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December 29 is ‘Dump GoDaddy Day’

Molly McHugh
By

godaddy-boycott1The SOPA saga will continue tomorrow as protestors will begin ceremoniously dumping their GoDaddy accounts. The domain and hosting service has had an inconsistent position on the new Internet regulations, originally supporting the potential rulings and then retracting that statement after threats of members leaving the site.

Apparently the flip-flop won’t be enough to retain all of its users. Tomorrow has been dubbed “Dump GoDaddy Day” and outraged users are ready to boycott the site—not only for its initial support of SOPA but because it hasn’t actually come out as opposed to the new legislation. According to customers, a neutral stance isn’t good enough.

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We reported that the idea of Dump GoDaddy began over at Reddit (no surprise there) when a user by the handle “selfprodigy” announced his small business domains would be leaving the site. “I’m suggesting Dec 29th as move your domain away from GoDaddy day because of their support of SOPA. Who’s with me?” And as it usually is, the power of Reddit has been enough to accrue a strong virtual following.

Now GoDaddy has incurred the wrath of the Internet and it may be unstoppable. So why won’t the site just issue a statement opposing SOPA? The new regulations would seemingly hurt its business model by hurting its customers, so it can be mind-boggling why the company has put itself in this position.

Whatever the motivations, GoDaddy is now struggling to get itself out of this situation. The site has been accused of delaying account transfer of users trying to leave, which isn’t really helping its reputation. And in the purest act of irony, some customers are now creating new GoDaddy accounts to register anti-SOPA Websites. The company will take what it can get, however, seeing as it’s feeling some pain from the boycott: between December 22 and December 24 the site lost 37,000 domains.

GoDaddy has never been terribly beloved, however, and this is the final straw for many users who have stuck with the service. Make no mistake, though: the boycott isn’t going to kill GoDaddy. Not in the least. What’s happening here is a Netflix-like debacle, where a big, powerful company that is nearly impossible to take down via a grassroots movement has made a huge mistake—and they’ll pay for it with a severely tarnished reputation. 

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Molly McHugh
Molly McHugh
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Before coming to Digital Trends, Molly worked as a freelance writer, occasional photographer, and general technical lackey…
Web services giant GoDaddy files for $100m IPO
godaddy files 100m ipo

Domain registration and Web services firm GoDaddy filed IPO papers with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, revealing it hopes to raise $100 million in the process.
Those with long memories will recall that the Scottsdale, Arizona company first filed for an IPO back in 2006, though scrapped the plan several months later due to adverse market conditions.
In the last year or so there's been increasing talk around the idea of a second attempt, with GoDaddy CEO Blake Irving telling Bloomberg in an interview last year, "The growth we are seeing positions us very well to be a public company. We could go public today, but I want to demonstrate that execution against my strategy is happening."
Since joining GoDaddy from Yahoo in January 2013, Irving has been active in making significant changes to the company's business plan, hiring talent from big hitters such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft, as well as pushing its operations into more European countries, including Spain, Portugal, France and Germany.
Despite a rise in revenue in the last few years, GoDaddy, which launched in 1997, is still having to deal with sizable net losses. In 2012, for example, it generated revenue of $910 million with a net loss of $279 million. Last year was better, with revenue coming in at just over $1 billion alongside $200 million in net losses.
The company, which hasn't turned a profit in five years, was bought by a number of private equity firms in 2011 for somewhere in the region of $2 billion.
Despite the less-than-stellar financial figures, the company is at least expanding its customer base, which, according to its IPO filing, currently stands at over 12 million.

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GoDaddy, Name.com begin selling .ninja website URLs
godaddy name com begin selling ninja domain names dot danica patrick

