If I want the maximum anonymity while buying it?

  • @unsaid0415@szmer.info
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    210 months ago

    I used [large american registrar], but switched to a small one in my country because I wanted to pay a local business. I found it from somebody’s compilation of companies that offer a TLD for my country, and I just picked the recommended one in that post. It was the one that charged the least.

    Keep in mind that with a smaller registrar you won’t be able to get a TLS cert using the “do some shit with my domain records” method - you’ll have to always install the nginx/Apache etc. plugin for Let’s Encrypt

    • @c10l@lemmy.world
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      810 months ago

      You don’t have to use the registrar’s DNS system.

      I use LuaDNS. They even offer a fully functional free tier that might be enough for your needs.

      They have an API that can be used with certbot, and you can manage your zones with git.

      • @unsaid0415@szmer.info
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        110 months ago

        Ah right, sorry, switched things up. Indeed, I also use my registrar’s DNS system, but if I switched to something that has an API supported by certbot (e.g. dns zones that cost 0.5 eur in large cloud providers) it would work.

    • A Mouse
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      610 months ago

      I like that they show the team on the About Us page, always makes me trust companies more. I also like that they have fun with the branding and mascot.

    • @7Sea_Sailor@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1610 months ago

      You can pay with crypto on porkbun too, so in the anonymity regard it should be high up on the list. Other than that, they’ve never caused me any trouble over multiple registrations, always fast, always zero fuss. Much recommended.

  • @willybe@lemmy.ca
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    4810 months ago

    Not GoDaddy.

    Other than that, go by price and reputation. The DNS service can be replaced pretty quickly for free if their DNS service is a problem. I usually register on DreamHist.com. Then use the free DNS service on CloudFlare.com

    • @foggy@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      GoDaddy changed my domains fucking IP.

      That would be like if the USPS was like “oh you thought you’re at 123 fake street? No, it’s 897 false Ave now lol sucks for anyone who might not know!”

      I left immediately.

      Namecheap ftw.

      Fuck GoDaddy. If you pay them now, transfer.

    • @railsdev@programming.dev
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      10 months ago

      Upvoted for “not GoDaddy.” GoDaddy is by far the worst tech company I’ve ever dealt with, and I’m being generous calling them a tech company.

            • @lars@lemmy.world
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              410 months ago

              In the olden days, Yahoo shuttered some of the largest digital properties on the internet with too little notice for them to be meaningfully archived (especially Yahoo Groups (easily the Reddit and Fediverse of its day) and Geocities (at a time before social media, a place to make a corner of the internet one’s own, it had mountains of longform geekery that’s now lost forever)).

              Yahoo also used to be one of most widely used free email providers. Not as ubiquitous as Gmail, but definitely very popular. During that time, they had at least two – and almost certainly more than four – instances where bad actors gained access to user accounts and Yahoo failed to immediately notify impacted users.

              This one time, they admitted that all their user email addresses, which then numbered in the billions, had been compromised by a years-old hack whose disclosure they seem to have withheld. The same thing happened a few months later, but affected only some email addresses. For the latter event, they were proven to have withheld discovery of the breach.

              There was this one journalist whose email details they gave to the Chinese government to enable his arrest. Then they lied about it to Congress.

              And while the NSA likely listens to every piece of data available to them, which trivially and almost effortlessly includes emails, and while Yahoo is one of the tech companies whose NSA PRISM membership is documented, Yahoo additionally performed scans for crime-adjacent keywords on all its users’ incoming and outgoing emails for years.

  • Cam
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    10 months ago

    epik offers lifetime plans for some domain names and is a Swiss company.

    • Zephyrix
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      110 months ago

      It looks like they no longer offer this? Can’t find any trace of it on their website and all the old links referencing them are dead.

      • Cam
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        -110 months ago

        I guess they do not offer lifetime plans anymore. I remember a few years ago getting a domain under a lifetime plan.

      • Cam
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        010 months ago

        I thought they were based in Switzerland.

  • gunpachi
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    510 months ago

    I have used namesilo, it’s pretty good. I got a very cheap domain for $1. Can’t say much about anonymity, but they haven’t annoyed me with emails and whatnot. You could also check out porkbun

  • @Newusername4oldfart@lemm.ee
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    1210 months ago

    Define maximum for us?

    I use Namecheap and like their services. They have domain privacy aka it’s registered with their information instead of yours. If you just want to hide your name from people Googling or using a domain whois lookup, that’ll do the trick. If you’re trying to hide from people, you might need something more specific.

    • mvilain
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      -410 months ago

      I switched from Google Domains to Namecheap and found that they have a non-standard requirement for A records (they require an “@” A record) that messed up the transfer. Godaddy, dyndns, and Google Domains use regular zone transfer tables and I thought those entries were all I needed. Nope. I finally emailed support and they told me what was wrong within 24 hours. But meanwhile, my site was down for that time.

      I suppose if you worked with one of the companies they partner with and use the automated templates to generate a new entry, it would work out fine. But I was transferring an existing domain. I know better now. But I put this out to warn others.

      • lemmyvore
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        10 months ago

        That’s pretty weird, there’s no reason to require any DNS record beyond those they have to provide (SOA and NS). You shouldn’t have to add an A record if you don’t need one.

        Was this just a snafu during transfer or is the A record a permanent requirement?

  • Spaghetti_Hitchens
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    310 months ago

    I used Dreamhost for years but their prices keep creeping upward. I am now slowly migrating to Porkbun and am happy with the much better pricing and transparency.

  • @subtext@lemmy.world
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    2410 months ago

    Cloudflare provides at-cost domain name registration. It won’t be as private as njal.la, but if you end up using them for your site, then it would be one less entity to trust if you have your registration and DNS with them.

    • @Sentientted@monero.town
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      810 months ago

      Njal.la is where I have all of my domains. You don’t have to give any info, you can access it through tor through a .onion domain, and you can pay with monero.

        • @Sentientted@monero.town
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          610 months ago

          I use them for email aliases via adyy, and self hosting things like jellyfin and nextcloud. I don’t really “need” the privacy, but I still like to have it if I can.

          • @lud@lemm.ee
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            110 months ago

            I feel like they are way too expensive, otherwise they are nice.

            I also kind of feel like domains shouldn’t necessarily be private.

              • @lud@lemm.ee
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                110 months ago

                I honestly have no good reason. It just feels right for it to be public information for some reason.

                With that said, I would never register a personal domain without some kind of “whois” privacy. For obvious reasons.

    • Nate Cox
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      1710 months ago

      Cloudflare is my go to registrar today, nothing but good experiences so far.

      • @subtext@lemmy.world
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        410 months ago

        Same here, I moved my domains from Namecheap to Cloudflare and Cloudflare has been rock solid (no shocker there though).

        • mvilain
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          310 months ago

          Good to know. When the 60 day waiting period on transfers expires, I may move my domains to Cloudflare.

  • TrinityTek
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    1410 months ago

    If you’re in the US and care about domain privacy, don’t get a .us domain. .us domains are specifically forbidden from using domain privacy.

    • @apprehenticeA
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      210 months ago

      I use both, NFS for domain and hosting for my personal website and namecheap for everything else. NFS has no BS and I’ve had zero problems with them. Namecheap’s interface and tools are more sophisticated.