Thread: GoDaddy Messes Up Big Time.

Nah, this post is not about their domain or hosting service greviance. Its about how the action of its CEO left their customers(incl me) angry.

Recently Bob Parsons, GoDaddy CEO, hunted and killed a 'problem' elephant in Zimbabwe because it was destroying the crops. When countered by PETA, his argument was that Elephants exist in Zimbabwe in tremendous numbers and are in no danger of extinction.

He uploaded the hunting video on his blog which seems to have been replaced. ABC News report video:


Businesswise, I see it as a big blunder and the comments on his blog reflect the same. Customers like me are pissed off and will never buy GoDaddy products/services.

Here's the blogpost (view the comments, as the video has been replaced): Hunting Problem Elephant - My 2011 Vacation - Video.ME

Few comments from the blog:

Wow, this is some of the most despicable behavior I've seen in a long time. Hunting an endangered species in order to feed villagers in Africa and protect their crops? Let's be honest: This is trophy hunting done by corrupt individuals in a corrupt country with a corrupt government. There's no altruism here, and the attempt to make it appear as such is a complete sham. Absolutely shameful.

How absolutely horrific and shocking. This has nothing to do with philanthropy. The way you stand and smile next to a dead elephant is completely sadistic. I will promptly move my domain names, as will my husband and family, and never purchase anything from your site again.

helping those villagers eat was to kill a very intelligent and sentient being? You know what they say you can't buy class and you are a perfect example of that. I will be boycotting GoDaddy and encouraging my friends and colleagues to do the same.

Lesson learnt: Don't share stuff with the world that you can share only with your friends. Some people love animals more than coupon codes. Always keep a clean image in public.

Personally, I am quitting GoDaddy for good.

not sure if its foul or fair. what are those crops, are those his?

I found this quote by Bob Parsons in regard to his tour of duty in Vietnam:

Seeing the elephant.
Like all soldiers from all wars, soldiers in the American Civil War had a special term they used to describe being in combat - and being face to face with the enemy: "Seeing the elephant." I first came across the term when reading Shelby Foote's excellent novel about the battle of Shiloh.

It doesn't matter wether or not it was justified to kill this elephant, it just didn't have to be an American with a big gun. The locals can perfectly take care of themselves.

In my opinion, B.P. is an idiot.

Everyone is getting into "Boycott Godaddy".
Search that term and you will find my site at number 3 (last time I checked anyways).

Plus namecheap offered up a good code to transfer domains from gd to namecheap for $4.99 per domain.

@garfish, I doubt that he would own farms in Zimbabwe..but even if it was his, he had no right to shoot an animal which is already being poached for its tusks.

Namecheap found it a great opportunity to get some clients. Its plain stupid and irresponsible on Parsons part to do something like this and then beat his chest. If he can't take a leaf out of Gates' or Buffet's books and be philanthropic, then atleast he should ensure that he doesnt piss off his customers. Nobody would want to be dealing with a 'killer' company.

Tell you, he ignited a firestorm on the net for sure!
Even if he gets 6 naked ladies to pimp his company, he can't get back what he is losing now.
Been reading blogs about people and companies moving their entire portfolio of domains elsewhere (one person said he had over 1200 domains).
Plus going to move their hosting, etc. out of godaddy.

Maybe it will become known as the "Domain Stampede"? Coupon code "Elephant"? <- joke, for an actual promo see: NameCheap Coupon Codes

On the other hand, he's getting a hell lot of free promotion to Godaddy, even if negative...

A PR desaster ...
the elephants are firing back at Godaddy