[thomasgerbe]

Because it's cheap, popular, and most people don't interact with their domain registrar aside from registration and renewal.

Why do people buy clothes made in sweat shops or from chains that are terrible to it's employees? A lot of it just comes down to cost.

And even if you know how terrible something is (morally or ethically), some people aren't willing to change.

[awt]

I don't think markbao was referring to their morality in his post, simply their terrible, terrible usability. I think also cost is not the reason, especially for the low numbers we're talking about. I would say people use GoDaddy because of GoDaddy's successful online and on air advertising campaigns.

[thomasgerbe]

"I think also cost is not the reason, especially for the low numbers we're talking about."

While I agree that their campaigns have been effective, I tend to disagree that cost isn't an issue. Heck, even I was informed of other registrars a few years back when I was first starting to host my own sites but GoDaddy was cheaper than my webhost for domain registration. Plus easy to find coupon codes also give additional value. Why bother paying an extra 5-10 dollars when, for most people, there isn't much difference after the initial registration? (I ask that rhetorically)