7 ms·

Namecheap also bans the word 'hacker' from URLs. If you want to register a domain with the word hacker (and a bunch of other words which they won't release), t

by blhack 14y ago

Namecheap also bans the word 'hacker' from URLs. If you want to register a domain with the word hacker (and a bunch of other words which they won't release), they give you a giant warning basically equating hackers with criminals, and make you submit a request to them before them that they have to okay before you're allowed to register. Oh, and you can't use a credit card (hackers steal those, you know!), you have to have funds already in your account. I'm sorry, name cheap, I want to love you, and stuff like donating to the EFF makes me want to love you even more, but please stop this absurdity of hackers == criminals. (I found this out when registering raspihacker.com -- which is clearly a front for me evil criminal enterprise!) Here, I just tired to register "potatohacker.com" and got this: http://i.imgur.com/uz4yrBt.png http://i.imgur.com/uz4yrBt.png

batgaijin 14y ago
I think that shows they can stereotype the kind of people who register hacker give them headaches.
- sturmeh 14y ago
  That actually seems very reasonable.
- lostlogin 14y ago
  Nice thought. I have an image of the person in mind. Young, male, looking to break stuff, mums credit card in hand. I miss those days in some ways, but not so much.
dholowiski 14y ago
Are you sure about that? I just tried to register somethingsomethinghacker.com and got through the checkout process to the point where it asked me for a credit card. I didn't proceed (because I don't want the domain).
- blhack 14y ago
  I just tried it and got this error: http://i.imgur.com/uz4yrBt.png http://i.imgur.com/uz4yrBt.png
  - dsl 14y ago
    Did you try livechat? I'd be curious if it was "potato" or "hacker" that was blacklisted.
    - blhack 14y ago
      I didn't want to be rude and waste their live chat peoples' time when I didn't actually care about the domain. it says that it is for the word hacker in my scrot.
      - barbs 14y ago
        Did you have to use the word "scrot"? Ergh!
        blhack 14y ago
        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrot
        barbs 14y ago
        I know about the program. Terribly named.
    - rz2k 14y ago
      Probably something related to old-timey NINA signs.
adamdavis 14y ago
FWIW, I registered two domains recently through namecheap using a credit card.
sturmeh 14y ago
I assume the service uses funds to prevent things like cards failing and causing domains to expire. Maybe they're sick of subpoena requests from criminal domains?
coderdude 14y ago
Namecheap probably makes you fund an account to avoid paying processing fees for each transaction. Also, most people don't use 'hacker' like our relatively small community does. The person that wrote the blacklist might not even be a programmer, or maybe they are but they know something we don't about problematic domain registrations.
evanjacobs 14y ago
I wonder how new this policy is. I've had http://www.readwritehack.com http://www.readwritehack.com registered with Namecheap since 2008.
marquis 14y ago
That's awfully strange. If you were wanting to do anything clandestine you would think to use the most unoffensive domain possible, not advertise that you are now going to do something untoward to your visitors.
- zapdrive 14y ago
  Exactly my thought. If I was planning on phishing, say Bank of America customers, I will register something like BankkofAmerica.com. Not BankHacker, or PhishingBank.com. Lol, I wonder whose idea at NameCheap it was. No dearth of stupid people in the world. And for the people who are saying, "it was just a phone call" or "just a quick chat", the thing is just the whole idea is ridiculous, to have to chat with someone to register a domain with a particular keyword in it. Its just like GodDaddy would not let you register any domain with the word "godaddy" in it. As if they own the ICANN and they have the right to every single domain with that word in it.
  - tamar 14y ago
    Hey, I'm Namecheap's community manager and we've spoken to @blhack about this earlier (https://twitter.com/jonmarkgo/status/283995904699150337 https://twitter.com/jonmarkgo/status/283995904699150337). We are aware that our list is way out of date (it's been around for a long time). We plan to update this list. However, we've got a lot of items on our agenda and this is a process. As such, it can't happen overnight. We do appreciate your patience.
    - smartwater 14y ago
      It shouldn't take months to fix what comes down to an array of keywords or a regular expression. This is the equivalent of a pile of dishes sitting in the sink and you know it will take only 15 minutes to do them, but instead you just let them sit there.
