[lgjhn23]

“..GoDaddy today very woke. And like many big registrars, can be quite sleazy...”

I wouldn’t use GoDaddy if my life depended on it for even the time of day.
I used em for almost 8 years with nary an issue. When renewals came up, we paid and continued on without issue.
When my renewal came up this last time for my domain, they sold it out from underneath me!!! Lost my email accounts that I had all that time. When I complained, I got some guy from India that fed me a line of BS.
Went to Hover for new domain, but decided it was time to use Proton for email, and it’s taken some time and effort to get everything switched over and back in order.
Nope....GoDaddy can go pound sand where the sun don’t shine as far as I’m concerned.

[Angelino97]

I moved some of my domains over to Network Solutions. So my domain names are registered with NS, but hosted by GoDaddy.

You don't need to register and host with the same company. It can be beneficial to split your business. A greater hassle, but keeping your eggs in separate baskets makes it harder to screw with you.

[Angelino97]

If they sold your domain while it was still yours (before expiration), you can probably win a lawsuit if you're willing to pay for a lawyer.

I think GoDaddy and Network Solutions now sell "domain expiration protection," meaning that they hold it for you even after your domain expires (at least for a while), so you don't lose it.

Hey, that's a nice domain you got there. Be a shame if you lost it. Sure you don't want to buy some "protection."