Can a ninja help your site kick ass?
On April 1, Domain name giant GoDaddy dropped a giant ninjutsu chop on the Internet, beginning the registration period for the stealthiest of domains, .ninja. When the new top-level domain (TLD) goes live on May 28, URLs ending with .ninja will live alongside .coms and .nets in the databases that make the Internet tick – and embarrass all other websites with their coolness.
“.ninja is not fully out in general availability yet, but it is purchasable,” GoDaddy Senior Vice President and General Manager of Domains Mike McLaughlin told Digital Trends.
You’re damn right it is. I just picked up ama.ninja, after all.
I know, the link won't work now. But it will soon.
“There’s great availability, tons of room for personal expression, and instant recognition. Nunchuks not included."
The .Ninja TLD was announced in June of 2012, just one of many new domains in what promises to be the biggest expansion the Internet has ever seen, thanks to new rules from Internet authority ICANN. .Ninja was the brainchild of struggling content company Demand Media, alongside of several other TLDs including .republican and .democrat. The company also recently started selling the domain names through its Name.com site.
“There’s great availability, tons of room for personal expression, and instant recognition. Nunchuks not included,” reads a Name.com page entreating you to sign up.
A technical contact listed on the site of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA.org) for United TLD Holdco LTD, parent company of Demand, did not answer the phone. But it’s not the only throwing star in the basket here. GoDaddy is eager to sell you your own personal .ninja as well, casually entreating me to buy buy buy in a monthly account summary / spam: “Beat the rush to stake your claim – .REVIEWS, .NINJA, .SOCIAL and .ROCKS are coming soon. Pre-Register TODAY!”
Sure, .rocks is cool and .reviews is handy, but .ninja? That’s ridiculous. Picture “ima.ninja” or “cellphone.ninja” – or even “WorldsBest.ninja” (many of those are currently available on the site).
Pre-registration is available for $24.99, although some URLs are unavailable, and the cost of others seems astronomical. You can’t get sexy.ninja, for example, and hot.ninja will set you back a cool $1,499.99.
“Think of it as buying a DVD or video game before it comes out, placing an order in advance,” McLaughlin said. Pre-registration lasts through May 19, when the land rush begins. Any new .ninja sites won’t actually go live for another nine days, however.
“That’s when the names actually work and will turn into websites.”
GoDaddy has created a page with detailed information on the .ninja domain for the curious, even going so far as to create a logo for the new TLD, replete with intense ninja eyes staring from behind a stylized mask.
“.Ninja is a fun choice for web developers, game designers, software engineers and anyone looking for a domain name with attitude,” the company’s web site advises.
It’s just one of about 1,400 new TLDs that will be unveiled over the next few years, McLaughlin explained, each with their own timetables for release and target audience. Some are brand specific -- .nike for example. Others are for professions, such as .dentist or .lawyer. Still others reflect special interest groups: .photography is the current number two seller, he noted.
.Ninja will likely prove popular with the tech crowd, but it’s not the most interesting name in GoDaddy’s eyes.
“My personal favorite from the ‘who knows where this will lead dept.’ is .wtf,” McLaughlin said. “We’ll see where the market takes this.”

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It’s National Day of Unplugging, and here are five ways Internet addicts can get through it

If you're feeling fatigued from constant tech use, relief may be in sight. The organizers behind the National Day of Unplugging want you to turn off your phones, put your computer to sleep, and abandon your iPads. From sundown March 1 to sundown March 2, this new tech-free day urges people to take a Sabbath from the Internet and go get some gold old-fashioned face-to-face interactions.
The National Day of Unplugging is an event organized by the Sabbath Manifesto, an project that highlights the benefits of taking breaks and living a balanced life. It's created and orchestrated by members of Reboot, a non-profit group. From San Francisco to Danbury, CT, partner organizations are joining in and creating events in support of the day, hoping to show people how to let go of reliance on technology as a positive experience.
Reboot's National Communications Manager Tanya Schevitz, tells us the positive impact taking a tech break can have. "People want to stop living through Facebook and Twitter and reconnect with family, friends and the community around them in real life."
Schevitz discussed the success of past events, "we had an unplugging party at SXSW last year during the interactive festival where nearly 200 people spent a couple hours together without the cell phones.  Afterward a woman came up to me and said how powerful it was."
You might not be ready to commit yourself to a full day free of Facebook updates, retweets and Skype, but here are a few smaller ways you can participate and feel a little less hyper-connected:
Freedom from Facebook
If you can't say no to tech for the whole day, perhaps for work or relationship reasons, narrow your goal and say goodbye to Mark Zuckerberg's time suck of a social network. To remove temptation, temporarily disable your account. Or if there's someone you really trust (your mother?) get him or her to change your password and not tell you until the challenge is over. If Twitter's more of a problem for you, just focus on that. Or do both.
Eat, drink, and leave your phone alone
Look around your favorite restaurant. Chances are, plenty of patrons are glancing at their phones instead of talking to each other. Even more of them sit their smartphones on the edge of the tables, like a security blanket. Whether you go out to eat with a big group or just a family member, stack your phones face down on the table and eat your dinner without interruption. If there's a larger crowd, you can set stakes to discourage cheating: Whoever checks their phone first has to foot the bill. It's an effective way to curb Instagramming your meals and re-focus attention back to real interactions.
Get back to your roots
It's a lot easier to forget about the temptations of social media, gossip blogs, and Temple Run when you're surrounded by beautiful trees. Plan a long walk. Grab your bike. As Shevitz put it, "If you are out on a hike or even are sitting on the stoop with a glass of wine looking at the sunset, you may not miss your phone."
Make plans
If you want to leave your iPhone at home and stay off the computer, it's much easier to be tech-free with company. Arrange to meet with friends beforehand, so you don't feel tempted to shoot off a text or send a lonesome Facebook message.
Cross something off your list
Ever want to learn how to knit? Meaning to finish Infinite Jest? Make a concrete goal to work towards a dormant project, and you'll have something to do to keep you from leaning on tech for entertainment.

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