OP here. > Also Cloudflare did not 'delete my (the) domain. It deleted the dns records. There is a difference and no I am not being pedantic either. Thanks. Y

OP here. > Also Cloudflare did not 'delete my (the) domain. It deleted the dns records. There is a difference and no I am not being pedantic either. Thanks. You're absolutely right. I meant delete their record of the domain as it shows up in the UI of their dashboard. > How would 'the internet' know why this was done there could be any number of good or bad reasons. For many reasons luckily HN isn't 'the internet'. I've already gotten some good suggestions. > Lastly the domain is not expired and as such the registrar is required (per ICANN) to supply an auth code so someone can transfer out. Or to allow the customer to change the primary and secondary dns to another dns provider. There is zero (legitimately) that allows cloudflare as either a dns provider or a registrar to lock the domain up pretty much (other than for a legal court order) just for some reason they might decide to do that. I know. Again, I guess I was insufficiently specific. Cloudflare has warned me to expect long wait times before I can talk to a customer support rep. My question was if there's a way to transfer out without needing to wait on a slow support loop.