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But can you please start handling .name domains? I have one last domain I want to transfer from Gandi. Your support agent spent five minutes trying to convince

But can you please start handling .name domains? I have one last domain I want to transfer from Gandi. Your support agent spent five minutes trying to convince me that I didn't own a domain in xxx.yyy.name format, and that the reason it wasn't transfering is because I should be using yyy.name, before talking to a supervisor and finding out that you don't handle them anyway.

ted0 6y ago
We do support .name now.
- danellis 6y ago
  Really? Because when I try to transfer xxx.yyy.name, it says: "Uh-oh! Your domain yyy.name is not eligible for transfer to us." I don't own yyy.name. I own xxx.yyy.name. (Of course xxx and yyy are placeholders here.) Edit: xxx.yyy.name comes from the .name registry, just like xxx.co.uk comes from the .uk registry.
  - sgtfrankieboy 6y ago
    Only the owner of yyy.name can do those kind of transfers. Your xxx.yyy.name is a subdomain of yyy.name and thus beholden to it. Unless it's something like a .co.uk domain, which with you mentioning .name isn't the case.
    - danellis 6y ago
      Who is the owner of yyy.name, though? I'd say that's the registry itself.
  - kugelblitz 6y ago
    I don't think you can transfer because the domain doesn't belong to you. yyy.name is the domain, you're "renting" from whoever owns that domain name.
    - danellis 6y ago
      I understand that domains are just rented and not owned, but in common parlance it's usual to talk about owning a domain.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - dingaling 6y ago
        But you don't even own a domain Whom do you pay for xxx.yyy.name?
        danellis 6y ago
        Like I said in my first post, I pay Gandi. Look, you can register one yourself: https://imgur.com/tIESzRr https://imgur.com/tIESzRr You're surely familiar with domains like foo.co.uk? You don't have to own co.uk to own or transfer foo.co.uk, even though it's the uk registry, not the co.uk registry.
  - jessaustin 6y ago
    If ".name" works the typical TLD way, you don't own anything. You merely have a business relationship with the owner of "ellis.name". That owner could transfer "ellis.name", but you don't own anything transferable. Of course, ".name" might not work in the expected way, but it seems a likely explanation for the issue you report.
    - danellis 6y ago
      The owner of yyy.name is the .name registry. That's just how they work. The intention was that people register first.last.name, and that multiple people could register under the same last.name.
      - bscphil 6y ago
        Then it sounds like the .name registry is also in the business of selling subdomains, i.e. they're the owner of yyy.name. In other words, it's not possible for Namecheap to rent you xxx.yyy.name, because to do that they'd have to be the owner of yyy.name, and they're not. Sounds like the tech support agent and supervisor got it basically right.
        BGZq7 6y ago
        They're not really subdomains. If you try to do a whois against e.g. smith.name you'll see it's not a registerable domain. Only the second level can be registered, xxxx.smith.name. Similarly if you had xxxx.co.uk, you own a domain because co.uk isn't registerable. The only quirk about .name is that common names can't be registered at the top level, but uncommon ones can.
        danellis 6y ago
        > it's not possible for Namecheap to rent you xxx.yyy.name I'm sure they could if they wanted to. Gandi will happily do it for $15/year. I can only assume they've decided it's not worth their time to do so.
      - mratzloff 6y ago
        Early on (nearly 20 years ago) it was possible to register a yyy.name by itself. For example, I own the domain for my last name.
ddingus 6y ago
Why are people moving from Gandi? Just wondering if I should be aware of something... If I do move, Namecheap it will be, given this discussion.
- ted0 6y ago
  We have always liked and respected the folks over at Gandi. They were recently acquired by private equity so not sure what their plans are. Regardless, we'd be happy to have you.
  - ddingus 6y ago
    Ok, the acquisition is good to know. Steady as she goes right now, but I know where to go should things change.
- icelancer 6y ago
  Their moral policies in their TOS are... interesting.
  - firebird84 6y ago
    Can you elaborate?
    - icelancer 6y ago
      Worth combing through this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22001822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22001822 Algolia will have more.
      - exikyut 6y ago
        Extremely curiously, the first comment for this article link is about... what do you know, Gandi possibly doing the same thing as the OP's experience, albeit less provably / over a longer time period.

