If GoDaddy.com’s CEO Shoots Elephants, Would You Switch Providers?

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You founded a leading Internet domain registrar, you ran some racy Super Bowl spots, and on vacation in Zimbabwe, you shoot bull elephants. Why? Because they cause crop damage, and you wanted to take out the “problem” animals.

That’s what GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parsons had to say after animal-rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) put him in the hot-seat for filming himself shooting a bull elephant, posing with the corpse, slapping GoDaddy.com caps on the villagers, then posting the whole thing online.

(See TIME.com’s Shooting an Elephant—Why GoDaddy’s CEO Was Wrong)

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The video sparked an Internet furor Thursday, from an online petition condemning Parsons’ actions (just over 3,000 signatures as of this post) to a promotional “switch now!” offer from GoDaddy competitor Namecheap.

“We’ve decided to throw our support behind our Elephant friends by offering domain transfers at a price where we actually lose money,” writes Namecheap in a post that invites users to switch registrars. “Show your protest by saying BYEBYEGD again and transfer your domains to Namecheap for $4.99 for the next 24 hours” (Namecheap just extended the coupon through April 1).

Scan Twitter and you’ll find the search phrase “GoDaddy CEO” tearing up the charts. And it’s not just viral voyeurism–reading from the fire-hose suggests folks are fighting mad.

What say you, Techland readers? Did Parsons’ just sink GoDaddy’s ship? Would you switch domain registrars in protest? Is Namecheap’s attempt to pick up GoDaddy.com malcontents shameless or legit?