Do you privacy-protect your whois?

vito

vito

New member
In my Namecheap account, I currently have 2 dozen+ unused whoisguards. I've never used the feature, and I don't think I ever will. I'm not quite sure I understand the thinking behind anyone who does. Particularly if you are running a "business" site. I just think that this type of non-disclosure looks a bit suspect, as if you are trying to hide something. The only time I could see it as a useful feature is if you are running a personal site.

Am I wrong? If so, please educate me.

Vito
 
I use GoDaddy for all my domains - and with GoDaddy it's through Domains by Proxy - some domains are registered with Domains by Proxy, but most aren't. As you mentioned the ones that are hidden are personal sites, and some of our clients have asked that we register domains for them and wanted the proxy feature as they've had actual internet stalkers.
 
They are exactly like a real life stalker, just on the internet. Sometimes these stalkers have been known to attempt to find addresses for the people in question - so we keep the information private through Domains by Proxy.

As far as what they do, it could be anything from claiming that the person they're stalking is married to them, to just monitoring them. Actually had one client request that we add some IP restrictions to keep the stalker away.
 
Wow, that's pretty scary stuff. I can understand why they would want some anonymity in their whois.

However, I still maintain that if you are running a business online, it serves you better to show whois info.

Vito
 
I have no problems with having my information in my whois record. I doubt very much if I would trust a company that didn't list accurate contact information. Any physical business has to list an address to be considered legitimate, I don't see why that should be different for internet based businesses.
 
As I said above, the business WHOIS information whould be public, ours is - even my private domains have public WHOIS information - but I could understand a personal domain having the masked whois info.
 
OK, looks like we're on the same page. Full disclosure for business sites. Protect the whois for personal sites. Makes sense.

I'd be curious to hear from any business owners who privacy protect, and their reasons/justification for doing so. And they are out there. I've seen many.

Vito
 
Exon said:
but I could understand a personal domain having the masked whois info.
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Yes, of course. Private sites should have no obligation to have personal information available.
 
I never use whoisguards myself. I have over 60 domains, not one of them is protected. First of all, I got nothing to hide. Second of all it is just very expensive to have that feature enabled when you have 50+ domains. The cost might not seem big when you have 2-3 domains, but those who own a lot will agree with me - you can certainly feel the impact on the overall cost.

Best,
 
In Namecheap, Artashes, they have been offering free whoisguard for every new domain. As I mentioned in my original post, I have over 2 dozen unused whoisguards. So free or not, I just can't see the reason to use it for a business domain.

Vito
 
I'd be curious to hear from any business owners who privacy protect, and their reasons/justification for doing so. And they are out there. I've seen many.
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The best thing to do there is find one of those fly by night hosts, and ask them :D

I agree on every note here. Businesses NEED to have their information public.

I can see how some personal sites may want to protect this information, but they fail to realize that a whois search is not the only way to get this information. It can be easily obtained at the library records, post office, phone book, etc..
 
I have free whoisguard and I could protect all my whois info, but I chose not to. I don't like it when I see fake/protected whois, so, why would I do such a thing? :)
 
but they fail to realize that a whois search is not the only way to get this information. It can be easily obtained at the library records, post office, phone book, etc..
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While this is true, protecting said information is up to the client, not me. I can only do so much :)
 
vito said:
In my Namecheap account, I currently have 2 dozen+ unused whoisguards. I've never used the feature, and I don't think I ever will.
Vito
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Hi Vito,

Could you please give me 6 of those unused whoisguards?
I think they are transferable.
If you say yes, I'll get in touch with namecheap support.
Please reply to skichu@gmail.com
Thanks
S.K
 
Part of the price of owning a domain is the details being listed in the public directory akak whois

When a business hides it's whois info it looks dodgy - I'd *never* knowingly do business with a compnay that hid such basic details as their address either by munging the whois or not putting full contact info on their website

When an individual hides their whois with one of these services, it makes you wonder what they're trying to hide.

We have customers like child-supportcharities who think it somehow "protects" them by doing so but there are many other ways of getting the data so it doesn't work.

I *do* agree with only making the contact email addresses public on specific request - not becuase they should be hidden but to stop the b@stard harvesters sending out spam emails. If every email cost the sender the same postage as a letter spam would almost die overnight - even junk snail-mail mailer companies try and carefully target the recipients to save on the paper/printing/postage
 
Something that we've just implemented is images on the website in place of E-mail addresses. Also in doing so we've removed the nice links for now until a solution can be made. Perhaps a popup window with a redirect - I don't know but we're trying to figure out ways to keep the spam to a minimum.
 
kichu said:
Hi Vito,

Could you please give me 6 of those unused whoisguards?
I think they are transferable.
If you say yes, I'll get in touch with namecheap support.
Please reply to skichu@gmail.com
Thanks
S.K
Click to expand...

Well, aside from the fact that I don't know you, I wouldn't be able to give them to you anyways. As per Namecheap Support:

Unfortunatly one may only push a whoisguard by pushing the domain associated with the subscription.
Click to expand...

Vito
 
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