[lug] Need Advice on Domain Registration Services

[Bear Giles]

Hugh Brown wrote:
> 
>>I contacted GoDaddy's customer service and asked if they could
>>correct the records.  We're on the fricking record as providing
>>both of this DNS servers, send us mail at hostmaster so we can
>>verify that we're the ones who should be listed as technical
>>contact.  This should not be a problem, esp. in those cases where
>>the same person is listed as all contacts.[*]
>>
>>They can't do that.
>
> This is the behaviour I would want from a registrar if I were the domain
> holder.  I wouldn't want them to make any changes unless one of the
> contacts requested it.  I know its obnoxious, but the domain owner is the
> one that needs to be responsible for making sure the dns servers are
> accurate.

That works fine if you're in a perfect world.

In this one, who knows WTF is going on.  Maybe the domain owner is
on an extended trip in Europe.  Maybe he contracted West Nile and
has been in a hospital for a month.  Maybe his home was destroyed
in a fire and he's been too overwhelmed with that to check his
email or non-critical postal mail.

We don't know why he isn't responding, but we know that there are
hundreds - thousands - of legitimate reasons why he may not be
responding.  That's why you want humans in the loop, so they can
make intelligent decisions when the regular mechanisms break down.

Personally I would much rather have my registar do the "wrong
thing" in an exceptional situation than for them to be legalistic
pricks that let my domains crash and burn because "rules are
rules."  (Note: not "laws" or "regulations" or even "contractual
obligations."  Just some rules somebody made up so the help desk
monkeys have answers when people ask questions.)

> I wouldn't want them to make any changes unless one of the
> contacts requested it.

That's the point, actually.  Hostmaster at dns.server is an implicit
contact, but it may not have been listed in the whois data since
it's a given.  Or it was when the whois data was first laid out.