[Techtalk] Domain name registrars

[Mary]

On Wed, Apr 21, 2004, Teri Solow wrote:
> I've never had any trouble with any of my domain names, AFAIK, as long
> as your contact information is current and you actually paid for the
> domain name (not for hosting that comes with a free domain name), you
> should have no trouble managing your domain.  At the very least, as
> long as the administrative contact email points to your current email
> address you can always transfer to a new registrar if you find you
> don't like your current one.

Be wary of providers who won't let you point the admin contact at a
@yourdomain address when you register "yourdomain". The vast majority
couldn't give a damn, but some do and insist you give an email address
in a different domain.

For many people who own just one domain, theirname at theirdomain quickly
becomes their primary email address, and their work/uni/webmail/ISP mail
account, which they used to register the domain, goes unchecked or gets
shut down.

I know two people who've missed re-registration deadlines for their
domains because the admin address was set to a 2 year old email address
that was quickly replaced with theirname at theirdomain, and therefore the
reminder mails went unseen.

It *is* actually slightly more sensible to put in an email address in a
different domain, in case your name servers for theirdomain stop working
and you can't get mail to it, but only if you actually CHECK that other
email address, and will still be checking it in X years when the
registration renewal comes up and you've lost your login details. But I
like to make that decision myself, not have the registrar make it for
me.

-Mary