Pointing to webhost or changing nameservers?

Pointing your domain to your webhost or changing your domain nameservers should be the same thing I guess, but somehow they are not..

I have 2 domains, let's say:
kids.com
adults.com

Both domains are registered with same domain registrar, hostmysite.com.
I have hosting with another company webhostingpad.com which have next infos:
-my server ip address (example) : 69.65.23.11
-namservers: ns1.webhostingpad.com , ns2.webhostingpad.com

Kids.com has the nameservers set to ns1.webhostingpad.com and everything is working ok.

Adults.com has the nameservers set to ns1.lnhi.net (hostmysite.com nameservers) but I've set option called "point to" (A host) to my server 69.65.23.11, and everything is working fine..

So, the question is, what's the difference? Why would I change nameservers if I can just point it to my server without need for sites to propagate through the web...?

Using their name servers ensures that the domain name always works, even if the server IP address changes. (Which can happen with shared hosting.) So, if you're directly pointing to the IP, you're fine as long as the IP doesn't change. I would recommend using their name servers so you don't risk your web domain going down unnoticed.

OK, tnx for your answer.

I also found this thread on the web, that I would like to know the answer:

My site is currently hosted in a "shared site" scenario, where my site is only one of 90 sites hosted on that server (all with the same IP). I am anxious to move the site to a dedicated server (which I have already have). However, I am more than happy with the "email service" etc. I am currently receiving from my current host (it allows me to concentrate on the website without worrying about providing or setting up a mail server).

What I intended to do was to move the site onto the new dedicated server and then logon to my old host and simply edit the WWW DNS record to point to the IP address of my new dedicated server (and leave everything else the same). This way, the name servers, email service etc. are all provided by the old host, I have just changed the DNS to point the web server to my new machine (hosted elsewhere).

I have been warned by my existing host that I will be penalised by the search engines if I do this, as the search engines will detect that the IP address of the name servers and realise they are on a different IP range to the web server (my dedicated server hosted elsewhere).

My question is this.... Is the above true? Would I get penalised by the likes of google for having the name servers and email etc. with one host, and the actual website hosted elsewhere? If this is the case, how can I get around the problem? I need to move the site but cannot afford to lose rankings (and I don't want the hassle of having to setup email servers etc.).

Definitely not.

Requiring someone to have the email and website on the same IP address for rankings would be ridiculous. Not only is having the email routed to a different IP then the web common but it's expected for big sites. (Hell--even subdomains can be put on different IP address without being a problem.) Anyway--why would a search engine spider give a crap about your mail server location?

(For example, Amazon even has THREE mail servers: 207.171.184.25, 72.21.198.25, 72.21.196.25. Craigslist has 5, blogger.com's email is hosted BY GOOGLE, etc.)

Mail server lookup for those who are curious:
http://www.mxtoolbox.com/index.aspx

Thx + Rep always apprecaited

Ok, tnx, I was aware that e-mail servers aren'5 that important, but I was more interested about the host itself. Rep given.