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The importance of using a reliable registrar can't be overstated. tierra.net looks like a small company, without 24hr support, and with an abandoned social medi

The importance of using a reliable registrar can't be overstated. tierra.net looks like a small company, without 24hr support, and with an abandoned social media presence. Why would a company with 40M users use a tiny registrar to save 2 bucks on a domain name?

svembu1 8y ago
This was not the company used. The domain registrar market has gone through consolidation and it ended up here. We have been moving domains and this is a cautionary tale for us.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
nir_CABRON 8y ago
India superpower by 2020
toast0 8y ago
They probably registered the name very early in their corporate life. At some point, they had a real business, and a business critical domain name, but they didn't realize they needed to do something different. My CEO registered our business names at network solutions, sigh. Anyway, as a wakeup call -- if you have a business critical domain name, you need to find (and use) a registrar that has a registry lock procedure for the TLD you're in. A registry lock means the registry won't process changes from your registrar unless you authorize them, which makes it a lot harder to change things on purpose, or by an attacker. I imagine abuse takedowns could still go through though -- but there will at least be more people who know you care about your domain.
- fermienrico 8y ago
  I can understand if they're a cement company with a website. Zoho is in the business of email with @zoho.com emails. This is a huge oversight which makes me question their whole company and how things might be internally.
snowwrestler 8y ago
I've been very happy with MarkMonitor. They have good customer service, a good reputation, and best of all, they auto-renew domains and send an invoice. That means that the failure mode is "domain is renewed, I owe them a check." If your domains are riding on a credit card, you potentially have a failure mode of "card was declined, my domain did not renew, everything is down."
- barkingcat 8y ago
  and then someone steals the domain out from under you and you'll need to pay in bitcoins to get it back.
- sandGorgon 8y ago
  How much does markmonitor cost ? There is no pricing anywhere.
  - Karupan 8y ago
    I’m guessing that’s an indication that it’s prohibitively expensive for small organisations?
  - chris 8y ago
    Back in 2014 they wanted a $10k/yr minimum.
  - snowwrestler 8y ago
    My invoices say $20/yr per .com; other TLDs are more expensive. Because we have a ton of domains we spend over $20k a year with them. I'm sure there is a minimum but I don't know what it is these days. I would not say MarkMonitor is a tool for startups. It's a tool for organizations that would lose a lot if they lost a domain. I bet Zoho wishes they could go back in time and spend $10k to avoid this problem they had.
lucasjans 8y ago
You would be surprised how prevalent these problems are even with supposedly reputable registrars. A commonly recommend option here in HN was NameCheap. Earlier this year without any notice they modified our DNS servers completely taking down our SaaS product. Why? Some migration script run incorrectly. They offered me a random TLD for free for one year as compensation! I declined.
- ethanwillis 8y ago
  For me Namecheap just dumped all of my personal account information to some random lawyer who wasn't even suing me, but someone else. And a lot of the information they released wasn't even within the date range specified in the subpoena!
  - Tomte 8y ago
    Don't you think it's enough? You've told this story now five or six times in this single thread. Please stop.
    - ethanwillis 8y ago
      Would you feel the same way if a company just dumped all your private information? I don't want someone who only reads a part of this thread to think that Namecheap is trust worthy when they are not.
      - Tomte 8y ago
        I find that abusive.
        ethanwillis 8y ago
        Yes making sure that people are aware that their personal information is at risk from a company that touts itself as a bastion of privacy. Very abusive. Sorry you feel that way? Downvote me and move along then. We'll let up/downvotes play out and the community can decide just like it's designed to.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
teddyh 8y ago
You seem to imply that reliable ≠ small, and that small registrars are cheaper. In my experience, the opposite is true in both cases. Big registrars can’t afford any support costs since they prefer to squeeze the price down as far as possible, and therefore they prefer to simply lose or outright drop any customer in case of any and all problems. Conversely, small registrars may charge more, but have better (i.e. actually existing, and sometimes even dedicated and personal) support for when things go wrong, and have a vested interest in keeping you as a customer.

svembu1 8y ago

This was not the company used. The domain registrar market has gone through consolidation and it ended up here. We have been moving domains and this is a cautionary tale for us.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

nir_CABRON 8y ago

India superpower by 2020

toast0 8y ago

They probably registered the name very early in their corporate life. At some point, they had a real business, and a business critical domain name, but they didn't realize they needed to do something different. My CEO registered our business names at network solutions, sigh. Anyway, as a wakeup call -- if you have a business critical domain name, you need to find (and use) a registrar that has a registry lock procedure for the TLD you're in. A registry lock means the registry won't process changes from your registrar unless you authorize them, which makes it a lot harder to change things on purpose, or by an attacker. I imagine abuse takedowns could still go through though -- but there will at least be more people who know you care about your domain.

fermienrico 8y ago
I can understand if they're a cement company with a website. Zoho is in the business of email with @zoho.com emails. This is a huge oversight which makes me question their whole company and how things might be internally.

snowwrestler 8y ago

I've been very happy with MarkMonitor. They have good customer service, a good reputation, and best of all, they auto-renew domains and send an invoice. That means that the failure mode is "domain is renewed, I owe them a check." If your domains are riding on a credit card, you potentially have a failure mode of "card was declined, my domain did not renew, everything is down."

barkingcat 8y ago
and then someone steals the domain out from under you and you'll need to pay in bitcoins to get it back.
sandGorgon 8y ago
How much does markmonitor cost ? There is no pricing anywhere.
- Karupan 8y ago
  I’m guessing that’s an indication that it’s prohibitively expensive for small organisations?
- chris 8y ago
  Back in 2014 they wanted a $10k/yr minimum.
- snowwrestler 8y ago
  My invoices say $20/yr per .com; other TLDs are more expensive. Because we have a ton of domains we spend over $20k a year with them. I'm sure there is a minimum but I don't know what it is these days. I would not say MarkMonitor is a tool for startups. It's a tool for organizations that would lose a lot if they lost a domain. I bet Zoho wishes they could go back in time and spend $10k to avoid this problem they had.

lucasjans 8y ago

You would be surprised how prevalent these problems are even with supposedly reputable registrars. A commonly recommend option here in HN was NameCheap. Earlier this year without any notice they modified our DNS servers completely taking down our SaaS product. Why? Some migration script run incorrectly. They offered me a random TLD for free for one year as compensation! I declined.

ethanwillis 8y ago
For me Namecheap just dumped all of my personal account information to some random lawyer who wasn't even suing me, but someone else. And a lot of the information they released wasn't even within the date range specified in the subpoena!
- Tomte 8y ago
  Don't you think it's enough? You've told this story now five or six times in this single thread. Please stop.
  - ethanwillis 8y ago
    Would you feel the same way if a company just dumped all your private information? I don't want someone who only reads a part of this thread to think that Namecheap is trust worthy when they are not.
    - Tomte 8y ago
      I find that abusive.
      - ethanwillis 8y ago
        Yes making sure that people are aware that their personal information is at risk from a company that touts itself as a bastion of privacy. Very abusive. Sorry you feel that way? Downvote me and move along then. We'll let up/downvotes play out and the community can decide just like it's designed to.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

teddyh 8y ago

You seem to imply that reliable ≠ small, and that small registrars are cheaper. In my experience, the opposite is true in both cases. Big registrars can’t afford any support costs since they prefer to squeeze the price down as far as possible, and therefore they prefer to simply lose or outright drop any customer in case of any and all problems. Conversely, small registrars may charge more, but have better (i.e. actually existing, and sometimes even dedicated and personal) support for when things go wrong, and have a vested interest in keeping you as a customer.