Thread: Private or Public domain?

Im building my first site and after settling with GoDaddy to buy my domain and hosting I am almost ready to get stuck into it.

In GoDaddys checkout there is an option for to make the domain private or public. Its basically saying that all my personal details will be on whois for anyone to see. Im just wondering if this is something I should be worried about or is it perfectly normal?

Im in the UK and I spent ages looking for a host and this is the first and only one ive tried to buy anything from so maybe all hosts ask you this.

Hi Torvalds,

It is completely up to you whether you want that option or not. Personally I don't worry about it too much, but a lot of scammers etc obviously don't want their details on display.

What type of site are you setting up? It could affect your choice

Originally Posted by Torvalds

Im building my first site and after settling with GoDaddy to buy my domain and hosting I am almost ready to get stuck into it.

In GoDaddys checkout there is an option for to make the domain private or public. Its basically saying that all my personal details will be on whois for anyone to see. Im just wondering if this is something I should be worried about or is it perfectly normal?

Im in the UK and I spent ages looking for a host and this is the first and only one ive tried to buy anything from so maybe all hosts ask you this.

Most reputable companies aren't to worried about their Whois information being displayed, as it helps provide reassurance to potential customers that they are a real company & in it for the long haul. Sure, there are still big corporations that hide their whois, mainly because they don't want anyone knowing who the umbrella corporation is that owns the smaller company. This allows them to compete with them self in the consumers market, without the consumer knowing the same entity owns both companies.

For the most part though, making whois private is a tactic used to manipulate the consumer & or remove some chances of a consumer filing charges against a scam practice.

All & All, either is fine... If you have stalkers & worry they may come to your house, Hide it, if not, keep it public ...

Hi and thanks for the replies. Its just a personal site that im doing for fun. I was just going to do a Blog but that idea morphed into a full site. Im not sure which to do now Im not sure i'd like my personal details there for anyone to see. Of course people would need to know it was my site in order to get my info, if you know what I mean

For my important domains, I always hide the info, I really dont want everyone to know where I live. But others I just leave as is.

Originally Posted by Torvalds

Hi and thanks for the replies. Its just a personal site that im doing for fun. I was just going to do a Blog but that idea morphed into a full site. Im not sure which to do now Im not sure i'd like my personal details there for anyone to see. Of course people would need to know it was my site in order to get my info, if you know what I mean

Well..if you have enough content on your site..search engines will find it and then the people will find it!

Originally Posted by Rhiannon

For my important domains, I always hide the info, I really dont want everyone to know where I live. But others I just leave as is.

Yes since I have a few domain in the "biggiest searched Niche" on the internet (XXX)...kinda prefer to keep that info private!

In the past, i had snail mail from companies trying to tell me a domain i owned was about to expire and they were asking for money. Total rubbish of course but the point is they got my address from the domain registrant details.

This is an optional Feature! which only allows you to hide or show the Registrant Details of the specific domain it adds an extra benefit to your domain

It's perfectly normal but sometimes people choose to hide this info, all domain name providers have an additional service (not free, sometimes comes free with the domain name purchase) to hide your info, called whoisguard or some other privacy protection, it lasts for about a year or in some cases however long you bought the domain name for

I get free private domain hosting from my host. It is just easier to not have people snooping around my information and finding out where I live.

Glad I am kept safe from that.

It all depends if you want to establish a trusty e-business.

Personaly, I don't see how I would deal with someone I dont know specially on the web.

For emails, I use a special account only for the registry informations.

I have over 10 domains with different hosts however I have come to realize that if you are not so internet savvy there are several 'scammers' out there who would use that information to try and trick you into paying for one thing or other. I had a client who was being tricked into registering many domains similar to his domain name in that way.

The way I look at it: If someone out there, all of a sudden wants to purchase one of my domains for ten times it's value, I am going to make damned sure they can get a hold of me!

Companies keep it public, regular punters keep it private