Who's a good domain registrar?
Who's a good vendor to go with for buying a domain? I'm looking for decent price, decent service, and not getting ****ed over.
94 Replies
EasyDNS
DynDNS
I use them for all of my accounts and have never had a issue or failed query. Very easy domain CP with advanced view if you like to add special record types.
@RossH:
I have a about 50 names at
www.dynadot.com , great registrar.
And you can use the Linode DNS servers for a domain registered through
EDIT: Nevermind, I tried it and I was able to do that just fine.
joker.com
HFW DomainsDNS Made Easy
@gcopenhaver:
@RossH:I have a about 50 names at
www.dynadot.com , great registrar.And you can use the Linode DNS servers for a domain registered through
www.dynadot.com , right? So far they're the cheapest I've found for a specific domain I was looking for ($4.99).EDIT: Nevermind, I tried it and I was able to do that just fine.
Sorry…yes…..they also do bulk discounts and have the best domain control panel in the industry.
Other recommendations include:
If you don't mind paying a little more:
@RossH:
www.pairnic.com
Not as cheap, but if they are as obsessive about registration as they are about their hosting, you should be essentially bulletproof with pair.
@sdotsen:
im surprised no one mentioned namecheap.com. I would avoid godaddy like the plague, their control panel is horrible.
Namecheap is just a reseller of eNom. I was having some issue with the registrant contact setting today, as it is not setting correctly. A few email exchange with Namecheap later, they concluded that they cannot do anything about it, because "This is the format how eNom displays whois records".
D'oh.
Mine are all through – wait for it -- Network Solutions. The reason for it is I've just had many of them forever before there was any real choice, I'm more lazy than broke, and some of them I registered for 10 years back in 1999 when that option first came out -- and hence are expiring now, so I'm looking for options now.
I remember a horror story about one registrar going tits up and screwing over domain holders, so that scares me from switching too.
I'm also curious right now about private registrations. I have that through netsol for $9/year for each, which adds up, but they still show my real name in the WHOIS. I believe places like GoDaddy do anon registrations via some sort of proxy registration so technically you don't own it, the proxy company does and just somehow leases it back to you. True? That scares me -- and I have an SSL cert through godaddy and I hate their come-ons and web interface sucks.
Using fake info when registering is possible, but that also makes it easier for a malicious person to hijack it based on your violating icann rules.
I'd like to create a domain for (legal) whistleblowing a certain org that I'm a member of, and hence want to keep my own identity reasonably secure (short of court order) so what's a safe registrar that provides a decent privatized whois service? (I know I'd have to be careful about if that IP serves any of my own websites, what the mx record points to, the reverse IP, etc… -- probably would just get a new linode for it)
Terry
Then run them all yourself.
I've been using them for years. Customer service is a bit ordinary, but you don't need to contact them that much.
@weave:
I'm also curious right now about private registrations. I have that through netsol for $9/year for each, which adds up, but they still show my real name in the WHOIS. I believe places like GoDaddy do anon registrations via some sort of proxy registration so technically you don't own it, the proxy company does and just somehow leases it back to you. True? That scares me – and I have an SSL cert through godaddy and I hate their come-ons and web interface sucks.
Using fake info when registering is possible, but that also makes it easier for a malicious person to hijack it based on your violating icann rules.
I'd like to create a domain for (legal) whistleblowing a certain org that I'm a member of, and hence want to keep my own identity reasonably secure (short of court order) so what's a safe registrar that provides a decent privatized whois service? (I know I'd have to be careful about if that IP serves any of my own websites, what the mx record points to, the reverse IP, etc… -- probably would just get a new linode for it)
- If you have the domain locked the is next to no chance of hijacking.
I register using Godaddy and proxy registrations. You own the domain, you just get an address in Arizona when you do a whois lookup. No third party ownership.
Are people here confusing registrars and agents for registrars? Godaddy & Network Solutions are registrars.
Godaddy is ugly but it allows me to register my own nameservers with rootservers. eg for LAPTOPLAND.BIZ the namservers are NS1.LAPTOPLAND.BIZ and NS2.LAPTOPLAND.BIZ . Its looks professional and makes it harder to trace (if you want that).
you are right about obfuscating MX & reverse IP. For MX I use free google apps.
@Vance:
I have very modest needs, so I use 1&1 as an el cheapo registrar. Used to be with GoDaddy, but got tired of their incessant marketing come-ons and horrible web interface.
