More on GoDaddy

It took a bit of work, but I've moved my 10 domains and three hosting accounts from GoDaddy to DreamHost Web Hosting. I have some cleanup work, including file uploads, but the basics are in place. It might also take another day for all of the DNS records to propagate around the InterTubes.

This has been a while in coming. GoDaddy is, by most accounts, the largest domain and site hosting on the web. As a service, they've been reliable. I can't recall a time when my sites have been down or even noticeably slow. Prices are comparable to other services, if a bit high, but there are frequent promotional offers.

The account user interface is a bloated mess, particularly for the infrequent user. I have logged in, on average, once every two months and forget where things are. Routine tasks take much longer than needed because the layout is non-intuitive and the screen is constantly refreshing as it generates dynamic views of things that you don't care about it. Lots of flashing, spinning, and needless clutter.

Those attributes aside, GoDaddy, through the persona of its Executive Chairman and Founder, Bob Parsons, has a developed a reputation as being, well, being a guy who introduces his video on hiring great employees like this:

All of which is somewhat easy to ignore.

Until he shot an elephant: Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons: Africa Elephant Hunt Video 'Nothing to Be Ashamed Of' - ABC News.

Which was less easy to ignore that their recent support of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). This bill, which got caught in the tax standoff at the end of the recent House session, is a particularly odious piece of legislation that could wreck the Internet technically. See An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the U.S. Congress | Electronic Frontier Foundation for more details.

When GoDaddy appears on a list of SOPA supporters, lots of people, including yours truly, decided that it was time to take our business elsewhere. GoDaddy has since recanted, a cynical gesture at best.



The company's behavior is already showing up as a case study in how not to deal with a customer revolt: Lessons from the GoDaddy Customer Revolt - Scott Kominers and Paul Kominers - Harvard Business Review

At this writing, my 10 domains have been added to some 72,000 others, out of 32 million hosted by GoDaddy. We can barely see over the top of the decimal point. GoDaddy might not notice, but we will.