domain name registrar

page type::article thing type::service

About
A domain name registrar is a company which acts as an agent for the registration of domain names. Domain names registered through authorized registrars are reported to the central registry, which can be queried via various tools such as whois. Once registered, only the domain's owner (or other authorized individuals) may make changes to the domain's registration properties, most importantly the DNS servers used to determine the IP address of the domain name or its subdomains.

Ownership of registered domains is protected by a set of rules designed to ensure that the entity who has paid for the name retains control of the domain. Competition among registrars is fierce, and many of them resort to questionable tactics (e.g. domain registration cuckoos) to acquire business.

Reference

 * Wikipedia: Domain name registrar

Acceptable
Registrars known to provide reasonable service at reasonable prices
 * BulkRegister
 * 2007-09-29 update: BR (which was bought out by enom some months ago) has started putting up "domain parking" advertisement pages (virtually indistinguishable from those put up by domain squatters) by default when you register a new domain. I'm probably going to be switching over to xmission. --Woozle 15:14, 29 September 2007 (EDT)
 * Dotster

Not Yet Evaluated

 * namecheap: $8.88/year, with what looks like all the standard features plus dynamic DNS
 * XMission.com (recommended by Tenebram): apparently only available if you have an account (i.e. internet service) with them

Questionable
Registrars known to provide reasonable service at reasonable prices, but with issues
 * GoDaddy
 * PowerPipe

Avoid

 * ilscorp.net
 * LibertyNames
 * VeriSign is apparently also known as a domain registration cuckoo, despite being one of the original players in the field

Related Articles

 * domain squatter