When the internet gets upset about something, it doesn’t sulk alone in IRC, a single felt-pen tear static on its cheek. No, it goes all-out. At the moment, it has GoDaddy in its sights, and with Jimmy Wales’s decision to find a new, non-GoDaddy home for Wikipedia, the internet has just fired one of its bigger weapons at the under-siege registrar.
Unhappy with GoDaddy’s position on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act currently being deliberated by the US government, Wales announced the shift in the following tweet:
I am proud to announce that the Wikipedia domain names will move away from GoDaddy. Their position on #sopa is unacceptable to us.
If this wasn’t bad for GoDaddy, Wales posted another tweet the next day with this bombshell:
Wikia is also moving several hundred domains from godaddy. Which registrar has quality and price right?
The I Can Has Cheezburger? network, everyone’s favourite repository for Fails and Lolcats, has also declared its intentions to drop GoDaddy, with CEO Ben Huh tweeting the news on Christmas Day.
VentureBeat believes 37,000 sites have so far abandoned the company. With Wikipedia and many other Wikia sites leaving, it’s only going to get worse.
Image: Wikipedia.
The Joker
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 2:49 PMLet’s hope those fools in the US Government start getting the hint. If the power of the net can effect a company like GoDaddy, it can also effect their chances of re-election. Who says the 1% have all the power.
Christian
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 6:52 PMClearly the 99% are deluded in thinking there is an evil 1% with all the power…
Brett
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 9:41 PM+1
Victor
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 2:50 PMNamecheap FTW! :)
Luke
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 2:57 PMOoh… thats a kick in the balls.
Lord Crumplebottom
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 3:12 PMThinking of migrating my own 14 domains and 4 hosting packages away from them too. Be a pain in the butt but not as much as SOPA is for legitimate users.
Nate
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 5:19 PMIts good to see people voting with to their feet. Its time big business learn they are nothing without their customers.
Anthony
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 6:41 PMNamecheap are offering $7 transfers away from godaddy on dec 29th. Step up as they do not support this censorship.
Daniel
Tuesday, December 27, 2011 at 9:30 PMI understand how the dumbass government havnt changed there minds. But one of the biggest INTERNET companies are loosing business and getting a bad rep are still saying, hey we haven’t got a clue nor care to do anything about it!
Paul
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 12:20 AMOH GOD, MY WEBSITE IS WITH THEM.. HOW DO I CHANGE :G Wait, I think it’s easier then I think… :G Then I think.
Eric Gillette
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 3:57 AMNuff said.. ..I’ll be moving my domains 12/29 as well. I’ve heard horror stories of GoDaddy shutting down domains like that, but never really gave it any precedent, as it never happened to me. Needless to say, now it won’t happen to me at all, as I move to NameCheap.
Gassaroth
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 11:12 AMGoDaddy no longer supports SOPA
http://www.godaddy.com/newscenter/release-view.aspx?news_item_id=378&isc=smtwsup
Osiris Fox
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 12:10 PMToo late. The damage is done already. Thing is, now they’re not only pathetic but spineless too.
Dang
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 12:25 PMAlso, they not against SOPA. They’re just no longer actively supporting it since they’ve copped too much heat. Kind of like how Gerry “Please let me keep ripping you off” Harvey got slagged when he tried to push GST on products ordered overseas, then backed down.
Dang
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 12:23 PMThere’s something about Jimmy Wales’s expression in all of his photos that looks just a little bit… off.
Aj
Friday, December 30, 2011 at 11:42 AMlike when a hamster sees a wheel?
Tera
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 2:34 PMBe aware that you may be with a GoDaddy reseller and maybe not realize it. Eg. Domaincheapsters.com is a GoDaddy reseller – where I have ~20 domains and will move them on Dec29.
GoDaddy’s change of heart comes too late for me too.
parker
Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 5:52 PMThey’ve done a backflip but it’s obviously just to try and save their bacon.