Choosing not to allow renewals would have been been acceptable but they straight cancelled those domains prematurely before the term of registration had ended. Basically pulling the rug out from underneath people without giving them adequate time to migrate. Allowing domains to be sniped by unscrupulous parties who put malware on them which hurt many thousands of people (mostly foreigners who had nothing to do with Russia). Totally irresponsible and criminally negligent behavior for any registrar. I hope they get sued for for breaking their own contracts and causing widespread destruction via malware.
While I don't really care about the Ukraine crisis (its just being used as a political tool here), Namecheap offices were being blown up by an invading force.
If Russia wants to have free commerce with Ukraine, including domain registration, then it shouldn't have invaded. As soon as war started, all trade requirements cease. In fact, I'm surprised it didn't become illegal immediately to have any commerce with Russia.
United States. Biden and Congress are just using "Ukraine Aid" as money for special interests (read corruption) and funding the military industrial complex as arms dealers.
I know every comments on HN should bring something to the discussion, but there is nothing to add here. 100% agree, US should have been sanctioned for the invasion of Iraq (and much more).
I get it, but this is like kicking Barron Trump (the kid) out of your home because you don’t like his father.
I get that you’re angry, I get that they’re related, but the kid doesn’t really have a say in how the father behaves. Same with Putin and most Russians.
I could be protesting in Moscow and you’re still pulling the domain from me. That’s not ok.
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I don’t have a stake in this, I just don’t want to deal with shit if my prime minister 10k miles away is an asshole.
It wasn't how a registrar should act. But it was a completely understandable way to act, and given their emotional distress at the time, I think they deserve a fuckton of slack when judging how bad this mistake was.
I probably would have done the same thing in their shoes.
As for prime ministers being assholes affecting you, that is just the reality of global politics. I could say 'vote better' but that doesn't help much.
Also I would remind you what other services were cut immediately:
> Additionally, and with immediate effect, you will no longer be able to use Namecheap Hosting, EasyWP, and Private Email with a domain provided by another registrar in zones .ru, .xn--p1ai (рф), .by, .xn--90ais (бел), and .su. All websites will resolve to 403 Forbidden, however, you can contact us to assist you with your transfer to another provider.
Also I would point out to the other comment in that thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30505934 Looks like someone wasn't satisfied with the ban by the country and resolved by greping by the names/last names. Doesn't remind you anything?
You know, "gave plenty of time (1 week)" and "gave plenty of time ONLY AFTER PEOPLE ACTIVELY COMPLAINED (still less than 4 weeks)" are two different things.
>Received the same email. I'm based in Lithuania and I have a Russian first name. No Russian addresses, IPs, billing info etc (because I have never been there!). How do you even select people to target with this? It's past midnight, I'm trying to figure out my options here. How exactly do the Euros I pay you from EU contribute to the Russian aggression?
The minimum length of registration at practically all registrars is 1 year. Its practically unheard of, and against all professional standards for registrars to cancel a persons domains prematurely. Nobody expects it and they knew that and they pulled the rug anyway because apparently they value virtue signaling more than security.
According to other comments here, their offices were being shelled by the Russians.
At that point, taking action against Russians isn't virtue signalling.
>Choosing not to allow renewals would have been been acceptable but they straight cancelled those domains prematurely before the term of registration had ended.
As a Russian who was (and technically still is) one of their custmores: this is not accurate or at least only is true for some domains.
I've had two domains registered and managed via NC and decided to only transfer the former.