@RossH:
www.pairnic.com Not as cheap, but if they are as obsessive about registration as they are about their hosting, you should be essentially bulletproof with pair.
I agree with Godaddy, 10 percent off emails every other day.
I wish 1and1 had plans to support spf records - for domains that I'm too lazy to move over to linode ns.
They refuse to support SPF
@hybinet:
give NearlyFreeSpeech.NET a try. Their business ethics and privacy policy are "nearly" second to none.
Seconded. Otherwise, Namecheap.com.
@mjrich:
@hybinet:give NearlyFreeSpeech.NET a try. Their business ethics and privacy policy are "nearly" second to none.
Seconded. Otherwise, Namecheap.com.
A couple of my lesser-used domains just came up for renewal… I've been with GoDaddy for quite awhile, but found the upsell attempts annoying and figured I might as well throw my money some place more agreeable. I had no specific service issues with GoDaddy, but then again, my needs from a registrar are pretty simple: four NS records per domain, valid whois data, no drama.
After flipping through this thread and doing my research, I went with NearlyFreeSpeech.NET as the Official Registrar of HoopyCat. I like their policies and the "feel" of the organization, the billing and ordering process are sensibly automated, the pricing and offerings are right there, and I can buy or transfer a domain without wading through ads for stuff I'll never use[1]. In other words, they stimulate my Linode receptors. So that's the way I went.
Alas, they don't do .ca either, so my dream of having One Registrar shall have to wait. namecheap.com does .ca, though, so perhaps I'll try them too
[1] "WAIT! Don't miss out on a FREE TRIAL of RACING STRIPES when you order UNDERPANTS for your DOMAIN for ONLY $6.99/year!"
@hoopycat:
[1] "WAIT! Don't miss out on a FREE TRIAL of RACING STRIPES when you order UNDERPANTS for your DOMAIN for ONLY $6.99/year!"
Formally worn by Danica?
I have been using Godaddy for years. I continue to use them mostly due to Newton's First Law - momentum.
I must say that I have never had a functional problem with their domain registration. They all work as they should.
Jeff
@fos:
I have been using Godaddy for years. I continue to use them mostly due to Newton's First Law - momentum.
:)
Actually, Kirchoff's circuit laws kept me with GoDaddy. Zprocrastination and Zdoingstuff are in parallel, with Zdoingstuff really not that big but still very much larger than Zprocrastination. Guess which way my mind's current went.
(Ugh, too many formulas today…) -rt
@blacktulip:
has anyone see this website?
http://www.nodaddy.com
Yep, their claims are quite justified as well. GoDaddy is picky about whois data, they can delete your domain on a single complaint. They have no respect for ICANN regulations. They only do the right thing when you threaten them to file an ICANN complaint.
They also experience "technical difficulties" when you try to move your domain away.
I still have a few domains left there which I'll move soon, but I suggest staying away from them.
The Superbowl ads, and their insisting that whatever lame ad they come up with should be played next to other high paying advertisers without question.
The fact that the owner, Bob Parsons, tries to use the site as his own political soapbox.
The clutter and bloat on their site, You can't buy a domain without clicking through 10 different screens opting out of all their upsell crap.
The fact that they charge $90.00 to renew a domain if you let it lapse past its expiration (to be fair I don't know if this is a common practice but I didn't see anything like this in the name.com ToS)
The fact that if you update your Whois info (like you are supposed to) they bar you from transfering your domain off their site for 2 months. Thus forcing you to renew a domain if its close to expiration and being force to give money to godaddy or lose your domain.
The fact that there are numerous reports that your domain will be deleted no questions asked if they suspect anything funny about it.
Terrible, clueless customer service if you ever have a problem.
The fact that they are constantly begging to take control of the .com registry and publicly complain about it. I don't blame them getting denied by the maturity of the management over things like this.
- Their prices have increased and I can get better service elsewhere.
Now I use Name.com
They seem to have better redundancy with their free dns servers than godaddy.
Clean UI with almost no upselling. And what they do is very unobtrusive.
No Domain games.
FREE private whois….Such a great value. Save yourself the trouble of getting spam, telemarketers and junk mail. And not have to Pay $10/year/Domain (over $100 for me).
Their pricing is very cheap.
I transferred all of the domains I care about to Name.com and will never look back. I get my SSL Certs from The Planet.
