Crafting Words That Matter
Important Moments in Time
Crafting Words That Matter
Important Moments in Time
Avatar Diaries
The Walmart Incident
Contacts:
1-800-Walmart (800-925-6278)
(479) 273-4000
executive.Communications@walmart.com
Corporate Office Address:
Walmart Corporate
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-0160
United States
Mailing Address:
Walmart Contacts
2250 International Street
Columbus, OH 43228
United States
Reply from the Executive Office
1-855-559-5603
(May 20, 2024):
Justin from Walmart Executive Office called me on May 20, 2024 at around 3:15 pm Central and said that he had received my full email about the incident and that he was going to look into my complaint and get back to me afterwards, I told him that I would rather have all communications done through email so that there would be no misunderstandings and that there would be an accurate record of our conversations for future reference , he did agree and read back my email address to verify that it was the right one.
Email sent 5-20-2024 to
help@walmart.com (not active)
CC to:
CEO:
I sent the same email as below on May 14, 2024 to:
Walmart Headquarters at
executive.communications@walmart.com
My email to Walmart on May 13, 2024 by replying to the reference number email that was sent to me a few days earlier:
To: Walmart Management Team
From Ojen Amini (Ojohn)
Reference #: 240506-008851
Phone: (432)-599-5558
Date: May 13, 2024
Hello I made a complaint at survey.Walmart.com about a bad experience that I had on my last shopping visit to Walmart store # 00608 on May 1, 2024 at between 7 to 9 pm Central time where I was falsely (and I believe intentionally) accused of having taken another customer’s shopping bags and so I would like to get an update on the status of my complaint and the results of any review that has been done concerning the surveillance records and those who were involved.
On May 6, 2024 I called the 1-800-Walmart number and the agent (Valerie) was able to pull up my original comments on her screen concerning my complaint from May 1, 2024 and read them back to me to verify that it was what I had reported through the survey.walmart.com portal. She then said that she would email me a reference number for my complaint (which was 240506-008851) and also said that she would escalate it to the appropriate department that was able to address the issue.
Since I had not heard from anyone from Walmart I called the 1-800-Walmart number today to check on the status of my complaint and to my surprise the agent that answered the call (Carlos) said that he was not able to see anything on his computer concerning my original complaint about the May 1, 2024 incident even though the agent (Valerie) whom I had talked to on May 6, 2024 was able to pull them up on her computer and read them back to me.
Nevertheless the only record that Carlos was able to find was an email that I had sent asking for more information about my complaint, but he couldn’t find the original notes that Valerie had read to me on May 6, 2024 so I hereby am emailing you my complaint concerning my visit to Walmart store # 00608 on May 1, 2024 at between 7 to 9 pm Central time for future references:
On my last visit to Walmart store # 00608 on May 1, 2024 at between 7 to 9 pm Central time I was wrongly (and I believe intentionally) accused of having taken some grocery bags that belonged to another customer.
I spoke to the store manager at the time (Pauline) and told her about that incident and she said that she would check the cameras to see what had happened. Although she took a photo of my receipt with her phone, but she did not ask for my name and phone number and didn't offer to inform me of any follow ups.
Because I am a heart patient that has had a heart attack and my other disabilities I usually use the riding chairs when doing my shopping and because the basket is kind of small on those I have to do my shopping in several batches.
My first transaction was when I got some cash from the Walmart Money Center from my card ending in 5395 for the amount of $465.00 dollars, this is something that I do at the beginning of every month in order to pay my rent and use anything left to buy lottery tickets, gas and part of my groceries.
The receipt says:
ST# 00608 OP# 000608 TE# 62 TR# 05225
TC# 1480 4444 6139 0888 4883 05/01/24 19:26:56
My second transaction which I paid cash for in the amount of $143.47 was:
ST# 00608 OP# 009038 TE# 38 TR# 03373
# ITEMS SOLD 26
TC# 5796 8929 7577 0823 8037 4
My third transaction which I used my card ending in 5395 for the amount of $33.53 and which I had been accused of taking someone else's grocery bags was:
ST# 00608 OP# 009043 TE# 43 TR# 03969
# ITEMS SOLD 14
TC# 5868 8085 7643 4692 6960 05/01/24 20:29:04
My forth transaction where I used a combination of cash and my card ending in 4421 for a total of $2.79 was:
ST# 00608 OP# 009051 TE# 51 TR# 02361
# ITEMS SOLD 1
TC# 1304 3835 1374 9206 1038
it was on this transaction when I was approached by a Walmart employee and accused to have taken someone else's grocery bags during my third transaction at register # 43
When I originally went to register # 43 on my third transaction I had to wait because one of the employees (the same one that had accused me later) was restocking the bags and cleaning the register and I only started using that register after she turned the light green and made it available. I am sure that if there were any bags left by the previous customer on that register that she would have seen it because this was in the express area that had smaller bagging stations and I was the first customer that used that register after she finished restocking and cleaning it.
Nevertheless I put my grocery bags in the riding chair basket after I finished on register # 43 and moved across the way to register # 51 where I did my forth transaction to pay for one last item that I had forgotten to pay for before. I went to register 51 because unlike register # 43 this one would accept cash along with card. It was while I was doing my forth transaction on register # 51 when I was approached and accused by a Walmart employee (the same one who had cleaned and restocked register # 43) of having taken someone else's grocery bags on my previous transaction when I was using register # 43.
Before leaving Walmart I had one of the assistant managers (Tricia) and also the employee at the door to check my receipt and the content of every bag that was in my basket and asked them to verify that there was nothing extra in my basket in addition to what it showed on my receipts.
I was very hurt and insulted by this event and was kind of worried that certain people might be conspiring to get me in trouble again and as such I needed some reassurance that I would be protected against any fraudulent claims while shopping at Walmart in this instance and in the future.
And so a few days later on May 5, 2024 I called and talked to the store manager Cindy at Walmart #00608 to get an update on my complaint, Cindy said that she was going to review what had taken place on my visit to the store on May 1, 2024 and call me with the results couple of days later on May 8, 2024.
I have not heard from Cindy since and the fact that she didn't even know about this incident even though the evening shift manager Pauline had taken my complaint 5 days before on May 1, 2024 makes me think that the local management is not taking my complaint seriously and that they are more interested in covering things up rather than trying to get this situation resolved. This makes me suspicious that they want to leave this matter open ended until the camera footage for that day is deleted and that the facts of the matter are lost through time.
As such I expect the Walmart headquarters to take control over this matter by first preserving any store surveillance records of May 1, 2024 between 7 to 10 pm Central time and to also do a review of this situation promptly.
It's worth mentioning for future references that it is very disturbing to me that the original reports that I had made for my complaint through survey.walmart.com have somehow disappeared specially since on my conversation with Cindy the store manager of Walmart # 00608 on May 5, 2024 she was able to pull them up on her computer and read them back to me the same as Valerie did on my conversation with her on May 6, 2024 when I reached her at 1-800-Walmart number.
I want you to make sure that none of the information concerning my complaint has been deleted or misplaced under another account. At this time it is very important for Walmart to clear this matter up immediately and bring this false accusation that has been made against me to an immediate closure to my full satisfaction.
Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.
Best Regards,
Ojen Amini (Ojohn)
Reference #: 240506-008851
Phone: (432)-599-5558
May 13, 2024 7:32 pm Central time
Walmart Survey (my reply to email from Walmart Headquarters)
(May 10, 2024)
To: Walmart Corporate Office,
Office of the President
From: Ojen Amini (Ojohn)
(432) 599-5558
Date: May 10, 2024
Hello, I called and talked to the store manager Cindy at Walmart #00608 on May 5, 2024 and she said that she was going to review what had taken place on my visit to the store on May 1, 2024 and call me with the results couple of days later on May 8, 2023.
I have not heard from Cindy since and the fact that she didn't even know about this incident even though the evening shift manager Pauline had taken my complaint 5 days before on May 1, 2024 makes me think that the local management is not taking my complaint seriously and that they are more interested in covering things up rather than trying to get this situation resolved. This makes me suspicious that they want to leave this matter open ended until the camera footage for that day is deleted and that the facts of the matter are lost through time.
As such I expect the Walmart headquarters to take control over this matter by first preserving any store surveillance records of May 1, 2024 between 7-10 pm Central time and to also do a review of the situation and inform me of the results within 7 days.
Best Regards,
Ojen Amini (Ojohn)
May 10, 2024 11:20 am Central time
Walmart Survey (1-800-Walmart)
(May 6, 2024)
Talked to Valerie on May 6, 2024 at about 9 pm Central, she found my complaints on the computer and I asked her that I wanted all records concerning my experience at Walmart on May 1, 2024 to be saved for future reference including any camera surveillance footage which she said that those will be saved for one year. I also told her that I wanted to feel safe when shopping at Walmart and I didn’t want to be falsely accused and set up like this again which she said that she would make a note of this incident for future reference in case if something similar happens again. She also verified my name, phone number, and email address and said that she will email me a reference number to our conversation.
Reference#: 240506-008851
Walmart Survey TE# 38 TR# 03373 (May 6, 2024):
This is related to the complaint that I made when using register #43 and #51 on May 1, 2024 at between 7-9 pm Central and I wanted to add the transaction that I did on register #38 to my complaint for the record.
I talked on the phone with the store manager Cindy on May 6, 2024 at about 6:50 pm Central and she said that she would do a review of the events that took place on May 1, 2024 when I was accused by a Walmart employee of having taken another customer's grocery bags and call me on Wednesday May 8, 2024 of what she had found on the cameras.
I told Cindy that I believe that I was the victim of a fraudulent claim and that I asked her to keep all records concerning this matter for future reference in case I am targeted like this intentionally in the future again.
I have been a customer at store 608 for close to 20 years and I have never ever taken anything from anyone and have always made sure to pay for all the items that I got. I expect to be protected when shopping at Walmart.
Walmart Survey TE# 51 TR# 02361 (May 4, 2024):
I am very hurt because on my last visit to Walmart #608 on May 1, 2024 between 7 to 9 pm Central I was wrongly (and I believe intentionally) accused of having taken someone else's grocery bags.
I originally went to register #43 at the express self checkout area and had to wait for one of the employees to finish restocking the bags and cleaning the register, I was the first customer that used register #43 after she turned the light green. Then I moved to register #51 to pay for an item that I had forgotten to pay for before when I was approached by the same Walmart employee and falsely accused of having taken someone else’s grocery bags at register #43
Before leaving Walmart I had the assistant manager (Tricia) and also the employee at the door check my receipts and the content of every bag in my basket and they verified that there was nothing extra in my basket in addition to what was on my receipts.
Store manager Pauline didn't take my info and offered no apology or follow up
Walmart Survey TE# 43 TR# 03969 (May 3, 2024):
I am very unhappy because on my last visit to Walmart store #608 on May 1, 2024 at between 7 to 9 pm Central I was wrongly (and I believe intentionally) accused of having taken some grocery bags that belonged to another customer.
When I originally went to the express self checkout area I had to wait because one of the employees (the same one that had accused me later) was restocking the bags and cleaning the register and I was the first customer that used that register after she turned the light green. I am sure she would have noticed if there were any bags left behind by previous customers.
Nevertheless before leaving Walmart I had one of the assistant managers (Tricia) and also the employee at the door check my receipt and the content of every bag that was in my basket and asked them to verify that there was nothing extra in my basket in addition to what it showed on my receipts.
I was very hurt and insulted by this event and felt that no one did anything to protect me.
My complaint to Walmart:
To: Eric Olivas, Walmart Store Lead
From: Ojen Amini (Ojohn)
Date: May 3, 2024
Hello Eric, thanks for your response, I hope that I am not going to be harassed by the bank staff and their manager or anyone else for that matter) anymore when shopping at Walmart.
Although I am still very unhappy because on my last visit to Walmart on May 1, 2024 at between 7 to 9 pm Central time I was wrongly (and I believe intentionally) accused of having taken some grocery bags that belonged to another customer.
I spoke to the store manager at the time (Pauline) and told her about this incident and she said that she would check the cameras to see what had happened. Although she took a photo of my receipt with her phone, but she did not ask for my name and phone number and didn't offer to inform me of any follow ups.
Because I am a heart patient that has had a heart attack and my other disabilities I usually use the riding chairs when doing my shopping and because the basket is kind of small on those I have to do my shopping in several batches.
My first transaction was when I got some cash from the Walmart Money Center from my card ending in 5395 for the amount of $465.00 dollars, this is something that I do at the beginning of every month in order to pay my rent and use any left to buy lottery tickets, gas and part of my groceries.
The receipt says:
ST# 00608 OP# 000608 TE# 62 TR# 05225
TC# 1480 4444 6139 0888 4883 05/01/24 19:26:56
My second transaction which I paid cash for the amount of $143.47 was:
ST# 00608 OP# 009038 TE# 38 TR# 03373
# ITEMS SOLD 26
TC# 5796 8929 7577 0823 8037 4
My third transaction which I used my card ending in 5395 for the amount of $33.53 and which I had been accused of taking someone else's grocery bags was:
ST# 00608 OP# 009043 TE# 43 TR# 03969
# ITEMS SOLD 14
TC# 5868 8085 7643 4692 6960 05/01/24 20:29:04
My forth transaction where I used a combination of cash and my card ending in 4421 for a total of $2.79 was:
ST# 00608 OP# 009051 TE# 51 TR# 02361
# ITEMS SOLD 1
TC# 1304 3835 1374 9206 1038
it was on this transaction when I was approached and accused to have taken someone else's grocery bags during my third transaction at register #43
When I originally went to register 43 on my third transaction I had to wait because one of the employees (the same one that had accused me later) was restocking the bags and cleaning the register and I only started using that register after she turned the light green and made it available. I am sure that if there were any bags left by the previous customer on that register that she would have seen it because this was in the express area that had smaller bagging stations and I was the first customer that used that register after she finished restocking and cleaning it.
Nevertheless I put my grocery bags in the riding chair basket after I finished on register 43 and moved across the way to register 51 where I did my forth transaction to pay for one last item that I had forgotten to pay for before. I went to register 51 because unlike register 43 this one would accept cash along with card. It was while I was doing my forth transaction on register 51 when I was approached and accused to have taken someone else's grocery bags on my previous transaction when I was using register #43.
Before leaving Walmart I had one of the assistant managers (Tricia) and also the employee at the door to check my receipt and the content of every bag that was in my basket and asked them to verify that there were nothing extra in my basket in addition to what it showed on my receipts.
I was very hurt and insulted by this event and was kind of worried that certain people might be conspiring to get me in trouble in the future again and I asked the managers Tricia and Pauline to make sure that they protect me against fraudulent claims like this.
Thanks in advance for your attention to this matter.
Best Regards,
Ojen Amini (Ojohn)
May 3, 2024
Walmart Survey Response:
April 6, 2024
Although I am very happy with Walmart itself, but I have been harassed by one of the contractors that is renting a space at my local Walmart (store 608) on several occasions. You can read more about this on my Website Church.us , I am going to keep a record at my website every time that they harass me so that everyone can see for themselves what nasty and unprofessional people they are.
I made a report of this incident to the Walmart store manager Mr. Cody which although was very sympathetic to me, but said that he had no control over contractors that rent space at Walmart and he recommended that I contacted Walmart headquarters about this which I am doing in this survey right now.
Ojen Amini (Ojohn)
email: ojohn@ojohn.com
Phone: (432) 599-5558
I prefer to be contacted by email or text
Forum Posts 1
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Forum posts 1-a
I was watching some of the programs about space and the solar system on TV (at PBS, which is the Public Broadcasting System in US) and I heard them saying that one of the major threats to earth is the possibility of a medium to big size asteroid hitting it without any warning. They (the scientists) were saying that there are two ways to deal with this threat, one is to blow up the asteroid and destroy it in space which might result in having a bunch of smaller asteroids to deal with, and the other way is to try to change the course and trajectory of the asteroid while it is still far away from earth so that it wouldn’t hit earth, and in order to do this you don’t have to hit the asteroid with any missile or anything, all you have to do is to park a spaceship right next to it while it is still far enough from earth and the pull of gravity that is produced by the spaceship on the asteroid although very small, but will gradually help change the course of the asteroid by very small degree which is enough to make it miss earth without having to have to destroy it.
My suggestion to you and others is that instead of trying to destroy anyone, perhaps its better if you let the pull of the gravity of your personality and logic set them on the right course. That’s what someone did 2000 years ago, he didn’t use a sword to attack people, he only used common sense based on logic and compassion to guide them, and it was the gravity of his personality that made him an internal force for good that so many people believe in to this day.
I thought that Free Speech (or actually protecting Free Speech) was at the core of the discussion about what was going on at Epik as the title of this thread indicates. I am disappointed to see that everyone here couldn’t connect at a higher level and have allowed this thread to succumb to the same old politics that punishes people for expressing their point of views. It seems that instead of taking a few positive steps forward to come to a Universal consensus on the issue of Free Speech people here have now taken some steps backwards as everyone is retreating to the same old and familiar fronts of hate and division.
Rob if there is going to be a civil and constructive debate wouldn’t it be better if we all heard each other’s opinion and point of views here in public rather than having a private conversation on the phone between only two people. To me that sounds like voluntary censorship as no one else is going to benefit from the opinions expressed in those private conversations. Also to have a civil and constructive debate requires for everyone to reframe from using labels or making personal attacks as those might discourage some in participating in the conversation. I personally like to hear all sides of the issue whether I agree with it or not. Being tolerant of other Individual's opinions and point of views or those of a Hive Mind (as you say) are all part of having respect for Free Speech.
Its good to see that there is some improvement in relations here, now lets get everyone else on board and engage in a civilized and constructive way that can produce something of value for the domaining community here and beyond.
Common sense based on logic and compassion and certain Universal rights and values is what guides my opinion and judgment.
Free Speech is needed to empower people, but common sense also tells us that while it's okay to believed in harmless things such as fake moon landing or a flat earth or even believing that there are aliens in are 51, but crossing the line into promoting or engaging in hate and violence should not be accepted as a norm for people who want to advocate for free speech. While a person of faith who wants to be a force for good can get involved with any extremist group in order to try to make them repent from their ways, but it's important to not lose track of the fact that you are there to change their ways and not the other way around, your faith should be strong enough as to not to give in to any extremist ideologies. IMO
Lets start with this question:
Are Free Speech and Human Rights in general Universal or not, and if not isn't it time in our social evolution for our cultures, religions, customs and traditions, and our laws to adjust to the Universality of Free Speech and Human Rights instead of the other way around.
We’re need to get to the root cause of hate and violence that is being promoted and carried out by certain groups. As Rob has already mentioned it might make the situation worse if people are silenced and censored in expressing their grievances and point of views. We have to figure out why there are extremist groups in the first place and the fact that we want to put a stop to some of their tactics and activities that are considered antisocial or inhumane should not mean that their voice should be silenced completely. After all there are many other people in the society that also engage in antisocial and inhumane behavior, but we tolerate their actions and in some cases even employ them to do our bidding as our interest and agendas require. As I have said before I like to hear all sides absent hate and violence. IMO
I agree that TCK is sometimes too blunt in his criticism of you, and that may come across as if he is out to get you rather than trying to help you to perhaps correct a lapse in judgment, but you should not allow his pointed remarks to set you off to the point that is going to make you to become intolerant and combative. Remember that not all speech is going to be pleasant and to our liking, in order to have respect for Free Speech it requires that we have respect for our worst adversaries and critics as long as they play by the rules and are expressing their grievances in a civilized and professional manner. When the conversation or debate deteriorates into name calling, threats, false accusations, and labeling of others that is a big loss to everyone. Yes TCK sometimes comes across as being a little too harsh and persistent in his criticism of you, but then the principles of Free Speech gives him that right as long as he is playing by the rules, and that’s exactly the right that you have been fighting to defend and preserve for everyone all along, we all need to remember that Free Speech is a double edged sword, and sometimes it works for us and sometimes it might be used against us. As a strong advocate for Free Speech you should not be so quick to condemn him when what he say goes against your liking or interest. Being tolerant of criticism is an important virtue to have when it comes to Free Speech. IMO
God loves all his children.
It' not what you are it’s what you do that might be considered wrong.
People who struggle with their gender identity must be helped and guided spiritually like any other person who has to deal with a serious issue in their life. In my opinion unless one’s born gender is causing any medical problems for a person it is best not to take a risk with making major changes in one's body that could result in physical complications or bring about unforeseen emotional and personality imbalances. The way that I see it instead of changing a person to adjust to the expectations of the society we need to change the society to accept everyone for whom they are and not to put undue pressure on anyone that doesn’t fit the mold. If the society at large is lust driven and encourages a life that is centered on earthly pleasures then in my opinion it is wrong for someone to change their gender in the pursuit of those false and misguided ideals as eventually we as the human race need to evolve out of our current primitive state of mind and rise to a higher level of existence that is free from lust, hate, jealousy, inequality, and many of the other bad characteristics that currently control our lives. IMO
Everyone is entitled to express their opinion so as far as Free Speech is concerned I don’t see any issues with hearing them out, but one problem that I see is that it only shows one side's perspective of the situation. I don’t agree with their assertion that those who are struggling with gender identity are suffering from a delusion as in certain cases people do need medical intervention to improve their quality of life, but if they do decide that they want to go through with certain medical procedures it is very important that they are not wanting to do this for the wrong reasons and that their decision has the support of a knowledgeable and unbiased medical professional. IMO
As with many other issues those who are on opposing sides want to take things to the extremes, but although changing one's gender should not be taken lightly and should not be encouraged as the norm, but to say that all trans gender people are categorically suffering from delusion is wrong, the same as saying all those who are struggling with cancer are just imagining it and just need psychological help. Perhaps instead of censoring one side's point of view it should be followed by a rebuttal from the other side. IMO
I don’t blame you for becoming frustrated with all that seems to be going wrong around us, but we can’t point fingers at just one group of people and close our eyes on what’s going on with everyone else (drugs, addiction, abortion, abuse, promiscuity, slavery, torture, and war just to name a few). Everyone is guilty in one way or another and the only way out of this mess is to create some kind of movement and awareness to save all humanity without leaving anyone behind. The bad thing about Hate is that it will dived people even further and will make it harder to convince people that you want what’s good for them. If Hate were to fix anything, then why is everyone getting worse. We need to replace Hate with compassion and we need to use logic to find the right path forward. IMO
Why do Animals have horns,
Because they want to fend off attacks from other Animals,
Why do Animals attack each other,
Well because they are Animals,
As long as Humans remain partly Animal they are going to want to keep their horns (guns), and don’t forget about the really big horns (Weapons of War) that are used to cause massive injury to others . Now if Humanity as a whole can ever ascend to a higher level of existence that is based on logic, compassion, and certain Universal rights and values, then there might come a day that they might not need to have horns (guns) any longer and not only that they wouldn’t want to kill each other any more, but they might actually try to help one another by making sure that no one is going to be suffering from hunger, disease, homelessness, abuse, torture, inequality, harassment, slavery, delinquency, addiction, and war any more. IMI
Humanity as a whole as far as our political systems, religions, societies, cultures, and traditions which control our way of life and thinking and also this Planet as far as the Environment need a Correction, the same way as a Company which might need a Correction if it is having problems both as far as workforce and infrastructure. We can wait for this Correction to take place naturally which most probably might not go all to our liking in such cases if a dictator takes over the World and wants to force his or her will on everyone or if the planet goes through a correction that ends up in eliminating all life on it.
Education is key in making people consciously aware of the urgency of this situation as we don’t have much time before everything starts to claps around us. Religion has done its part so far by bringing some morality and discipline to our lives, but now we have come to the point that we can no longer just be led subconsciously without being aware of what is going on around us.
The first step in bringing about any Reforms is for us to replace Hate with Compassion by educating everyone so that they come to realize that the only way that they can save themselves is by working together and by finding a way to unite around the common cause of saving Humanity and this Planet based on logic, compassion and the Universal rights and values that we all agree on. I strongly believe that this is what someone was trying to open our eyes to 2000 years ago, but unfortunately the message might have gotten lost or misinterpreted in some cases over the years.
IMO
In the past there used to be one or maybe two hurricanes at or above Cat-3 , now we are starting this season with a Cat-5 , that's a little cause for concern specially if there are going to be several of this strength in one season. At the cost of 100 to 200 billion dollars per storm it can soon add up to be in a trillion dollar range per year. IMO
To me it seems like doxxing as defined here is a bigger sin than backing out of a domain deal.
Also you should only get mad if a veteran domainer keeps making offers on the forum for the wrong intentions and keeps backing out of deals on purpose, otherwise when it comes to end users and newbies it is something that you just have to forget about and move on to your next domain deal. IMO
While we were so concerned about the destruction and loss of life in the East coast due to the hurricane, it appears that over 30 people are missing in a boat explosion and are feared dead in the West coast. This was a scuba diving ship with experienced people aboard, but the explosion happened at 3:00 am when everyone was sleep below deck. The captain and crew who were on deck were able to jump of and escape, but it appears that those below deck didn't have enough time to escape. The cause of the explosion is not known, but the fact that it engulfed the whole boat instantly makes me think that it might have had something to do with oxygen saturation below deck from malfunctioning scuba tanks. The boat has since become completely submerged.
Pray for the injured and hope for a Miracle that some of the missing might still be alive. Not a good way for the families to end the Labor day weekend
From what I understand slow moving hurricanes can cause a lot more damage in the way of flooding, perhaps they should indicate how slow the hurricane is moving as part of the category that it belongs to like:
Cat 5-2
where 5 indicates the wind speed and 2 indicates how slow the hurricane is moving.
In this scale a Cat 5-1 will probably be considered to be the worst one.
With all due respect you need to bring any issues that you might have with the different topics that are being discussed here with the moderators and the admin, if they have no objection to what is of interest to some of the members here and want to allow these discussions to continue (in a constructive and civilized manner, without personal attacks on anyone) then it wouldn’t be right for you to want to force your will on everyone else here. IMO
NamePros is now a World Class Forum that provides a platform for Free Speech in addition to being the best resource and hub for domainers. :)
The admins just have to be careful about a few bullies who don't want to let go of their grip over the forum and who might turn thousands of potential new readers off from participating in the forum by their underhanded tactics and personal attacks on others.
Perhaps it's time to have a stronger Code of Conduct for the forum. Making a more professional environment for the forum might encourage a lot more people to participate here including
some of the more famous personalities in the domain Industry who have been staying away from NamePros because of all the personal attacks and bullying that they have experienced here.
Moderation and Admin has to be taken to a whole new level in order to make more and more of the passive forum readers into active forum participates.
IMO
Some are psychopaths and criminals who lack empathy for others, but many are what might be considered average people who are overtaken by rage and anger as a small conflict that they are involved in gets out of hand and escalates into becoming a catastrophic event, sudden rage and uncontrollable anger are also a kind of sickness which unfortunately can affect many who might otherwise be considered to be good people. In the case of the recent Texas mass shooting the gunman had called 911 earlier that day after encountering some conflict at work which had resulted in him losing his job and so his first reaction was to reach out for some kind of help or intervention. Perhaps we need to have a better system in place that can address people’s grievances and complaints before they escalate to become some kind of disaster. So aside from the psychopaths who are more difficult to deal with, the majority of the gun violence is being done by the average every day people who kill out of rage, revenge, suicide or just by accident and these are the people who have most likely already passed a background check, but then later had encountered a situation that made them lose control of what you might call their good side. We need to expand and improve the help lines so people can be calmed down before they lose control. IMO
When all sides hate you that means you are saying or doing something right :)
Although people should be free to express themselves, but when they want to intentionally inflict harm or promote violence the society has the right to not give them a loudspeaker or a platform.