      - tamar 14y ago
        While we understand that it could take 15 minutes for one person to do, please note that we have a LOT of items on our to-do list, and this requires involvement from many teams (multiple folks and teams need to discuss and review the list, we need to escalate to our developers, etc). In the past few months alone, we've added a bunch of new TLDs. We included autorenew on domain services. We added a new Onepager web hosting service. We created this EFF fundraising effort. We created the best SSL reseller plan out there. And there's more. We've been busy. Further, we're working on features that many of you have requested -- and are hoping to roll those out this year. There are a lot of items on our agenda. This, too, is on our agenda. It will happen. It just won't happen overnight. I realize I'd be thinking along the same lines as you if I were you, smartwater, but Namecheap is a company. It's not a one person entity. Therefore, again, this is a process. More than one person is involved in this process and it is planned.
rsobers 14y ago
> "...basically equating hackers with criminals..." Let's not get carried away. I have accidentalhacker.com registered with Namecheap. I recall having to have a quick phone call with support to make sure I was legit. Really, it's not that big a hurdle. I was able to pay with my credit card and I've been extremely happy with their service and support.
- canttestthis 14y ago
  Yes I have a domain with 'hacker' in it registered with namecheap too, and for me it was a simple online chat with live support.
- 8ig8 14y ago
  What is their criteria for determining if a registration is legitimate?
  - z92 14y ago
    Apparently, that you aren't reluctant to call them.
tonywebster 14y ago
They should fix the hacker thing (though I just tried and was not able to reproduce)... but I have not experienced any problems paying with a credit card in my 5+ years of being a NameCheap customer.
jhancock 14y ago
> "can't use a credit card" I've been paying namecheap via credit card for a while, including last week.
pippy 14y ago
namecheap is an American company, so be prepared to have your domain taken under the guise of copyright infringement. The domain doesn't have to be associated with piracy as demonstrated previously by the FBI. I use namecheap for all my domains, and I rate my experience with them. I've had no troubles with them, though if you rely on your domain for income I'd change it to a country with friendlier laws.
- rajivm 14y ago
  That's true regardless of registrar if its a US-controlled TLD such as .com (Verisign), .net (Verisign), or .org (PIR).
driverdan 14y ago
Namecheap added proper credit card processing (without adding funds to your account) last year, including (FINALLY) automatic renewal.
chinmoy 14y ago
>Oh, and you can't use a credit card (hackers steal those, you know!), you have to have funds already in your account. You couldn't be wrong enough. I understand you are disappointed, but one should check before saying things like this.
jamesbritt 14y ago
I transfered over azhackers.com and got no warning or messages. Maybe because it a transfer, or during the "abandon godaddy" rush.
- blhack 14y ago
  Hey I know you! See you tomorrow at assemble az walkthrough?
  - jamesbritt 14y ago
    Yes!
mmanfrin 14y ago
Oh, and you can't use a credit card ( So I've been paying with wishes and unicorn dust?
HNLogInShit 14y ago
"Oh, and you can't use a credit card (hackers steal those, you know!), you have to have funds already in your account." Wrong. I use Namecheap with a credit card all the time.
duiker101 14y ago
I remember having this issue when I wanted to move http://hackeryper.net http://hackeryper.net but I don't remember how I fixed it, maybe talking to someone in support. this to me means it wasn't a painful experience, therefore fine for me. I like namecheap and I am not looking forward to change.
blhack 14y ago
You can't use a credit card if your domain has one of the banned words. (Sorry, I can't edit anymore. I didn't mean you can't use a credit card at all, that would be silly, I meant that if yo're determinmed to be one fo the evil hackers, then you can't.)
tamar 14y ago
Hey all, You've asked - we've answered. Your voices have been heard and we've expedited the removal of the term "hacker" from having any types of restrictions on registration. You can now register potatohacker.com or whatever else you'd like to hack..erm, register, right now, without having to contact us directly to do it for you. :) Thanks all for your feedback and we appreciate your support. Tamar, Namecheap Community Manager