It was really easy and fast. Less than 3 hours after doing the initial setup, the domain was up and running and correctly pointing at the linode IP address. All of this for just $8.59 a year…
Gandi
Every domain comes with quite a bunch of freebies, including mail hosting and an ssl certificate.
@sblantipodi:
why linode doesn't offer this service?
Because just about everyone else and their dog already does.
@sblantipodi:
why linode doesn't offer this service?
There's fifteen bazillion other registrars out there, and at best, Linode would probably just become a reseller. That'd get a few pennies a month, a huge pile of stuff to build, and a bunch of support headaches.
Most of the non-core services Linode offers are things that you really can't do with a single VPS: authoritative DNS, deployment images, backups, etc. Paying $8.43/year to NearlyGoCheapCows isn't one of them.
@sblantipodi:
why linode doesn't offer this service?
Let the zillion others do it while Linode can focus on what they do best;)
I myself use two other registar's for my domains and DNS Made Easy for my DNS needs, each one of those three do what the do and do it well.
New to linode, but thought I would share who I use.
For names I value
(Tucows; 3rd Largest)
Free Whois Privacy, DNS, Forwarding
Very easy to use interface.
For cheap registrations and renewals
(The main registrar is fairly news with ~10k domains)
Free WhoIs Privacy, DNS; uses LogicBoxes platform, but still easy to use.
Even though DNS is provided for free and available with linode, I still use http://dnsmadeeasy.com
@sblantipodi:
who is the best regisrar to manage our domain for linodes?
That's what the entire thread is about
Aside from trivial differences in price, the differences are in extra features, user interface, and business practices.
@sblantipodi:
If I transfer my domain to godaddy, how I need to do to point my domain to linode?
There's a place in there to set Custom Nameservers for a domain… you'll want to specify a total of four, ns1 through ns4.linode.com.
@hoopycat:
@sblantipodi:who is the best regisrar to manage our domain for linodes?
That's what the entire thread is about
:-) You're, essentially, paying someone to stick a couple NS records in a top-level zone. For basic domain registration, there's no performance or functionality difference.Aside from trivial differences in price, the differences are in extra features, user interface, and business practices.
@sblantipodi:If I transfer my domain to godaddy, how I need to do to point my domain to linode?
There's a place in there to set Custom Nameservers for a domain… you'll want to specify a total of four, ns1 through ns4.linode.com.
specifying a Nameserver on godaddy is enought to point
???
Do I need to configure something special in my VPN to support this domain name?
@sblantipodi:
specifying a Nameserver on godaddy is enought to point
www.mydomain.org tohttp://97.132.212.32 ???
No. That only takes care of half of the problem (telling the world to use Linode's nameservers).
@sblantipodi:
Do I need to configure something special in my VPN to support this domain name?
You will need to use the DNS manager so Linode's nameservers will know what names resolve to what addresses. See this prior thread:
Anyone have any more recent recommendations for domain registrars? I have mine with GoDaddy, but for the reasons set forth in an earlier forum post, I've gotten a bit skittish. Thanks.
- geoff
Not the cheapest, but you can pretty much figure out the profit they make, and it is more than reasonable.
I've found them a perfect compliment to Linode.
i.e. Bulk name server/contact info changing (handy when you've 50 domains or so)
Private who is for free (awesome)
Google apps setup, you push a button and it adds all the records for you (takes ages otherwise).
And they have good pricing.
For .uk domains I use 123-reg.co.uk, cheap and cheerful, control panel isn't pretty but I've never had issues.
@brianmercer:
it looks like name.com is getting rid of free private whois.
http://blog.name.com/2010/04/private-whois-changes/
Well that's gonna increase my overhead by $100 >.> ah well it's free for existing domains..for now.
Doesn't anyone read the news?
Or search on "Godaddy sucks"?
Or visit
Tons and tons of horror stories and bad business practices.
Warning, they auto renew any domain you register at normal price. I turn that off on each domain. GoDaddy coupons can always be found on the net saving you $ when renewing. Makes a big difference if you are parked on many domains.
I've been very happy with Dreamhost. Private domain registration for $10 / year. Never had a problem with them.
@m:
For cheap registrations and renewals
(The main registrar is fairly news with ~10k domains)
Free WhoIs Privacy, DNS; uses LogicBoxes platform, but still easy to use.
what happend to 88az?
is it possible to transfer a domain without any help from the 88az?
> 1and1 They refuse to support SPF
What is SPF and why would a registrar support it?
