Private registrations

Cons and pros

[zeb]

I've lately registered a couple of domains as "private registrations", which means that my contact information is not displayed in the whois info. This is a service provided by several major registers nowadays. There's nothing special with the sites I'm using these domains for, they are not adult sites, not gambling or anything like that, I just feel a bit uneasy spreading my contact info all over.

Can you think of any disadvantages with this?

[davezan]

Only disadvantage is if someone with a "legitimate concern" wants to get in touch with you. :)

A company who wants to buy your domain name, a long-lost friend trying to get in touch with you, who knows?

[percentages]

I don't see the need for private registrations.

It may suggest to some that you have something to hide! (Even if you don't).

The only downside of a public registration is that you get some additional junk mail and some unwanted phone calls.

In reality I get huge amounts of unwanted junk mail that didn't come from a domain registrations, and the phone calls are quickly dismissed.

[vincevincevince]

How about when an advertiser wants to do a deal with you? If you don't have the info there, how can they get in touch? If you have your info on the site as well - then that defeats the object of a private registration anyway!

[Live_Lead]

In many countries its a legal requirement that you have ownership and/or contact details on your site anyway.

[ritch_b]

I've no problem with private registration services like the one you mention; if somebody wants to get in touch, their first port of call will more often than not be the actual website, rather than looking up the WHOIS data. Of course, not having a website does then become a minor problem!

In terms of e-mail contact, I'd have thought that most private registration services would simply forward any mail received at your private WHOIS e-mail address, meaning that anyone who wanted to send a mail to this address would still be able to get in touch with you; this is how the private registrations I have work and don't see it being too different elsewhere.

R.

[ClassyPete]

The best is to use a po box and a skype phone number.

If you have lots of domains it's cheaper then buying a private reg service for each one.