[lusterpants]

I was wondering if it's best to register your domain privately and pay the extra amount so you can't be looked up. Any insight into this would be appreciated.

[tekmoney]

It depends on your situation. if you are an actual business then it doesn't matter if people look you up. it can add credibility to a legit business. but other times you may run a site and you dont want your personal info given out, so the extra 3 bucks may be worth it

[sicnarftea]

I usually make the information private where possible, there are too many crazy people out there, and esp if you're a female, its best to make your information private

[utkarsh.s]

I think its worth only when you want to keep your identity a secret ot lets say away from the common crowd.

[mattonline]

http://www.ipower.com were offering a great domain registration, summit like 1.99 for a .com free whois privacy for the first year, then its something like 6.99 there after (of you can switch to another registry.

Im not sure if there doing the offer still, buh check it out anyways

[adamg]

namecheap.com have a free whois protextion offer. Use the coupon more4less to get an extra dollar off.

[MsNadi]

I'm with TekMoney...it depends on your situation. Usually the address information listed on a WHOIS registration is the biling information for a credit card. If your credit card billing information is a business address and phone number, why not leave it public? It's an indirect association with your physical locatoin and presence.

But if it's on your personal credit card (because you haven't got the business stuff set up yet) I'd go with a private registration. It's only a matter of time before people start using WHOIS database extracts for spamming and whatnot.

So - if its a business billing info - public, your personal billing info - private.

[SlideRiceFC]

iPower is now selling domains at $6.50 with free privacy option. I am a member there and they do have a referral program so if anyone does register there hook a brother up and PM me your info. ^_^

http://ipower.com/webhosting_proplan.html

Their Pro Plan is $95.40 annually ($7.95/mo) and it includes a free domain name w/ privacy. Their prices aren't too shabby. There is cheaper hosting out there but their domain name registration is definitely one of the cheapest.

-Chris

[SlideRiceFC]

Oh, and so far the only downside I've seen from not hiding info is junk mail like credit card offers and site design offer in my snail mail box. I also get a lot of junk mail to the main email addresses I use and these aren't used publicly anywhere nor do I sign up for opt-in lists so my best guess is a lot of that is from info culled from whois queries.

[domainguru]

Originally Posted by SlideRiceFC

Oh, and so far the only downside I've seen from not hiding info is junk mail like credit card offers and site design offer in my snail mail box. I also get a lot of junk mail to the main email addresses I use and these aren't used publicly anywhere nor do I sign up for opt-in lists so my best guess is a lot of that is from info culled from whois queries.

You're right ... a lot of people use the whois queries to grab your personal information.

One of the big exploiters of this is Domain Registry of America (droa.com). They send a snail mail letter to you months before your registration is due, asking to renew. Most people believe that this letter is from their own registrar and send about $30 dollars to "renew" their domain with DROA.

Anyways ... if your looking for very inexpensive domain registration, check out TheDomainReview.com

Good Luck!