I've always wondered why I never see pairNIC mentioned on the "everybody knows godaddy is garbage but who should I use to register domains?" threads on HN.
I have used them since they opened (2002) and never used anybody else after that, because I have never been dissatisfied. (I don't remember if the box is checked by default, but they definitely offer whois privacy, along with services like custom/dynamic DNS and some other stuff, at no extra charge).
Their site is kinda barebones and old-school, but there are real humans in the rare case you actually need one, and they've never done me wrong.
So for whatever that's worth: another recommendation on HN.