Move Your Domain Day
Move Your Domain Day, or MoveYourDomainDay, was an annual observance encouraging owners of domain names to transfer their domain registration away from registrars that List of organizations with official stances on [SOPA and PIPA|supported the Stop Online Piracy Act], as part of the protests against SOPA. It was first held on 29 December 2011, the idea coming from a post on Reddit as a protest against prominent registrar GoDaddy's support for SOPA. In 2012, rival registrar Namecheap began an initiative to make Move Your Domain Day an annual event. Subsequent events were held on 22 January 2013, 5 February 2014, 27 January 2015, 2 February 2016, and 6 March 2018. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, Reddit, and domain registrars Name.com and Hover have also participated. Namecheap has defined the initiative as "an annual protest and a commemoration of sorts that will continue to shine a light on the issue of a free and open internet". No major Move Your Domain Day events have taken place since 2018.
Events
2011 event
The movement likely originated from a post made on Reddit on 22 December 2011, when a user stated that he would be moving 51 domains away from GoDaddy, and recommended others to do the same. The thread received significant attention from the Reddit community, gaining over 37,000 upvotes from users in favor of the initiative and many comments criticizing GoDaddy's support of the measure.Notable examples of the backlash against GoDaddy include Ben Huh, CEO of the Cheezburger Network, who threatened to transfer over one thousand domains away from GoDaddy, and Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit company behind many websites including Wikipedia, which decided to move all its domains away from GoDaddy. In response to the backlash, numerous domain registrars offered coupons for discounted domain transfers, while also offering to donate a portion of profits to the Electronic Frontier Foundation. GoDaddy itself changed its stance on SOPA in the days prior to 29 December in an attempt to minimize damage.
Reports up to 29 December described GoDaddy as "hemorrhaging" customers. On 25 December 2011, GoDaddy lost a net 16,191 domains, mostly as a result of the boycott. However, on 29 December itself, GoDaddy gained a net of 20,748 domains, twice as many as it lost that day, attributed by Techdirt to a number of causes, in particular customers having moved early, and an appeased customer response to their change of position over SOPA.