I use 1and1 for all of my domains currently but was thinking of transfering to name.com or NearlyFreeSpeech.net based on recommendations.
SPF is basically a way to try and reduce spam, it tries to verify the sending party is allowed to send mail for the domain.
Why a registrar would deny them..no clue, considering you only have one record per domain it's not going to clog up the system.
Domain registered, whois database showed correct info after 5 minutes
@godbout:
Got a domain at nearlyfreespeech. Neat interface, simple, looks pretty cool. Not as cool as Linode but still.
Domain registered, whois database showed correct info after 5 minutes
:)
Once you've registered the domain, you can move it over to Linode, at which point the interface is as cool as Linode since it is Linode
About the only thing left to do with the registrar is keep the WHOIS info up to date and make sure they have a valid credit card on file for whenever renewals happen; all other management can be done through Linode's pretty decent DNS interface.
Because they offer free whoisguard with a new registration and after the first year, it's very affordable.
But i have an interesting style, using namecheap as only registrar, not name server. I use
Why i like them? Because they allow sub zone delegation (which is not A or CNAME), while almost most of the registrars do not support this feature.
What is sub zone delegation? If you want to give a portion of your domain name's control to someone else. Like you have abc.com.
You'll give myfriend.abc.com total control to your friend at totally another name server. Delegate myfriend.abc.com to other name server's with NS records and forget it. Your friend can independently manage that portion in his name server.
As registrars if they can support this and let me know if you find any
By the way, does Linode's DNS support this?
Regards,
cplnd
@cpiskin:
Why i like them? Because they allow sub zone delegation (which is not A or CNAME), while almost most of the registrars do not support this feature.
What is sub zone delegation? If you want to give a portion of your domain name's control to someone else. Like you have abc.com.
You'll give myfriend.abc.com total control to your friend at totally another name server. Delegate myfriend.abc.com to other name server's with NS records and forget it. Your friend can independently manage that portion in his name server.
Any registrar "supports" this, simply because it has nothing to do with the registrar.
All it comes down to is adding NS records in your own dns zone, and it's really none of your registrar's business, nor can they really do anything to stop you from doing so.
HOWEVER, if the registrar provides a dns service in addition to their role of being the registrar and you choose to actually use their service (instead of eg the Linode dns service, running your own nameservers or something else), then sure, their service can be limited as to what records you can add in arbitrary ways and be generally horrible.
If you're going to register a bunch of domains, try OpenSRS.com and become a reseller. For $95/one-time, you can get super low prices, lots of other domains, bulk admin tools, etc. I'm a fairly new reseller of OpenSRS, but they seem stable enough and decent on customer service. They are owned by Tucows, of old internet fame.
Thanks,
Bruce
However, I'm still a bit uncomfortable: if it was a large and well-known registrar I'd switch right away – but in this case I'd like to at least know who's behind the company. Does anyone know that?
Thanks a lot!
primarily a hosting companyhas a somewhat nebulous definition of "who"jdw
The underlying accredited registrar for domain registrations is DIRECTI INTERNET SOLUTIONS PVT. LTD. D/B/A PUBLICDOMAINREGISTRY.COM
cheap, incredibly fast customer support, huge offer and you see some good boobs when you login.
@sblantipodi:
sincerely I can't find any reason on why change my GoDaddy,
cheap, incredibly fast customer support, huge offer and you see some good boobs when you login.
:D
And they have innovative ways of dealing with the elephants in the room, so to speak.
@hoopycat:
@sblantipodi:sincerely I can't find any reason on why change my GoDaddy,
cheap, incredibly fast customer support, huge offer and you see some good boobs when you login.
:D And they have innovative ways of dealing with the elephants in the room, so to speak.
If you don't value your property, feel free to keep using GoDaddy. If you ever do something to offend them, good luck. They don't value you or any of their other customers, only the money you keep giving them.
what the problem with ladies and elephants?
what they have done ? I don't know anything bad, what should I know?
coverage of (GoDaddy founder and ex-CEO) Bob Parsons' pest control activities in Zimbabwe
Well, they didn't get it done even with the "expedited service" and the name expired and my clients site is currently shut down. They are in a complete panic and I'll probably loose the account.
Getting anything out of the 1and1 customer support is absolutely impossible. They only say that it is in an expedited status and that the administrators are looking at it. I call and call and send dozens of emails and they will not say a thing about it.
