I'd put up with this crap for a free service, but when you're a commodity then you better add some non-negative value to your service.
Jesus, how did GD get so big anyway? Are horny geeks this gullible?
For example, there was an email was used to send out with new accounts that had tons of ads and coupons. No one clicked on it. We're working on a new simple one with one button and small 20% off coupon at the bottom. Conversions went from 0% to 28%.
My roommate, who after 10 years of using a Mac still doesn't know what a right-click is, has registered all of her domains through Godaddy (and guess who has to help maintain them...)
This has annoyed the hell out of me too for a long time. I have no problem if, say, Victoria's Secret tries to sell me their product with a sex-sells strategy, but internet domains? You gotta be frakkin kiddin me.
I use multiple registrars -- Dreamhost for most things, Namecheap for anything DH doesn't support and Ghandi for the remaining ones (mainly .es).
Of course, that setup-cost would go down if I used GD all the time. However, my brief experience with them is that they nickel and dime you for a lot of things...is this still the case? For example, private-registration (obscuring your WHOIS by having it be under something like "Dreamhost Services") cost $9.99 a year...DH offers domains for $9.99 and private-registration is the default.
Also, I hate feeling like I'm logging onto an adult site when I'm just trying to configure DNS. I know sex sells but GD is just shameless.