by blhack 14y ago

batgaijin 14y ago

I think that shows they can stereotype the kind of people who register hacker give them headaches.

sturmeh 14y ago
That actually seems very reasonable.
lostlogin 14y ago
Nice thought. I have an image of the person in mind. Young, male, looking to break stuff, mums credit card in hand. I miss those days in some ways, but not so much.

dholowiski 14y ago

Are you sure about that? I just tried to register somethingsomethinghacker.com and got through the checkout process to the point where it asked me for a credit card. I didn't proceed (because I don't want the domain).

blhack 14y ago
I just tried it and got this error: http://i.imgur.com/uz4yrBt.png http://i.imgur.com/uz4yrBt.png
- dsl 14y ago
  Did you try livechat? I'd be curious if it was "potato" or "hacker" that was blacklisted.
  - blhack 14y ago
    I didn't want to be rude and waste their live chat peoples' time when I didn't actually care about the domain. it says that it is for the word hacker in my scrot.
    - barbs 14y ago
      Did you have to use the word "scrot"? Ergh!
      - blhack 14y ago
        en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrot
        barbs 14y ago
        I know about the program. Terribly named.
  - rz2k 14y ago
    Probably something related to old-timey NINA signs.

adamdavis 14y ago

FWIW, I registered two domains recently through namecheap using a credit card.

sturmeh 14y ago

I assume the service uses funds to prevent things like cards failing and causing domains to expire. Maybe they're sick of subpoena requests from criminal domains?

coderdude 14y ago

Namecheap probably makes you fund an account to avoid paying processing fees for each transaction. Also, most people don't use 'hacker' like our relatively small community does. The person that wrote the blacklist might not even be a programmer, or maybe they are but they know something we don't about problematic domain registrations.

evanjacobs 14y ago

I wonder how new this policy is. I've had http://www.readwritehack.com http://www.readwritehack.com registered with Namecheap since 2008.

marquis 14y ago

That's awfully strange. If you were wanting to do anything clandestine you would think to use the most unoffensive domain possible, not advertise that you are now going to do something untoward to your visitors.

zapdrive 14y ago
Exactly my thought. If I was planning on phishing, say Bank of America customers, I will register something like BankkofAmerica.com. Not BankHacker, or PhishingBank.com. Lol, I wonder whose idea at NameCheap it was. No dearth of stupid people in the world. And for the people who are saying, "it was just a phone call" or "just a quick chat", the thing is just the whole idea is ridiculous, to have to chat with someone to register a domain with a particular keyword in it. Its just like GodDaddy would not let you register any domain with the word "godaddy" in it. As if they own the ICANN and they have the right to every single domain with that word in it.
- tamar 14y ago
  Hey, I'm Namecheap's community manager and we've spoken to @blhack about this earlier (https://twitter.com/jonmarkgo/status/283995904699150337 https://twitter.com/jonmarkgo/status/283995904699150337). We are aware that our list is way out of date (it's been around for a long time). We plan to update this list. However, we've got a lot of items on our agenda and this is a process. As such, it can't happen overnight. We do appreciate your patience.
  - smartwater 14y ago
    It shouldn't take months to fix what comes down to an array of keywords or a regular expression. This is the equivalent of a pile of dishes sitting in the sink and you know it will take only 15 minutes to do them, but instead you just let them sit there.
    - tamar 14y ago
      While we understand that it could take 15 minutes for one person to do, please note that we have a LOT of items on our to-do list, and this requires involvement from many teams (multiple folks and teams need to discuss and review the list, we need to escalate to our developers, etc). In the past few months alone, we've added a bunch of new TLDs. We included autorenew on domain services. We added a new Onepager web hosting service. We created this EFF fundraising effort. We created the best SSL reseller plan out there. And there's more. We've been busy. Further, we're working on features that many of you have requested -- and are hoping to roll those out this year. There are a lot of items on our agenda. This, too, is on our agenda. It will happen. It just won't happen overnight. I realize I'd be thinking along the same lines as you if I were you, smartwater, but Namecheap is a company. It's not a one person entity. Therefore, again, this is a process. More than one person is involved in this process and it is planned.