So after days of this, today I get an email to reapply for transfer and it says it will take 5->7 days to get done. I kind of burned the bridge with the old registrar so now I'm begging their cooperation to get the registration renewed.
Crap!
Whenever I explain web hosting / domains / etc. to people, I say 1&1 is the equivalent of the slowest shipping speed on a site. You need to order in the beginning of December to get it by Christmas and even then, they might mess it up. But, it's dirt cheap and if you're ultra-prepared, you're fine.
I haven't moved domains away from them yet, but domains I've moved into 1&1, I do as early as 45 days before the renewal date. That way, in case the whole thing gets messed up, I have time to roll back or get stuff squared away with 1&1. Their phone support is such a mixed bag, sometimes I've gotten good service, sometimes it's awful.
1&1 is best used for personal, non-essential domains. For a business of any kind, go with another provider.
@peleus:
GoDaddy or Dreamhost I think are the best candidates for this. Over the years, I have seen them with stable services as a registrar for domains.
Agreed. I'm also trying Google Domains with one of my domains. What I worry about with Google is what will it be like should I ever need support. With GoDaddy eventually I can get my point across and get help and they respond fast, not sure it will be that way with Google. The switching experience was flawless so I can say that.
I use to use godaddy but NEVER AGAIN.
Some of the issues I experienced with godaddy:
A) I was out of town and needed to renew a domain, and I forgot my gadaddy password. Tried resetting it through their web interface, but whatever mime they send their confirmation e-mails in wasn't working in my e-mail client (webmail) that I needed to use. I had to waste time on the phone to reset it.
B) I had purchased a SSL certificate from them. I am damn sure I did not set it up for auto-renew because my need for signed SSL with this domain was very short term. A year later, I got charged a renew fee, and getting refunded on it was like pulling teeth.
C) Recently I had a support issue, but I could not find an interface to a support ticket system on their web site. I know they use to have one, and maybe they still do but I can't find it, all I could find is a phone number. I knew this was a complex issue and would not be a fast answer, and it would have been easier for me to type it out - but I could not find where to fill out a damn ticket request.
So I called, wasted my time on hold listening to their dumb sales pitches, and then when talking to the person, had to waste time while 3 times during the call he had to go ask someone else, as I knew would happen because it was a complex issue.
Namecheap still has a form where I can explain my problem, and not have my time wasted on hold getting to a person or while they have to ask someone else.
D) Domains by Proxy - I made the mistake of using domains by proxy with godaddy, and 5 years later had forgotten which e-mail account i had used when I signed up with it, obviously one I no longer had access to, and trying to get domains by proxy to reset my e-mail address was a nightmare of ignored requests. And godaddy support was of no help. Finally I just let the domain expire and re-registered it Namecheap uses whois guard - and I've never had a problem with whois guard.
@AliceWonder:
I use to use godaddy but NEVER AGAIN.
Some of the issues I experienced with godaddy:
A) I was out of town and needed to renew a domain, and I forgot my gadaddy password. Tried resetting it through their web interface, but whatever mime they send their confirmation e-mails in wasn't working in my e-mail client (webmail) that I needed to use. I had to waste time on the phone to reset it.
Your fault you can't manage passwords to important accounts? Consider a secure wallet perhaps? I have all info for all accounts, domains, website support, configuration information at my fingertips at home, work, out of town where ever..
> B) I had purchased a SSL certificate from them. I am damn sure I did not set it up for auto-renew because my need for signed SSL with this domain was very short term. A year later, I got charged a renew fee, and getting refunded on it was like pulling teeth.
SSL Certs via GoDaddy default to auto-renew. You have to manually change that. They also send you notifications of renewals at an almost annoying rate. Do you look at them?
> C) Recently I had a support issue, but I could not find an interface to a support ticket system on their web site. I know they use to have one, and maybe they still do but I can't find it, all I could find is a phone number. I knew this was a complex issue and would not be a fast answer, and it would have been easier for me to type it out - but I could not find where to fill out a damn ticket request.
So I called, wasted my time on hold listening to their dumb sales pitches, and then when talking to the person, had to waste time while 3 times during the call he had to go ask someone else, as I knew would happen because it was a complex issue.
So you couldn't ask the first human you reached on the phone what is the website link to their support ticket system was?
> Namecheap still has a form where I can explain my problem, and not have my time wasted on hold getting to a person or while they have to ask someone else.