ted0 6y ago

We do support .name now.

danellis 6y ago
Really? Because when I try to transfer xxx.yyy.name, it says: "Uh-oh! Your domain yyy.name is not eligible for transfer to us." I don't own yyy.name. I own xxx.yyy.name. (Of course xxx and yyy are placeholders here.) Edit: xxx.yyy.name comes from the .name registry, just like xxx.co.uk comes from the .uk registry.
- sgtfrankieboy 6y ago
  Only the owner of yyy.name can do those kind of transfers. Your xxx.yyy.name is a subdomain of yyy.name and thus beholden to it. Unless it's something like a .co.uk domain, which with you mentioning .name isn't the case.
  - danellis 6y ago
    Who is the owner of yyy.name, though? I'd say that's the registry itself.
- kugelblitz 6y ago
  I don't think you can transfer because the domain doesn't belong to you. yyy.name is the domain, you're "renting" from whoever owns that domain name.
  - danellis 6y ago
    I understand that domains are just rented and not owned, but in common parlance it's usual to talk about owning a domain.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - dingaling 6y ago
      But you don't even own a domain Whom do you pay for xxx.yyy.name?
      - danellis 6y ago
        Like I said in my first post, I pay Gandi. Look, you can register one yourself: https://imgur.com/tIESzRr https://imgur.com/tIESzRr You're surely familiar with domains like foo.co.uk? You don't have to own co.uk to own or transfer foo.co.uk, even though it's the uk registry, not the co.uk registry.
- jessaustin 6y ago
  If ".name" works the typical TLD way, you don't own anything. You merely have a business relationship with the owner of "ellis.name". That owner could transfer "ellis.name", but you don't own anything transferable. Of course, ".name" might not work in the expected way, but it seems a likely explanation for the issue you report.
  - danellis 6y ago
    The owner of yyy.name is the .name registry. That's just how they work. The intention was that people register first.last.name, and that multiple people could register under the same last.name.
    - bscphil 6y ago
      Then it sounds like the .name registry is also in the business of selling subdomains, i.e. they're the owner of yyy.name. In other words, it's not possible for Namecheap to rent you xxx.yyy.name, because to do that they'd have to be the owner of yyy.name, and they're not. Sounds like the tech support agent and supervisor got it basically right.
      - BGZq7 6y ago
        They're not really subdomains. If you try to do a whois against e.g. smith.name you'll see it's not a registerable domain. Only the second level can be registered, xxxx.smith.name. Similarly if you had xxxx.co.uk, you own a domain because co.uk isn't registerable. The only quirk about .name is that common names can't be registered at the top level, but uncommon ones can.
      - danellis 6y ago
        > it's not possible for Namecheap to rent you xxx.yyy.name I'm sure they could if they wanted to. Gandi will happily do it for $15/year. I can only assume they've decided it's not worth their time to do so.
    - mratzloff 6y ago
      Early on (nearly 20 years ago) it was possible to register a yyy.name by itself. For example, I own the domain for my last name.

ddingus 6y ago

Why are people moving from Gandi? Just wondering if I should be aware of something... If I do move, Namecheap it will be, given this discussion.

ted0 6y ago
We have always liked and respected the folks over at Gandi. They were recently acquired by private equity so not sure what their plans are. Regardless, we'd be happy to have you.
- ddingus 6y ago
  Ok, the acquisition is good to know. Steady as she goes right now, but I know where to go should things change.
icelancer 6y ago
Their moral policies in their TOS are... interesting.
- firebird84 6y ago
  Can you elaborate?
  - icelancer 6y ago
    Worth combing through this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22001822 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22001822 Algolia will have more.
    - exikyut 6y ago
      Extremely curiously, the first comment for this article link is about... what do you know, Gandi possibly doing the same thing as the OP's experience, albeit less provably / over a longer time period.