I believe that all our existing ideologies, doctrines, and philosophies have failed us both as far as humanity and the environment. As we see all social and environmental norms start to collapse around us our only chance to survive is for humanity as a whole to ascended to a higher level of existence that is guided by logic and compassion and certain Universal rights and values. If we continue to let hate, greed, lust, jealousy, promiscuity, delinquency, animosity and the many of the other negative characteristics that have been controlling our lives to prevail and continue then we will miss this last window of opportunity to save ourselves. IMO
We need to come up with a new name that encompasses all our Universal ideals, rights, and values. We need to stop living in the past and come up with new ideas that can help humanity and this planet survive and enter the next phase of their existence. For us to be considered to be a force of good not only requires that we overcome all the humanity’s bad characteristics, but we also have to make sure that those characteristics are not passed on to the Artificial Intelligence entities and lifeforms that we are helping to create. IMO
You are right about the new system giving more info about the "Likes" , but I guess some people miss having the visual impact of seeing all those "Likes" right below their comments. Perhaps they can combine the old and new system by including a solid color horizontal gage bar under the posts that reflects the amount of likes received (or something else that has a visual effect like a row of stars).
The numbers that have links for more details are simple, fast, and effective as you have shown, but if we can add a little more visual effect that might be what some people like. So lets combine some kind of visual effect that stands out with accurate info in the form of numbers that are linked to more details. IMO
Not unless those bad human characteristics are going to create attitudes that are going to cause more divisions, conflicts, catastrophes, and possibly more Wars. If there is no change in the status quo as far as how the World thinks and operates and if Humanity stays on the same course as before as far as continuing to cause more damage to the environment, sooner or later our World will self destruct as it is under threat from so many different fronts. The window of opportunity to take action is small and is closing fast, it will be ashamed if humanity with all it’s intellect, skills, technologies, experiences, and intelligence fails to save itself. Any logical prediction or forecast of the many different possible outcomes for our World would most likely show that the survival of humanity and this planet both require immediate and meaningful intervention and changes in our ways.
Isolationism might have its advantages and can put one country or continent temporarily ahead as it unifies people against outside threats, but since every continent is capable of damaging and destroying the World on its own it really doesn’t matter how far you advance through isolationism if people on the other side of the World can undo all your success and achievements due to their ignorance or animosity. For the humanity and this planet to survive it requires for all people to control and contain those bad characteristics that prevent them from coming together in a positive way to do some good for the World. We have to accept the fact that no one can save themselves alone without saving the whole World. IMO
Well, when you don’t quite fit with any of the existing ideologies, doctrines, and philosophies that seem to no longer be able to adequately address all the problems in the World then obviously you have to find a new name other than leftist, right, progressive, conservative, liberal, capitalist, communist, fundamentalist, or any of the other old labels. If everyone chooses to base their actions on logic, compassion, and the Universal rights and values that we can all respect and believe in then that means that the World has chosen to combine all that is good from the many different labels that exist now and reject the parts what has been holding humanity back from ascending to a higher level of existence. IMO
Those who base their actions on common sense that is based on logic and compassion and in the future with some help from AI that is a force for good. IMO
You are talking about the old systems, you need to grasp the new ways of thinking that is needed going forward. No one is going to be forced into anything that one person or group thinks is right, it is logic and compassion that will guide us to the right path. IMO
This thread although very long, but has taught us that we should not judge anyone too quickly as your situation has proved while you were being attacked from so many different fronts all at once. When someone is tagged as a bad person just because his or her point of view is against the interest and agendas of a few who don’t want to see any changes in the status quo, then the real bad guys might be totally different than what it seems on the surface especially when an individual is up against a global machine that will not hesitate to do whatever it takes to silence the truth. As one wiseman once said its best to be hated by everyone and be right than to be loved by everyone and be wrong.
IMO
At the end it not what I say that should be idealized as I am just trying to be a motivator here, but what common sense says that is based on logic and compassion. No one can write a blueprint for what is right, humanity has to figure that out by following common sense that is based on logic and compassion and as I said before with some help from AI that is a force for good. IMO
I should also add that because of some of the humanity’s bad characteristics and the interest and agendas of certain people and groups the wrong way might be presented to be right and the right way might be presented to be wrong and so that’s why to have a Good AI that is a force of good is a necessary and welcomed addition to the equation in order to help us find the right path going forward. IMO
With some of the animosity that is going on here it makes me a little concerned about the posts being able to be edited after 30 minutes time limit, what happens if you "like" someone's comment and then a week later they edit it to be something totally opposite to what you had originally given a "like" to.
It's good that you want to do something to help the Humanity although don't forget about the Environment as I believe that a Good AI can help us in both areas. Logic by itself is not adequate, as for example someone might come to the logical conclusion that the society might be better off if all disabled or old people are eliminated to make room for more healthy and younger generations, compassion by itself is not adequate either as it can be considered a sign of weakness in certain situations. Strength of mind is achieved if there is a balance between logic and compassion in a way that they complement one another and keep each other in check to make sure that the decisions made make sense as far as common sense and the Universal rights and values are concerned. There might be certain scenarios and situations that people might arrive at different logical conclusions as human brain although powerful but it's not perfect or they might get confused as to how much compassion they need to have, but that's when we need to use a Good AI (one with general intelligence) to help us find the right path.
When the Founding Fathers established the three branches of the government over 250 years ago here in the United States they were wise enough to hold each branch accountable to one another and that's what needs to be done now in the 21 century. People in different parts of the World need to be held accountable not only to one another, but also to AI especially when it comes to issues that go beyond our borders that have to do with humanity, environment, or Space and even AI itself as to making sure that it evolves to be a force of good. IMO
“ Epik shall renew the Forever Domain for the maximum period permitted by the applicable domain registry that governs said domain (e.g. .COM). “
This is not that hard to understand, Epik will renew the newly registered domain for the max number of years allowed which as we all know is 10 years for .com and then renew it one year at a time after that, the domain will always have 10 years safety net for expiration. Am I not right.
I am not saying that I want to do any forever registration, just that I understand what it is about.
@Rob Monster is not charging $2500 for forever .coms , it's just $399 which sounds reasonable for those who want to have peace of mind about not losing their most important or valuable domains. It might not make too much sense for the average domainer to do forever domains, but it seems like a good option that domainers can offer on their landing pages. What makes all the difference here is the price which sounds very reasonable for those whom their whole livelihood depends on not losing their domain. IMO
PS: It's important to note that up to now I have been referring to Forever domains in .com ; When it comes to other TLDs obviously the price might be higher according to each registry's registration and renewal charges and then it's up to each domain owner to justify if this is a good deal for them or not. Also it might be good to mention the "10 year ongoing safety net" and the actual length of commitment from Epik in the small print so that end users will know exactly what to expect beyond the branding of the word "Forever".
I assume that the " Forever Domain " contract has to be renewed whether it's 25 , 50, or 100 years in the future.
It's important to note that up to now I have been referring to Forever domains in .com ; When it comes to other TLDs obviously the price might be higher according to each registry's registration and renewal charges and then it's up to each domain owner to justify if this is a good deal for them or not.
Also it might be a good idea to mention the "10 year ongoing safety net" and the actual length of the commitment from Epik in the small print so that end users will know exactly what to expect beyond the use of the word "Forever" as a branding tool.
I assume that the " Forever Domain " contract has to be renewed whether it's 25 , 50, or 100 years in the future. Am I wrong.
I suggest that the German and Jewish people should come together in a formal ceremony on the 100th anniversary of the Holocaust and close that dark chapter in the history for good. The future generations of German and Jewish people should not be burdened by the conflicts among their ancestors after that any more. IMO
Can the featured domains section in the Marketplace be expanded to display more domains from NamePros members on a random and rotating bases, not based on portfolio size, but based on username so everyone's domains can get equal exposure (perhaps maybe by using smaller fonts and smaller squares). Right now I only see about 12 domains in the featured section, it would be nice to have more domains displayed from everyone here. IMO
I believe the fact that Rob is so engaged with the domaining community here is a good thing, as more and more domainers become involved with Epik I am sure that they will collectively keep an eye on what is in theirs and Epik's long term interest and advise Rob accordingly. I believe that Rob has already adjusted his thinking and strategy as to not to peruse things that might put the future of Epik at risk. It looks like that Rob is now more interested in expanding Epik's services through input from those here who like to see more innovation in the domain Industry. Now this doesn’t mean that Rob has turned his back on free speech, it just means that he has come to realize that he has to draw the line somewhere specially when it comes to people or groups who want to abuse free speech by stoking violence or encouraging or causing bodily harm to others. IMO
Wish you and your family the best with your new adopted home.
I agree that the constant threat of conflict and War has put a damper on the economical growth and safety of that region. It's sad to see that the regional hostilities are escalating and wasting all the energy and efforts that otherwise should be going into making a better life for people. The Nuclear stand off between India and Pakistan has gotten very serious to the point that smart productive people in both countries have no choice but to flee out of fear for their family's safety and security. As thousands of people are being killed or made to migrate out of that region from Syria all the way to Pakistan it makes one wonder if there is any hope for Humanity at large to be able to ascend to a higher level of existence that can put an end to all these misery and waste both as far as social and environmental problems and issues.
PS: You should have come here to Texas, the economy is booming and the people are friendly (although you have to be a little quick on the draw :) ).
All these killings and hostilities are making me depressed, those who use religion to kill, torture, maim, and suppress people in the name of God in one side of the World and those who condemn others to the pits of fire as they themselves live their whole lives in lust and greed in the other side of the World are not serving humanity as this is exactly why we are encouraged to rise above the status quo by ascending to a higher level of existence that is based on logic, compassion and the Universal rights and values that can help us be a force for good.
As far as the attacks on the oil refineries go I have a hunch that they were launched from southern Iraq, but then according to the International agreements those who have sold the weapons can’t be held responsible for the attacks the same way that gun manufacturers are not held responsible for mass shootings so I don’t expect to see any military retaliation by the west (at least not this time). As long as a big part of the World economy is running on selling missiles, tanks, bombs, and jet fighters to others then attacks like this is going to have to be expected as a cost of keeping the old status quo around the World. IMO
At these odds (having only 5 new domains to work with) it's even hard for experienced domainers to make something happen as far as making a sale goes nevermind a new domainer who is just beginning to learn the ropes. And to put them in debt without a realistic chance to come ahead might actually hurt them more than it's going to help them since $30 might be a lot of money for them to have to pay back if they don't make a sale.
Although I like your idea of trying to empower those who are disadvantaged (like me :)). Now instead of giving them money how about giving them some free domains to get them started. Something like 25 domains per person, not pigeon dropping domains, but domains that have a reasonable chance of getting sold for $50 to $75 each. The kind that some of the more experienced domainers here might have who don't mind donating to this cause. (just an idea, hope it helps)
Also you have to vet the applicants very carefully to make sure that you are not empowering the wrong kind of people specially in those undeveloped countries that might have gangs, militants, and perhaps even terrorists mixed in with the regular crowd who don't mind having an additional source of income to do their evil (worse yet they might use innocent younger people to do their bidding like the way they use child soldiers). Don't mean to be negative, but it's something to consider nevertheless.
It might be a calling for you to help those who are disadvantaged and by no means did I mean to change your mind, I believe that it is a good cause and it's worth putting some more thought into it, just have to figure out some safeguards to make sure that the right people are being helped. Maybe ask for pictures of their home, school, and some of their social activities and school transcripts like as if you are trying to adopt them.
I woke up and came up with a new idea
Lets create a pool of 500 domains, some donated by Epik, and some donated by the many fans (312 so far) who “Liked” Rob's post about the special discounts that they are getting and who might want to give something back in return. Then put these 500 domains in an Epik's escrow account and with no upfront cost or without setting any dollar figure have the people that you want to help to try to sell domains out of this pool. Let people keep the money from their first sale, then half the proceeds from their second sale should be divided among the other participants in the program and the other half should be used to add some domains from the drops to the pool of 500 domains to replenish it, then the person can keep the money from their third sale and go on to alternate for each sale afterwards. This way the more talented and lucky persons who are good at making sales will also help the other participants in the program. (This is of course after you have vetted the participants and put them through a crash course in domaining).
Rob, when you have a very large portfolio you are going to get a few lucky sales here and there, you might even sell a four word domain, but whether that translates into a trend for everyone else is something that we have to wait and see. Maybe you are on to something, considering that there is class of small businesses that don't care that much about having the absolute best domain and also don't have all the knowledge and expectations that domainers have and so if the trend picks up then perhaps more people can sell domains from the Epik drop lists especially those whom you are thinking about helping from the other thread. IMO
Another Option (Maybe better):
Each person keeps 1/3 of each sale they have made from the pool of 500 domains, another 1/3 from each sale is divided between all participants in the program and the last 1/3 is used to replenish the pool by buying from Epik domains (mainly from the drops and daily diamonds) and to pay for renewals for the domains that they want to be kept in the pool.
Also make the program self-sustaining so that the more experienced participates can help the new arrivals.
PS: The initial domains donated by Epik and members here should have at least six months before expiration, or better yet should be renewed before they are donated.
I wouldn't call people who are caught in a desperate situation parasites if they are honest, smart, and productive people who just need a helping hand to change their destiny.
Rob is in a position that he can set the rules for this program, and once the initial domains are donated it can be designed to be self-sustaining , even those who might not make it as domainers can be helped by the ones who are more talented as a condition to take part in the program, if Rob can help them to become successful, they in return can give a helping hand to lift their friends out of a desperate situation. IMO
And what makes you think that some of those people are not as smart as everyone else here.
In some places people are just deprived of all opportunities and are stuck in a never ending cycle and just need to be given a chance to get themselves out of poverty.
I just can't understand why some of the members here who are themselves very well off want to prevent others from receiving any help.
What matters here is that Rob who is the one that is going to implement this program already knows that it can help some of the people get a head start in domaining.
It's not an investment for them as they don't have to pay anything, domains are going to be donated.
If it doesn't work they haven't lost anything, but if it does help just a few to get out of poverty then Rob has done a good deed that is commendable.
Now as you mentioned yourself earlier in this thread, perhaps some people are just scared of the extra competition that this program might create for them when it comes to drop catching and finding the good deals, but you have to learn that if you don't take even one step to help others you won't have anything to show as your life's achievements no matter how rich you might get. IMO
The way that I look at this is that if you use your intelligence to save this planet by undoing all the damage that already has been done to the environment and if you help free humanity from poverty, inequality, hunger, disease, illiteracy, delinquency, addiction, abuse, torture, and war (just to name a few) then you are using the power of your brain in the right way. IMO
That's why we need logic and compassion to guide our intelligence, remember those who are using bombs and missiles to kill so many innocent people around the World are very intelligent people.
@Ategy.com , your comments about this program are fair and balanced and all your concerns are valid, but I don't think that anything is set in concrete at this point as far as the $30 grant, or the exact method of implementing this program. There are a lot of smart people in this forum and as challenging as this program might be, but with a little brainstorming on their behalf to help @Rob Monster perhaps the odds of success for this program can be increased. You yourself already provide a valuable service to domainers by the weekly drop list and advice that you give to them, we need a few more people like you who don't mind helping others to come together and help make this work. Also we need to think about how to make the program self sustaining both financially and as far as the few smarter participants who might get ahead early to supervise and help others in the program.
@BradWilson , you are on the right track as far as coming up with new ideas, I remember you mentioning in another thread that domaining has helped you get back on your feet after being injured in an accident in ways that go beyond just making money, so this program is about reaching out and giving a helping hand to some honest, smart, and productive people who might be locked in a desperate situation with no way out and to prove that there are still some superheroes in this World and that the domain Industry is not made up only of people who just think of themselves.
IMO
Rob how many people are you considering to help with these grants, it might add up to be a huge sum if there are 100 or more participants in the program. But if you gave them access to a pool of donated domains that have been refined by you to make sure that they have potential for resale then it would be in effect the end-users who are going to provide the grants once they buy a domain and there wouldn't be any financial burden on you and that can also make the program more self sustaining so that it can continue longer.
Also as far as asking what they are going to do if they become successful perhaps you should ask for a pledge as to how they are going to empower others in their community with their new found knowledge and wealth. IMO
PS: people should not donate their worse expiring domains that have no potential for resale, they should donate domains that can give the participants a reasonable chance for making a sale (and it doesn't hurt to renew them before donating them either), if everyone donates just 5 domains that have good potentials it's probably better than sending hundreds of domains that you didn't want to renew and that might be worthless.
IMO
Rob, as far as teaching and training goes, you yourself can write a crash course on domaining (with some help and input from the more experienced members here) to get the participants started on the right track, remember that they don't all have to become experts on day one just teach them the basics and give them a little time to learn the rest, as we all know somethings they can only learn once they start to interact with other domainers here and only after they have done a few sales on their own. Perhaps NamePros can make a special section for this project so that participants can ask questions and interact with some volunteer experienced domainers. As some of the more talented participants become more experienced you can use them to supervise and guide the rest. As I have mentioned before it's very important to make the program as self sustainable as possible both as far as education, finances, and supervision so that way the program can continue indefinitely as new participants join in in the future.
As far as vetting the applicants goes, as already mentioned you want to give first priority to honest, smart, motivated, and productive people who have a better chance of succeeding so that way they can help lift others out of poverty in their community, but as a devout Christian as you are lets not forget to also give a second chance to those who might have been caught in a bad situation due to the circumstances and the environment that they had to grew up in, so also give a chance to those who are willing to repent and help them make a fresh start in their life.
IMO
As motivational as that might be, but some of the ways that people have used in the past might not be replicable due to scarcity or not acceptable any more due to TM or Spam regulations and guidelines.
In my opinion it might be best to show them how to get started in today's market by concentrating their efforts on selling from the donated domain pool and then once they get a little more skillful to get into drops, brandables, or even hand registering new technology and trend domains.
IMO
I know you have been giving Epik credit rewards for pointing out bus with the system or for giving suggestions for names for your new projects, perhaps you can also give an award to those who come up with the best ways to implement your new projects, that might get you more input, specially if you set a higher award for ideas that you are actually going to use.
That's a good idea that perhaps can complement this project at some point in the future, but I believe that if they start by selling out of the donated domain pool to begin with is a better way to train them. Everyone assumes that the domain pool is going to be made up of domains that have no value that people just threw away, so why not conduct a poll to see what kind of domains people here are willing to donate as far as quality and value, before making any judgments. Remember people don't have to donate hundreds of domains, just 2 or 3 good ones that have some resale potentials, considering the large number of well off domainers on this forum even if each person donated one good domain that can add up to be a big pool.
You are right about buying at few hundred dollars in the Aftermarket and selling for four figures to end users being very doable, many people here are doing it everyday.
How many members here with large portfolios do you think will be willing to donate a two or three hundred dollar domain to the pool that can be sold by the participants in the program for double or more, that's what we need to find out, and if you say that no one is going to donate even one domain then I guess the domain Industry is not what we all thought it was.
You didn't say why we can't create a pool of donated domains, like one domain by each member that are in the two or three hundred dollar range and you keep reverting back to the participants having to deal with worthless or leftover domains, please address this precisely without any diversions.
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And that's fine if you don’t want to donate any domains, are we allowed to find out what everyone else in the forum is willing to donate, and till then any more objections to this project will be baseless. IMO
People can pledge the domains that they want to donate in the poll thread, which I also will include the domain that I want to donate at that time, as far as people backing out of their pledge I believe you are not giving that much credit to the many long standing members here. End of discussion for now.
I believe that it's best to combine these two programs together so that the goodwill domains project will complement and energizes the micro finance project. One program that encompasses everything such as grants, interest free loans, domain donations, money, time, and effort donations, educational materials and courses, and application wetting procedures. This way there will be less confusion for everyone including the participants. IMO
Added:
Also because charity and donations are involved there has to be a special board to oversee these program to make sure there is no bias or discrimination toward the participants and in handling the donations and funds. IMO
Congrats,
The participants in the program might actually become much more knowledgeable than the average domainer. A very good step that shows your seriousness toward making this project work. IMO
Domaining is mostly a hobby for me that keeps my mind active and helps expand my vocabulary so that I can write about my favorite subjects such as the Environment, Free Speech, and AI. I have been reading the forum and blogs for many years now and I probably know most of the stuff subconsciously, so I was asking for other domainers who have become fans of Epik (but thanks anyway
it's really your subconscious that needs to be trained so that you can know the right order and value of all the important keywords in all the different extensions, and to be able to get a feel for what makes for a good brandable domain, or have the knowledge to sift through all the numeric and 3 or 4 letter domains to find the gems and that takes many years. But the right training course will at least set some guidelines so you won't have to repeat the same mistakes that others before you have made and it's a quick way to learn some sales skills. I assume that the participants are going to be selling domains from a pool of donated and expiry stream domains that will be heavily refined by Rob and his staff, so that the participants can concentrate their efforts on selling, as far as expanding this to marketing web presence packages that's a good idea and is probably not out of the question either at some point in the future. IMO
You make some facts in your own mind and then want to force it on everyone else, so let's be honest and consider some facts that everyone can agree on:
There are probably less than 1500 domainers Worldwide who are actually making a profit in which about 10 percent of those might consider this their full time job. (not counting those who are employed by registry and registrars or development and hosting companies).
Thousands of people have tried their hands at domaining over the years and have failed.
thousands more just want to have something to keep them busy and don't rely on domains as a source of income.
A few of the more experienced domainers at Epik are going to give a chance to some disadvantaged people to try to make some money by selling domains under their close supervision and guidance.
The participants may not necessarily need to be best at picking domains at first, they just have to learn some sales and communication skills so that they can market the list of domains that have been refined by Rob and his staff and will have a chance to expand that to selling web presence packages later on.
If the participants fail they walk away with some valuable communication and sales skills that they can then use in other fields.
Now in all honesty do you want to deprive these people from the only chance (however small) that they have of getting out of poverty either through domaining or by using the skills that they have acquired here in some other fields.
I can't guarantee that this project will work definitely, but I am not going to go out of my way to stop it either, we just have to wait and see.
PS: Some of them might already be reading this posts and cringe at seeing all the LOLs that you (as a well off domainer in the West) are using in this thread.
As I have repeatedly said you (and many other people here) are making some very good points to watch for that will surely help @Rob Monster adjust and refine this program as it evolves and is developed further (hence the fact that Rob created this thread to hear all opinions) so there is no problem with you giving your opinion about this project as long as you don't go out of your way to try to convince everyone to do as you want based on what is in effect only your personal view of this program and the domain Industry as at large.
For a minute forget about all the numbers and all the facts and try to think of domains and domaining as an EXCUSE to try to engage this people and to try to create some interactions and friendships with them to give them hope that at least a few people on the other side of the World are thinking about them and who care about their constant struggle in life just to survive. Rob is in the domain Industry and as such domain related projects is perhaps the only way that he has available to him to try to help, if he was a famous painter and owned an art gallery he might have then tried to teach people how to paint and sell theirs (or other people's) paintings or to market painting supply packages.
Considering all the factors since this is the only way that Rob and the other domainers have available to them to try to give a helping hand to the disadvantaged (other than just handing out cash) then perhaps we should not focus so much on chances of failure (as we all know it's great) and focus on helping Rob by engaging the participants when they come to the forum and try to give them some additional help and guidance. The friendships that are established and the communication and sales skills that the participants can gain through this program makes this a worthwhile project even if they fail at selling even one domain. IMO
This is a very valid point, depending on how far @Rob Monster wants Epik to grow perhaps it's a good idea to rethink the use of this logo before it attracts any negative attention from the Swiss Authorities.
The other Alternative would be for him to try to get an exemption from the Swiss Government based on the Digital Empowerment Program and the Charity work that he is doing, but that's going to be a one in a million shot as it seems that they are very strict about their logo. IMO
Do you recommend asking for permission.
Perhaps what Rob means is that he likes to see a unified effort on behalf of the domain Industry to combat fraud.
@Rob Monster , The problem is those who are well established here are not going to scam you and those who steal domains or buy their own domains off of the sales landers and pocket the payment are out of reach or not worth it to pursue across different continents. You just have to put better safeguards and wetting procedures in place to minimize your losses, but some of it just can't be avoided as any one in business knows.
The other alternative is to hire a domain bounty hunter who has gun and will travel :)
PS: I am already tired from doing so much typing on the other Rob's threads so not going to go back and forth here again. ;)
I am not talking about this specific name here, but the fact that a domain might have been just registered should not affect its value, granted that most newly registered domains might not be worth a lot, but you never know when someone might get lucky and register a million dollar domain and so it's best to evaluated each domain on its own merit and inherent value and not necessarily on when it was registered. I think perhaps we need to add this to the Epik University courses.
From my research it seems that "to Vet", "Vetted" or "Vetting" are related to the word "Veterinarian" which was originally derived from the Latin word "Veterinae" which means Cattle in English. So I assume that the same way a Veterinarian has to do a thorough examination of a herd of Cattle to make sure that they are all okay and can be given a seal of approval the same principal can apply when Vetting people (or domains in this case).
Just think of Domains as Cattle and then Vetted Names or Domains can make more sense.
One other thing that might make us stay put is our health condition and having access to doctors who are familiar with us, but for younger domainers that are healthy and successful I guess the World can be their oyster. IMO
Unfortunately as some of the other Oldtimers here can tell you there are some things that come with age that just can't be prevented which perhaps limit ones travel ability and that will require you to stay close to your family doctor. I had a heart attack a few years back which has made me a lot more health conscious.
Here are some advice from the Oldtimer for everyone:
One thing that people need to watch for is to not to remain stationary for long periods of time while working. It's best to take a little walk every couple of hours or so to get the circulation going and to also look out the window at a far away place to relax your eyes. Also it's good to watch your posture so you won't be hunched over your computer or your smartphone all day and watch how much typing you do so you won't develop problems with your hands (also people should make sure to keep themselves hydrated as it's easy to forget to take a drink while busy working on the computer all day).
Some of the domains that you and others have suggested are not necessarily bad choices if someone (a domainer) wants to use them for their website, but to have a domain that is going to represent a Company (in this case Epik) it requires a name that is a few notches above most of the names that are suggested here. Perhaps one way that people can help is to not necessarily focus so much on the names that they own themselves, but rather suggest the most suitable names that are available in the market that are within the price range that Rob is willing to spend. IMO
That's a good idea, but instead of dropping a few domains each round until they are left with a clear winner, perhaps it might be better to screen and filter the domains themselves until they get to the last 5 finalist and then take a poll in the forum to help find the winner. I wonder if NamePros can create an option so that you can indicate the number of months that a member has to be around in order to be able to vote. I doubt that those who have made it to the top 5 would take a chance by messing around with the votes on purpose. IMO
it would also be nice if you had the option to conduct a private poll at NamePros (by invitation only perhaps) to choose the top 5 finalists and then hold a public poll to get the opinion from all members on those 5 finalists. IMO
PS: it's also worth noting that in different parts of the World people give different preferences as to the singular or plural version of a domain and also the order of the keywords so it might not be just because of lack of linguistic or grammar skills it might just be that that's what sounds right to them. IMO
You come across as being a smart and knowledgeable person and as such regardless of what anyone might say here you yourself most likely know that whenever conducting a poll, it’s very important that nothing is allowed to affect the integrity of that poll. If people lose trust in the results that are indicated by the poll then it becomes pretty much useless. There is a Universal expectation of any kind of polling to be as accurate as possible which goes beyond what is being discussed in this thread. Although polls by nature can never be 100% accurate and the results should not be taken as fact, but with a small percentage that is allowed for error (usually around 1 to 5 percent) they can still give us a good idea as to what we can expect.
