15+ Fresh Spam Emails, 9 Robocalls, 6 Spam texts within 24 hours of registering a domain

Guy who registers domain name gets an unpleasant surprise.

A GoDaddy client posted this complaint on GoDaddy’s community forums yesterday. I’m posting it in its entirety with my annotations.

GoDaddy FAIL!!!!!! – Bought A Domain And In 24hrs – 15+ Fresh Spam Emails – 9 Robocalls – 6 Spam SMS’s

This is not the first domain name I’ve purchased, I’ve owned dozens over the years… but this is the FIRST time this has happened with such frequency and inconvenience.

It is getting worse. Out of control. I blame a number of firms that have popped up offering very cheap access to Whois data for newly registered domains and marketing it as a way to get fresh leads.

I don’t care if WHOIS is publicly available, GoDaddy MUST provide a free service to counter the increase in robocalls, spam mail, and spam SMS. I’ve received dozens in less than 24hrs of purchasing a domain name through GoDaddy.

I’ve read the threads and GoDaddy passes the blame on 3rd parties and claims to have no control over this. I say that’s a load of rubbish. GoDaddy ought to provide, as a FREE service, the ability to use an alias email and phone number for registrars.

While some registrars offer this for free, I bet DomainsByProxy is a big revenue generator. It’s also worth pointing out that running a proxy or privacy service isn’t free. There are some pretty big headaches that come along with operating these services. If GoDaddy or any other registrar offers proxy for free, they will likely increase the prices they charge to register a domain.

GoDaddy is, still, getting ready to mask email and phone numbers from port 43 whois lookups starting January 25. Will this reduce the amount of spam? I hope so.

There is also no clear directions on how to go regarding removing one’s information from robocallers once your WHOIS information goes public.

Sorry. Once it’s in, you’re screwed. These firms doesn’t respect any Do Not Call lists, either.

I am seriously mad at GoDaddy for wasting my time having to deal with all this and having to write this post. And WHY must a phone number and email address be required in the first place. If it’s a law then that has to change since robocallers and these spamming **bleep**tards are getting more sophisticated and ambitious.

ICANN. But, historically it was never an issue. There are good reasons to have this info public as long as people aren’t abusing it.