What's a good domain registrar you've used that doesn't get the recognition it deserves?

I was downloading a backup of one of my cPanel accounts to my PC, then surprise: Microsoft Defender detected malware!

It wasn't from my website files. Apparently, it was hiding in one of the email attachments.

A full cPanel backup also includes email messages and attachments. cPanel email doesn't normally have the best virus/malware protection, but luckily, Defender caught it.

Just something to keep in mind when you download a cPanel backup to your PC; run a security scan before you do anything with it.

Pressable, WP Engine, and Kinsta are like the Big Three in the premium managed WordPress hosting space. Hostinger tries to tag along, but it fits better in the "cheap" tier.

Let's start with some facts...

Who owns it?

• Pressable is a private provider owned by Automattic (U.S.), which also owns WordPress.com and WooCommerce.
• WP Engine is owned by private equity firm Silver Lake (U.S.)
• Kinsta is privately owned and globally run; they started out from Hungary.
• Hostinger is a privately owned Lithuanian company with a minority stake (31%) owned by private equity firm ConHostinger (Germany).

Server infrastructure

• Pressable uses Automattic's own WP Cloud infrastructure.
• Kinsta was previously on Google Cloud but they migrated to Oracle Cloud.
• WP Engine uses Google Cloud for shared plans and AWS/Azure for premium and enterprise plans.
• Hostinger runs its own server infrastructure.

Other notes and my two cents

• Pressable has auto-scaling (burstable PHP workers), while WP Engine, Kinsta and Hostinger have fixed PHP workers/processes. Hostinger offers the most PHP workers (40+), but they are pooled so performance varies and not as stable as the other hosts.
• Pressable and Kinsta have the best support service. WP Engine's support is good but upselling is aggressive. Hostinger has mediocre support (AI assistant or basic human support).
• Kinsta and Hostinger have strict firewall rules that may in some cases block legitimate traffic (e.g. VPN users, certain bots, external third-party plugin connections).

What more to add?

If you are using the Forminator Forms WordPress plugin, update immediately to the latest version to patch a critical vulnerability that hackers can exploit for remote code execution.

>This vulnerability makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files, including executable PHP files, to a vulnerable site, which can lead to remote code execution and complete site compromise. The vulnerability is only exploitable on sites that have a form containing both a File Upload field and a Select field.

Full details here.

Did you notice the banana on Google's homepage recently? This one:

Processing img 8yjbae2mhyjh1...

That's for Google Gemini's AI image generator/editor called Nano Banana.

Google is very protective of their banana and they've been going after domain squatters who try to take advantage of it.

They've filed and won many UDRP complaints against violating domains, and they keep coming.

Here are some examples of recent cases they've won:

• banana-ai.org (UDRP case)
• bananaai.studio (UDRP case)
• nanobanana-studio.ai (UDRP case)
• nano-banana.com (UDRP case)
• nanobananaai.ai (UDRP case)
• nanobananas.ai (UDRP case)
• nanobananafree.ai (UDRP case)
• nanobanana.co (UDRP case)
• nanobanana2.co (UDRP case)
• nanobananaimg.com (UDRP case)
• banana-ai.net (UDRP case)

Maybe some people just like to see Google lose some money! It costs them $1,330 per UDRP complaint -- that's peanuts to Google.

>Automattic has hit back at WP Engine’s allegations that CEO Matt Mullenweg destroyed messages related to their legal dispute, claiming WP Engine is conflating a delay in copying his phone with whether the data was preserved at all.

>WP Engine asked the court last month to sanction Automattic and Mullenweg for what it alleges is spoliation — a legal term for the destruction or failure to preserve evidence relevant to a case — claiming they misrepresented their efforts to preserve Mullenweg’s WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram messages.

Spaceship isn't spared from the major outage NameCheap is experiencing at the moment. Both companies' services are affected, which isn't surprising since they share the same infrastructure.

Spaceship's shared hosting, VPS hosting, managed WordPress hosting (EasyWP), Spacemail, and other services are all down currently.

The cause is a power outage at their Phoenix datacenter.

You can follow Spaceship's status updates on X (link).

>A post on X posted by Sybre Waaijer (publisher of The SEO Framework plugin) recently stirred up a debate about the WPForms Lite WordPress plugin, alleging that it installs a backdoor on user’s websites. Some WordPress users agree that something unusual may be going on while others remain unconvinced.

A while ago, Hostinger reduced the number of free email accounts included in their managed WordPress hosting plans from hundreds to only a few mailboxes per website. Many users were upset by that...

They're trying something new now: They added a new "unlimited" plan that allows you to host unlimited WordPress websites and create unlimited mailboxes per website.

The catch is that the mailboxes are only free for the first year, and after that it's an extra $0.59/month/mailbox billed annually.

That adds up quickly if you have multiple websites with multiple email accounts for each.

Let's say you have 10 websites and each has 10 mailboxes; that's an additional $708 per year just for email. That's called upselling, and it's a lucrative business for big hosts!

We've got another UDRP karma story:

A UK small business owner who uses the domain LoyalSoldiers.co.uk wanted the matching .com domain (LoyalSoldiers.com), so he contacted the owner of the domain and offered to buy it for £100 ($135).

He then received a $999 counter-offer, but he declined it and opted for a UDRP complaint demanding that the .com domain be transferred to him. He paid a $1,500 fee to file the UDRP complaint with WIPO (full case details here).

Well, guess what? It didn't go his way. The claim was denied and ruled a reverse domain name hijacking attempt.

Could've just paid $1k and got the domain the easy way.

Now that the domain owner knows this guy can pay more, it might get more expensive if he tries to buy it again!

>Successful exploitation leads to full site compromise, enabling attackers to silently create rogue administrative accounts, upload webshells, and deploy persistence backdoors. Because plugin files remain unmodified on disk, we encourage all WordPress site owners running BdThemes plugins to immediately audit their database user lists, plugin directories, and database option table for any indicators of compromise.

Many shared web hosts disable the PHP mail() function to prevent abuse. That's what most WordPress contact forms use to send email by default.

If your contact form isn't sending email, the most likely cause is a disabled PHP mail() function.

I've run into that issue with some hosts.

The solution is simple: route email through an SMTP server instead. You may want to use a free third-party SMTP service or your host's if they provide one.

Depending on which contact form plugin you're using, you may need another plugin for SMTP integration.

One.com is one (pun intended) of the largest web hosts in Europe. They claim to have more than 1.5 million customers worldwide.

I was gonna try their $6 VPS (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 100 GB NVMe). Sounds good, still looking at other options...

I'm more interested in hearing others' experiences with their managed WordPress hosting? Is it good? How is the support service? The control panel?

A couple of months ago, a crypto startup bought the domain name Haste.com for "$2 million", according to their announcement on X.

It was a 24-month LTO (Lease To Own) transaction.

The seller of the domain (James Booth) just revealed that the sale has been canceled after two installments were paid, and that the actual price was $1.5 million, not $2 million as the startup (buyer) publicly announced.

James gets to keep the domain and the two payments already made (should be about $125,000).

The domain is back for sale on Atom at $1,495,000 BIN.

One by one, big web hosting providers are switching from human chat support to AI chatbots. Some of them still allow you to access human support with a quick click (or prompt), while others make it extremely painful to get past the AI chatbot.

That may work for some newbies who mostly ask newbie questions that an AI chatbot can handle, but for me, when I need to contact support, it's usually an issue that needs human intervention.

Small web hosts are slower to adopt AI and many still have human-only support, but you have to look harder to find those. Search for them on forums and Reddit -- that's where I found several good ones.