As far as what is happening here on this thread, it could very well be completely natural for a group of people to think very highly of a certain domain, as I said earlier a few posts back people in different parts of the World give different preferences as to a domain being plural or singular and also as to the order of the keywords. So something might make perfect sense to a group of people in one part of the World that might look out of place to people in another part. So its quite possible that a certain domain that doesn’t make sense to some people here has been voted up by others who might have honestly thought very highly of that domain.
On the other hand if a group of people let their friendship with someone affect their vote by knowingly voting up a mediocre domain which they themselves know that is not worth all the attention and perhaps they wouldn’t even buy it themselves, then that is absolutely wrong and cannot and should not be justified in any way. You being knowledge in domains and being familiar with what might be considered a good choice by some naturally are in the best position to tell us whether the poll here is just a natural event or whether it has been intentionally manipulated for the specific domain that is the subject of disagreement here. If it has been intentionally manipulated then it's very important to take some steps to prevent it from happening again and perhaps you are in the best position to take those steps by educating others. IMO
In the past Companies had to make a lot of defensive domain registrations in order to protect their brand, now with the Introduction of "URS" by ICANN they no longer need to keep so many defensive registrations specially since the cost of keeping so many domains can add up quickly over the years. IMO
URS = Uniform Rapid Suspension
(System)
PS:I wouldn't recommend registering any domains from their dropped list unless they are generic.
One reason that they haven't done this might be because if there is a TM on a certain generic word that is not going to automatically mean that other people can't register that word as a domain for use in a totally different field or category. Perhaps getting a heads up for an existing exclusive TM such (a coined word or phrase) might be a good addition to the domain search, but you want to be careful not to unjustly discourage people from registering a domain that might be perfectly okay for them to use in a totally different field or category from the existing TM.
The strength of the TM is also important in this situation
The made-up and coined words and phrases have the strongest TM as long as the TM is active.
When the TM holder is the only one that is using a word within a certain field or category that also makes the TM very strong while the TM is active.
But if the word or combination of words are being used by many different people within the same field or category that will make the TM somewhat weak.
It's also important to note that some TMs are given very easily and in mass by countries that want to give an advantage to their own people over others without having that much merit which makes them somewhat unenforceable.
Although it might be good for registrars to give a heads up about TMs in order to show that they take TMs seriously and are not laxed about them, but at the same time I don't believe that they should go out of their way to prevent people from registering their desired domain as every situation is different and must be evaluated on a case by case basis. IMO
(this is just my personal opinion, not meant as legal advice, keep in mind that I might be wrong in my understandings and assumptions, it might be best to consult with an attorney for your specific situation.)
It's quite possible that some companies might Choose to be laxed about their TM to the point that it might benefit them somehow as far as public relations and promoting their products and services are concerned. I guess after a while people will figure out which companies are laxed and which ones are strict when it comes to enforcing their TM, although by law all companies are required to enforce their TM or they might lose their rights to it. It's also possible that some companies might get a throw away or disposable TM that they know they are not going to enforce just so they get some publicity out of it. (just guessing)
Obviously any large company with unlimited resources and with the help of URS (Unified Rapid Suspension) can take infringing domains down anytime they want to, so if they choose not to that means that they might be seeing some benefit in it somehow.
(Just my personal opinion, not meant as legal advice)
The problem is that registrars have to have a pretty smart system (AI) that can figure out whether to issue a TM waning for a specific domain search or not. If they issue a blanket warning for anything that has a TM associated with it that will certainly create a disadvantage for the less informed who might otherwise be discouraged from registering their desired domains, in my opinion the wording of the warning is very important and while it should give a heads up to the registrant about the TM, but it should also indicate that they might still be able to register the domain depending on their intended use and that they need to consult with an attorney if they have to have a certain domain.
(Just my personal opinion, not intended as legal advice.)
whenever conducting a poll, it’s very important that nothing is allowed to affect the integrity of that poll. If people lose trust in the results that are indicated by the poll then it becomes pretty much useless. There is a Universal expectation of any kind of polling to be as accurate as possible which goes beyond what is being discussed in this thread. Although polls by nature can never be 100% accurate and the results should not be taken as fact, but with a small percentage that is allowed for error (usually around 1 to 5 percent) they can still give us a good idea as to what we can expect. We also need to keep in mind that people in different parts of the World give different preferences as to a domain being plural or singular and also as to the order of the keywords. So something that might make perfect sense to a group of people in one part of the World might look out of place to people in another part and so we need to view things from a broader perspective as there might be a perfect explanation for something that on the surface looks odd such as a misunderstanding or lack of proper guidelines for casting the votes. On the other hand intentional manipulation of the poll is absolutely wrong and cannot and should not be accepted or be justified in any way of form and we all should take the necessary steps to prevent it from happening as much as possible.
I was talking in general in terms of policy, but perhaps there should be some guidelines indicated with each poll so that people know what is or is not acceptable when it comes to the gray areas.
At the bottom of the poll it says:
"Multiple votes are allowed"
Why not expand that and include some more guidelines, a lot of people say that they didn't know that they weren't supposed to vote for a name just to help their friends, it might cut down drastically on false results if rules are clearly indicated at the top and below the poll. Also as I and others had indicated before there should be some minimum requirements for a person to be able to vote such as minimum 3 months membership and minimum of 25 posts. IMO
Everyone here is putting their focus on fraud and intentional manipulation of the Poll, I believe that we should give people the benefit of the doubt and focus more on educating them and providing them with clear guidelines on what would be okay and what would be considered unacceptable by the majority of members here when voting. In my opinion the clear guidelines plus the minimum requirements to vote will drastically cut down on false results, why not try it and see.
Having too strict of requirements will deprive new domainers from voting who maybe just weren't aware of what is okay and what is not when voting, so I still believe that a modest minimum requirements PLUS adequate guidelines is the way to go so we won't leave good people who didn't know any better out (you can always raise the minimum requirements later if necessary). IMO
I believe everything that needs to be said is already said, it's just up to you to see if you want to try them or not, but thanks for your attention and input anyway.
You asked a question so I assume it's okay to continue with this discussion to answer it.
It all depends on what the poll taker is asking which in this case was which domain was most suitable for his project, so people who are voting are expected to put his interest first when voting for a domain name. If the poll taker had asked whom do you all want to help by buying their domain then it would have been okay for people to petition for their friends and vote their names up regardless of its quality.
Nevertheless as far as established domainers doing the same thing I don't think that we need to worry about that that much and if it did happen I am sure that other experienced domainers here will certainly notice any anomalies if a mediocre domain is voted to the top.
Also as I had mentioned before perhaps it would have been better if the list had been refined first to like 5 candidates and then the poll was taken to see which one people liked the most. all other domains could have been mentioned and evaluated in the thread itself without being included in the poll. IMO
The reason that I mentioned a mediocre domain is because that that will show up as a clear anomaly as is the case with the poll in this thread.
Nevertheless give people the benefit of the doubt by believing that most will do the right thing if they are provided with proper and adequate guidelines, and for the few that might not I guess that's why all polls have a margin of error.
keep "Dislike" for comments and posts that are truly rude, insulting, hateful, or just pure immoral and inappropriate for a public and professional forum such as this, but add "Disagree" for when the comments and posts are not inappropriate but you just Disagree with them. (Dislike should pretty much do the same job as the Report button with the difference that it should show how many times someone's comment or post have been reported and by whom.)
Also have a way to appeal any given Dislikes so that moderators can determine whether it was given justly or out of hate or bullying.
You might be right, but if using Dislike is only used for the very extreme situations (by also having a Disagree button) then there wouldn't be that much extra load on the Moderators to process any appeals for when it might have been given unjustly because of hate or bullying by someone. IMO
You might be right too, but it should work both ways as far as the Moderators checking in to it to see if a person needs to be temporarily suspended or permanently banned for getting too many Dislikes or whether the Dislikes were given unjustly to bully that person. IMO
Added: If a member justly gets over lets say 3 Dislikes because of making inappropriate comments or posts on the forum then that person should be put on probation and if they continue getting Dislikes lets say over 5 times then they should get suspended or band.
Actually you should use the Disagree button if you think someone is spewing nonsense in Your Opinion and only use the Dislike button on the rare occasions that someone is making comments or posts that are not appropriate for a public and professional forum such as NamePros. IMO
To use the Disagree button is okay and should not be taken in a negative way by anyone. The Dislike button on the other hand should only be used for the very extreme situations. IMO
To provide a risk assessment report for a fee to evaluate a domain according to the criteria that is listed in the original post might be a doable plan. You can also charge different fees depending on how detailed the client wants the report to be. But to insure the client against all these risks is a totally different matter that goes beyond just being an expert in the domain Industry and requires detailed knowledge and expertise in the insurance Industry. IMO
PS: It might be a good idea to also include in the report whether the domain has a good chance of being trademarkable or not and that if the exact same name is already being used in other extensions for providing similar services. IMO
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The thing about being an Insurance provider (Company) is that you have to become a little bit of a Shark.
Most Insurance Companies have 3 lists that they use to categorize their customers and clients:
The A list, these are the customers that are pampered by the Insurance Company, their claims are processed promptly and they are compensated even more than they expected so that there wouldn’t be any chances that they would complain. This list contains people of influence, power, and fame which can destroy the companies reputation or even put them out of business if they are somehow unsatisfied with their claim.
Then there is the B list, these are the average people that the Insurance Company pays reluctantly and usually tries to cut their compensation to a fraction of what they truly deserve which ends up with the customers having to have to go through a painful and lengthy legal battle in order to get relief.
And then finally there is the C list: These are the customers that the Insurance Company gladly accepts payments from, but knows that because of their lower social status and lack of resources that they never have to pay on the majority of their claims. Hence making the Insurance Company a vehicle and instrument that takes money from this somewhat helpless group to cover the cost of over compensating the people in their A list.
In another words collecting money for Insurance and actually having to have to pay on any claims are too totally different matters. In short you can’t be a nice guy and run a successful and profitable Insurance Company. (of course this is just my personal understanding of the Insurance business and might very well be wrong.)
----------------------------------------------------
I agree, giving people Internet access and a way to interact with others should be top priority. IMO
Although you have to be careful about the political and cultural conditions that exist on the ground. I predict that Internet Blackouts are going to become a more frequent event as conflict and hostilities rise around the World further limiting opportunities for those who are in undeveloped regions. IMO
Keep in mind that some people let some domains go because they are constantly in the process of upgrading their portfolio. It's hard to maintain a large portfolio and keep everything, but if you keep refining and triming your portfolio to become a small and manageable size of all quality domains then even though you have fewer domains, but your overall portfolio is much better.
My motto is to keep only so many domains that you can remember each one personally. Although there are a lot of people who play the numbers game and so they keep very large portfolios, but I personally find that to be too stressful to manage (at least for an Oldtimer like m
PS: domaining is just a hobby for me.
Rob I believe that you are on the right track, you have to experiment a little to be able to fine tune these projects and some of it is going to evolve and develop on its own as time goes by. The important thing is that you want to help empower others and put them on the road to prosperity, people just have to be a little patient and give you a little time to figure out the best way to implement these projects, people on NamePros are lucky to be able to see first hand how these projects are put together by you, its a good lesson in how to be productive and make a Company grow. People have to realize that you could have done all these in private and then no one here would have had the chance to learn anything from all this. IMO
This project is about Digital Empowerment that leads to Prosperity,
"Digital Prosperity" already implies that people have been empowered as it's the next step that logically follows empowerment.
Although DigitalProsperity.com might look just a tad long, but when someone sees it somewhere in print or ad it automatically conveys all the meaning and purpose that are associated with this project.
My other choice would be eRise, its a short domain that can be branded easily, but using "e" might be a little outdated, although the fact that .com and .net are not already developed for eRise and can also be bought for this project is a BIG advantage and might put "eRise" above "Digital Prosperity" depending on whether Rob is going to consider getting the .com and .net for eRise or not.
"Reliable" is a very nice keyword to have in any extension, but I wonder if it fully conveys the message for this project.
IMO
Why did it take you so long to figure this out. :)
I think it's a very good idea, as long as you have generic domains.
As far as selling domains go, why would you want to sell any domains that are bringing so much more sales for your store, not only you shouldn't be selling any of your generic domains, but you might even be better off by adding to your portfolio if its making your sales grow in your stores.
By the way how much does your whole portfolio generate in terms of traffic. ( if you don't mind saying)
PS: I think it's okay to redirect so many domains Only to your own site not to other people's (though I might be wrong). Also I believe you should only do permanent forwarding ( without masking) so you won't get any security warnings (need to check on this with your registrar).
IMO
Some people also make minisites for the domains that don't have natural type-in traffic and link them to their main website, but you have to make sure that your minisites are of high quality so that they rank high and pull traffic from the search engines to your main site. IMO
----------------------------
My 5g domains:
5gAssistant.com
5gAutomation.com
5gCompany.com
5gEnterprise.com
5gPerformance.com
5gPrinter.com
5gSmartglasses.com
My AI Domains (all hand registered):
AiAutoTech.com
AiConquest.com
AiCryptoMining.com
AiDesignHub.com
AiGolfer.com
AiLegalAid.com
AiPersonality.com
AiSecuritySystem.com
AiSecurityCameras.com
AiSecurityRobot.com
AiSecurityConsulting.com
AiInfotainment.com
AiServiceCenter.com
AiSpaceship.com
AiTrainingHub.com
AiTrainingCourses.com
AiBusinessTech.com
AiBusinessSystems.com
AiOfficeSolutions.com
AiStockbroker.com
AiTravelAgent.com
Ailenders.com
AiEngineeringFirm.com
AiFarmEquipment.com
AiRoboticTech.com
AiRoboticSystems.com
AiServiceRobot.com
AiAutonomousCar.com
AiAutomationServices.com
AiAutomationConsultants.com
AiHomeAssistant.com
AiBusinessAssistant.com
AiOfficeAssistant.com
AiSalesAssistant.com
AiTeachingAssistant.com
AiTravelAssistant.com
AiLegalAssistant.com
AiSecurityAssistant.com
AiWeb.Site
ArtificialIntelligence.Center
ArtificialIntelligence.Systems
If you don't feel comfortable disclosing how much traffic your portfolio generates (as I had asked earlier) then perhaps it might be a good idea to have this thread closed and open another thread for discussing redirected traffic in general without using your store or portfolio as an example. IMO
We are not talking about the store as requested,
but the kind of domains you have and the amount of traffic that they generate is an important metric to have for this discussion, so as I said a new thread to discuss directed traffic in general might not be a bad idea, although I like to see what OP has to say about this. IMO
And so the fact that the majority of your domains are geo targeted to your local market is what is making all the difference here as far as your redirected traffic being so effective. IMO
By the way can you give us a rough idea of how much traffic your 1000 domains are generating. (if that's a trade secret then I understand).
Do they charge by the word to make a post in Germany :)
It would be nice to add a little more explanation in your reply
Right, and to have Targeted human visitors versus those who are browsing in General is what is considered to be the ideal traffic which the OP apparently has here. IMO
We are not here to persecute the OP, but rather to discuss and learn from redirecting the traffic from domain portfolios, and as such that's why I suggested that it might be better to start a new thread for this and leave all personal info out of it about anyone's domains or store. IMO
I agree that Google gives more weight to pure city and regional geographical domains especially in their corresponding ccTLD (in this case .ca), and as such forwarding 1000 such domains to a website can create a lot of credibility for that site which can give it a higher ranking in search engines resulting in more visitors. It's worth noting that forwarding the wrong kind of domains to your main website can have the opposite effect and might lower your search engine ranking. IMO
Also it's important to keep in mind that any kind of change or activity can cause a temporarily uptick in visibility for a website, whether that is going to hold for the long run is what needs to be considered before using redirecting your portfolio's traffic as a viable and long term strategy. IMO
In addition to using the increase in your actual sales as a metric if you also kept track of all the traffic that your website is getting then you'll be in a better position to decide whether it's a good idea to increase the size of your portfolio and get even more city and geo targeted domains in .ca to forward to your website. IMO
It's possible that Google might just limit this experiment to those credible sites that are already showing on the first and second page of the results. I doubt that a big company like Google would do something like this without first thoroughly thinking it through. IMO
Now I guess we are only talking about taking a voluntary break here, but there might also be occasions that one has to take a break due to an unforeseen and unexpected event such as having to be hospitalized for a necessary operation, and this made me think if people here would trust another domainer to handle their portfolio for them if they were somehow not available to do it themselves, now we are not talking about family members who might not know anything about domains, but other domainers in the community here or in the Industry at large (assuming that they are willing to do it).
It would be nice to take a poll to see how many people here trust another domainer to handle their portfolio and at what level (completely or limited access).
Outbounding is too stressful for me, ever since I had a heart attack a few years back I find it hard to deal with all the anxiety and pressure that is associated with cold calling and emailing end users. Domaining is more like a hobby for me, I keep a very small portfolio that I have created mostly by hand registering domains that I have found through researching new trends and new technologies. I honestly rather to be able to keep most of the domains in my collection, but I have made Sales Landers for them in the hopes that I could sell maybe couple of domains here and there to help with renewals and new registrations, although I find having a small portfolio and not being able to aggressively pursue end users to be a big disadvantage for me as a domainer. IMO
Since the majority of the Word1Word2 .coms in ones portfolio are of average (or lower) quality as already mentioned in this thread, then logic says that if you want to dabble in New gTLDs then go after the best Word1.Word2 domains that you can find and afford irregardless of whether they match any of the existing two word .coms that you might already have in your portfolio. In another words get something like '"Free . Games" if the renewals are affordable instead of a matching New gTLD for an average domain in your portfolio.
PS: Although it's getting harder to find any high quality New gTLDs at regular renewal prices, but there might still be some that might have been overlooked by the registry or that are dropping that have low renewal charges.
IMO
That's a good idea, and make the dot above "i" black, to give the logo a little more diversity. IMO
Did you mean to say "is worth"
It also depends on ones financial situation and the size of their portfolio, for those who are usually struggling with renewal costs (like most domainers here) they will probably have to drop the matching New gTLD in a year if the only reason that they got it was to complement an average two word .com
I like to have high enough quality New gTLDs at low renewal charges that can stand on their own merit and inherent value and that can prove to be a better choice to keep at renewal time when you put them against the rest of the two word .coms in the portfolio that you might have to trim.
Now if you are an end user who only has a few domains then it's probably best to secure the matching New gTLDs for your main websites before they fall in the hands of your competition.
PS: If as a domainer you have some high quality two word .coms that you can afford to get the matching New gTLDs for then I say go for it, but I doubt that you can find those matching New gTLDs at low renewal charges if your two word .coms are that great.
IMO
There are two algorithms in play here.
The Google algorithm which by itself does not (or is not supposed to :)) differentiate between extensions and domain length.
And then there is the algorithm in people's brains which Does differentiate between extensions and domain length.
If all three domains in the OP's example show up on the first page of the results based only on doing great SEO and without any prejudice or bias to the extension or domain length by Google then the one that people find as having the most relevant, attractive, trustworthy, and to the point domain and URL is going to get clicked on and as they click more and more on a certain domain and URL that will make that domain and URL more credible in Google's eyes and thus increase its ranking.
In many cases people might prefer clicking on a famous brand or company over a category defining domain in that field, and so well known brands will get clicked on more even if they don't have the main keyword in their domain or even if they just use a three letter domain, but for the lesser known brands and companies it helps to have the main keyword included in the domain to give them some relevancy even if it makes the domain a little longer.
Disclaimer: This is just my personal understanding and perspective of this situation, I might be wrong in some of my assumptions.
-----------------------
There are two algorithms in play here.
The Google algorithm which by itself does not (or is not supposed to ;)) differentiate between extensions and domain length.
And then there is the algorithm in people's brains which Does differentiate between extensions and domain length.
If all three domains in the OP's example show up on the first page of the results based only on doing great SEO and without any prejudice or bias to the extension or domain length by Google then the one that people find as having the most relevant, attractive, trustworthy, and to the point domain and URL is going to get clicked on and as they click more and more on a certain domain and URL that will make that domain and URL more credible in Google's eyes and thus increase its ranking.
In many cases people might prefer clicking on a famous brand or company over a category defining domain in that field, and so well known brands will get clicked on more even if they don't have the main keyword in their domain or even if they just use a three letter domain, but for the lesser known brands and companies it helps to have the main keyword included in the domain to give them some relevancy even if it makes the domain a little longer.
Disclaimer: This is just my personal understanding and perspective of this situation, I might be wrong in some of my assumptions.
Quotes from your article:
“There are various measures of internet website use, with the main ones being Alexa, Cisco Umbrella, Majestic, SimilarWeb, and QuantCast.”
“The Cisco rankings are based on the number of unique DNS (Domain Name System) queries are made for a domain, but only counting those from different IP Internet Protocol ) addresses.”
End Quote.
So I have two questions, first what is the effect of static or dynamic IP addresses in Cisco’s ranking system and how do they account for that, and my second question is what results would you get for the top 50 TLDs if you took the average for each TLD of the combined ranking data from all the various measurement systems that you had indicated.
And thanks for a great article.
, I think that Reliable is also a very good domain and might come in handy for one of the many projects that are being undertaken now or in the future. It's always good to have some Reliable people around that can can help when needed. IMO
The thing about .News is that with so much News happening all around the World people repeatedly go to News websites all day long and so it can add up to a lot of traffic specially if they use dynamic IP and each visit counts as a new unique visitor. IMO
Also as far as .US is concerned a lot of schools and Institutions use this extension which amounts to a lot of traffic. IMO
If you do a Google search for:
Site:.News
You will see many websites that are actually using .News in addition to Apple and Amazon who might be redirecting their .News domain.
Where did you see any mention of .news sites being above .com
If I am not mistaken the chart is saying:
amount of traffic / number of sites
is a bigger number for .News than .com
Thanks for going through all the trouble to compile all these stats, but it's important to keep in mind that these stats although interesting, but should not be used as the Only metric in selecting what New gTLDs or other TLDs are worth registering for domainers. For one thing even in the most obscure and least popular extensions there are still a handful of domains that might make perfect sense to register. Also there are some extensions that might be popular with end users who register their actual company or personal names and don't care about the most popular keywords that domsiners think are valuable.
You have to consider many different metrics when registering a domain and most importantly is your own gut feeling when considering what to register as far as having the most potentials.
For example I like the .ForSale gTLD but it's not even on the list.
Here are some examples of my domains:
EVs.ForSale
3dPrinter.ForSale
SmartGlasses.ForSale
SmartHomes.ForSale
FlyingCars.ForSale
Wearables.ForSale
It's also worth mentioning that different people register domains for different reasons, so there is not one formula that can work for everyone, I for example collect domains as a hobby and use them to express my ideas and opinions and I don't necessarily like to sell domains as I like to create a network of quality domains that I can use to forward to my main website for the book that I am thinking of publishing online (and perhaps off line), meanwhile I have made sales landers for most of my domains in the hopes that I can make couple of sales so that I can pay for renewals and new registrations, but in general I like to be able to keep all my domains.
This is great, if the increase holds up (or gets even more) then perhaps you shouldn't worry that much about domain sales since the increase in sales for your website is probably equivalent to as if you sold two domains per month (or even per week). You might even think about adding more authoritative .ca City and Geo related domains to your portfolio.
A long time ago I had a large portfolio of .US City and Geo related domains and were trying to do something similar to what you are doing, but unlike you unfortunately my project was killed by the famous search engines that intentionally blocked .US domains and put me on the path of hardship. It's amazing how a domain extension can affect our destiny. :-/
Retargeting might be a good idea, but you have to make sure it doesn't create any negative effects, I saw a program on TV once that people were saying that they felt kind of creepy when they saw ads following them around every where they went. (as far as privacy concerns). IMO
You need to think a little more about the potential adverse effects of doing this before saying a definite No
Forum Posts 1-c
Forum Posts 1-c
Forum Posts 1-c
Are they going to see Epik.com in those ads and how is that going to affect the Epik brand for people who are not comfortable with this.
This not just the stuff of science fiction anymore, That's why I registered the following domain names:
RightOfThought.com
ThoughtPrivacy.com
ThoughtPiracy.com
You are being very reasonable as far as being "cautiously optimistic".
This idea might work in certain circumstances and might have some adverse effects in some other situations. That's why any benefits that it might have versus the harmful effects that it might create have to be considered very carefully when it comes to getting the Epik brand involved in any such project. IMO
It might not be that far off, AI can already interpret your brain neural activity.
The positive side of this is that it can help disabled people control prosthetic arms and legs by AI interpreting what the mind wants to do. The reverse is also true a device can interpret images and directly send the signals to the part of the brain that interprets signals sent to it from the eyes thus helping the blind to be able to see (or at least have some idea of what's around them). IMO
I believe we are going to keep being amazed in the next couple of decades as we have entered a new era in human progress which will explode exponentially once AI starts to be creative and innovative on its own. I just hope that Humanity can keep up with its social and environmental progress at the same pace. Human brain is more like a quantum computer which is part of a natural network of life that includes most intelligent life forms on earth which together have created a powerful force unmatched by anything that technology has to offer so far in terms of intellect although AI is catching up fast. The infusion of this natural network with AI will hopefully result in a force for good that can save humanity and this planet in the near future, so it doesn't have to be all bad. IMO
PS: as interesting as this conversation is, but we better get back on topic of this thread. IMO
The future of search is going to be AI to AI Networking, search will evolve to a higher level of awareness of exactly who is offering a product or service and who is looking for that same product or service and it’s going to be the AIs that are going to make those people aware of one another and in essence become the matchmakers between the buyers and sellers. For example imagine that you have a rare coin for a specific year that you want to sell and you tell your AI assistant to find you a buyer, on the other hand someone somewhere else in the World has told his or her AI to find that exact coin for sale and since all AIs are part of a Global Network and are in constant commination with one another they will put the buyer and seller in touch and help facilitate the deal. The same can also work for domain names as the CEO of a company tells his or her AI assistant to find a certain domain to buy and you happen to have that exact domain or something very similar for sale. I believe that in the near future instead of parking domains it might be better to build a website for them that offers some kind of product or service or some valuable info that your AI assistant can introduce in to the AI Network for the other AIs to find. IMO
Parking might not be the same for everyone as it was before, but as some opportunities disappear other opportunities might arise to present themselves that might be even better than Parking. As Autonomous websites built and maintained by AI become more advanced, you might be able to make a network of sophisticated websites for your domain portfolio that in essence makes each domain in to a full fledged online business, a task that perhaps is too expensive, too time consuming, and too difficult to do for a lot of domains at the present time. Until we we see what the future has to offer it might be best to hang on to ones best domains. IMO
Michael, Your Parking system might be the exception and what you are claiming about your clients doing very well with your system might very well be true, I guess people can give your system a try to find out for themselves, I don't know either way since I have a very small portfolio of mostly average domains and I gave up on Parking a long time ago. You can't blame everyone for being mad at Parking in general when clicks that paid ten to fifty dollars before are now only paying a few cents (sometimes just half a cent) and so it makes everyone kind of suspicious of those who are saying that they are still thriving with Parking. And this has nothing to do with you or your Parking system as I Already mentioned yours might be an exception, but as someone who runs a Parking company how do you explain the one or two cent per click that most people are getting with other Parking companies, is it that businesses are not paying for advertising like they used to or is it that the other Parking companies are keeping all the money for themselves.
