I just wanted to let you know that there might be some troubles with my domain name in the next few days. I am trying to transfer from register.com to godaddy.com and renew my domain registration for another 9 years in the process. I am doing this because godaddy.com seems to support more features for online management but most importantly they are helping me register ‘parastatidis.name’ instead of ‘savas.parastatidis.name’.

I’ve talked to many registars and most of them did not understand what I wanted to do. I am even talking with the .name registry authority who confirmed that I could acquire the second-level domain name provided I first released the third-level one. I am now trying to figure out whether I can avoid the 5 days of ‘no service’ that such a move may require.

I wouldn’t have to go through such pain if the .name registry authority allowed second-level domain registration from the beginning (I’ve been a customer from the very early days).

Why am I doing all this? After a recent problem with Google mail that left me without email for more than 12 hours, I decided that I wanted to try something different so I am going to move all my email-related services to Windows Live Mail, through Windows Live Custom Domains (I also wanted to check that service out). This may also allow me to give an email to my brother without him requiring to register another third-level domain (although I don’t think he cares a lot 🙂