Even I only check it if I want to buy a domain or want to see when it was registered…

Your advice may hold true for a business with an actual office, or even a business located in a home where customers/clients visit. But I am a freelance writer and photographer who works on location only, and there is absolutely no reason why I should put my personal home address out there for random people to see. My clients know it, because it is on my invoice. Otherwise there is absolutely no reason for it to be out there. There are plenty of other ways for legitimate customers-to-be to verify that I am who I say I am.

If anyone wishes to contact me he or she can do so using my blog’s contact form, linkedin, twitter, facebook, SU etc.
So, I dont really buy your argument.

But yes if you have a website which does not have anything to deal with common people and no need to show your details than keeping yourself behind those proxy name is a good idea.

Its totally depends on the nature of business …

Can you imagine some creepy character showing up at your door because he was able to get your personal home address via whois?

I’m a fan of maintaining as much privacy as I can. I just don’t think that using whois privacy is really going to drive away tons of potential business.

Personally, I do like the privacy settings. At the moment my blogging is only part time so I am not interested in all the unnecessary marketing and phone calls. It is bad enough having door knockers and telemarketers to contend with.

When I am ready to become a full time business I will register my contact details on my website so if anyone truly wants to contact me then they can.

This is the first time I have visited your site. I found it through a site though a site so to speak 😆

I have marked you in my Google Reader. I will see you back here soon!

Jacinta 😀
(An Aussie mum trying to create a business online while her 2 year old daughter sleeps!)

I think we could find a good balance if the whois privacy company could offer the information only to the people who are not spammers or advertisers. People who want to inquire whois information from whois privacy company should also provide authentic identifications. This act could significantly foil spamming and advertising, because they have to obtain contact information under serious supervision. And in this way could the company’s credit not be harmed or suspected.

Just my experience.

Honestly, I’d rather have to build credibility for the small percentage of people who knows about / how to use Whois information, then have to deal with junk mail.

Any valid business inquiry will be looking to contact you directly, not use “stealth research” per se. Granted, people want a certain about of transparency, but in a world where online scams and psychos thrive, there is no need to add fuel to the fire.

Credibility can be gained and lost in any number of ways. I don’t think that whether or not your Whois information is publicly available should be the litmus test for deciding if someone is credible. A person with public Whois information can be just as shady as someone who has that information hidden. And a person with hidden Whois information can be just as credible as a person who chooses to expose that data.

There are many ways to determine credibility and I think Whois should only be one of those elements and a very small part at that. Especially since Whois information can be faked. A scammer can easily make themselves look legit by turning the privacy off and entering a fake name, address and phone number.

Just because Icann says that they are not allowed to do that does not mean scammers obey their rules. And the only way Icann catches them is if someone reports them for having fraudulent information. Then I think the penalty is they take your domain name away. Out of the millions of domains on the internet, realistically how often does that happen?

Sorry to jump on my soapbox but privacy is one of my hot buttons issues.

“@Arwen, I believe at the moment you start using the Internet and playing with websites you are already giving away a great deal of your privacy. You would be surprised at the amount of info people can get from you, even if you try to hide it.”

That’s true but at the same time, I like to think it was my choice to give people that information based on my interaction with them and how much I trust them to have it vs. having my information out there for all to see.

Maybe its a case of toe-may-toe vs toe-mah-toe. But thanks for the discussion anyways.

Using statements like “…and I have heard many stories from experts on different segments that back up this theory…” need names, dates, footnotes. I’m curious WHO is saying this, not just that they said it. What were the stories—recount parts so I know they apply here.

Again, I appreciate you sharing this valuable knowledge, but I won’t implement this until I know more about which industry leaders or experts agree, etc.

That being said I agree with you I should have been more balanced in the tone, so I tweaked the title to reflect that.

Thanks for the feedback.

Money is not everything. If and when I get a business address then I might reconsider. Until then, I’ll take the chance at losing some business because people can’t get my personal info from my Whois entry.

Also, I think it is a little irresponsible to tell people to not use Whois without informing them of the inherent risks in removing it. Safety and privacy is a major concern especially in this age of identity theft and stalking. I think this article could be more balanced by giving the pros and cons of each option.

I wish I could make money off my blog someday, but it is not really on my mind right now. For now, my whois privacy service is perfect.

I think it’s funny that people (read…marketers) think the privacy option is bad and so forth. Not to mention, what if someone else registers your sites for you?

I understand that hiding you whois may make you seem like a “scammer” but in many cases it’s simply people trying to keep their information private. If you’re a company, and you’ve got landing pages assigned to a designated domain then you certainly should not be hiding your information. As you said, if you are looking to make money, then hiding your info will reduce credibility.