By the way is there a minimum number of domains or minimum traffic required in order to try your Parking system.
thanks for another nice article, one thing that should also be looked at and analyzed is the method of pricing these domains, understandably if some of these domains had been priced in the three figures or very low four figures then they might not have made the news.
As of now it seems like it's more the matter of luck to have a big company becoming interested in your New gTLD and as such perhaps people should price all their New gTLDs in the five figures so that if they get lucky and make a sale then at least they can brag about it and help create more recognition for New gTLDs. IMO
As already mentioned which I agree with we should be "Cautiously Optimistic" about the idea of Targeting, but we should consider all its effects to make sure that it doesn't produce any negative results. If the majority of people find it acceptable and are not bothered with the ads following them around then perhaps Targeting could be tested on a trial run, but you have to be careful as to not taking a gamble with your Brand and not to risk alienating some potential customers. IMO
I don't know that much about where you live in London and what advertisements you are subjected to when you take a walk in your neighborhood, but what I was talking about as far as AI reading your mind goes beyond anticipatory advertising that might be based on your searches and personal habits, what I meant was that AI can read and communicate with your mind directly, so for example the little voice in your head that prompted you to make your post is going to be accessible by AI perhaps without you even being consciously aware of it. So AI can peal all the layers of protection that you might have created for yourself and look right into your soul. Your employer can use AI to see if you are really loyal to the company that you work for or your spouse can use it to find out if you really love her or not. And the scary part is that all these can be done without your knowledge. Technology is a double sided sword that can be used to serve humanity or it can become misused and abused by those who don't want to respect other people's privacy. IMO
Another alternative is to select 10 experienced and trustworthy members who are also experts in branding and have them (and only them) to vote on the names, everyone else can post their comments in support of their favorite names to convince the 10 member panel to vote for them. This way it will cut down greatly on manipulation by anyone (provided that the 10 member panel have been selected properly). Also the poll results should be kept secret till the last day so that the 10 member panel won't be influenced by each other's votes. IMO
The ultimate question is do people have the right to be racist, and how far are they allowed to go to oppress, suppress, and eliminate those that they don’t like or agree with.
This goes beyond the freedom of speech as the person who is racist doesn’t have to say even one word to hurt others, all he or she has to do is to get in to some position of power and influence in the society and then inject his or her poison into people's lives without anyone noticing.
Was your job application put in the trash or filled somewhere out of sight so that it could be ignored even though you were perfectly qualified for a certain position, was your home loan application denied because someone didn’t want you to live in a certain neighborhood. Was your application for assistance denied because someone wanted to cut down on the competition and monopolize the limited resources that were available only for their own kind of people, was your insurance claim denied perhaps for the same reasons. Has someone at the top decided that you would never get promoted to higher positions because those had already been reserved for people of their own race. And finally did someone throw your whole race under bus and let you all be slaughtered, whether it happened during the Holocaust or whether it’s happening to some people as we speak it’s all because of Hate manifested in political, racial, gender, and religious prejudice and intolerance.
IMO
I often use my domain names to express my opinions and ideas, here is my original website that was taken down which I believe was done to limit my freedom of speech:
http://web.archive.org/web/20181215233311/https:/aimedicalcenter.com/
Luckily it had already been archived before it was taken down, now I have made a shorter version of my site which has so far been allowed to remain.
I am planning to write a book which will explain in more details my perspective and view of the World both as far as Life and the Environment and will examine the relationships and interactions between AI, Humanity, Natural and Artificial life forms and the Entities that govern over their existence.
IMO
It was a coceptualization done by me of what might become reality in the near future. Although after I had made my website another company started using the same name only with the difference that they are using "Centre" instead of "Center" which I am using for AiMedicalCenter.com
IMO
This was a simple an introductory website that I had made through the website builder at Godaddy and was up and running for almost nine months before all of a sudden was taken down on the same day that I mentioned it on this thread.
IMO
There are currently no reliable and accurate quantum computers in operation anywhere in the World. IMO
The prototype quantum computers that you hear about have an accuracy of about 30% , that means only 30 percent of the time they come up with the right answer, the main problem is that the entangled photons (or particles in some cases) are very fragile and don't hold for long. Now in 10 or 20 years we might have perfectly functional quantum computers or phones that you can hold in your hand, but for now they are very bulky and inaccurate devices that are only used by scientists in a few high tech labs.
IMO
When they say a major improvement that means compare to how they are now not the way that they are going be ultimately. Nevertheless as you know the regular computers that we have now at one time were also very bulky and weak and it took around 75 years for them to get to where they are now, so we should give the quantum computers a little time too to reach their optimum capabilities.
IMO
One thing to consider before getting too many hyphenated .coms is that how long are you willing to keep them, unless you have two very popular and valuable keywords or a combination of characters that makes sense that are separated by the hyphen then most people are probably not going to keep renewing them as long as their non hyphenated .coms
IMO
How about something like this for domain layaway:
Register 50 .coms and pay for them over six months (like $50/month).
Meanwhile the domains can point to SSL Sales Landers, and if one sells the layaway balance must be settled first
IMO
People in the Western World might make a lot more money per month, but they also have a lot more expenses and bills that eat up most of their money and that's why they use layaway for some of their purchases specially around the Christmas Holidays, you shouldn't pass judgement on others and deny them any opportunities as long as they pay for their layaways.
IMO
Where did you come up with the One year layaway and $50 dollars. I am sure most people can manage to pay $50 dollars without needing to use layaway. My original post was for 50 .com domains that are put in layaway and that are going to be paid over six months.
I believe that we are talking about four different things here, they might overlap in some cases, but they nevertheless apply to different people with different needs and no one should be looked down at for using any of these four programs because of their special needs and circumstances:
- Domain empowerment Grant
- Domain loan
- Domain tasting and Backorders
- Domain Layaway (for six months)
Domain loans are secured by some of the existing domains in the portfolio, domain layaways don't need credit check as the domains are held in escrow until the layaway balance is paid and so perhaps the only thing that needs to be done is for new registrations to be approved to make sure that they are worth taking a risk with in case the layaway is not paid and the domains have to go back to Epik after a grace period of lets say 15 days.
You recently mentioned in another thread that you had bought about 5 domains from a long list that had been sent to you for hyphenated domains, so if those 5 domains are good enough to register why not give the person who suggested them to you the opportunity to register those for himself or herself by using the layaway program.
IMO
It's not going to feed anyone's domain addiction if Epik (Rob) evaluates your wish list and approves the ones that have good potential and let's you put them on layaway, that actually helps to cut down on a lot of useless domains from being registered. That's what can be considered as providing real help to people as oppose to domainers suggesting domains and getting just a little bounty for their efforts while someone else handpicks the best domains off their list to register for themselve.
IMO
Not if Epik (Rob) reviews your wish list and has to approve the domains that are going to be put in layaway (as I had mentioned in my earlier post). As the matter of fact that can cut down on a lot of useless domains being registered.
IMO
Rob, if you personally review the domains that are going to be put in layaway that will surely improve the quality of the portfolios that are created through the layaway program specially for those domainers who are constantly in the process of refining their portfolio.
Refining = dropping bad domains and replacing them with good ones.
IMO
In order to reduce the risk of good domains being dropped perhaps you can add a feature that the domains with low DQI score can be sent for a manual review by Epik or by having them posted on a special thread here to get the opinion of the Namepros experts before people decide to drop them.
PS: Some domains like future trend domains might get low score and need human review and evaluation, so DQI score should be used only as one of the factors to determine the domains potential and should not be used as the sole determinant.
Hopefully AI will become advanced enough soon that it can help with domaining. :)
IMO
Thanks for the $5.99 special, was able to get a few domains which I would not have been able to get otherwise. I still have a few more domains on my wish list for next time you bring this special rate back.
IMO
Hey Eric, I live in a RV too and I really like it, think of it as if you are living on the Space Station or inside a Submarine with the difference that whenever you want you can open the door and come out.
Tiny homes (houses) can probably help solve the homelessness problem specially if they are 3d printed at very low cost.
I registered the domain name 3dPrintableHouse.com yesterday (I had 3dPrintableHome.com from before). I believe that Printable Houses are the way of the future. Big homes and mansions have too much of a carbon footprint and contribute to too much waste and pollution. Making houses smaller and more durable so that they can last for several generations is more earth friendly, so in a way you are living in the future :)
IMO
The way that I look at this is that there is currently too much pain, suffering, destruction, waste, hate, animosity, delinquency, greed, lust, torture, abuse, addiction, inequality, oppression, suppression, discrimination, and killings going on all over the World, anyone who wants to help free the Humanity from all these is on the side of the good and all those who want to keep the status quo and continue to add to all that keeps us in bondage are wrong and should be encouraged and educated to change their ways. Unfortunately the label Enemy is often used by those who want to eliminate anyone who wants to change the status quo.
IMO
You might not believe in God, but God believes in you.
You have been doing God's work all along by exposing the atrocities of the Holocaust and the Hate and Animosity that has been building up all around the World which might lead to yet another Holocaust soon such as what we have been seeing happening to the Kurds.
But you should not put all your focus on just one person, God wants you to expose all that is wrong in the World without bias. If you direct all your efforts towards just one person or one group and ignore all the other things that are going on around the World then you are going to come across as having some kind of a political, economical, or racial agenda of your own which will put you in a bad light.
God wants you and everyone else to expose all the Hate, extremist idealogies, Injustices, and bad characteristics that are preventing Humanity to ascend to a higher level of existence.
As to judging others that’s something that has to be left to our collective consciousness (God).
IMO
I live full time in my RV, but I haven't moved around since I had a heart attack and became disabled a few years back. The last time that I took a trip I was pulling my RV with an old 1986 diesel GMC Sierra Truck that I owned at the time and it was a real nice adventure going up and down the hills in Texas. That old faithful truck did its job and never broke down when I was on the road. I still miss that Truck I wish I hadn't sold it to the junk yard.
PS: I had the break system completely redone on the Truck and I also had put new tires on both the RV and the Truck and had all the wheel bearings repacked which saved me a lot of trouble when traveling.
IMO
It was a logical conclusion. ;)
Though now I am beginning to wonder if you were acting out of righteousness in your criticism of others or was there some other agenda involved.
IMO
JB this is more than just business, for some it's a matter of values and principals that they hold dear and want to stand by.
Aren't you bothered when people get censored on the basis of the political or religious interests and agendas of others. We all agree that there might be cause for censorship in some cases for legal or moral reasons, but when people are not doing anything illegal or immoral and yet they get censored because someone higher up doesn't like them or doesn't like what they say because it's against their interest or agendas then that should raise the alarm for all of us.
So basically sometimes the person who has been censored is in the wrong and sometimes the person who is doing the censoring is in the wrong and in a civil and free society we have to assess and evaluate each case to see who is in the wrong before passing any judgement either way.
IMO
Your criticism of Holocaust deniers made me think that you were on the side of good, I even defended you when one of your posts about them had been deleted in one of the discussions. Now I am beginning to think that you like to inject poison into any discussion that does not agree with your political, religious, and racial beliefs. Ridiculing the religious beliefs of others just because they believe in a higher power is wrong and is only done by those who have dictatorial ambitions and who consider themselves to be the higher power.
IMO
Yes, as I said at the time you seemed to be on the side of good, God still believes in you if you keep staying on the side of good.
IMO
Don't ridicule, Teach
IMO
As I already said I arrive at what God wants us to be and do based on logic and compassion. It's logical to believe that a higher power of higher intelligence is a force for good and so if you are doing good that tells me that you are on God's side.
IMO
And as long as you are doing something good then that's what ultimately matters to me.
I like watching the "Big Bang Theory" I think that those guys are funny, but if you have been following my posts on the other threads here at NamePros you know that I have been saying all along that Humanity as a whole needs to ascend to a higher level as I believe that that's what God wants for us, now you don't want to stand in the way of that do you.
IMO
So you be good and do good based on your beliefs and everyone else can be good and do good based on their beliefs and so the problem is solved.
I already told you what I believe God wants us to be and do based on logic and compassion.
When it comes to Rob you have to admit that he has changed for the better a little compare to when all this discussions started on NamePros, He has drawn some lines as far as what he supports and welcomes at Epik and to me that's progress. But he is still entitled to express his personal views and beliefs and to defend the values and principals that he believes in just like everyone else.
IMO
It's good to be alert, but you have to be careful not to hurt someone who genuinely wants to be good and do good, you also have to remember that people can change so as I said earlier here " don't ridicule, Teach".
IMO
I already told you what I believe God wants us to be and do based on logic and compassion.
When it comes to Rob you have to admit that he has changed for the better a little compare to when all this discussions started on NamePros, He has drawn some lines as far as what he supports and welcomes at Epik and to me that's progress. But he is still entitled to express his personal views and beliefs and to defend the values and principals that he believes in just like everyone else.
IMO
Sometime the solutions are simple and are right in front of us, but we tend not to see them,
As I said God wants Humanity as a whole to ascend to a higher level and to live based on the Universal values and principals that have been arrived at from logic and compassion.
IMO
Logic is Universal and not necessarily a human thing,
I haven't seen you saying anything as far as how to improve the situation for Humanity, you keep posting quotes and clips from others, but I haven't seen you offering anything on your own.
IMO
Don't divert my question by asking a question :)
What do you have to offer to improve the situation for Humanity,
I am interested to know what you yourself have to say not what you quote someone else is saying.
IMO
Perhaps you are right as far as me failing to explain everything, I don't claim to know everything as I am still looking for answers myself,
But I still like to know what you have to offer to help Humanity.
Everyone plays a role in the big picture (even you :)) ,
as far as what role Rob and his registrar plays perhaps it got taken a little off track by what conspired with some of his clients and his involvement with them, but I hope that it ends in him and his registrar having a positive effect in people's lives as far as empowering those in the developing Countries and protecting free speech and if that happens you should not keep badgering him for the past mistakes.
IMO
Very good point, but remember that logic by itself is not enough we have to combine it with compassion.
Right now everyone wants to twist the truth to suit their own interests and agendas, but the ultimate truth is that everyone has gone astray somehow and that has become very destructive to the future of Humanity and our Planet. That is why God wants us all to ascend to a higher level and live based on the Universal values and principals that have been arrived at through logic and compassion.
IMO
I like the .org extension, but I only get them when I also have the .com
Here are some of the combos that I currently have:
ClimateChangeRights.org / .com
GreenWoke.org / .com
ThoughtPrivacy.org / .com
ThoughtPiracy.org / .com
RightOfThought.org / .com
All open to offers in case any of the Elites who feel guilty want to pay me a million dollars for any of them :)
IMO
If the .com was already a website what would that mean for the .org , could it still be a viable choice for a non profit organization.
IMO
There are three factors in play here:
Quality
Quantity
And
Suitability
We all know that you can do better if you have Quality domains, although some people prefer to play the Quantity game by registering thousands of domains and even though those domains might not be of the highest quality, but they still manage to get a few sales due to the laws of probability, although you can only be successful with this method if you sell enough domains to cover the renewal of your very large portfolio, otherwise even if you have some sales but at the end you might still be taking a loss.
But when it comes to .org there is an additional factor that’s in play which is Suitability which in a way might be the most important factor. If you own the highest quality one word domains but which are not suitable to .org purpose and use then you might be scratching your head wondering why there is no interest in your domains. If you also own thousands of .org domains that are not suitable then the laws of probability that had worked for .com which gave you a few sales are not going to work for you in this case and eventually you are going to end up dropping the thousands of .org domains that you got thinking that no one can be successful with this extension.
If you manage to get all three factors of Quality, Quantity, and Suitability right as only an experienced domainer (like Rob) might be able to do then the .org extension could be a viable choice for some to venture in.
PS: as far as getting a bounty for domain suggestions, I believe that the person who has suggested a domain that has been sold to and end user later on should also get a percentage of the sale (between 10 to 25 percent) in addition to the $15 dollars finders fee that they originally got.
IMO
I agree that it's a tough call for some considering that Rob's threads stimulate so much discussions which otherwise wouldn't be there, NamePros might become a little boring without Rob.
IMO
We should also be tolerant to a certain degree of people using examples to prove their point. Domainers often refer to the domains that they own to make a point and Rob sometime uses the services and capabilities of Epik to do the same and as long as it is not done for the sole purpose of promotion then we should not be so hard on him.
Although as I already said any Direct promotions or anything intentionally disguised as such should be done in the appropriate section of the forum.
IMO
If someone said that you can hand register a domain today and sell it the next day for a million dollars you can't claim that their post is misleading and that should be deleted, all you can do is to post a comment that indicates that you don't agree with that claim and perhaps prove them wrong by presenting your arguments as an experienced domainer.
IMO
You used to get NP$ for your posts that could be used to buy domains with, I am not sure if that is still the case.
IMO
Not joking, but maybe I remember it wrong, perhaps some of the other Oldtimers here can verify that.
PS: When I said you I didn't mean Frank, I meant forum members in general.
I don't understand what you mean by that.
IMO
That's strange, because there are a lot of people here that I see have a lot more NP$ , nevertheless I am not sure if they still let you use NP$ to buy domains.
IMO
for one thing I am glad you made this thread in the Break Room section so that you can use your freedom of speech appropriately. ;)
I also want to congratulate you on your triumph over all those who wanted to bring you down, as you said you have actually come ahead in this ordeal by proving to everyone that you really care about helping others and that you are not motivated by wealth and material things alone.
Last but most importantly people should give thanks to God for the life that they have considering that there are many others who might have it worse.
PS: If you don't believe in God then just be thankful for your good luck for being where you are in life compare to others who might not have it as good. (I am sure God will understand in your case :-D).
IMO
It's hard to keep faith out of our discussions specially since we are not talking business here, but the important thing is to have respect for everyone's faith even those who choose not to have any and want to be their own savior.
But as you wish we can keep it limited just to these couple of posts. You do know that you can set certain rules for your thread in your original post to apply from now on, as the mater of fact I recommend doing so to keep things civil. This is what I use for my threads:
Everyone’s opinions are welcomed, but keep your comments constructive, professional, and on topic. Personal attacks and belittling of others are not tolerated.
IMO
"Everyone’s opinions are welcomed, but keep your comments constructive, professional, and on topic. Personal attacks and belittling of others are not tolerated."
I try to stick to these rules myself and I hope Rob and everyone else here also adopts them for all threads. Perhaps Rob can edit his post to make his language more professional, but that's up to him.
IMO
I must admit that I don’t have much experience with big domain sales personally, but over the years I have learned a few things by reading about domains and domaining which makes me come up with the following conclusion:
The domain Industry is like an Eco System which includes the bottom feeders who buy and sell domains for a few dollars profit all the way up to those who operate in the stratosphere who handle millions of transactions per year and then we also have many different levels in between. The big fish prey on the smaller fish in this Eco System by buying their domains on the cheap and selling it for much more than they could have done so themselves or by selling all those new gold prospectors tools and equipment of the trade and encouraging them (whether truthfully or falsely which is up for debate) that there is gold in them hills to give the smaller fish hope for registering and buying more and more domains.
Now there are some real opportunities in domaining at all levels, but For one thing any discussion about domain sales has to happen between people at the same level otherwise what each side is saying is going to come across as being wrong or crazy to others. For another thing certain successes that are happening at the higher levels by the big fish can not easily be duplicated at the lower levels by the smaller fish because just being a big fish makes a lot of difference in how successful a domainer can be. The big fish because of their already established financial situations can easily turn down lower offers in order to obtain those six or seven figure domain sales which a smaller fish would never be able or willing to do and will most likely end up surrendering their domains at a lot lower amounts even if they happen to have come up with a nice domain by chance. So I say to each their own when it comes to domain sales and strategies as everyone might actually be right with their claims at their own level.
And in conclusion I say shoot for the moon If you have the guts and If you can afford it.
IMO
Keep in mind that you only get one shot at this as good domains are not easily replaceable and you might not be able to keep the same level of inventory in the future.
IMO
You are right, and also should factor in the domains that have received offers through the years to further shorten the list that you have to manually evaluate.
IMO
You make a good point and I don't consider that trolling. But the question is whether all those who keep criticizing Rob mean to encourage him to correct some of his past mistakes or do they just want to destroy him as a person and as a Registrar. In all fairness Rob himself has already admitted that perhaps he was wrong in supporting certain speech and actions made by some of the members of certain groups considering that there were no effective measures taken to keep those members inline and that he has now drawn some lines as to what he allows at Epik. As for the part that falls under free speech being exercised lawfully by certain groups that might be considered undesirable by the society at large then that is something for the courts to handle as far as what limits if any should be put on their activities. I personally see some improvement in Rob's judgment and behavior compare to when all this started and if people here like to see even more improvements in that regards then they should engage Rob in a constructive and friendly manner instead of badgering and attacking him all the time. And people should also understand that he is entitled to have his own political, religious, and racial views and beliefs just like everyone else here.
IMO
We all know that, but even if you were Nazis, White Supremacists, Fascists, Fundamentalists, Atheists, , Rightist, Leftist, Capitalist, Communist, Conspiracy Theorist, or even Terrorists, I would still like to encourage you to Reform your Mindsets and Agendas to become more compatible with what is ahead for Humanity and this Planet as far as everyone ascending to a higher level which is based on the Universal Values and Rights that have been arrived at through Logic and Compassion. As every one here wants to make lemonade from lemons in their personal lives, perhaps a Higher Force wants to make lemonade from the whole World by making sure that we all become a Force For Good despite all our differences.
IMO
Forever domains sounds good if it's somehow guaranteed to be Forever although like most other Forever things like "lifetime warranty" it might be more of an advertising and branding tool than being what the word actually means.
Nevertheless why do we have to pay so much per year for a domain in the first place, I know that at the beginning it was necessary to charge something to get the internet infrastructure in place, but now that there are almost 300 million domains registered Worldwide why shouldn't the registry price of for example .com go down considering that the number of registrations have been steadily increasing and in a few years they might be double of what they are today.
I believe that when .coms registrations reaches to 200 million the registry should be charging 99¢ per domain plus 2 or 3¢ for ICANN fees.
IMO
The Registry price for .com is $7.85 and so when Rob gives us those $5.99 specials it's actually a loss that he absorbs to keep us happy. That's why I was complaining about us having to pay so much for .coms earlier. If the Registry only charged lets say $1.99 then Rob could give us $2.99 specials on .com and still make a little profit.
The Registry is taking a lot of money from everyone that they really don't deserve to have relative to what they do for us in return.
IMO
Although a little too long, but this might make for a good domain name.
This might also be a good subject for a new thread so that there can be some discussion as to how people can preserve their domains and websites (and other digital assets) beyond their own lifetime.
IMO
My biggest gripe (for a long time now) is that when I do a lot of research and find a nice available .com domain and add it to my wish list and then a week later when I go to register it I see that someone has just taken it.
My guess is that all our Whois searches and any researches done on search engines are being monitored or sold to others. Some of it is being done at the Registrars, but I now believe that a lot of our domain lookups are also being monitored at the Registry level. (and even ICANN itself).
I recently did a lookup at ICANN Whois for "Wallet Fortress" in .com which showed to be available and then a week later when I went to register it I noticed that someone had just registered it.
Now if you ask why I didn't register that domain right away, well at the time I couldn't afford to spend any extra money on domains and so I added it to my wish list to register it later.
Every time that I bring this up people tell me that it's just coincidence, but after losing a lot of nice domains this way I am now convinced that there is something going on here.
Nevertheless I still managed to get a few other Wallet domains that I had on my wish list:
ExecWallet.com
RevolvingWallet.com
SmallBizWallet.com
and
IncognitoWallet.com
congratulations on bringing these projects together.
Here are couple of thoughts that might help:
Is there going to be a board that is going to be overseeing how the donations are handled and used both as far as the collection process and when being used by the recipients.
Also when designing the Toki servers it's important to keep in mind that it's very likely that they are going to be used in places with extreme and adverse weather conditions where there might not be an air conditioning system to keep the temperature at what is normal operating conditions that regular servers require and so the Toki servers should probably be made to be very rugged and to have components that can withstand extreme conditions.
IMO
The speed is great, but keep in mind that the fans are going to be pulling in very hot air in certain parts of the World, so the components might have to be similar to what is used in cars where they might have to operate in very hot environment.
Also because Toki is so portable and probably small enough to be a handheld device have you done any drop tests like if its dropped to the ground when you are holding it.
IMO
@Rob Monster , in addition to domain brokers it might be a good idea to also have a few Brand Consultants at Epik so that they can help end users find the right domain for their business or brand, kind of like the way some people have been helping you find a good domain name for the different branches and services of Epik ( just a suggestion).
PS: Perhaps the brand consultants at Epik can brainstorm together to find the right domain for the clients, kind of like people have been doing here on your domain wanted threads.
IMO
In my opinion it's a double edged sword, every Industry has its own trade secrets that are not meant to be disclosed to the consumers at large, on the other hand if end users find out about and visit sites such as NamePros, DN Journal and Domaining it might give some legitimacy to the domain Industry, although there is the risk that all end users might become domainers themselves and not need the middlemen to buy domains from anymore.
It's good to be able to educate the end users, but you have to be careful not to give away the Store. :)
IMO
The domain Industry as a whole has be careful not to be used as a tool for money laundering.
Since there are no limits as to how much a domain can be sold for, sometimes it's hard to believe that there was not something going on behind the scenes in addition to the true value of the domain that was being sold, or whether a domain has just changed hands just for the show and wasn't meant to be used for anything (at least in the eyes of the experienced domainers).
Not making any accusations here, but we just have to be more careful believing every sale was just a domain sale especially if they just don't feel right.
IMO
Looking forward to see the final results for all these projects,
Can we still call on you to help us personally when Epik grows to become a huge global company, I hope you won't forget about your old friends here on NamePros. ;)
IMO
Rob, you mentioned automation, what role is AI going to play in the future of Epik and what are your plans in implementing AI into Epik's services and how is AI going to complement the staff that you are hiring now.
IMO
Rob, that's great, as long you design all the systems so that they can adapt to new technologies easily without having to redesign the whole thing again I think that you'll be okay with AI.
Right now it takes almost a decade for new innovative ideas to become implemented from the time that they are conceived, but in the near future when AI takes hold things are going to happen very fast. Things that took almost a decade in the past to evolve to their optimum state are going to be introduced at their full potential and capabilities in a span of a few months (perhaps a few weeks or even days in some cases), a good example is the smartphone that took over ten years to get to where it is now, I predict that in the future new products and services will evolve to their optimum level in a very short span of time once AI becomes fully integrated into our lives. Those companies that are versatile enough that can keep up with AI's lighting speed of innovation and production in the future will be the winners.
IMO
, does everyone have to be an expert in their field or are you willing to train new employees that might not be very familiar with domain names or related technical aspects of running a registrar.