rsobers 14y ago

> "...basically equating hackers with criminals..." Let's not get carried away. I have accidentalhacker.com registered with Namecheap. I recall having to have a quick phone call with support to make sure I was legit. Really, it's not that big a hurdle. I was able to pay with my credit card and I've been extremely happy with their service and support.

canttestthis 14y ago
Yes I have a domain with 'hacker' in it registered with namecheap too, and for me it was a simple online chat with live support.
8ig8 14y ago
What is their criteria for determining if a registration is legitimate?
- z92 14y ago
  Apparently, that you aren't reluctant to call them.

tonywebster 14y ago

They should fix the hacker thing (though I just tried and was not able to reproduce)... but I have not experienced any problems paying with a credit card in my 5+ years of being a NameCheap customer.

jhancock 14y ago

> "can't use a credit card" I've been paying namecheap via credit card for a while, including last week.

pippy 14y ago

namecheap is an American company, so be prepared to have your domain taken under the guise of copyright infringement. The domain doesn't have to be associated with piracy as demonstrated previously by the FBI. I use namecheap for all my domains, and I rate my experience with them. I've had no troubles with them, though if you rely on your domain for income I'd change it to a country with friendlier laws.

rajivm 14y ago
That's true regardless of registrar if its a US-controlled TLD such as .com (Verisign), .net (Verisign), or .org (PIR).

driverdan 14y ago

Namecheap added proper credit card processing (without adding funds to your account) last year, including (FINALLY) automatic renewal.

chinmoy 14y ago

>Oh, and you can't use a credit card (hackers steal those, you know!), you have to have funds already in your account. You couldn't be wrong enough. I understand you are disappointed, but one should check before saying things like this.

jamesbritt 14y ago

I transfered over azhackers.com and got no warning or messages. Maybe because it a transfer, or during the "abandon godaddy" rush.

blhack 14y ago
Hey I know you! See you tomorrow at assemble az walkthrough?
- jamesbritt 14y ago
  Yes!

mmanfrin 14y ago

Oh, and you can't use a credit card ( So I've been paying with wishes and unicorn dust?

HNLogInShit 14y ago

"Oh, and you can't use a credit card (hackers steal those, you know!), you have to have funds already in your account." Wrong. I use Namecheap with a credit card all the time.

duiker101 14y ago

I remember having this issue when I wanted to move http://hackeryper.net http://hackeryper.net but I don't remember how I fixed it, maybe talking to someone in support. this to me means it wasn't a painful experience, therefore fine for me. I like namecheap and I am not looking forward to change.

blhack 14y ago

You can't use a credit card if your domain has one of the banned words. (Sorry, I can't edit anymore. I didn't mean you can't use a credit card at all, that would be silly, I meant that if yo're determinmed to be one fo the evil hackers, then you can't.)

tamar 14y ago

Hey all, You've asked - we've answered. Your voices have been heard and we've expedited the removal of the term "hacker" from having any types of restrictions on registration. You can now register potatohacker.com or whatever else you'd like to hack..erm, register, right now, without having to contact us directly to do it for you. :) Thanks all for your feedback and we appreciate your support. Tamar, Namecheap Community Manager