Hello everyone,

I'm looking to register a personal domain (yes, I'm late to the game, but most of the ones I want are open). I plan to host information about security and privacy (including blog postings, articles, perhaps forum, and php & asp injection honeypots) as well as some personal pages. So I'm looking for a registrar that wont react negatively and pull my registration if they dont like something on my site, or will at least give me an opportunity to cleanse it from my site.

Also, because it IS a privacy site, the registrar should offer private registration.

Finally, I need to be able to change my nameservers, and cannot be locked into hosting with the same company that offers my registration - I've heard far too many horror stories, and want both parts to be as independent as possible.

So basically Im looking for the anti-godaddy - a company that respects its customers and wants to take care of them.

Thank you,
cosis

I called up eNom and they were quick... I was referred to another company as well. How many domains do you anticipate managing?

Not many - probably between 2 and ten, but room for expansion above this would be nice

Stupid newbness.. I can't even edit my own posts....

I knew I'd heard of eNom somewhere.... Wikileaks is calling for a boycott because of their overzealousness in canceling domains.

They basically set off the bout of paranoia thats making me examine registrars for more than features and price. Sorry, they're out.

It seems Godaddy is one of the most loved and yet most hated domain registrars out there... For instance, I would not dare think about registering my domain anywhere but godaddy... I hear all of these horror stories about them and domain registrations, but on more than one occasion I have called them up needing something and they are more than happy to help.

Many people also hate the interface for managing the domains, but I actually love it... I don't know, I guess I must just be weird ;)

www.namecheap.com

Yes, I've got a couple of domains I manage there - nothing that I own or that could be considered all risky to host (some local organizations). However, they seem to have some unwritten rules, and these seem to be too easy to run afoul of. The type of site I want to run is probably too close to seclists.org (fydor's site which godaddy took down). Theres always flying under the radar, but I've done that sort of thing too much to ever want to try it again....

Will definitely consider namecheap. Went through 5 pages of search results and could only find one negative thing about them (which basiclly 'oh poor me, i tried to do bad things and now i dont like namecheap'. Grr.

This is much better than I've found for any other registrar I've looked at.

Many options out there, most registrars will allow anything legal. And don't check your content unless there is complaints against it. You should find several domain sellers willing to host your domains.

networksolutions.com hosts a myriad of security related domains, and they never interfer with website content. on the negative side they are quite expensive, 38 a year or something, but worth it? hellz yea

GoDaddy gets the most complaints mainly because they are the largest registrar with 25% of the market - Enom is #2 at 8.5% & NetSol #3 at 6.5%. GoDaddy is also known for taking down sites based on TOS violations.
If you choose any of the other large registrars you may have better peace of mind. If a US entity is likely to complain about your site it may help to use a non-US registrar (Directi, Tucows, MelbourneIT..)

NameCheap & Moniker have cheap privacy
Name.com has free privacy

domaincentral.com have free privacy, domain @ 6.50

Thanks very much everyone, I will check them [all] out.

Yahoo domains is great

I knew I'd heard of eNom somewhere.... Wikileaks is calling for a boycott because of their overzealousness in canceling domains.

The domain names were actually suspended, not cancelled. But they both have their respective legal reasons.

Then again, that has helped you check beyond features and price. So I guess that's good. :D

Anyway, I second stu's suggestion for NameCheap and Moniker. However, be aware that virtually any registrar can do that upon receipt of a court order, or deemed too risky due to potentially violating any applicable law within the registrar's jurisdiction.

How about domainmonster.com ?

Most registers that are mentioned here and others are going to do everything you need. Make sure they are ICann registered and are not some obscure register that know one has herd of. If your only registering one or two it is not a big deal but in bulk then prices can play an important factor so make sure they have reasonable prices or coupons for renewals as well. In a year you will want to renew at a competitive price

Directi is goood too, www.alfahost.biz

I'm really just looking for someone who will be reasonable. I'm not anticipating any court orders, I'm just worried more that hosts/registrars wont like security related information (because companies often try to hush these things up) and might not like honeypots because they make it appear as if a site is infected. Honestly, if somebody rally wanted things removed, I would remove them. As long as the registrars give me a chance to do so, I'm happy.

Thanks everyone.

Directi is goood too, www.alfahost.biz

might as well get this...

http://www.alfahost.biz
.com GBP 4.39

http://www.domaincentral.com/
com USD 6.50

so which is cheaper... same interface..

Name.com is good