Quick links: Register Manage Renew Requirement!

Useful links:

Overview.

monkey.org now provides for its users domain registration services for the .com, .net and .org top level domains. monkey.org can also transfer domains from other registrars to our system.

What does this mean for you? Cheap domain registration fees and freedom from Network Solution's inconveniences.

How is this possible? tucows.com is providing a new service called the Open Shared Registration System (OpenSRS). From www.opensrs.net:

OpenSRS a completely open system that has been designed to allow domain name resellers that are not ICANN or NSI affiliated to register domain names at wholesale rates.

By leveraging Open Source principles, firms that have sufficient application development skills can interface with our documented API's, which in turn talk directly to Network Solutions proprietary structures.

OpenSRS is founded on the principle that access to the community domain name registry should be open to as many people as possible. It is a public resource and should be managed in the same manner that a park is - open and accessible to all. It is the mandate of OpenSRS to uphold this principle.

monkey.org will be charging $15/year for domain registrations with no minimum of years to buy. monkey.org itself pays $10/year for the domains, meaning $5/year/domain goes back to monkey.org and it's support. It's not much, but every dollar helps.

For this $15/year you get a domain name, DNS service, the ability to edit your domain's contents and the ability to manage your password protected domain from a easy to use web based interface.

You can also transfer domains away from any other registrar, including Network Solutions, for $15. Any remaining years you have with the originating registrar are credited to you domain, plus an additional year - nothing to lose!

To register or transfer a domain name requires several steps...

Registering or transferring a domain.

Follow the instructions on our web-based registration forms at http://register.monkey.org/cgi-bin/reg_system.cgi.

Once you have completed the forms, a email will be sent to you confirming that it has been received. Your domain won't actually become active until the rest of the process is completed.

When transfering a domain an email containing a unique URL is sent to the current administrative contact of the domain. This unique URL must be visited to approve the transfer. If you do not have access to the email account listed as the current administrative contact, you will have to update it before attempting a transfer.

Filling out paperwork.

First, please review the ICANN Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP). This document describes the policies regarding any disputes that may arise over your ownership of the domain name.

Next comes the most annoying part of this process - you must read, complete and sign some paperwork and mail it to us. You are entering into a legally binding contract with monkey.org and tucows.com and it has to be documented. Collecting legally binding contracts via web forms is difficult. monkey.org is avoiding those headaches completely with old-fashioned paper. You need only mail the pages with information you've provided or pages you've signed - saves postage.

For .com, .net or .org: Registration Agreement

For .biz: Exhibit A and Exhibit B

For .info: Exhibit A

For .tv: Exhibit A

For .us: Exhibit A

Now comes the worst part.

Paying.

At this point you owe monkey.org $15 multiplied by the number of years you'd like the domain to be active. There is no minimum, and you will receive notices when your domain is about to expire. Extending your ownership of a domain is as simple as sending us more money.

You can mail a check along with your registration agreement. Checks should be made out to 'monkey.org' and mailed to:

monkey.org
po box 8358
ann arbor, mi 48107-8358

You can also use paypal. Paypal is (from their website):

PayPal allows you to securely send money to any email user in the U.S. After signing up, you simply enter the recipient's email address and a dollar amount. The money is charged to your credit card, and sent to the recipient. The transaction takes seconds to complete.

Paypal is reputable, free and will actually credit you $5 for signing up. Paypals payments can be sent to 'hostmaster@monkey.org'

Once we receive your payment, we will approve your domain registration and your domain will become active.

Once your domain is registered and approved you can change all of the information related to your domain via the web forms at http://register.monkey.org/cgi-bin/manage.cgi.

FAQs

1. Do i have to be a monkey.org user?

Yes. This is only for monkey.org users.

IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, PLEASE GO AWAY.

2. Why are all of the contact information fields required?

Registering a domain name is a lot like buying property - to be legally binding there must be a owner who can be contacted. it is unfortunate that unlike property titles, domain registration information is easy to access, search, and abuse.

It does suck that "Organization Name" is required. Just make something up.

3. I don't want to use monkey.org for nameservice.

No problem. After the domain registration is completed just go to the domain management page and change the authoratative name servers.

4. whois doesn't show my information

the root whois server no longer contains domain holder information. Instead, it returns the name of the whois server that does. the whois client on monkey.org will recurse to the proper server and display the information you were looking for you.

5. Who is the technical contact?

By default the technical contact is the monkey.org hostmaster. After the domain is registered, you can modify the technical contact, but if you are using monkey.org's name servers we ask that you leave hostmaster@monkey.org the technical contact.

6. What happens if monkey.org goes away? What happens to my domain?

If monkey.org were to be no more, your contract wioth tucows.com is still valid. You will be able to manage your domain through their web interface at https://rr-n1-tor.opensrs.net/~vpop/manage/, but when your domain registration requires payment, you will have to transfer your domain to another opensrs reseller ot another registrar altogether.

But you shouldn't have to worry about this. monkey.org will be around forever

7. How does contact information get set in a domain transfer?

When you make a request to transfer a domain from another ICANN registrar to OpenSRS, the template is similar to a registration.

You set the Administrative and Billing contacts in the transfer template: either type them in or recall them from a previous order (by domain/username/password or order number).

The Technical contact and nameserver entries will be the same as the present whois information for the domain.

8. Can transferring a domain to OpenSRS cause any downtime?

No.

Changing the registrar entry for your domain on the root servers is immediate, and is not much different than, say, changing contact information or nameserver entries (except that it can only be done by a registrar under certain circumstances). Nameserver entries are the only thing really critical to your domain pointing where it should. When you transfer a domain to us, the nameserver entries remain what they were with the old registrar.

9. What factors could prevent or delay a domain transfer?

Do you own the domain, or have you made arrangements with the owner to approve the transfer? Is the Admin contact e-mail address valid for the domain you wish to transfer? Has the domain been registered by the other registrar for longer than 60 days (there is a mandatory waiting period for potential domain disputes)? Is the account the original registrar "in good standing (i.e. paid in full)?