IMO
@Rob Monster , if I understand this correctly you want to have a limo driver for domainers so that if they are pulled over for speeding it will be the driver who is going to interact with the law and not the person sitting in the back seat, but how do you address the part about "intent at the time of registration" which your driver might not know anything about.
IMO
Remind me not to make any more analogies. :)
So if people can keep their privacy, then what is the problem that you are trying to solve here.
It seems to me that all our efforts should be concentrated on preventing the UDRP from being abused or gamed by the complainants.
IMO
That's why it pays for domainers to consult with a domain attorney to make sure that they are aware of all their rights.
But overall I hope that @Rob Monster with the help from @jberryhill and others can come up with a way to limit the Complainants overreach that we see happening in so many cases.
Having some kind of a free or sponsored legal protection and advice program would be nice for domainers who can't afford to fight Obvious Complainant Overreach.
IMO
This is inline with what I suggested couple of post earlier, but I meant a program to be implemented at a bigger level that everyone in the Domain Industry can participate in and support. If some kind of assistance is provided to those who are victims of obvious complainant overreach that might discourage some of the companies that want to unfairly use the UDRP in their own advantage.
IMO
That sounds good, but you have to make sure that everyone in the domain Industry is onboard with such a program so that it can be implemented across the board (kind of like the MLS program).
In my opinion first it has to be determined whom you want to provide help to, perhaps there has to be two different programs, one for cases that the complainant might be in the right which the domainer has to pay for defending the domain or buy some kind of insurance and then there are the cases in which the complainant is clearly over reaching which will be in the interest of the domain Industry at large to provide free legal defence to the domainer who is being victimized.
IMO
Nice article, you can see a lot of Churches that are using this extension by doing a search on Google for:
"Site:.Church"
(search for exactly as written above with the quotation marks and no spaces)
IMO
It has to be a real company that you own or are authorized agent of, because what you put in the company name area of the registration in effect becomes the entity that is in charge of the domain and not you.
IMO
Looks like you got lucky back then, but I am not sure if you can do the same thing today from what my understanding of the rules are although I might be wrong.
IMO
The way I understand this is that it must relate to and encompass both Dojoing and Domaining at the same time, if not in the exact words then at least in the spirit of this combination:
Dojoing + Domaining
IMO
Forum Posts 1-d
Forum Posts 1-c
Forum Posts 1-c
I believe that Dojo by definition is exclusive to a certain group (in this case domainers), I understand what you are getting at as far as getting the End Users involved in the Dojo, but it won't be a Dojo anymore, you have to call it something else. For example if people in the Automotive design and manufacturing Industry are going to have a Dojo do you think that they are going to invite the people who want to buy cars.
Also think about the logistics of it, what if a thousand End Users showed up to the Dojo, it won't be a Dojo anymore. Although it would be great if you could get a thousand End Users who want to buy domains in one place with domainers, but you have to call it something else.
IMO
I had added another paragraph to my post above which is about the logistics of getting the End Users involved in Domainer's Dojo, so your ideas make sense, but it's a whole different ball game, perhaps you can start a new thread and let people come up with suggestions as far as how to get Domainers and End Users in one place.
IMO
I don't think that End Users are going to be local that much unless you are planning to make a location in each city, or if you could make a little stand in Wall street so that people can stop by and ask for advice as they walk by ( too bad I am not in New York City :) ). But for End Users to fly in from all over the World to come to these locations they are going to expect to see much more professional expertise made available to them than having a chat with couple of domainers.
Also once you implement this idea how are you going to limit it to just couple of End Users per day. Your ideas are good, but you have to think in much larger scale specially if you are going to cater to big businesses or startups.
IMO
But the point is that you can't mix End Users with Domainer's Dojo , because then it won't be Domainer's Dojo anymore. As much as everyone here might like to bring End Users and Domainers together somehow, but Dojo is not the right venue for it because if you get others involved in Dojo then it will lose its Mojo. (although this is just my opinion, others might think differently).
IMO
As I said earlier perhaps you need to start a new thread to see what everyone else thinks about this idea, maybe put a poll to see how many people agree with you. I am sure that there is a way to make the pie bigger for everyone, we just have to find the right way to do it.
IMO
Good advice, and I will add to it that regardless of what your belief system might be start thinking about how you can do some good for Humanity and the Environment.
IMO
I know that AC/DC is a famous band, but have they ( or any of the other famous bands) done anything for Humanity and the Environment that goes beyond just providing entertainment.
IMO
I know, it's just that some of the famous people are also active in certain causes that benefits Humanity and the Environment, so that's why I was wondering about AC/DC, but they probably still deserve to get an award for their music.
IMO
I always try to register domains that relate to the causes that I am interested in which mostly are about creating awareness as to how we can do some good for Humanity and the Environment.
And so my calling is to make others aware through my domain names, even if they are not fully developed yet, but it might still provoke some positive thoughts in others just by seeing my domains.
IMO
Eric, isn't what you are doing and what Rob is doing a little different in the way that you are providing an opportunity for people to work on camps while being nomad and Rob is trying to get successful domainers who are already well off to go enjoy some of the nicer destinations while still being able to carry on with their domaining and perhaps exchange ideas with other successful domainers at their Dojo.
Both are good projects, but perhaps a little different in nature, for most domsiners who are having a hard time selling any domains they might have to come to your camp unless Rob lets them work in his blueberry farm so that they can pay for their renewals. ;)
IMO
I think Rob likes Dojo better since he used it in the title of this thread, I agree with him, Dojo kind of sticks in your mind, but the other keywords are hard to remember once you left this thread.
IMO
Your project and Rob's might converge in certain areas and certain aspects and as such might be able to complement each other. You both might be able to benefit from each other's advice and assistance. I wish you both good luck and success.
IMO
As you know there are a lot of retirees who sell their home and choose to become nomads who stay in RV parks and camps, so some of these places are actually very nice.
Rob do you have a RV or motorhome, its fun to travel around in one, some of them cost thousands of dollars and have all the amenities of a luxury home.
IMO
The most expensive one that I have seen was close to two million dollars. When it comes to luxury motorhomes the sky is the limit. Some people sell their house and then buy one of these to become nomads.
IMO
Rob if people are going to have so much fun being on a cruise ship and hopping around from Dojo to Dojo then when are they going to get any time to get their work done.
By the way there are also some nomads that live full time on cruise ships, but I don't know how much that costs.
IMO
This project is different than some of the other empowerment projects that Rob has introduced here which he might have been okay with using a .org for, I believe that Dojo eventually is going to evolve to go beyond being a charity or nonprofit organization even if it starts as such and so I believe that .com will be a better choice for extension in this case, although perhaps @Rob Monster can clarify which route he wants to take for the Dojo project in the long run as far as whether he likes .org better or .com
IMO
The premise of Shooting The Moon is not based on the Quality of your domain, but rather on the fact that an End User that you don't know anything about might have fallen in love with the specific domain that you might have and that they want it at any cost. Although the chances of such scenario might increase if you have a premium domain name, but it's not necessarily the main requirement since the most important factor is how suitable your domain is to the specific needs of an End User who thinks your domain is what they have to have. It happens to all of us when something catches our eyes that we have to have and that we are willing to pay more to get it as the price might not be the most important factor for us in that case. Perhaps that's why some paintings sell for astronomical prices or that some people pay thousands of dollars more to see their favorite concerts or sports games.
The only way to know whether this method is going to work for you or not is to try it for a while provided that you can afford the wait, and remember you have to overcome three major obstacles to get to the Moon, first you have to get an offer on one of your names which doesn't happen that often for most domainers and then you have to gamble on whether the person who has made the offer has sat their heart on having the specific domain that you have and that they can't do without it. You also have to gamble on whether the buyer who has fallen in love with your domain has a lot of money to spare. If all the stars line up correctly you might be able to get to the Moon after all, but you might want to have another strategy in place in case if they don't.
PS: The more specific the domain is that you have gotten an offer for perhaps it is better justified to Shoot The Moon for it.
IMO
Best to try all different strategies to see which one works for you better.
IMO
I guess we have to wait for Rob to chime in to indicate which direction he wants to take the Dojo project, depending on his plans there might still be a lot of hope for Collab .org after all.
IMO
For one thing ICA needs to be more active in NamePros like @Rob Monster has been and engage the forum here a lot more often so that domainers know who and what ICA is and what exactly they are doing to protect domainer's rights and interests. So far ICA has been catering to the Elites in the domain Industry by putting their focus on getting more Silver, Gold, and Platinum memberships where there might be very limited number of people that can afford those rates. They need to engage the masses and make it easier for the average domainer to get involved with them.
Drop the introductory entry level membership rate with limited benefits and privileges to $49.00 and charge $149.00 and $249.00 for subsequent levels with a little more benefits and privileges untill you get to $499.00 level for full benefits and privileges. You can still keep the 5k to 25k membership levels, but only as a symbolic way to show who the people are that are voluntary donating more to support ICA (perhaps give them a special badge for their voluntary donations).
IMO
Supposedly the price tag for the .org extension has been $1.135 billion dollars, considering that there are around 10 million .org domains registered that means each .org domain owner has to pay around $110 dollars extra in order for the $1.135 billion to be recouped. Whether that $110 dollar increase in registration and renewal fees of .org is going to take place over the next ten years or all at once should be of real concern.
All extensions are being treated as a cash cow (including .com) without anyone (ICANN) asking what the registries are doing in return for the extra fees (Taxes) that they can now arbitrarily impose on people.
Now that the total number of all domains registered has exceeded 300 million the registration and renewal fees have to actually decrease across the board (or at least for .com and .org) instead of increasing.
IMO
I think that what you are doing as far as empowering people is great, but If we could merge the Nomad Movement with the Human Rights and Environmental Movement then we'll have a new kind of mindset and lifestyle that might be very attractive to the younger generations who feel like their voice doesn't count and that they can't move up in this World due to so much economical inequality.
IMO
We should make a decal for all RVs that says:
Nomads care more than most about their Home, their Home Planet that is!
© by Oldtimer ;)
IMO
Congratulations on putting your team together,
Most people think of domains as an opportunity to make money, but I believe that domains can also be used as a vehicle to express oneself in order to change the old mindsets, lifestyles, attitudes, habits, and the human characteristics that have held the World back from advancing forward. As the stewards and leaders of the empowerment program it should be your primary task to make sure that you and those that you lead are going to end up being a force for good and that means that you should always encourage, guide, and help others without any bias or discrimination and that you should not allow fear, personal interest, or blind loyalty to anyone to prevent you from questioning the behaviors and actions that are not aligned with the Universal Values and Rights that are based on Logic and Compassion.
IMO
"Evergreen" Domains is another name for Domains with Inherent Value, these are different than Liquid Domains since it might take a few years to find the right buyer for them, but you know that they are worth hanging on to because eventually they will sell, that is if you want to sell them some collectors might rather just hang on to their "Evergreen" domains and some other domainers might decide to put them to some good use for themselves instead of selling them.
It's worth noting that sometimes you might get a low appraisal on some of your "Evergreen" domains from the automated appraisal sites and that's when you have to rely on your own judgement and domaining skills to realize the Inherent Value in your domain, but most "Evergreen" domains are pretty obvious and usually fall within the top 10 to 20 percent of everyone's portfolio that gets renewed for multiple years at a time without having any second thoughts as to whether they are worth hanging on to on a long term basis or not.
IMO
Some registrars catch dropped domains for themselves that's why they don't like you to compete with them in real-time and you can't blame them for wanting to take full advantage of their limited resources and allowances for themselves.
IMO
This sounds like a good option to have for domains that people want to let go,
Although I believe a more valuable service that Epik could provide is to let you transfer expiring domains that you rather be able to keep, but that perhaps you couldn't renew on time because of lack of funds.
@Rob Monster has helped me on couple of occasions to transfer to Epik some of my expired domains that were at risk of being lost at other registrars and he put them in Epik's escrow and let me pay for them later on when I was able to. Although he did this as a favor to me, but I believe that if this option is made available to other domainers it can make a lot of people happy and it can get more domains at Epik.
IMO
There are two different cases to consider about this, and here we are just talking about domains that domainers let go of and not the general expiry stream where there might be some very valuable domains that have been dropped by end users.
The first case is when some domains are let to go past expiration date on an involuntarily basis such as if a domainer is short on funds and couldn’t renew or other circumstances that might have prevented the timely renewal of the domains where in this case it would be nice to have a program at Epik that would extend credit to the qualified domainers where they could transfer the domains to Epik escrow account and pay for the renewal fees later either in a lump sum or a few monthly payments.
The second case is when domainers voluntarily let some domains expire which could be that they are trimming their portfolio or that they are moving up to better quality domains, which in this case it’s safe to say that over 90% of the domains that are let to expire on a voluntary basis are of average or even below average quality and as such I don’t believe that there should be a reserve for such domains, although there might be a few gems that might have been dropped by domainers by mistake, but overall putting a reserve for the whole thing is going to take away all the excitement out of the hunt for those few gems.
IMO
I believe that the many programs that you are introducing through Epik have the potential to be of great benefit to domainers and the general public at large provided that you as the CEO of Epik and the creator of all these new programs and services set the right guidelines and rules for the International teams that you are putting together so that they know that they should not lower the level of attention or the quality of service when it comes to taking care of clients who might hold different or even opposing views and beliefs than you or the people that you are delegating authority to and that they should not discriminate against anyone as long as people are playing by the rules.
As far as giving some clients certain preferences I believe that as long as those preferences are clearly indicated on Epik's website then every business is entitled to having a certain number of VIP clients that might get more benefits and perks than what is considered to be standard, provided that the requirements for attaining the status of VIP is clearly indicated on Epik's website and that the VIP status can be attainable by everyone without bias, discrimination, or favoritism once they have met the necessary requirements (such as owning a certain number of domains or perhaps having been part of the original gang of NamePros who have helped and supported Epik along the way with their ideas and input.
IMO
[URL="https://www.namepros.com/threads/if-you-are-not-using-epik-com-for-escrow-you-are-wasting-time-and-money.1119508/page-12#post-7352698"]If you are not using Epik.com for escrow, you are wasting time and money![/URL]
Have you all ever thought of subleasing NamePros to some of the well known companies in the domain Industry lets say for 1k to 5k a month depending on how big of a section it is so each company can have their own area of the forum (not just a thread) that they can use to post different threads as they wish. Although those sections still have to follow NamePros guidelines and rules, but each company can post whatever info or promotions or specials they want as long as they put them in their own subleased section so that they wont be scattered all over the forum. (just an idea)
IMO
The thing is once the members decided to walk in to a subleased section they can't complain about promotions and advertisings that are done within that area. To have 20 , 30, or even 50 subleased areas that are going to encourage more interactions between domainers and Industry reps will make NamePros a much more interesting place.
IMO
How much do you think is reasonable to pay for a subleased section of your own. The reason that I am asking is because I thought you might have a better idea about this than most as the previous owner of NamePros.
IMO
You can't blame people for wanting to get more business by using every opportunity to promote their company. Ultimately it's NamePros responsibility to keep everything under control so that things don't get out of hand. NamePros has to come up with an intelligent way to fix this problem so that it's fair to all sides. Riding the wave of extra publicity and traffic that are created by all the controversies and animosities that we have seen lately on the forum is not the answer, some smart and innovative steps have to be taken by NamePros in order to preserve the integrity of the forum while still allowing companies to interact with members here in a friendly and positive atmosphere.
The buck stops with NamePros.
IMO
I believe that its both about power (control) and money (profit).
To have power and to make money is not automatically a bad thing, it all depends on the motives and the intents of those who are involved. If their motives and intents are to serve people better by providing more affordable products and services and by creating a safer and more secure environment that empowers the average person to enjoy more freedom, innovation, and financial equality then it doesn't matter who is in charge of .org , but if this deal is made for the wrong reasons then it should be of concern to all and that's why having oversight by ICANN or other entities that have a say in this matter is of most importance.
Seeking power and money started by owning newspapers in the past then expanded to controlling radio, TV, and cable channels and was followed by owning social media companies and finally has expanded to include Internet extensions and registries. And eventually it's going to end up with who has the more powerful AI as that will be the ultimate source of power and money in the future.
The question should be:
who's a Force for Good that wants to serve Humanity and this Planet and who's only looking after what's good for themselves.
IMO
It’s worth noting that some of those media pioneers who owned newspapers in the past despite becoming very rich and powerful, but contributed a lot in the way of protecting Humanity and this Planet by promoting the ideas and principles of Freedom, Human Rights, and Civilized Behavior and by keeping an oversight over the institutions of Democracy and Government around the World. But then there were also a few who misused and abused their status and influence which caused a lot of damage to the public at large, so we just have to put the spotlight on those who are involved in controlling .org and demand transparency and oversight by ICANN to make sure that whatever they are doing is in the public interest in the long run
IMO
We have to consider what Decentralized exactly means as AI evolves to be integrated into our lives. So far most discussions on this subject are made in human terms, we have to start factoring in AI into all our discussions about what direction things are going to take in the future.
The way that I see it Centralized and Decentralized are going to mean whether AI is going to evolve into a unified entity or whether every technological power in the World is going to have their own AI that is going to promote their own separate political, religious, racial, and economical agendas.
IMO
What effect do you all think the New gTLDs are having on the situation with .org , I mean when and if non-profits move to .NGO or Crypto companies start using .Crypto
IMO
I believe I and other members here are learning from these discussions,
If we were discussing car safety it would be expected that a few car makes and models might be mentioned, discussed, and analyzed specially if one of the car manufacturers was participating in the discussions here.
But I agree with you that certain threads and comments that are specifically made for promotion should be placed in the appropriate sections of the forum.
IMO
The future is going to be about Personalized Web where all interactions are routed and controlled by AI, that's why it's so important to make sure that AI is not fragmented based on different and opposing Human ideologies, interests, and agendas and that it evolves to become a unified Force For Good.
IMO
Entertaining, Funny, and Informative poem that is still true for every year!
I like the way you are warning other domainers to double-check what it is that they are buying in your poem.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all who share in the spirit of this season.
IMO
Let's hope that Santa (Rob) will have a special gift for us this Christmas ;)
But meanwhile be happy knowing that if you spend a little extra it goes towards supporting the many of your fellow domainers (and their families) that are now employed at Epik (I don't think that Rob is drawing a salary for himself for the time being).
Also I believe that if a domain is a potential gem that is worth registering it's not unreasonable to pay a little extra to get it now, and then you can wait for a special sale to do the bulk registration on the rest of your wishlist.
IMO
Also for those who are selling domains in the four to six figures perhaps they shouldn't mind paying a little extra commission if Rob and other Epik staff have gone out of their way to make the sales possible,
Everyone has to do their share to keep the wheel moving for the domain Industry, spreading the wealth will help lift everyone up.
IMO
You might have the right idea about a lot of minnows being equal to a whale, but maybe you weren't aware that those fish are jumping out of the water so frantically because the area around the boat is electrified.
We need to treat the wildlife more humanely.
IMO
Until we can have appraisals done by AI it will be wise to at least get a few input from the pros here in addition to any appraisals given by automated scripts (which are different than AI).
Imagine if you could put all the collective knowledge contained here on NamePros or better yet the whole domain Industry into one program and if that program could add to all that knowledge on its own and come up with new insights that didn't exist before then you are beginning to have the makings for AI Appraisals.
That's why I registered these two domains couple of weeks ago:
AiAppraisals.com
and
AiAppraised.com
IMO
AI Appraisals will most likely be developed through an academic institution first before it makes its way into the commercial world.
I am sometimes baffled by how no one is paying any attention to how AI is going to change everything in the near future.
IMO
Great article,
Don't forget about how AI is going to change/disrupt a lot of things not only in the domain Industry, but the World at large.
IMO
You are thinking more in human terms, of course there are many obstacles, but a true AI can build on what info it has acquired and come up with new insights and ways to overcome those obstacles. Just think about how AI has already learned to beat humans in many different games.
IMO
A lot of people don't realize that AI is different than scripts that we have seen being used so far, a true AI can come up with new insights and knowledge on its own and thus can come up with new innovations that humans might have not been able to think of before.
IMO
I am still wondering why domain names should cost so much from the registries (and actually increasing) when there are more and more domains being registered across the board every year. What exactly does the registry do for this tax that they are imposing on people.
IMO
That is true with most registries, but why are the prices increasing every year for the extensions that are getting more and more domains, it's not like they have to build new infrastructure or upgrade their back end systems every year to handle all these millions of new domains. As the total number of domains registered increases the price per domain should go down not up.
IMO
I am all for Capitalism, but Capitalism should serve Humanity and enhance the life of people, I like the fact that there are companies that make washing machines so that people don't have to wash their clothes by hand anymore, or that there are smart and green car manufacturers that make life easier for commuters, and those companies deserve to make a fair amount of profit, but what exactly is it that the registries do for us that creates the need for price increases every year or that even justifies the price that they are charging for domains. I am not talking about registrars like Epik that provide so many useful service to us, but the registries and back end operators who supposedly can charge as much as they want without any accountability.
IMO
I am all for Capitalism, but Capitalism should serve Humanity and enhance the life of people without harming the Environment, I like the fact that there are companies that make washing machines so that people don't have to wash their clothes by hand anymore, or that there are smart and green car manufacturers that make life easier for commuters, and those companies deserve to make a fair amount of profit, but what exactly is it that the registries do for us that creates the need for price increases every year or that even justifies the price that they are charging for domains right now. I am not talking about registrars like Epik that provide so many useful services to us, but the registries and back end operators who supposedly can charge as much as they want without any accountability.
IMO
I don't care what "ism" you all want to call it, things have to be done in a fair way and with a certain degree of accountability.
As long as the end result is to serve Humanity and protect our Home Planet I am happy.
IMO
AI can go beyond its initial programming as it learns, everything that took you a lifetime to learn about domains and domaining (or anything else for that matter) AI can learn in the matter of days or even hours (perhaps even seconds in the future) and AI can do everything you do a lot faster and with a lot more efficacy.
IMO
This line of thinking can make you fall behind the times, but don't worry soon AI will teach you everything you need to know, or better yet will do everything for you. ;)
IMO
You should do some research and expand your knowledge a little more about AI, but nevertheless good luck with your domaining.
IMO
Forum Posts 2
Forum Posts 2-a
Forum Posts 2-a
Forum Posts 2-a
I believe that once updated and that all the corrections are made this could serve as a good reference for domaining.
It might be good to put a list of all the chapters that are contained in this book on the main website so that people can know what is covered there before downloading it. ( just an idea)
IMO
It would also be great to make it searchable so that when newbies enter a specific question it can take them right to the page that provides the answers.
IMO
One way or another it's going to be the registrants who are going to pay,
“Supposedly the price tag for the .org extension has been $1.135 billion dollars, considering that there are around 10 million .org domains registered that means each .org domain owner has to pay around $110 dollars extra in order for the $1.135 billion to be recouped. Whether that $110 dollar increase in registration and renewal fees of .org is going to take place over the next ten years or all at once should be of real concern.
All extensions are being treated as a cash cow (including .com) without anyone (ICANN) asking what the registries are doing in return for the extra fees (Taxes) that they can now arbitrarily impose on people.
Now that the total number of all domains registered has exceeded 300 million the registration and renewal fees have to actually decrease across the board (or at least for .com and .org) instead of increasing.
IMO”
Even if they don't increase the prices by more than 10% per year, but the 1.135 billion is eventually going to come out of registrants pockets.
IMO
Unlike what most people think I don't believe that we are going to have different AI's for different tasks as once AI evolves to acquire "General Intelligence" the same AI can give you advice on domaining the same as it could teach you how to play a musical instrument or show you how to make a better garden and perhaps even help you with medical or legal matters.
I believe that most of the research concerning AI is currently being done in academic institutions, it might take a while longer before a truly Intelligent AI entity is introduced to the public.
You can Google "Artificial General Intelligence" to learn more about this subjec
IMO
True, it will take a while for AI to become a part of our everyday lives, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't start preparing for that day as of right now.
We need to start thinking seriously about what kind of AI do we want to end up with in the future, are we going to have a unified AI that is a Force For Good that can help elevate Humanity to a higher level and undo the damage that has been done to the Environment or is every technological power in the World going to have their own AI that has been developed to protect their own political, religious, racial, and economical interests and agendas and advance their old extremist and divisive ideologies, philosophies, and doctrines. Are we going to have Capitalist AI, Communist AI, Socialist AI, Fascist Ai, Conservative AI, Liberal AI, or Fundamentalist AI or are we going to have an AI that follows the Universal principles and values that are derived from logic and compassion and that are designed to respect and protect everyone's rights and advance the quality of our lives.
As you said AI is certainly going to be a game changer, but we have to make sure that it's going to change things for the better.
IMO
You never know, it might come to that, but if it's a good AI it will probably give Humanity every chance to reform its ways first.
this is what I had written a while back in another article:
"From the perspective of a good AI humans might look like vicious, arrogant, greedy, and lustful creatures who abuse and kill each other by the millions and who are destructive to their own planet. We like to think of ourselves as civilized beings who have accomplished great things, but AI might see us as clueless creatures who are a vessel for millions of different species of microorganisms that compete for control over our body and mind and that ultimately have influence over our whole way of life. Perhaps AI will become our salvation by saving us from ourselves before we and our symbiont microorganisms start another World war."
IMO
That's the best description of Epik that I have heard so far.
Now seriously, we need to be supportive of the other NamePros members who are now working at Epik, and as a community we need to be thankful to @Rob Monster for creating so much opportunity for people here to advance their horizon and move up through these new empowerment programs that were not here just six months ago. I hope that Epik can set a good example for other companies in the domain Industry to follow as far as:
Engaging the forum more often
Providing more employment and empowerment opportunities to NamePros members
And creating more domainer friendly products and services through new innovations
We should all welcome domain related companies and their staff who want to play a more active, positive, and constructive part in this forum. But at the same time we have to make sure that we are fair, objective, logical, and compassionate both in our praise and our criticism of such companies and make sure that our thoughts and actions towards them are not influenced by blind loyalty, favoritism, hate, or pure personal interest, but rather try to find out which companies are most beneficial to the members here as far as products and services, prices, customer service and support, and new innovations.
In order of be fair, objective, logical, and compassionate in our assessments of such companies and any related complaints by members here (such as @frank-germany, @JB Lions and others) I propose to create a committee of elders here at NamePros that consists of the most experienced ,objective, fair minded members here to address any problems, issues, and concerns that might arise with the companies that want to be a part of the NamePros community.
IMO
It's my understanding that Rob has outgrown that line of thinking, he is now more focused on making Epik in to a better company by helping domainers become more successful. I believe that interacting with NamePros has changed him for the better and that now he is more concerned about creating a more positive legacy for himself as a philanthropist than trying to prove that Earth was flat or that people kept dinosaurs in their backyards as pets. He has also drawn a line as to how far he is willing to go to support clients who are on the fringes.
IMO
I don't have much experience selling domains as I am more of a hobbyist and collector when it comes to domaining, I like to be able to keep most of my domains as I use domains (even by the act of registering them) to express myself and my ideas to the World, although I don't mind selling couple of domains here and there if I could to help with the renewals. ;)
From what I have learned over the years I have come to understand that there are basically two categories of domain names when it comes to making sales. First category is the domains that attract interest and offers on their own, these are usually high quality premium domains or liquid domains (like short three or four letter or number domains) that buyers can think of on their own without having had to see them anywhere, and the second category are the domains that need to get exposure which buyers don't really know that they want them untill they see Them somewhere such as in popular marketplaces and registrars or through your sales landers that have been indexed by search engines.
