we appear to be the first to write up the outrage coherently too. much thanks to the illustrious @self
sure. tell that to people who used the .af domains; or learn more about shenanigans with the various oceanian TLDs, or who owns the .io domain, and why.
the fact is that you don’t own the domain name, and it’s always one missed card payment (or registrar changing hands and losing your card data) from being lost, and then your best chance is arbitrage.
it’s one of these things that you have to understand when you start self-hosting anything.