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Badger.com is a new Domain Registrar. We oppose SOPA and like elephants.

29 points by badger_com ↗ HN
Hey HackerNews, six months ago we started building a brand new registrar because we were underwhelmed by all of the existing options. Here's what makes us different:

- We won't try to upsell you with unnecessary add-ons.

- We want registering and managing domains to be an enjoyable experience... not something you're forced to tolerate.

- We've spent a lot of time making our interface fast, simple and easy to use. We've built our frontend website entirely in JavaScript to make the experience as fast as possible.

- Our website is open source and is built on top of our API. The source code (JavaScript, CSS, etc) for our website can be found at https://github.com/badger/frontend and the documentation for our API can be found at http://badger.github.com/. If you'd like to make improvements, we welcome and encourage GitHub pull requests!

- Whois privacy is free and enabled by default.

- DNS hosting is free and enabled by default.

- For a limited time, we are offering domains for $8 (new registrations, transfers and renewals). Please be aware that our normal price is $15 per domain. If you are registering or transferring lots of domains, volume discounts will apply which can bring the price all the way down to $10 per domain.

- We are an ICANN accredited registrar, not a reseller. We only support .com and .net at the moment but we will be adding support for many more TLDs in the next couple of weeks so please bear with us.

- We're a startup in San Francisco. Although our team is small right now, we have really big ambitions and what we have so far is just the beginning. We thrive on feedback, so don't hold back! You can send questions and suggestions to us at support@badger.com and we will respond as soon as we can.

First 100 people to signup get a free domain:

https://www.badger.com/#register/hackernews

19 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 49.7 ms ] thread
thehodge
Signed up... will review in a few days :)
mike-cardwell
Do you support DNSSEC? If I transferred my .com domain to you, would I be able to use your service to update the com zone with new DS records for my domain? Or should I just stick with GKG.net?
ohgodthecat
Your TOS says rhinonames.com still, everywhere.

The ajax domain search seems pretty nice (still playing around with it before registering a domain).

relix
The interface is really fast (uses ajax/js without loading on contextswitches) and clutter-free. A nice change from other registrars!
mike-cardwell
Just a few observations.

I signed up. A small notification was displayed in the middle of the page, which scrolled off the bottom of the browser viewport. Scrolling down didn't help because the notification window had a fixed position. I had to hide my bookmark toolbar to increase the size of the viewport.

You seem to use these notifications in several places. I expected that hitting the escape button would also close them, as well as clicking the "X" in the top right.

When searching for a domain, it doesn't let me use full stops. I'm sure you did this on purpose, but it doesn't feel natural/right. It's unexpected behaviour.

I'm sure if I transferred in a domain, I'd get access to a DNS management interface that I currently can't see. I'd want to see this before transferring in though. Maybe each account should come an example fake domain. "example.com" ?

I'd also want to be able to configure up my DNS on your servers before I start the transfer... Or at least have it automatically enabled once the transfer has completed.

I visited the email confirmation URL twice, and received two separate "Your email address has been confirmed" emails.

Hitting the "delete" button in the search input field should work. "backspace" works, but "delete" doesn't. If you're not going to let me enter certain characters in that field, like full stops, you should also prevent me from pasting them in.

I've just emailed you through your website about an XSS flaw

mikelbring
Looks nice. I like how fast the UI is. Took the free registration, may register some with you.
rastyyle
Signed up and registered a domain. Nice, quick and simple. Linked it to my hosting acct so didn't use Badger DNS. They do have a nice options page that allows you to install google apps mail,docs and calender so you don't have to enter any of the cname and mx records. Pretty slick so far.
lemma
Just signed up. If the service is as awesome as this looks, this will be my new default registrar. I take it since you're new, there's no API, is there? I've been looking into using name.com's for a new project.
da_n
Signed up and looks awesome! I like the credit system and the fast interface. Will wait until you add some more TLDs before registering any domains however. I hope that you will be adding .co to the available TLDs. Will also be sure to provide feedback once I am using the service. Thanks.
jc4p
One thing I'll need to know before I can transfer domains over is if you offer glue record registration or do I have to manage that using another DNS service.
lazyjeff
I love the site. $8 for domain/renewal/transfer that includes whois privacy is a really good deal. I also like the idea of buying credits in batch.

Since your frontend is open source, I figure I'd ask: are you guys still profitable at $8/credit? Is there a way to be assured that the company will be around for a while so we would feel safe stocking up on credits while they're $8 a pop?

badger_com
Thanks!

Regarding the open source frontend, what's that have to do with profitability? We think that, if anything, having an open source frontend will lower costs because our users can help us build the features they want.

Regarding assurance, I believe the expression goes: "The only two things certain in life are death and taxes" (Benjamin Franklin?). That said, we're a real company with employees located in San Francisco and we're planning on being around for a long time.

And to answer your question, no, we're not profitable at $8/credit, so you should definitely stock up because this special won't last for long.

lazyjeff
Oops, somehow I accidentally cut off one line. I actually was going to ask if you were planning to open source the backend code, since you open sourced the frontend. Maybe that doesn't make sense because then someone else could start a competing registrar without the dev costs.

I guess my main concern is that I get a bunch of credits (instead of tacking on many years of renewals), and then poof they disappear one day. If I had used them to buy extra years, then those would stay even if the registrar goes awol (as I've heard in the horror stories).

Could you theoretically "make it up in volume" for $8/credit? It looks like it costs wholesale $7.34 + $0.18 = $7.52 for one year of .com, I guess you would need at least a million domains (1% of the .com market share) to about break even with salaries, rent, and fixed registrar fees.

Thanks for the quick answers.

ohashi
How are you planning to handle VeriSign increases?
jgeorge
IWBNI instead of just showing a domain as unavailable when searching it would show a link to the current whois information. Not a big deal but a nice touch (I think).
crc5002
I have no doubt that Badger likes elephants and opposes SOPA, but their SSL certificate appears to be issued by GoDaddy.