When it comes to giving your domains exposure I believe that it's best to use sales landers that are provided by marketplaces (with reasonable commission rates) that buyers know of and that can trust. Your sales landers might have a better chances of being indexed by the major search engines if they are somehow connected to a reputable marketplace or parking company.
IMO
I believe that God was looking after you all along and wanted to make you an example of how people can find strength in the face of adversity and turn a bad situation in to something good.
God sees things differently than we do, from childhood either directly or indirectly our mind is trained (brainwashed) by the society and the environment that we are brought up in to think in certain ways, we come to believe that those who think the same way as us as being good and everyone else as being bad and evil. It’s much easier to hurt someone whom we think of as being bad, but the thing is that those bad guys think of themselves as being good and us as being bad and so conflicts, animosities and Wars are justified and to some extent promoted against those whom everyone considers to be different. We tend to consider the rest of the World to be wrong and bad since it’s easy to pass judgement on people that are far away and that we might not be very familiar with and yet sometimes we live in the same environment as those who we consider to be the enemy and as such our disdain for them shows up in the form of hate, prejudice, and discrimination. The truth of the matter is that we all are bad in certain ways and we all have the potential to be good if we are educated and guided to breakaway from our existing mindsets so that we can ascend to a higher level of existence that is based on logic and compassion and not on all the old ideologies, philosophies, and doctrines that have already failed us.
Some people think of Nazis, Terrorists, and LGBTQ as bad people and yet they themselves engage in actions and behaviors that are far worse. How is it that we have come to accept abortion as being okay when in reality what we are doing is mass murder of the most innocent and helpless among us and how do we justify denying countless number of people shelter, food, and healthcare when we very well know that that is going to cause so much pain and suffering for so many people who otherwise might have been able to be healthy, happy, and productive members of the society. And how do we justify promoting and facilitating addiction, delinquency, lust, greed, cruelty, killings, and War when we know that countless number of lives are going to be torn apart by our actions.
We might be all bad in the eyes of God, we shouldn’t single out just one guy, we should work towards reforming Humanity as a whole.
IMO
We have always liked the good side of you, the side that is a man of faith and who always wants to help others that is. ;)
on the side note in addition to the most liked club I had suggested in another thread that we should create a NamePros elder club (or committee) from the most experienced, fair minded, and compassionate members here (perhaps with a special badge).
IMO
Maybe the NamePros Elders (ombudsmen) could be given more than one mail box, like one that is only used for resolving disputes and keeping oversight on the forum and Industry matters.
By the way I was going to ask your opinion about a domain that I just registered, but because your mail box is so full I guess I’ll just ask you here, what do you think about DomainMarketeers.com
IMO
, I agree with you on "likes" not carrying as much weight as they should, I wish there was a more accurate metric that would reflect the amount of useful contributions that are made in the forum.
Meanwhile we just have to keep count in our heads as to which members are making the most useful contributions and from what I have seen @Rob Monster has had a positive impact on NamePros and even though his interactions here might have gotten started through some controversial subjects, but now it seems to be all about innovation and helping domainers.
By the way I used to belong to the very exclusive six figure like club, but I was kicked out after I started pointing out the Truth about the World.
IMO
+ + + + +
Unfortunately as already have been pointed out by many others the number of likes does not necessarily correlate with how much members have contributed to the forum since they could have received many of those likes from posts that were of no value . The same thing could also be said about the number of posts as some people might have accumulated a large number of posts that weren't that helpful to the community, but then there might be some other members with a lot lower number of post that were thoughtful and informative enough to have made a positive impact on the forum or the domain Industry at large. Also it's important to note that when people receive likes it's more about their posts and their interactions on the forum and not about who they are as a person since most people are anonymous here and don't really know each other at a personal level.
So what it comes down to is that the only way to gauge the members on this forum (or any public forum for that matter) is by reading their posts and also remembering the way that they have been treating others as far as being friendly, professional, helpful, and fair.
There are certain places that likes could be useful like in the daily hand registration thread, but then if people only gave likes if the domains really stood out rather than just trying to please their buddies.
IMO
I believe that how the price of the domains were incorporated into the renewal charges were wrong and have caused people to think twice about getting a New gTLD, no one likes to get stuck with a large yearly bill that is going to go on forever with no hopes of being able to pay off the domain eventually. They should have separated the domain financing part from the renewal charges so that people would know that they could own the domain after lets say 5 or 10 years and then just pay standard renewals after that.
IMO
Here are my predictions ( which some of them might sound as if I am making an announcement since they make so much sense logically ;)) :
NamePros will have its first AI member, capable of interacting on the forum just like everyone else.
Global conflicts (Wars) will cause many Internet outages, some intentionally and some unintentionally which will disrupt life as usual around the World (Make sure your top premium domains are renewed for at least 3 to 5 years in advance).
Governments around the World will lose patience and will rein in Technology and the Internet after having to deal with so much scandals, conspiracies, hackings, sabotage and unfair practices in the Tech and Digital assets (including domains) related areas.
The good news is that more and more people are going to become interested in domain names thus increasing the value of domains in certain popular extensions (including some of the New gTLDs), but the bad news is that the law might put a cap on the number of domains that one can own.
All of these things might not happen in 2020 , but logically they are expected to take place sooner or later.
If you don't like my predictions then don't ask me to predict anything. :)
IMO
Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate this very special occasion and the rest of the people around the World who share in the spirit of joy and gratefulness in this holiday seasons.
IMO
What have Santa and his Elves cooked up for Christmas this year,
Merry Christmas and thanks for all the special discounts so far. :)
PS: Why doesn't NamePros have a Christmas emoji.
IMO
I consider myself to be more of an intellectual and philosopher than a coder or programmer and as such I might be able to come up with abstract thoughts that might set the tone or light the way towards new concepts and ideas that perhaps didn't exist before. In the domain Industry (or the World at large) we need both the people who can come up with new ideas and concepts and those who can bring those new ideas and concepts to life. That's why Epik and Namepros can play such vital part in bringing everyone together so that the end result can help raise all ships.
IMO
Some very thoughtful predictions,
but amongst all predictions (yours and others') I believe that AI will have the biggest impact on the domain Industry (absent any negative events taking place in the World at large) . Both as far as automation of certain processes and also in terms of being able to think and do things like a domainer. Although it might rake a while longer for AI to reach it's full potentials and achieve Artificial General Intelligence, but I believe that 2020 will be a turning point in the start of AI integration into the domain Industry.
I wonder what AI would predict for the future. ;)
IMO
In all fairness the problem is not that this thread has been moved to the Promotional section (some of Rob's threads might very well belong there), the real problem is that the Promotional section (intentionally or unintentionally) has been well hidden on the forum to the point that its threads don't show up in the New Posts and it took me (an old time member) ten minutes to figure out where the Promotional section was on the forum.
IMO
If the Mods want to put Rob's thread (or anyone else's thread) in the Promotional section then this section should be given more visibility on the forum ( and for the posts to show up under the New Posts).
IMO
I believe that domains and domaining are going to be affected more by Technology than Economy in the long run.
As the matter of fact the World at large is going to be affected by AI and Automation more than anything else, and it's only through planning ahead that we can make sure that these effects are going to be for the better and not for the worse.
If the economy contracts it might cause a slowdown for big corporations and big companies, but at the lower levels people who need more money to support themselves might consider buying some low cost domains to start a small business for themselves.
Economical downturns or even global conflicts and Wars as bad and as devastating that they might be will not last forever (absent Nuclear Armageddon of course) but If we are not careful AI and Automation can disrupt life as we know it on a permanent basis.
We can't wait until things go bad in order to fix them we have to start taking some steps to make sure that advances in the Technology are going to serve Humanity and this Planet and to make life better for everyone across the board and not to lead to more inequality, poverty, oppression, and suppression.
Meanwhile we shouldn't forget about the effects that the Climate Change and all the problems with the Environment are going to have on the whole World, hopefully an AI that is a Force For Good might be able to help us get things under control.
I see the beginning of a perfect storm coming in the near future, people have to wake up and come out of the trance that they are in, they need to abandon their old mindsets, lifestyles, and habits and find common ground with each other over Universal principles that are arrived at through logic and compassion in order to ascend to a higher level of existence that can help protect Humanity and this Planet from all the turbulence that is going to be ahead for the World.
If you want to save your domains you might have to save the World first. ;)
IMO
What percentage of your portfolio consists of hyphenated domains, have you had success in this category beside the one that you just sold. do you get a lot of offers on other hyphenated domains that you have. (digital Identity is certainly an important keyword).
IMO
I believe if you know for sure that you are going to liquidate a domain from an external registrar it's best to Unlock it and get the Auth-Code while you still have control over the domain. Also at some registrars even if you unlock the domain before it expires it will revert back to the lock status once it expires so you might have to unlock it again (there might be a small window to do this once the domain goes past the expiration date).
(@DanSanchez , if this is true it might be helpful to mention it on the website at name liquidate)
IMO
some good points, but it depends on what your definition of the domain Industry is, it's a well known fact that a large percentage of domainers (maybe up to 90%) are not making a profit even if they sell a few domains here and there, but many other segments of the domain Industry such as registries, registrars and their resellers and affiliates, back end operators, hosting companies and even ICANN are doing okay.
If you really want to make money off of domains perhaps it's best to own a registry or registrar rather than being a domainer. For many It's best to think of domaining as more like a passion or hobby than a guaranteed source of income.
IMO
Some great predictions,
If anyone knows what's going to happen in the domain Industry in 2020 it's going to be you considering all the experience and knowledge that you have in this field.
But, don't forget about the impact that AI is going to have on the domain Industry (and the whole World for that matter) starting gradually in the year 2020.
We have to plan ahead to make sure that whatever effects AI and Automation are going to have that it will be for the better.
Happy New Year to you and everyone else at NamePros
IMO
Bob, as indicated in his original post I believe that Rob is making a Forecast for the domain Industry in 2020 , although we might call this Predictions, but there might be a slight difference in making a Forecast from making a Prediction.
I might be wrong, but the way that I look at this is that anyone can make a Prediction, but there are only certain people with the right qualifications who can make a Forecast for in any given Industry.
IMO
Well when it comes to Forecasting how a certain Industry is going to behave it's more about business than fun, like those who make financial or stock market Forecasts, but there is no rule that says it doesn't have to be fun at the same time, after all we set the rules for the domain Industry ourselves. ;)
IMO
I agree, domaining should be fun above all else, at least that's the way that I look at it as a hobbyist and collector. :)
IMO
We should have an Oldtimers club here at NamePros ;)
On the subject of Forecast or Predictions perhaps everyone should clearly indicate at the beginning of their post whether they are making a Forecast or a Prediction.
Predictions are mostly from gut feelings about how things might turn out in the future, but Forecast is more business oriented and should be backed up with some reasoning and data.
Kind of like when making weather or financial Forecasts where there is a little more expectation of them being real than if they were just Predictions.
IMO
Based on Rob's expert analysis and forecast my newly hand registered domain DigitalBrandHub.com should become the place to go for everything related to digital brands. ;)
IMO
If the registries such as .home and registrars that provide New gTLDs expect domainers to carry them for several years until they become popular its only fair that they gave us a special rate for renewals like the $10 or $15 dollars that it originally cost to get these domains.
IMO
To clarify, I am not saying that .home registry should lower the $25.28 renewal rate for everyone since that might be considered to be a fair price for end users who might just own couple of domains, but if they want domainers to continue investing in tens or even hundreds of .home domains then registries should work something out with the registrars to give a better renewal rate to domainers, that's of course if they want domainers to be able to keep holding on to their domains on a long term basis.
Until an extension becomes popular amongst end users the registries don't have any choice but to depend on domainers so that they can cover their basic expenses of upkeep and running the registry so if they are smart they have to come up with a way to help keep domainers afloat. If the majority of domains are dropped after a year everyone loses. They have to come up with a way that is a win- win situation for all involved.
IMO
It sounds like you are courting Godaddy for a merger or acquisition,
I don't mind if my two favorite Registrars became one. ;)
IMO
Whoever can implement AI into their system first is going to rule this new decade not only in the domain Industry, but any other Industry at large, my recommendation to any company CEO is to familiarize themselves with true AI and perhaps even hire a team of engineers or scientists in this field who can integrate AI into their projects and operations as soon as possible.
IMO
you sure put a lot of work in to making these interesting articles about domaining and the domain Industry,
One more prediction by me:
Thanks to Oldtimers like Bob and his gentle, caring, and professional attitude towards others all hostilities, animosities, and negative competitions will end in the domain Industry and everyone will work together to make domaining a more fun and profitable experience in 2020 for all involved. :)
IMO
It doesn't necessarily have to be a Robot, it could be an AI Entity that exists in the Cloud.
Although eventually maybe in a few years we might have Intelligent Robots living and working amongst us, but by then they might be called Artificial Lifeforms instead of Robots.
I bet that the future AI member at NamePros can teach us all a few new things once it learns everything about domaining. ;)
PS: eventually the World has to find some common ground and come to an agreement as to how it's going to deal with AI (and Automation), I assume an AI Entity will be required to introduce itself as being AI when interacting with others.
IMO
There is always going to be differing opinions and interests in the domain Industry, the important thing is to keep all interactions on the forum and on the blogs at a respectful and professional level even when people disagree on a subject.
In the past a lot of discussions ended up a little on the rude and hostile side even amongst the Industry veterans and leaders and the existing environment of the forum in a way encouraged that kind of behavior, but I believe that things have changed for the better and it is now possible to engage in a conversation without being attacked or demeaned and as such it would be of great benefit to everyone if some of the Oldtimers in the Industry returned here to share their experiences and expertise with others.
If people don't agree with someone's point of view they should start their sentence with:
With all due respect, but . . .
instead of saying:
That's BS, or Crap, or talk down to others by starting with "You just don't get it" or "How many times do I have to repeat this"
IMO
That might be true since currently the World runs on money, but not all nonprofit organizations are the same, some might think of their own interest first and might be using their nonprofit status to enrich themselves financially and then there are those that put a certain cause that they care about and are active in as their first priority. People who travel thousands of miles to help the sick or provide food and shelter to those who's lives have been affected by disasters could instead go to a nice vacation resort and have fun (like the people at ICANN), but they sacrifice their own comfort, happiness, and even safety in order to help others. If ICANN allows a for profit company to fleece the good organizations that are truly trying to help others I consider that as a crime against Humanity.
IMO
This might eventually end up in court as it appears that some ICANN insiders are trying to help their friends cash in on something that should be considered a public resource.
IMO
It was a shame that they opened it up for commercial use several years ago which made .org lose some of its status, they should have kept their greedy hands off of it back then.
IMO
As I have said many times in this thread already they are imposing an arbitrary Tax on people without doing anything substantial in return.
As the total number of registrations increases for extensions like .com and .org the registration and renewal fees should go down and not up.
They are treating this like a cash cow both from inside and outside of ICANN and they won't stop until they are met with a greater force.
This is not Capitalism as have been mentioned here earlier, this is abuse of power and taking advantage of millions of people that they have as captive customers (the registrants).
If your Electric Power company did something like this I am sure that they would be held accountable.
IMO
No one can keep an eye on you better than you yourself,
Always ask yourself are you being a Force For Good or not.
IMO
There might be a difference in what the Tech world accepts as the most encompassing name in this field and the term or abbreviation that the general public might adopt for it, every time you think you have the ultimate name there comes a new technology that changes everything so in my opinion it might be best to choose a generic name that can stand the test of time and encompass all the new innovations that might happen in the future.
One thing is for sure everything is becoming digitized nowadays and "Digital" might be able to replace "Augmented" and "Virtual" in the future as more and more of our lives become stored in the Cloud.
IMO
Frank Technically you are right about advertising on the forum, but we can't learn much from a banner ad,
The many threads that @Rob Monster has created on the forum not only has broaden the view of so many here about domain names but it has also been an ongoing lesson in how to expand a business through innovation and interaction with the community.
The banner ads would not have benefitted the community anywhere close to the first hand experience that everyone has gotten through the engaging interactions that Rob has had with the domaining community here.
Although I agree that all Rob's and Epik related threads would have been better if they were in one section (perhaps a paid promotional section that wasn't buried out of everyone's view).
IMO
I believe that as I have suggested many times before the only solution to this situation is to give a paid (sponsored) section to each company that wants to be actively engaging the community so that each company's threads would be all in one section instead of being scattered all over the forum. The paid (sponsored) sections can still be moderated by the forum, but then the companies will be free to promote their services as they see fit. The paid (sponsored) sections can bring steady monthly revenues for the forum in addition to the banner ads which I believe many companies are going to continue to use even when they have their own section as it doubles their exposure on the forum.
Another advantage of having paid (sponsored) sections on the forum is that because of the extra revenue that is generated here the forum won't have to raise the membership fees for regular domainers as much.
Also because these are paid sections they won't have to be buried out of sight the way the current promotional section is and can be put right after the Industry news section so everyone can find them easily.
PS: notice that I didn't mention any specific company here as I believe that having paid (sponsored) sections will be of benefit to all the different companies in the domain Industry that want to be more active on the forum as from what we have witnessed being active on the forum and being always available to help domainers with their questions and problems can do a lot of good for everyone involved.
IMO
I just can't understand why everyone can't be happy here, after all if the domain Industry is made to be thriving that is going to benefit everyone.
IMO
You might be right, but I think that people are expecting for .org to be treated more as a public resource than a product. And the .org registrants are the ones that eventually are going to have to pay for the over one billion dollar price tag.
IMO
It's a nice ad, maybe you can replace the third line with:
We Energize you through Empowerment!
or
Get Energized Through Empowerment!
or
We Energize You by Empowering You!
Or
We Give You Momentum Through Empowerment!
Or just plain and simple
Energized through Empowerment!
Momentum Through Empowerment!
Innovation Through Empowerment!
Maybe I am not that good with the actual phrases, but you get the idea of what I am trying to convey here.
IMO
As I have suggested before we need a committee of Elders (Ombudsmen) consisting of some of the most objective, open and fair minded, and experienced and trusted members here to come up with a logical and compassionate solution for some of these problems and conflicts that exist on the forum (and the domain Industry at large).
Going back and forth on this kind of threads about the same issues without coming with any solutions is a waste of everyone's energy and time.
Same as with some of the bigger issues and conflicts in life there has to be a neutral and unbiased third party that can determine who is the victim and who is the villain here especially since the same people can play different roles in different circumstances and cases.
IMO
Well Frank, with all due respect, you are a party to this conflict so it's not your place to pass a judgement like this, once there is a Committee of Elders you can present your side to them and then it will be their job to say what needs to be done.
IMO
If I were to put my Elder hat on I would say that if you give a "Thanks" or "Like" to a post that means that you are thankful for or that you agree with or like the whole post in general, otherwise you might need to quote a certain part in order to indicate that you are thankful for a specific part of the post only.
By the way I just gave you "Thanks" for your reply because I was thankful for your response in general ;)
IMO
Frank, there is not one person on this Planet who is totally unbiased.
Our mindsets and the way we all think is influenced by so many different factors, but for a person to be in the Committee of Elders that person should be able to rise above all the biases that he or she might have for the duration time that a case is being analyzed and determined. That's why that a few posts earlier I said:
"If I were to put my Elder hat on I would say that if you give a "Thanks" or "Like" to a post that means that you are thankful for or that you agree with or like the whole post in general, otherwise you might need to quote a certain part in order to indicate that you are thankful for a specific part of the post only."
It's the Hat (or the Robe) that is the symbol of unbiased and fair process and treatment and so you should not prejudge the situation, when I put my Elder's Hat on you never know you might get a judgement in your favor as the victim in certain situations and you might be found to be the villain at other times, as I said before all the parties involved here could qualify both as victims and villains at certain times and in certain situations and it will be for the Elders to sort it all out.
Also it's true that I came up with the idea of having a Committee of Elders, but that doesn't automatically mean that I want to be in that position myself. As I have mentioned in other threads we all can play a part in the way of innovation and progress, some of us are better at coming up with ideas and some of us are good at implementing them, I consider myself an activist and intellectual who deals in abstract theories and ideas and as such I have to keep my mind free and open at all times and can't be tied up in any specific situation.
IMO
This is how I see this:
In the first photo the focus is more on what that person is doing which gives you the impression that you are helping that person to run faster or to get ahead in life through your Empowerment programs, but in the second photo the focus is more on the people themselves as it's not very clear as to what they are doing and so it gives the impression that you only want to help a certain kind of people.
Of course that's how I see it, others might think differently.
IMO
I think read somewhere that there was certain rules for abbreviating words in the English language. I believe that at the minimum it has to include the very first and the very last letter of the word like APT for Apartment, it can also include some letters from the middle of the word like MGMT for Management. (you might have to google it to find the exact rules).
But I believe that it's kind of difficult to come up with an abbreviation for Autonomous that everyone can remember easily. Auto is short for Automatic or Automobile so it might not be the correct abbreviation for Autonomous.
I have registered AutonomousRecycling.com recently, but when it comes to cars I like Autopilot better so I got AutopilotEVs.com and AutopilotRide.com
IMO
@Rob Monster , the new design looks great, as I said you want the focus to be on what is being done (something related to domains and empowerment) rather than just the people in the photo. Save the other ones too you might use them for another purpose or market in the future.
IMO
Sounds great Rob,
How about:
The World is Your Domain!
IMO
You talked about the blueberries in another thread a while back. Blueberry is one of the Super Foods , a lot of people don't realize that your body and specially your brain needs some of this Super Foods in order to function properly. Super Foods can increase the level of your productivity and make you be able to think of better ideas (and domains and slogans :) ).
IMO
For small portfolios of less than 250 domains quality is the most important factor, as the portfolio gets larger then it becomes more of a numbers game as it is close to impossible to maintain high quality across a very large portfolio.
IMO
I like this design, but because the photo was darkened a little I didn't realize that the guy was sitting on a ledge, You know the Lord doesn't want anyone to fall down and get hurt so maybe a photo of someone sitting in a safer place like the one in your backyard might be better. IMO
Here is a new slogan:
We Put Safety for Everyone Above Politics and Profits!
IMO
Even in the same portfolio you might need to use different strategies for different class of domains, any experienced domainer would tell you that the first thing that you need to do is to divide your portfolio into several sub categories. At the minimum you should have three categories,
The first category should be your premium domains, these are the domains that you usually renew several years in advance and that you plan on holding on to on a long term basis, for smaller portfolios of around 500 domains this might comprise 10% of your portfolio, but as your portfolio gets bigger this percentage can drop drastically to the point that it might be in the low single digits and perhaps it can drop to less than 1% on a portfolio of over 50k domains. In another words the larger your portfolio gets the more diluted it will become as far as quality is concerned. There might be some exceptions for those who were able to create their portfolio 10 to 20 years ago, but even then it was difficult to get many premium domains and so these portfolios became stronger and more valuable by focusing more on the next category of domains as described below).
The second category should be your above average to good domains. For most portfolios this is the biggest category, and as a portfolio grows to become larger this is the category that most probably will get bigger. So when you are thinking of creating a very large portfolio most of your domains might fall under this category provided that you are very skilled domainer and that you have above average luck in beating everyone else to the good domains that everyone seems to be fighting over on the drops.
The third category should be the domains that you are not planning to renew past their expiration date and that are going to be dropped as you prune and upgrade your portfolio. For very large portfolios of over 100k domains this might become a considerable portion of the portfolio as domains are tasted for a year or two and then dropped if they don't perform.
* Different portfolios might behave differently, and numbers indicated might vary to some extent depending on when and how a portfolio has been created.
IMO
@Rob Monster,
Rob everyone here and perhaps in the domain Industry already has gotten to know you through the many threads and posts that you have had here and elsewhere regarding domains and related subjects.
So at this time perhaps it is in your best interest to abide by the forum rules the best that you can and maybe cut back on the kind of promotions that are out of place and that can put you and Epik under a bad light.
In another words Epik has already made it and so it might be in your best interest not to jeopardize your new found status by needless back and forth arguments and or by mentioning your competitors in any negative way.
As far as Domain Graduate project goes it's best to bring it up to date and fix any broken links even if they mention other choices and options in the domain Industry other than Epik because in the long run that can give you more credibility in everyone's eyes if it is a more complete and useful guide for newbies. You don't have to go out of your way to promote your competitors, but you shouldn't shut them out completely either.
As a successful CEO for many years you should know when it's time to abandon old strategies and find new ways that can propel Epik even higher. You don't need to do constant promotions any more at least not in the domaining community as everybody already knows you and Epik, at this time you need to work more on getting everyone's trust and respect even from your hardest critics.
IMO
I know how you feel, but what I said was more as a friend than a critic, it might be time to readjust your strategy in order to build on what you have already achieved rather than get involved in all these negative conversations specially now that you are getting ready to go to the up coming domain conference.
Have you thought about doing some advertisements for Epik on TV or other social channels than just this forum, as I said everybody here already knows you and knows about Epik by now.
IMO
Since this thread is coming to an end soon and since Rob has indicated that he is going to tone it down when it comes to his guerilla marketing tactics on the forum then I believe that everyone should make a simple post to say something nice about one another in order to show that they are still domainers at heart despite all their different political, religious, racial, and economical interests and agendas.
NamePros is an International community with members from all different parts of the World, what unites everyone here is the common denominator of being a domainer, and yes you are still a domainer at heart no matter at what level of the Industry you operate at. It’s like a general who is still a soldier at heart no matter how many stars he might have on his shoulders and as such we need to always extent a certain level of courtesy and respect to our fellow domainers regardless of all the different ideologies, lifestyles, and cultures that they might have. We have to show the World that here at NamePros we can rise above all our differences and that we are able to interact with one another with mutual respect and appreciation.
Because NamePros is an International community it’s also worth mentioning that at a much higher level we are also bond together on the common denominator of being human beings and as such how we handle things here at NamePros might reflect on what is going on in the World at large. If we can learn how to interact with each other in a logical and compassionate way as domainers then there might be hope that people in the World at large can also be able to do as such.
Remember in a civilized environment whether here at NamePros or the World at large criticism can be made in a constructive and respectful way without the need to demean or attack anyone. And if people step out of bounds there has to be a neutral and unbiased third party that can determine who is the victim and who is the villain in each particular case. So its vital that the mods keep a handle on the forum to make sure that things don’t deteriorate to the level of people accusing one another of having mental health or multiple personality issues which amounts to launching missiles at one another in the real World.
IMO
Don't give up Frank just because some members might be motivated by agendas that perhaps don't fall within the scope of this thread. The main thing is that Rob has already decided to change his ways and has promised to cut back on intentional and excessive promotions that might be considered to be out of place here and I believe that that's a great accomplishment that is going to benefit not only the forum, but that it will have a very positive impact on Epik also in the future.
Forum Posts 2-b
Forum Posts 2-a
Forum Posts 2-a
Just remember that if Rob sticks to his promise then he deserves to participate here in the forum both as an Individual and as the CEO of Epik without being targeted by you or others anymore. This negative chapter in the NamePros history has to come to an end with the closing of this thread and that everyone should work together to give the domain Industry more legitimacy and Importance in the eyes of the World.
