Hi Zach,

First: love the thread title! Well-played.

I'm on the board of directors for a very small 501-c-3 and maintain their website. Our site is hosted by GoDaddy, a company about which I have mixed feelings.

While I personally do not care for their advertising and promotional practices, I must say that they offer low prices and excellent services. They held my hand and step-by-stepped me thru the initial process and domain registration.

They have also been quick to respond in the few instances that there has been a problem and have been heads-up when hackers try to elbow in. I do have to endorse them for their operations and customer service. You may also have read that the company was recently sold to new owners who seem to be keeping the original mojo going.

Natch, they are a business and will try to sell you the sun, moon and stars. But if you ask for only a small planet they will provide one with no fuss.

From what I've read, most of what you've heard about them "stealing" a domain has been due to the domain registration expiring and the owner not renewing timely. Then the owner screams "robbery."

Rules are for everybody, and if you miss the renewal deadline, they have a right to sell the name because it is no longer owned. There are no grace periods and it's the way the game is played. They do send plenty of warnings and invitations to renew.

You don't say what type of site yours will be. If you are a non-profit, look around within your general field as there may be similar groups or suppliers that will host a non-profit org's site free or at reduced cost. We are looking into such an arrangement right now.

I am not in the IT field, but serve as the one-eyed man for my group because figuring it out interested me. There are probably a zillion kilt-wearing computer geeks on this forum so I'm sure you'll get wider (and better) opinions than mine.