hope this helps :D. Good luck.

Like Thirdweb said, if its personal is good to hide the information, but if its a business its important that you keep your updated information on the who is, this gives credibility, helps advertising and may end up helping people to find your contact information for business purposes.

Thanks for that.

The website will be a personal one -- so it would be my details rather than corporate details going on WHOIS.

If I keep full control of the domain name, as you susggest, then it seems that keeping my details off WHOIS is probably a reasonably good way to spend a few dollars.

Thanks again,

ACOL