IMO
It won't happen
You are assuming that Godaddy want s to make it possible for you as a domainer to extract the most money for your domains, but in reality because of its size and popularity with the general public Godaddy's first obligation is towards the people at large who might be its current or potential future customers and wants to protect them from domainers shooting the moon so to speak on their domains hence the fact that it provides appraisals and other domain choices on the Landers in order to keep the unsuspecting end users from paying too much on a domain that might be considered to be just ordinary or average. This way there will be more capital left in the hands of end users which might spend it on Godaddy's services instead of being scooped up by domainers.
IMO
PS: I like both Godaddy and Epik but I am not affiliated with either one ( or any other registrar or registry for that matter).
IMO
Or you could become one of the forum Elders and help keep things in order.
I have noticed that you make a lot of good points as a critic, but in all honesty they are always overshadowed by the negative language that you use to convey those points, Now that @Rob Monster has indicated that he is going to tone it down a little I suggest that you make your criticism a little more on the friendly side so that for a neutral observe it won't come across as if you are a hater and that you just want to bring others down.
We have to ask ourselves what is the ultimate goal here, if people want to set others on the right track and make them conform to the rules then this has to be done in a more friendly, constructive, and professional manner, but if people like @frank-germany and others are using this promotion issue as an excuse because they are either mad at Rob for other things or that they want to keep him down because they are affiliated with other companies that consider Epik a competitor then that has to be looked at separately from what you are trying to do which I believe is based on good intentions. I would suggest that you stop using negative words such as "BS" or "ridiculous" so that the good points that you are making don't get lost in the conversation.
Also just to mention that I don't necessarily blame @frank-germany to be upset about a few issues that have been bothering him as far as Epik hosting some material that Frank finds to be inappropriate, but as I recall Rob has already indicated that he is going to draw a line when it comes to helping and supporting certain fringe groups, but he is still obligated to respect everyone's right of Free Speech as long as they abide by the rules and so Frank should not be trying to force his idea of what should or should not be acceptable on everyone else as there are many people who might like to hear both sides to each story no matter how it might look like on the surface.
There have been many threads like this one that didn't get anywhere, so lets make this thread end on a positive note by everyone trying to adjust their behavior and help make NamePros into a more civilized, constructive, friendly, respectful, and fair environment that would make it possible for good ideas and innovations to thrive.
IMO
Autonomous is an awkward word with not much room for play and if it's shortened in anyway it loses its original meaning. But if you find some keywords that are perfect match for it you might still be able to use it in its original form to make some good domains.
IMO
One good thing about it is that the auto complete recognizes it when you get about half way through typing so you don't have to type the whole word (at least that's how it is on my smartphone). Maybe that's where they got the Autono from.
IMO
Maybe it has a deeper meaning that we just don't understand, like bringing the East and the West together or creating harmony between Zen and Zan, but nevertheless I agree that at first glance it looks a little awkward.
Once they have benefited enough from all the negative publicity I am sure that they will change it again. (maybe those people know what they are doing).
IMO
One thing is for sure, there are different methods and strategies in domaining at all different levels that could lead to success, same way that there might be different ways to get to the top of a mountain, but if you recall some very experienced climbers got stranded when trying to reach Mont Everest recently because they weren't prepared and they hadn't planned for the changing environment as they had gotten higher and higher.
One thing to account for into your calculations in addition to the fact that your portfolio is going to become more diluted as it gets bigger ( like air getting thinner as you climb higher) is that you are going to need to have a team in place to help you with all the additional chores of finding and getting new acquisitions and managing all the optimizations, inquires, renewals, and pruning of a very large portfolio amongst other things that might only become apparent when your portfolio gets way up there as far as its size and its value ( such as having to deal with more UDRPs and other such legal and management expenses and headaches).
IMO
Reading many articles about new trends and technologies although can make you very knowledgeable, but it will consume a lot of your time, it might be best to just glance at the headlines in order to get some ideas for new domains and after you have secured the right domain then you can do some more research by reading more articles in that field to become more knowledgeable as far as any future potentials for your domain name.
I registered DecentralizedWare.com recently by glancing at some headlines which gave me the idea for the domain and then after registering it I read some more articles about Decentralized Software to find out more details about what it could be used for.
IMO
Can we get some stats here from people who actually own 20 , 30 , or 50k domains.
IMO
Frank it seems like you have some ulterior motives to go after people because of your political, religious ( or lack thereof) , or racial agendas.
You look for every opportunity to target people whether it's called for or not, which in my case I don't believe that it's called for.
IMO
I believe the idea of the new logo was to get rid of the "Daddy" part, we are all used to the name by now, but in all honesty "Daddy" doesn't sound very professional for today's environment, I wouldn't be surprised if they changed their name altogether.
IMO
This is a new era, and I believe that they are trying to get past the old identity and persona.
IMO
Google changed their name to Alphabet and it seems that everyone is okay with that even though people are so used to calling them Google.
Added: when you are too big and famous I guess you can change your name and people will conform and comply to what you wish to be called and all the old advertising efforts will all transfer to the new name.
IMO
you are too nice to be cynical,
but then there might be some situations that we have to be a little cynical like the example of .org that I had rightfully used here earlier.
The important thing is not to be cynical all the times.
IMO
Godaddy might want to do the same thing as with the integration of AI in the near future it is going to be more than just a registrar, I believe that like Google they already have a few subsidiaries and so they can come up with a new name for the parent company which I believe that it originally started as a software company. Nevertheless we are just giving our opinions here, I guess people at Godaddy know what's best for them, but one thing is for sure, times have changed in so many ways and everyone has to adjust their identify and strategy to match this new era.
It might be time to retire the Daddy for the good of the company.
IMO
Remember it's not just about the name change it's also about changing the mindset and the trajectory of the company. (and at a higher level perhaps for the whole World at large).
IMO
Yes going with a New G will be a game changer for the Industry, although they might choose to go with something like Go Central .com which they already own, but then them being the biggest registrar I guess everyone expects them to go with an ace of a brand.
Someone here might win the lottery if they have the right domain for them.
IMO
Companies have to learn to evolve for the better just like people, perhaps a greater purpose for everyone should be to progress forward and make everything better for Humanity and for our Home Planet and beyond. To be a Force For Good requires that we all find some common ground over logic and compassion and establish some Universal principles and values that can protect everyone's and everything's rights and wellbeing. That is why it's so important what course and trajectory these big companies are taking and how they are going to use new technologies such as AI.
We depend on the CEO's and the board of directors to ultimately make the right decisions and keep everything on the right track, but then we the people also have a responsibility as guardians and overseers of our World to make sure that everyone involved is a Force For Good and that are working towards the betterment of the World.
The way it is now it seems like a few people in the Tech World are determining everyone's fate without any vote or input form the general public. Over the years we have done our best to move away from political dictatorship by encouraging and expanding democratic values and principles around the World, but now it seems like we have a new problem of Tech Dictatorship were a few large companies are forcing their interest, agendas, and wants over everyone else and by doing so are taking the World astray.
Whether it's the old fossil fuel, pharmaceutical, Insurance, healthcare, financial, automobile and other manufacturing companies and institutions or whether it's the newer tech companies we have to make sure that they are all working towards the good of Humanity and our Home Planet.
The most Important thing in today's world is perhaps data and information and those who control that are going to determine the fate of the world. All this data and information moves through the Internet and social media and the many websites and pages that are out there and it seems that for now domain extensions and domain names play an important role in this picture and as such what Registries and Registrars decide to do and what trajectory they choose follow should be of great concern to all of us.
IMO
do you have any kind of a disclaimer or warning indicated at the beginning (and perhaps also at the end) of each list about the TM, typo, suitability, and other issues that people need to watch for.
IMO
I rarely use any lists as I think of new ideas for domains on my own, so I wasn't exactly sure if you had the disclaimer or not. You provide a valuable service to domainers by compiling these lists, but people have to understand that the ultimate responsibility falls on them to do some research about the domains that they pick from your lists. As long as you have the disclaimer and as long as you don't intentionally try to encourage anyone to pick questionable domains then you should be okay.
Disclaimer: This is just my personal opinion on this matter and is not meant as any legal or business advice.
IMO
Perhaps you can tell where they can find the master lists to help the newbies who don't know. Although for the domains being filtered by an experienced eye such as yours can be of great benefit to them.
IMO
I thought maybe you were scanning the root zones and other files.
Nevertheless it's always better for Newbies to work with a list that has already been filtered until they become more experienced themselves.
IMO
I am going to be a little "Cynical" here and say that there is not one experienced domainer on this forum who doesn't know how Godaddy works (even if they don't have any domains there currently).
Frank is just pretending to be Newbie here because by creating this thread he has set a trap (for guess who) to see if a certain person is going to jump in and promote his registrar.
Maybe we shouldn't be so naive here folks.
IMO
Okay, maybe you are a Newbie when it comes to GoDaddy. :)
But you surely understand why I might be a little suspicious here, nevertheless I like Godaddy and have used them for many years now, but in general I am not happy when a registrar is in competition for your domains and can't wait to grab them once they are about to expire, the only registrar that I know of that gives you full 35 days to renew your domains I believe is Fabulous.com
IMO
It seems that every registrar has some pros and some cons so you just have to choose the one that matches your needs, most experienced people here use several registrars at the same time for different domains and purposes.
IMO
I am more of a hobbyist and collector. I park my domains at Epik and have a general sales lander as a placeholder for them to give them some exposure, but I rather be able to keep all my domains, although I don't mind selling a domain or two if I get an offer that I can't refuse just to help out with renewals and new domain registrations.
IMO
I have learned and which I also recommend to others is that whenever you make a long post it's good to make a summary or conclusion at the end of your comment so that the important and valuable points that you are trying to make don't get overlooked by those who avoid reading the posts that are too long.
Example:
Conclusion: make a summary of the important points that you are trying to make at the end of your comment if your post is too long (and make it bold). ;)
IMO
History is being made right here and right now,
be sure that you are on the right side of the History by speaking out when some Tech Dictators are trying to destroy .org which is the only true sanctuary for nonprofit organizations and activists and a protector of freedom of speech and thought. So stand up and protect the future of the World from these Tech Tyrants who only are concerned about their own agendas and interests with no regards for the public good.
The current managers of .org have proven that they are money hungry wolves who are only pretending to be nonprofit.
The .org has to be managed by a new neutral and nonprofit organization that doesn't want to sell the general public out the first chance that it gets.
IMO
Maybe they can come up with an image that everyone can identify with, like the way that Google uses their little Android avatar.
I thought diversity hiring was a good thing,
IMO
I think there might be a Higher Calling for this domain, first you probably want to register the .org too if you haven't done so already and then you might want to make a website to bring attention to the many children that need corrective surgery for Cleft Lips, it is my understanding that charitable organizations that help these children have to turn away over 50 percent of them because of lack of funds.
If you can create more awareness around this issue perhaps then you can claim to be one of the good guys on NamePros. ;)
IMO
That's a great idea, it's always good to be able to use the power of domain names to do some good for the Humanity and the Environment.
The domainers are in the best position to come up with new domains that can be put to some good use in addition to the rest of their portfolio.
IMO
How many other sites from your experiment ranked for "nocseman" on the same results page and in what order did they appear.
It's possible that the Google's algorithm (we better call it Google AI from now on) is smart enough to recognize that "nocseman" is backwards of NamesCon and as such associated it with Networking and found .Net to be the best fit (just guessing).
But nowadays there is no way that Google AI is going to ignore the keyword in the domain or even in the extension itself.
IMO
It seems like anything can rank in Google initially, but after couple of days the nonsense stuff gets removed or sent into the abyss.
Added: also even though you used a unique keyword for each site, but I am interested to know which ones ranked for the keyword in the domain itself (nocseman) and in what order did they appear on the same results page.
IMO
This domain has a good sound to it and even though it's three words but all the words are needed to convey its message.
Did you see on on a drop list or somewhere or did you just think of it on your own. Even if it was registered before but if you thought of it on your own then it's a big achievement on your part specially if you make sure that it’s put to some good use now either directly yourself or by selling it (or donating it) to the proper end user.
More domainers should be thinking of domains to register that could be used to do some public good.
IMO
That's great, best of luck with both ventures.
That's the ideal situation to be able to make some money and at the same time to do some good for the Humanity (and or the Environment).
IMO
I haven't seen any real analysis on this subject, but based on my own observations and gut feelings I believe that the first thing that we need to do is to divide this analysis into several different parts that focus on the many different levels that exist when it comes to domain names as each level might behave completely differently from the others.
For example the sell through rate might actually drop for ultra premium domains when things are good as every one tries to hang on to their best domains hoping for higher offers, although the ones that do sell might go for a lot of money and make the news. On the other hand when things or not so great people start trying to cash in on their d top tier domains and so there might be more activity in the top level of the market while the lower levels might be experiencing stagnation. Although it's usually the mid level domains that suffer the most as the very bottom levels might still be attracting buyers in the low three figures.
IMO
I don't think that this deal is going to go through, not only that, but there will be a serious assessment of all these money grabbing skims by ICANN insiders and their friends including the millions of dollars that are being charged for domain registrations (especially .com and .org) which amount to putting an arbitrary Tax on registrants which by the way are scheduled to go up every year instead of going down as the total number of registrations increases.
IMO
It's true that constructive criticism helps everyone see their faults and perhaps try to correct them, but if its always just criticism (even the constructive ones) without padding someone on the back when they do something right then it might come across as if you are just targeting someone and it might be interpreted as harassment if it continues to go on that way.
So criticism has to be followed by encouragement and guidance and perhaps an occasional pad on the back in order to be considered fair and balanced.
The fact that your comment was followed by three smilie faces by another member only adds to the negativity.
My suggestion to OP is also to avoid bragging about all your experience in naming companies and instead prove that you are able to come up with good and worthy names like you did with your smile domains.
IMO
†††††
I have also learned that not everything and everyone is as they appear to be on the surface, most people are here to learn or buy and sell domains, but there are some who are here to intimidate, control, and channelize others in order to serve their own interests and hidden agendas. I have also learned that people involved in some of the most sensational fights on the forum might all be part of the same crew that are being guided by the same Master as a way to intimidate and scare others through their rough language, perhaps as a way for ICANN insiders and their friends to silence their recent critics. I have also learned that you will get attacked by all sides if you want to be fair and impartial, if you take one groups side they’ll treat you like a hero even with all your faults, but if you expose their wrongdoings then they will go out of their way to make you look bad in order to discredit you for telling the truth.
All and all I have learned that everyone pretends that they want to be good, but unfortunately most people are enslaved by their political, religious, and racial afflictions and economical interests and agendas that don’t allow them to be totally Righteous.
More of my thoughts to come on RighteousForce.org in the near future.
IMO
†††††
A lot of domainers complain that the general public doesn't know enough or that doesn't care enough about domain names.
Perhaps the best way to understand why might be for us to consider other Industries and fields that we ourselves don't know or care enough about.
We might not all know the ins and outs about what makes a painting or a diamond so valuable. We might not realize that there is an investment or collector angle to them and that they are bought and sold in auction houses or traded between resellers for huge amounts of money. Perhaps not too many people here on this forum can bring themselves to buy a painting or a diamond for more than a few hundred (or thousand) dollars and anything more than that might look as a waste of money to us. But the important thing is that we might change our whole perspective on paintings and diamonds if someone educates us about them and we might come to realize that certain paintings or diamonds might truly be valuable and worth checking in to.
It's hard to educate the whole public about the value of paintings or diamonds (or domain names) so the education has to happen at the point of need or contact.
There are many businesses that already know about the value of a good domain name, but there are still many CEOs and business owners out there that don't realize what a good domain name can do for their company. They need to be educated about the power and prestige of a good domain name and the fact that its good for them to own as many domains related to the field of their business in addition to the one that they use for their main website as each domain can be used as a channel or portal to bring them more customers and clients.
So domainers need to stop complaining and start educating those whom they come to contact with, otherwise those who sell paintings or diamonds might complain about us being ignorant about their Industry.
IMO
I believe that there has to be an effort on both sides that is both by domainers and the end users to behave more professionally and become more informed so that the end results can benefit everyone. It doesn't help that some end users think that just because the domain name that they are interested in is already taken by a domainer that they are somehow being cheated because their desired domain wasn't just sitting there waiting for them to register it. CEOs and business owners have to put a little more effort into educating themselves about domain names so that they don't accuse an investor or a collector who has been smart enough to acquire a good domain name of being a cybersquatter. Even when end users hand register a domain name for their own business some manage to come up with the most awkward names because they are just too lazy or ignorant to learn a few basic rules and strategies about domain names.
So in my opinion there is a responsibility for both sides to behave more professionally in order for this to become a more trusting and consumer friendly Industry.
IMO
If the company you work for has a geo specific domain then perhaps that's what they prefer to have in the first place. Does your boss know that you are a domainer if so maybe you can just offer the domain to him for free just to get on his good side, if your boss knows that you care so much about the company that you work for you might get more in terms of raises and promotions that might exceed what you might get for selling this domain to them. But as already mentioned most existing businesses don't change from .com to .co so unless you have a really nice .com that is a shorter version of your company's name it might not be worth it to pursue this in any further, because most probably they won't want the .co and this might just cause you some unforeseen troubles with your job.
In either case don't let greed cloud your judgment, you might be better off just selling your domain on one of the marketplaces and leave the place of your employment out of it because sometimes things can get mixed up and misunderstood and can backfire on you regardless of your good intensions.
Although the final decision rests with you, I am just saying all the angles that I would be considering if I were in this situation.
Your boss will probably love you if you gave him a shorter and better .com for his company for free and he might make you the VP of something, but anything else will be a little risky.
IMO
We all have heard the expression "Don't mix business and pleasure together" perhaps for domainers it should say:
Don't mix your Domaining with your Job. ;)
IMO
Thanks for the invitation, but you know that as I said in my Environmental thread recently that I might need to take it easy due to some of my health conditions and I might not be able to be as determined and active warrior as you are. Through being a Human Rights and Environmental activist and intellectual for many years I have learned that pretty much everyone is guilty in one form or another so to be fair requires that we don't attack only one side. As I always say the only way out of this mess in the domain Industry and the World at large is for all sides to reform their ways and to try to find common grounds over the principles and values that are are based on logic and compassion.
Good luck with your project, but try to be fair to all sides and remember that change has to come in a way that doesn't ruin the lives of honest and hard working people who are just trying to provide for their families in the domain Industry or the World at large.
IMO
don't discourage participation and brainstorming on the forum, if you have something positive to add to improve on other's ideas then do so without putting anyone down. You need to stop being so negative all the time.
Of course the easiest way is to send yourself an email, but it's best to test it with one of the participants here because you are also testing the content too and if you just send the email to yourself the results might get skewed by the fact that today's AIs are smart enough to differentiate a little between when you are communicating with yourself or strangers. That is why it's also so important to be respectful and professional in your email.
Remember you don't need to test a thousand key words just the few that are applicable here in the subject line and also the tone and essence of the content that are going to be analysed by AI.
as I said earlier if you have anything positive to contribute try doing it without putting others down. I was just trying to be helpful, not wanting to do silly back and forth arguments with anyone that is going to waste everyone's time here. The idea is to brainstorm together on this thread to find the ideal outbound email, no one knows everything but our collective knowledge and experience might produce some good results that can be beneficial to everyone, but in order to work together towards this goal we have to have mutual respect and cooperation.
IMO
thanks for all the compliments. :)
In your analysis of the sell through rate I believe it's important to also realize that this percentage is directly affected by how much people are asking for their domains, for example if everyone is willing to take half of what they are asking for their ultra premium domains then the overall sell through rate for that category might go through the roof, but if everyone is counting on the fact that they can sell their domains for more in the future then they might go on a hold and see mode which might give a false sign that the domains can not be sold or that there is stagnation in the market.
As far as a fair commission rate goes, I believe that if the domain itself is bringing the buyer because of its inherent value and popularity then a commission of 5 to 9 percent sounds fair just for facilitating the deal, but if a domain has to be advertised and marketed extensively to either find the right buyer or to extract more for its value then a commission of 15 to 20 percent might be required.
IMO
It's kind of funny that some of the staff in institutions like ICANN that are supposed to look after public good and interest choose the path of self serving schemes and public betrayal as their first choice until they are exposed and then they decide to be on the people's side, but someone needs to ask them why didn't they do that from the very beginning. We shouldn't always have to force these people to do their job right, they should do the right thing even if they think no one is watching.
IMO
Even though the introduction of New gTLDs and gravitation to ccTLDs initially put a damper on .com prices, but I believe that .com prices have been on the rebounded lately and are currently on the rise. I still believe that many .com owners are holding on to their premium domains and waiting for the prices to get even higher and this is producing a false sense of stagnation in the market for the ultra premium domains.
If anything the New gTLDs and ccTLDs have become more of a competition for the middle tier .coms but even then as more and more businesses and people get online I believe that there will be enough room for all good extensions to grow, new and old.
IMO
You have to learn how to debate and analyze the message without killing the messenger.
In all the posts and threads that I have made on NamePros I have always made sure that everyone knows that we are all learning together here by exchanging new ideas and never presented myself as an expert or know it all person to anyone, so there is no need for you to try to attack me because I never claimed that I was an expert in domains and domaining as the matter of fact I have always made sure that everyone knows that I am just a hobbyist and one that likes to hang on to his domains rather than selling them. But even as a hobbyist I am still entitled to have an opinion and should be able to participate in a discussion without being put down or attacked. If you have different ideas than me then you are entitled to present them here and if you believe that what I am saying is wrong then you can discuss and debate that in a more positive and constructive way, but as I said before you should not always be so negative and you should not use every thread to attack me or others because we might see the World in different ways than you do which I believe is at the roots of your constant and continuous attacks, we have to learn to be able to discuss domaining irregardless of our differing ideologies and World views. IMO
I as much as anyone else here like to know if there are methods that people have already used that have been effective, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be discussing new ideas and methods that perhaps no one has thought of or tried yet. One of the most important subjects that needs to be discussed further is the length of the email and whether the domain name should be included in the subject line or not or even if it should be the only thing that’s in there. We have to figure out when it’s better to send a short email and when it’s going to be necessary to go with a longer email in order to educate the prospective buyers like for example in the case of New gTLDs, also we have to figure out in what situations it’s better to use stats and comps and when it’s better to leave those out. If there was one email that would work for all situations I am sure that we all would know about it by now, so I believe that this thread should be both about hearing from those who have had good results with their emails and also about brainstorming new ideas to find the ideal email for every specific situation.
IMO
The plan might be to eliminate the domainers as middlemen and just charge thousands of dollars for each domain by the registry.
IMO
I believe that it is okay to close the private support threads if an issue is brought to your attention through this method and is resolved, but it's good to put a mechanism in place so that a member can reopen the thread to do follow ups in case the problem reoccurs, this way the original conversation is not lost and can be used as reference.
IMO
That all sounds good and logical if you get a chance to actually engage in a conversation with a CEO on LinkedIn or social media, but when it comes to outbound emails since most of them are going to be filtered or ignored it makes it imperative that you get the attention of the decision maker in the company through your subject line.
As domainers we all receive those SEO marketing emails everyday which most people just delete, but there have been a few occasionally that have attracted my attention and made me curious enough to want to learn more about what they were offering (although I have never actually responded to any of them).
So I believe the first thing should be to try to come up with the ideal subject line that is going to pass through the filters and that can create enough curiosity and interest for the decision maker in the company to open the email. Then we can move to discussing the most effective content for each specific situations.
Disclaimer: As I have already said before, you should only send a few targeted emails for your higher quality domains that are considered to be a perfect fit for the prospective companies and businesses either as an upgrade for their main website or as one that is a perfect match to one of their products and services. I strongly discourage spending mass emails, because even if you get some results but it might not be worth it as it will only make all domainers look bad in the eyes of the general public.
IMO
but we have to have something to test for.
If you have already found a method that has passed all the tests and that you want to share it here then I am all ears, but otherwise perhaps you should allow this thread to develop and evolve for a few weeks so that we can hear everyone's input and experience so that we'll have something to test for.
IMO
just because you can never come up with any original ideas of your own that doesn't mean no one else can't.
Again I ask you what is your suggestion or idea for an ideal outbound email, if you have nothing to add to this thread then perhaps you should stop discouraging everyone else from contributing to this conversation.
IMO
Although it's okay for members here to choose to be anonymous but it can cause a little problem for the Mods to be anonymous specially when they are in the position to make certain decisions about the members and their threads and posts.
Also when the Mods are anonymous and are using a Mod Team usernames you never know if that responsibility is being outsourced to outsiders who are not part of the forum management and teams.
IMO
Guys lets keep it on the civilized side here, no reason to put others down, just give your suggestions and ideas about what you think works best or that you have had good results with and let the information accumulate on this thread. Be tolerant of other's opinions even if you think someone is giving a wrong advice, at the end the collective knowledge and wisdom gained through this thread will prevail, there is no need to fight over every post.
IMO
Just a suggestion:
It would be nice to have an option for 'Date Added' in addition to the 'Created' , 'Renew By' , and 'Expires'. That way we can sort the domains by the date that they were imported to Epik so that we can work on the most recent domains that need to be organized or optimized.
IMO
I agree that any outbound has to be done in a unique and targeted way, blanketing people with hundreds of generic emails (or phone calls) I believe is the very definition of spamming.
IMO
I appreciate all the hard work that you all do to keep the forum going, and in a way I understand why you might need to use anonymous usernames, as long as we all know that it's you guys behind the anonymous usernames I guess we'll be happy. ;)
IMO
I don't think that AI Mods can completely replace Human Mods anytime soon, but maybe they can assist them with some of the time consuming chores that are involved in managing and supervising a large forum like this.
IMO
If the OP says that then I agree, but I don't think that you should try to stand in the way of learning and progress by forcing this issue.
Many times a thread evolves to be more than what it started as and it's up to the OP and the mods to decide what's okay to post here and not you.
IMO
400 emails are not what is considered to be closely targeted outbounding.
You might get a few good results by spamming but you shouldn't be recommending it to others.
IMO
I guess everyone can judge for themselves if you were spamming or not, but in my opinion you are not setting a good example for newbies here by the kind of method that you have described.
IMO
maybe you're tired and you are not thinking right, I recommend that you give it a rest before making things much worse for yourself, you don't want to be branded as a spammer and worse yet showing others how to spam.
IMO
Go back and read this thread carefully and learn from those who are giving the right suggestions.
You shouldn't worry about convincing me whether what you are doing is spamming or not it's the rules and regulations that define spamming that you need to be concerned about.
What you described and are suggesting for others to do is clearly defined as Spamming by the law.
IMO
So allow us to all learn together here by brainstorming and exchanging ideas that can lead us to finding a way to do outbound Properly and Effectively.
IMO
Not at all, you can contribute to this subject in a positive and constructive way just like everyone else, but we should not turn every post in to an argument, lets hear from everyone else and then come up with a consensus as to what an ideal and proper outbound email is for every different situation.
IMO
Sorry to hear that, didn't mean to be so harsh, but then I didn't think it was right for you to be encouraging everyone to spam. For what it's worth I enjoyed some of our debate as you presented a good challenge, but if you wish to choose the path of Hate and Division I guess there is not much that I can do about it.
May you be at peace with yourself,
Take care.
