Decrepit Old Fool

Some years ago, I registered a domain for a family member and set up a small website on it.  Unfortunately (this being about 1997) the only domain registrar I knew about – maybe the only one available at the time – was NetworkSolutions, also known as Verisign.  The process was a hassle and it was expensive, but I got it done. 

Over the years I’ve hosted her site on a few different hosts but it’s always been registered on NetworkSolutions.  As I registered other domains (I have 19 now) I became aware that there are much better registrars out there.  GoDaddy, for example – their website is clear and easy to use, their FAQ files actually contain information that works, and in a pinch I can call them and talk to a real human.  They act like they really want your business.

It’s hard to imagine a worse registrar than NetworkSolutions.  Their website is loaded with circular logic like “Welcome to form A.  To do what you want to do, go to form B.”  So you go to form B and it says “Go to form A.”  Their database is a mess, it’s almost impossible to update, and just when you think it can’t get any worse, you try to get help from them…
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Their email help consists of pasting in boilerplate gibberish from the very web pages you already consulted. If you call one of them, you’d better have a good long-distance plan, and a phone headset might help too, because you’ll be on hold for a long time. Then the person you end up talking to is no help at all.

I’m not being too harsh on them – this is my assessment after dealing with them for years and struggling with transferring a half-dozen domains OUT of their entrapment. See, their system reminds me of one of those ant traps where the ant crawls in and then can’t get out.

• It’s easy to register a domain with Networksolutions

• Maintaining the domain is rather fussy, and Bog help you if they get any contact information mixed up
• Finally, getting a domain transferred to another registrar from NetworkSolutions is like pulling teeth. It’s like untying a Gordian knot. Oh, they don’t stonewall – that’s illegal and only “unethical” registrars do it (there are a few.) No, their service is just so spectacularly bad, you feel like a color-blind man trying to solve a Rubik’s cube.

The sense of relief when you finally get a domain wrested away from their clutches is comparable to stopping hitting yourself on the head with a hammer. And I’m down to ONE domain – my sister’s. But NetworkSolutions’ public database isn’t updating fast enough so it keeps denying the transfer request. Gaaak!

I will definitely be celebrating when it finally goes through. Free at last! So the point is, when you register a domain, ask around. Find one that acts like they want your business even after they have your business.

Update: 18 January ’05… the transfer is finally done. I AM TOTALLY DONE WITH NETWORKSOLUTIONS!!! YIPEEE!
Update: later that same day… and then Network Solutions sends me a renewal notice for the domain “expiring soon” (in October this year.) HEY GENIUSES, I JUST TOOK THAT DOMAIN AWAY FROM YOU! It’s LOCKED on another registrar, you sorry excuse for a company!!! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!