I personally have no issues with Namecheap and use them for SSL certs myself…. Just think your reasons for switching had more to do with your lack of maintaining documentation of information you should have just like… Response to NameCheap tickets vary depending on when and what you are asking. I've had them take 5-6 hours to get a response.
> D) Domains by Proxy - I made the mistake of using domains by proxy with godaddy, and 5 years later had forgotten which e-mail account i had used when I signed up with it, obviously one I no longer had access to, and trying to get domains by proxy to reset my e-mail address was a nightmare of ignored requests. And godaddy support was of no help. Finally I just let the domain expire and re-registered it Namecheap uses whois guard - and I've never had a problem with whois guard.
How is it anyone else s fault if you don't document how you setup the account?
Not a big fan of hiding registration. Makes contacting a company that has a network or service issue a problem as many of the "special" email addresses are useless if say their email is down and they don't know it. Happens much more often than you would expect.
When I lost that e-mail address, I updated everywhere I remembered to - including godaddy. I did not remember at the time that domains by proxy was a separate service that required a separate e-mail update.
I finally got them to change it but it was like pulling teeth, they kept rejecting my scanned identification and they never told me why.
When I finally did get them to accept it and update my e-mail address, I discovered that after disabling it, I have to wait 60 days to move the domain - so now that is 60 days of waiting with my whois information exposed.
Thus - domains by proxy holds you hostage to godaddy unless you want your info exposed for two months, defeating the whole purpose of it.
I can not wait to be rid of that company.
Namecheap on the other hand has a system for hiding personal information that works much better, it's tied to the namecheap account - not a separate product, and it is simple to change the e-mail address associated with it - no need for a photo identification.
Re the unreadable reset pw emails – I'd just view source, hit ctrl+f and find the https (or http) links containing godaddy.com
Though that scenario will never happen to me because I have a file with all bits of information. Even logins for (probably defunct) sites I last visited in 1999.
GoDaddy auto-renewed an SSL for me too, and I called maybe 6 months later. After a quick threat by me, they immediately gave me store credit for the full amount, as long as I used it that same day. They tried to give me their usual rip me off rates on that, too, but of course I immediately forced them to use the latest coupons. I just told them Amex is gonna reverse this charge even if it's 10 years old just because they know I will leave them if they don't, same as you guys.
I like Namecheap better than GoDaddy.
But I still prefer them to be private, I get a lot of spam when they are not hidden - including snail mail spam.
@Dweeber:
Most of mine are under a resale account under Godaddy. No real issues over the years. Support is there if you get the right person but seldom needed. Have a few with Google to play with and I manage a number of company ones via CSCInfo which is expensive but business like. Don't host and register by domains with the same co though.
FYI, I moved ALL of my domains to Google Domains. The process took a long time because of system problems on the GoDaddy side.
Primary reasons for moving away from GoDaddy:
* System failures
Pricing fluctuates
Support is either clueless or they actually know they are having problems and just don't tell you.
It doesn't and shouldn't takes 5-7 days to transfer a domain. Once the new registrar is approved it goes right to GoDaddy for approval to move. Most of the time, that process shows up within 30 minutes and you can use the GoDaddy control panel for Transfers out to complete the process. But some domains literally took 7 days before they even showed up at all.
Transferring 8 domains, 6 go through quickly with the whole process taking less than 30mins. Two domains, took 7 days to clear for no reason other than GoDaddy's systems are broken.
Google Domains:
* Simple domain management console
Don't have to wade through a ton of specials and deals to get something done quickly.
Costs are the same for major TLD ($12.00) with no addon ICANN fees (built in the price).
Fast and easy DNS updates, clean interface that doesn't keep changing.
The transfer process is simple:
* Obtain Auth code for domain
Unlock the domain
List the domain you are transferring in Google Domains
Get an email to approve transfer to Google Domains
Should get an email from the old Registrar or use their panel to approve the transfer out requests pending.
Done.
I have never used GoDaddy for anything other than domain registration. Don't use their webhosting.
Recently I published a similar guide on choosing the best domain registrar on my website.
You should have to check out this guide here: Best Domain Registrars
+1 that GoDaddy is a way more painful UI/service/interface than is necessary. If you want just a domain name, and you know how to configure it (i.e. to point it at your linode) then use Namecheap. That's who I recommend to my friends. It's amazing how many people have heard of Godaddy and don't realize how bad they are. First off, the overcharge for the domain, secondly they are trying to be everything -- they will try to offer you services that you already have through Linode, for example.