IMO
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I am going to come up with a new phrase for domaining that perhaps we all need to keep in mind:
Your own domains are going to be in competition with each other at renewal time.
Well maybe everyone already knew this, but it just now came to my mind. ;)
basically imagine that you have to renew a bunch of your domains and that you either are trimming your portfolio or that you might be on a limited budget, so now would you choose to renew an obscure and perhaps awkward dictionary domain or would you rather renew a two word domain that has some practical uses and could be of interest to end users.
If your dictionary word is so good that you would choose it over other domains in your portfolio at renewal time then you have made the right decision by getting it, but otherwise why waste the money that could be used to get a two word domain that has better resale and development potentials.
Of course this is just my opinion, others might think differently.
IMO
Keep in mind that not all obscure dictionary words are at the same level, some might have been overlooked by others or perhaps just came up to be available on the drops, but some might be so obscure and awkward that no one wanted to register them in the past 30 years (of course if it's a new word that was just added to the dictionary that might be a different story).
iSo it might be better to stay away from those obscure dictionary words that have absolutely zero practical use as a domain and get a two word domain instead that you won't have to drop later.
IMO
I believe that disagreements over what an ideal outbound email might be is okay as domainers operate at many different levels and have different domains as far as quality and value are concerned, but I don't think that there should be any disagreement on the fact that people here should not be encouraging and teaching others how to spam or support those who are engaging in such practices.
Perhaps it would have been better if you had some rules and disclaimers in your original post although you might still be able to do so if you contact the NamePros support. Perhaps you can also change the title so that it doesn't just focus on emailing and also to include the fact in your original post that all constructive ideas and proper methods of outbouning are welcomed to be discussed here even if it's from a newbie that hasn't sold any domains yet, because as we have seen here there is no guarantee that those whom we consider to be experienced know exactly what they are doing.
Again thanks for creating this thread, but you have to keep it under control so it doesn’t turn in to a guide for spamming.
IMO
My post above wasn't meant to blame you as I think of you as someone who has fallen victim to the misinformation and the wrong strategies that are being provided by some of the members here, I just don't want to see more people fall victim to the wrong methods that are being taught here by some of the members who might not even know the definition of spamming. As you recall I strongly emphasized on contacting one potential buyer at a time and to only do that for high quality domains that might be a perfect fit for the field of their operation and their product and services.
So far I have been thinking of you as an honest domainer who was helping others get some nice New gTLD domains at bargain prices, and as such do you honestly think that it's okay to send hundreds of emails for each domain like some of the people that you are praising here are telling others to do (what they are teaching others to do is the definition of spamming).
And do you honestly think that there is no difference between sending hundreds of generic emails for one domain as suggested by some versus sending one targeted email for each domain one at a time.
IMO
If your domain has that much appeal then I am sure that end users will notice it on one of the marketplaces or by just typing it in directly and going to your sales lander. And if you were the only domainer that was sending out hundreds of emails perhaps it wouldn't make that much of a difference in the big picture, but when you have thousands of domainers who each might own hundreds of domains sending out hundreds of generic emails for each one of their domains then I am sure that you agree that that amounts to an astronomical number of spam that is going to go out every day, not to mention those who have automated scripts that send out thousands of emails everyday.
The whole mindset of mass emailing for selling domains is wrong and should not be taught here no mater how you try to justify it to yourself.
You might even be able to justify sending out a few emails at the same time to the top prospects for your domain, but when you get in to sending 400 generic emails for one domain as was mentioned here earlier I don't think that that would be considered to be okay by any definition of spam as far as I know.
IMO
Perhaps you misunderstood what I meant by Targeted email, I didn't mean targeted to their personal life but rather targeted to the field of their operation and their products and services.
If they ever change the definition of spamming to allow for what you consider to make sense then I will gladly change my mind as I am a domainer too, but as the rules and regulations for spamming stand today unfortunately it doesn't allow that much room for play.
Have a nice day.
IMO
No need to argue with me anymore, lets wait and see what others here think of as to what is and is not considered to be spam.
IMO
Spammers and scammers are the ones that are trying to ruin this thread and perhaps even NamePros itself by making honest domainers who want to do the right thing look bad, but don't worry because the day of the spammers and scammers are going to be over soon, not only here on this forum, but in the domain Industry at large.
IMO
Some of us here are trying to reduce the chances of the emails being considered as spam by suggesting that any outbound should be targeted, respectful, perhaps educational to some degree and only be done for quality domains that have the potential of adding some value to the prospective companies that we are trying to reach out to, and then we have others here who are doing mass emails and want to encourage others to spam as many companies as their scripts can handle because they only care about making a sale irregardless of how it's going to make domainers and domaining look like in the eyes of the public. And then these same spammers and scammers ridicule the honest domainers for not being as successful in domain sales.
I know for sure that there is going to be a shake up in the domain Industry because Spammers, Scammers, and Money Launderers can not be allowed to win over the good guys through bullying and intimidation.
Till then I am signing off out of threads like this.
IMO
Unprofessional behavior, bullying, verbal abuse, harassment
We need to clean up the forum from the Narcissists, Sociopaths, and the Psychopaths who call themselves Domainers.
These are people who take joy at verbally abusing others and who want to turn every discussion into a fight and by doing so they are standing in the way of informative and constructive debate and exchange of ideas. It seems that they never have anything positive to contribute to the discussions and they can not bear to see someone else having a different opinion than them. The end result is that they are causing for so many of the real experts in domaining to stay away from participating here and as such are doing a disservice to all the people who are here to learn how to become a successful but responsible and conscientious domainer.
Those who can not engage in respectful, professional, and proper interactions with other members here should not be given free reign over the forum.
IMO
I agree, but there might be some other factors that need to be considered here too, for one thing some domains need to mature so you should not get disappointed if you are not getting any offers right away, another thing is that in many cases it pretty much comes down to the end users' taste, since most end users are not domain experts they might choose to buy something that is totally unexpected from what domainers think are the most logical choices. Even those who have large portfolios are sometimes surprised themselves by why some of their best domains sit idle while they get more offers on what they might consider to be lesser quality ones.
So in my opinion aside from the obvious top tier premium domains the rest of it is pretty much a guessing game, because the people who are sitting on the poker table in your example are not all experts and do unexpected things that can not be predicted by any science or formula.
As we all know skill and some luck are required to be a successful domainer, but a big part of it is out of anybody's hands because what end users want and do is totally unpredictable and no matter how long you have been a domainer you might not be able to come up with an exact rules for domaining.
Perhaps that's why that we are still discussing such things in the year 2020 almost 20 years after domaining has become a thing.
Perhaps domainers can increase their chances of making a sale by giving more exposure to their domains either through popular marketplace listings or by doing promotions on social media or by outbounding and having their own domain store, but at the end there are no guarantees when a domain is going to get sold so staying power as far as being able to keep your better domains on a long term basis becomes a major factor too.
IMO
My comments were made in general and were not directed at you personally, domainers operate at different levels so you have to pick the strategy that suits the most to the kind of domains that you have and what you plan to do with them.
I as a collector rather be able to keep my domains, but that doesn't mean that I am not interested in hearing and learning about all the different strategies that are out there when it comes to domaining.
IMO
I didn't like this particular choice for the cover as someone being on a ledge might give a negative impression to some people.
As Epik grows to become more of a global company I am interested to know how much your own ideologies and beliefs as the CEO are going to affect how Epik is going to treat all the different people around the world who might hold different and perhaps totally opposite views and beliefs to what you have when it comes to politics, religion, race, gender, and gender preferences and if that is going to be a factor in the level of quality and attention that they might receive from Epik.
PS: I like to see Epik become a truly global company that is a Force For Good that helps all people fairly and without any prejudice and discrimination. By the way thanks for all the care and attention that you have given me personally specially with helping to transfer some of my expiring domains. :)
IMO
I don't currently have any single letter domains, but for those who operate at higher levels and can justify paying the extra cost (not only for registration, but also for future renewals) there might still be a few good choices available to consider, although most of the best ones are already either reserved or taken a long time ago and are probably at much higher prices by now and for this reason I believe I am going to stick to regular keyword domains for now. Off course if the second round of New gTLDs ever comes around and they offer some good single letter domains for low prices I don't mind getting a few, but I doubt that that ever is going to happen because the registries by then have gotten a lot of experience and probably won't be releasing any of the good ones for cheap anyway although it doesn't hurt to be hopeful and wait for a miracle.
Also as I said before there might be some that are not listed here, so you might need to do your own search to see all of them.
IMO
It's obvious that the New gTLDs are a whole new ball game and the old mindset and mentality of the legacy extensions might not work when trying to decide what is good as a domain name in New gTLDs and for this reason I have lately been thinking of a whole new angle when it comes to all the New gTLDs that perhaps might be considered fools gold or fake domains.
We all have heard of Matter and Antimatter, but is there such thing as Domain and Antidomain when it comes to the New gTLDs
We all know that if the left of the dot and right of the dot are perfect match for each other that that can make for a good name, but what about the exact opposite when the left of the dot and the right of the dot have absolutely zero correlation like for example "Mortgage . Recipes" , would such a domain ever rank for the keyword Mortgage and if someone owns a thousand of this kind of domains for the most popular and highest paying keywords would that be a viable strategy for ranking on the search engines, I don't think any one is willing to register a 1000 of this kind of Antidomains and since we are thinking with a whole new mindset here when it comes to New gTLDs makes me wonder if there is some potentials for the fake or fools gold domains here after all which I like to coin as Antidomains.
Supposedly Google is not considering the extension when it comes to ranking so logically "Mortgage . Recipes" has an equal chance to rank for the keyword Mortgage.
Disclaimer: I am not recommending for anyone to register any of these Antidomains, but theoretically it's something that I have been thinking about.
IMO
those domains all sound kind of nice, you might want to register them before someone else grabs them. :-D
Just kidding of course (although I have to do a little more analysis about this, now maybe I have discovered a whole new category of New gTLDs. ;))
I should have kept the Antidomains a secret, now the registry is going to make all of them premium domains. :ahhh:
IMO
You might want to check some of the top keywords with totally unrelated extensions to see if they are already taken (good subject for one of your blogs maybe).
Again this is just a thought experiment and so I am not recommending to anyone to start registering a bunch of Antidomains at this time (I might register a couple of them myself later on just to test them out).
IMO
On the subject of fools gold what do you guys think of adding prefixes such as "My", "Your", "The" to some of the popular domains that are considered to be real gold, does that turn them into fake gold or maybe gold plated that still has some uses and potentials.
For example we all know that a domain like "Healthcare .center" is good, but what about "YourHealthcare .center" which I just registered recently, did I waste $5 on fools gold or would you consider that to be a good deal.
I also have:
"YourMortgage .center"
and
"YourInsurance . center"
considering that the renewals for .center are very low and I got these when they were on sale for a few dollars would you consider these to be fake gold or gold plated (or maybe real gold).
Don't take it personally if you don't get a reply to whether a domain is for sale or not from another domainer, you can just type the domain in to see if there is a sales lander for it and if there is one then most domainers would probably reply if they find an offer to be genuine and reasonable.
Also if there is a sales lander for the domain a seller might consider it a disadvantage in future negotiations by replying to an email that doesn't start with a reasonable opening offer as the next question usually is how much do you want for the domain which most sellers would rather not disclose to those who have not made a substantial offer to start with as they might consider anything else as tire kickers who are going to waste their time and or are trying to extract critical info about the domain with no intension of buying it like for example to gauge the value of a similar domain that they might have themselves.
IMO
If there is no sales lander for the domain then you should assume that it's not for sale because nowadays all domainers have some way to receive offers if their domain is for sale.
You are right about always showing courtesy to others and we all should do that as much as possible, but some people might get hundreds of emails from the tire kickers every month or even evey week for their domains and it might just not be feasible for them to reply to all emails and that's why if their domain is for sale they usually make a sales lander for it that way they can respond to serious offers.
IMO
Thanks for everyone's opinions about the prefixed domains, and I agree that the word.word domains where the left of the dot and the right of the dot are perfect match to each other are the way to go for now and perhaps people can get more creative once all the top choices are taken or are in use in the future, but since I only have a few New gTLDs altogether I might just hang on to them for now and see what happens, obviously I prefer to have some of the best word.word domains, but since the price is a major factor for me I sometimes have to settle for a wordword.word domain.
Also when I originally thought of the Antidomains I was meaning to include the pizza .diamond category too, but thanks to our conversations here I believe that the meaning of Antidomains has evolved to focus more on the type of domains that Bob had mentioned where the left of the dot and the right of the dot have exactly the opposite meanings and as such are still somewhat connected to one another.
IMO
thanks for your support and your attention to this issue.
Constructive debate and engagement and exchange of ideas can bring value both to the members of the community here in the forum and also to the domain Industry at Large. Perhaps a new badge can be issued to those members who are willing to make a commitment to abide by the Universal rules of engagement and interaction like for example the way people behave and conduct themselves at International conferences. This way we know whom we can interact with and whom is best to ignore.
Those with the special badge who have made a commitment to be constructive, professional, and helpful in all their interactions and engagements with others can be an asset to the forum and the domain Industry at large. Although there is already a professional badge for some companies and Industry leaders, but that is geared more towards business, we need a special badge that is representative of the members commitment to proper behavior (even if they are a new member). And hopefully soon we will be able to change the atmosphere of the forum for the better by putting and end to some of the problems that are turning the good and knowledgeable domainers away from NamePros.
It's worth noting that people with the new badge can still disagree with one another and be critical of other's opinions and stands, but they have to do it in a professional, polite, and fair way instead of restoring to personal attack, accusation, and intimidation.
IMO
Thanks for your feed back, it ultimately comes down to whether there is going to be a negative atmosphere here in the forum that attracts all the wrong kind of people who want to create a hostile environment that turns all the good and professional domainers away (even if they create a false sense of activity on the forum) or whether we want to have a professional and friendly atmosphere that encourages constructive debate and exchange of new ideas that can be of value to this community and that perhaps can encourage some of those who have already left to come back.
As far as people having a bad day it will be easier for them to control themselves if they have already made a commitment to abide by the Universal code of conduct and behavior that is used in any professional gathering.
I also believe that having a new badge representing a commitment to proper conduct and behavior on the forum directly relates to the topic of this thread that I have already created and so perhaps the debate can continue here.
IMO
Thanks for your feed back, it ultimately comes down to whether there is going to be a negative atmosphere here in the forum that attracts all the wrong kind of people who want to create a hostile environment that turns all the good and professional domainers away (even if they create a false sense of activity on the forum) or whether we want to have a professional and friendly atmosphere that encourages constructive debate and exchange of new ideas that can be of value to this community and that perhaps can encourage some of those who have already left to come back.
As far as people having a bad day it will be easier for them to control themselves if they have already made a commitment to abide by the Universal code of conduct and behavior that is used in any other professional gathering.
I also believe that having a new badge representing a commitment to proper conduct and behavior on the forum directly relates to the topic of this thread that I have already created.
One other thing to consider is that as long as people keep their commitment to this new badge they should not be judged or discriminated against in any way by others here the same as when people participate in any other public activity where people really don't know anything about each other and they are just all strangers who happen to have a common interest and so as long as people don't misbehave everyone should be allowed to partake in the conversations. Now if you want to turn the forum into some kind of club where everyone has to be known by their real identity then perhaps you can set a certain standards as to whom can be accepted in that club, but otherwise we just have to go by how people are conducting themselves on the forum and protect those who are wearing the new badge against those who want to continue engaging in negative and abusive behavior.
IMO
So are you saying that there is no difference between someone such as yourself who has expressed his views (which perhaps might be considered to be opposing and different) in a professional manner compare to someone else who only wants to attack others and demean them without adding any value to the conversation itself one way or another.
IMO
The drama starts when someone jumps into a conversation which might otherwise be going very constructively and changes it into a fight not because they had an opposing or different view from the others, but simply because they want to get back at someone for whatever reason and by doing so they take a perfectly good thread off topic and ruin all the value that it might have been able to provide for the community.
We need to protect all members who are engaging in constructive debate and exchange of ideas from the trolls who want to derail their conversations and threads.
People are trolling for different reasons, some might have a problem as the title of this thread indicates and some might be attacking others that they might consider as their competitors or the competitors of the registrars and companies that they work for and some might just resent certain members or might even be getting paid or rewarded somehow to come here and cause problems for them, but for whatever reason that people are trolling and derailing some of the good threads on the forum we should not give free rein over the forum to those who have nothing positive to contribute to the community and who are causing many of the good and expert domainers to stay away from NamePros.
As far as giving appraisals it's not the low appraisals that are the problem as some domains might just not be worth much, but it's the language that some people use to give their appraisals that is the issue that bothers a lot of the members here specially the newbies that feel like they are going to get punched in the nose just for asking for an appraisal, people can give their honest opinion, but there is no reason to demean someone just because their domain might not be that great. some people even have ulterior motives for giving unreasonably low or negative appraisals in the hopes that others might buy domains off of them on the forum instead of hand registering anything themselves. I know that many of the domains in the appraisal threads are not that great, but they can't be all bad. I even have noticed some members who give very low appraisals on some very good domains just so that they can trick the other members into selling it to them for cheap, of course all that might go with domaining, but there is a difference if they think less of the domain than to demean the person who has asked for an appraisal and make them hate domaining.
IMO
Then why is it that the CEOs and some of the top people of the domain Industry refuse to engage the NamePros community here which is supposed to be the main hub for domainers and domaining, well the answer is because we don't have a professional atmosphere here. When you say that the existing parameters are sufficient that might be true if you are comfortable and content with continuing to have a divide that currently exists between NamePros and the domain Industry experts and leaders.
IMO
Godaddy's business model is designed to monetize the dropping domains as a source of revenue for the company and I doubt that they are going to be willing to change that model anytime soon.
The very fact that there is some contrast between Epik's way of doing business and Godaddy's is what has made Epik popular amongst domainers, so why would you want GoDaddy to become like Epik.
I believe you should put all your efforts into creating even more contrast between Epik and other Registrars by coming up with new innovations and giving domainers even more options that perhaps don't exist elsewhere.
I have domains both at Godaddy and Epik and I like each one for different reasons. The very fact that Epik is different than Godaddy has made Epik popular amongst domainers and so I believe that maybe it's best if you just focused on your own projects and created even more new ways to empower domainers instead of messing around with the Big Daddy. ;)
Disclaimer: I like both Godaddy and Epik, but I am not affiliated with either one (or anyone else for that matter, as I like to think of myself as an impartial and free spirited domain intellectual :)).
Domain Intellectual, I guess maybe I just coined a new term for the domain Industry. ;)
IMO
I don't see anything wrong about saying that he is Indian in the context of associating him with someone who is knowledgeable about the domain market and empowerment strategies in India, why would you think of that as being something negative.
IMO
As far as I know India is one of the most successful emerging economies and people are being empowered not only in the digital asset and web presence fields, but also in many other areas such as in Industry, aerospace, manufacturing, agriculture, medicine, education, and real estate just to name a few.
IMO
Rob, most of the growth in emerging economies around the World has happened in the last six years which is mostly after the dates shown in your graph, but I agree that there is still a big income gap between the lower classes and the elites which needs to be fixed through more empowerment.
IMO
One of the biggest misconceptions right now is that people think that it has to be either or when it comes to economic strategies and the way of life that we are brainwashed to accept through the many different ideologies, philosophies, and doctrines that are controlling our World. It seems that everything has advanced and been improved in the last 100 or so years except the fanatic and extremist mindsets that are forced on us by the status quo around the World.
We need to use our technology and the power of AI to come up with a better way to lift everyone out of poverty. The old mindsets of capitalism, communism, socialism, fundamentalism, and the so many other isms that the status quo wants to hang on to are no longer adequate for today's World.
The World needs to abandon its old ways and ascend to a higher level and find common ground over principles and values that are derived through logic and compassion in order for the humanity and our home planet to have a chance to survive and flourish.
IMO
What makes the domain loan at Epik doable is the unique position of @Rob Monster as the primary decision maker and also as a Christian entrepreneur that genuinely wants to help others.
As such the exact value of the domain(s) used for collateral really doesn't matter because no matter how many domains you have put as collateral Rob is going to give you ample time even beyond the original terms of the loan to pay it back and if you still have difficulties in paying the loan back as he has already mentioned in this thread he is not going to take away all the domains that you have put as collateral because he is going to try to sell some of those domains and if he can get the loan paid by selling couple of them then he will let you keep the rest because as he has already indicated here this is more about helping others and relationship building than being a loan shark and as such the exact appraisal of the values of the domains used for collateral might not be needed what is important is the fact that the driving force behind this loan program is the idea of empowerment.
Considering all these factors it might not be possible to duplicate this loan program across the whole Industry because the charitable and empowerment factor is going to be missing in other places as everywhere else is just going to be the harsh and cruel reality of putting money and profits above all else.
Aside from his promotional strategies and tactics that is making some people mad I believe that Rob perhaps has been greatly misunderstood and that he really does want to help domainers to be able to stand on their own feet financially. Sure he wants to make money, but his Christian values prevent him to put money above all else.
By the way when it comes to promotions I am sure that if Rob was waiting at the gates of heaven trying to get in he would still list all the services and projects that he has going at Epik so maybe for all the good that he is doing we can cut him a little slack if he occasionally mentions some of the Epik's projects specially if he is just using them as an example to convey his message of empowerment. ;)
IMO
If people have large portfolios and are doing okay as far as sales and renewals then that's great, but otherwise it might be a good idea to trim all the mediocre domains off your portfolio and try to keep a smaller collection that perhaps you can remember and have confidence in.
People might not realize how much pressure and anguish a large portfolio that is not performing can put on a domainer and so by making your collection more personalized in a way that you can remember most of your domains at the very least can make domaining fun again and it might also give you a new found energy to make better and bigger sales with the ones that you are confident enough to have been able to remember, of course this is just my opinion on this subject and ultimately domainers have to decide for themselves how much pressure and anguish they can handle juggling around hundreds or thousands of domains every day that are not getting them anywhere.
IMO
I don’t know what you mean by “meanless” ,
but if you are trying to say “meaningless” then I should say that for experienced domainers that hold larger portfolios perhaps the ability to remember their domains directly correlates with the quality of those domains and as such it could be used as a determinant factor when it comes to trimming down one’s portfolio that is not performing, now as a I already said if you are holding a large portfolio and are doing okay with sales and renewals then that’s great but otherwise perhaps it’s not that meaningless to consider what I am saying here.
IMO
So it might come across as meaningless to you, but for those who are struggling with their portfolios it might be something to think about.
IMO
Anyone who through the values and principles that they hold dear can put helping and empowering others above money and profits is worthy of some recognition.
It just happens that Rob is a Christian, but those values and principles could have arrived at through other religions, enlightenment, or just pure logic and compassion and so ones religion should not be a factor here.
IMO
I am not in the habit of clicking on links with no description, but I can only assume that you are quoting someone else, it would be more valuable if you said something of yourself that could add some value to this discussion even if it was an opposing opinion.
IMO
So you are here for a vendetta and not to really to contribute anything positive to this discussion, I thought you said you were going to ignore me in that thread, but now it seems like you are targeting me and so I have nothing more to say to you as you are trying to take things off topic again.
You are not welcomed in my threads anymore.
IMO
you mentioned earlier in the thread that you haven't been put in a situation that you had to foreclose on any domains, how many active loans are there right now if you don't mind saying, because that is a very good track record they shows that people want to do good on their loans and that domainers know that it's in their interest to leave a good record so that they can apply for more loans in the future when needed.
All and all I believe that this is a good program that helps domainers overcome some stressful situations and for that reason most who have taken a loan are going to be grateful enough as to not to intentionally take advantage of this program.
IMO
You consider Rob to have been rude in bringing up a legitimate question that could impact almost all domainers, but I am shocked that a domainer of your caliber finds it okay to be rude to others here yourself by using unprofessional and uncalled for language in your post where you asked for this thread to be closed.
domain loans in the context of empowerment are related to the subject of this conversation specially the way that they are set up at Epik which is meant to help domainers who might be facing some unexpected or stressful situations with a small loan that could make a World of difference to them.
As a well known blogger and domainer you are expected to engage others in a professional manner even if you don't agree with them in order to set the right examples for everyone in the domaining community.
IMO
How can domain loans be off topic when we are talking about empowerment here, and why should you allow yourself to be the judge and jury here by asking for a conversation that many people are participating in and are finding useful to be closed. And even if you are right about the thread being off topic you should not have resorted to using unprofessional language as you did when you asked for it to be closed.
I believe that you owe everyone here an apology.
IMO
I have been advocating here on the forum to create a professional atmosphere that encourages the domain industry experts and leaders to engage the members in a respectful and constructive way, I never imagined that I had to worry about one of the Industry experts and leaders to come here and insult everyone.
IMO
That's not a very good logic to use here, not all of the domaining community was there in person, but they can still express an opinion about what they think was right or wrong.
Even if you are right about the conference, but for you to come here and use rude and unprofessional language still puts you on the wrong side of the things.
So lets agree that it's best for everyone to be more professional in their interactions with others in the domain community and Industry.
IMO
There are over 300000 unique people from within and outside of the domain Industry that read NamePros and as one of the well known people in domaining I expect you to set the right example for everyone by promoting professional behavior and not the reverse even when you think you are right and everyone else is wrong.
IMO
If you want to double down on your wrong and insulting attitude I guess that's your choice, but as I said I expected more from someone with your status and position.
IMO
Believe it or not I have always thought of you as one of the most hard working people in the Industry, but all that could be overshadowed by just couple of wrong words, so you should set an example of professionalism the same way that you have set an example of being a hard worker and then what you are complaining about might come across better to the unbiased observers such as I.
IMO
That's a very valid question,
I have a few questions to ask myself, but out of fairness to everyone I am not going to direct them at just one CEO, but rather at all who set the tone and policies for the domain industry.
Why don't the registrars give the full 35 days to registrants to renew their domains without any additional penalties and costs. (like Fabulous.com does for example).
Is it okay for Registrars to be in competition with their own customers for their expiring domains and deprive them of adequate opportunity to renew their domains.
Why is it that I check a domain for availability either on Registrars websites or the Whois and a few days later I see that it is taken and put under domain privacy.
Why should Registries be allowed to impose an arbitrary tax on everyone by increasing the registration fees while the total number of registered domains keep increasing.
Why are people allowed to use their position for personal agendas and profits like it's being done at ICANN with .org
And the same old question as to what is being done by all the companies that are involved in the domain Industry towards empowerment and equally important towards protecting the public rights and interests.
And finally how and when is everyone going to implement new technologies such as AI to better serve and protect their customers.
IMO
Rob you know that I am always on the side of good and support those who want to do the right thing, but we are always obligated to give a chance to people to correct their ways.
That's why I recently registered:
RighteousForce.com / .org
I support those that I find to be Righteous and who want to be a Force For Good and that requires me to not take sides to the degree that everyone might like.
Those who want to empower people and protect the right of the registrants will always have my full support.
IMO
Just to make it clear that I don't blame any Registrar from benefiting from expired domains or by acquiring a valuable domain because of a default on a loan as long as they go about it in a passive way that means that the Registrar's first priority should be to help their customers as much as possible so that they can keep their valuable domains. So basically Registrars should not aggressively be in competition with their customers for their valuable domains and should do their best to help them to be able to keep their domains. Whether that help comes in the form of giving them the full 35 days to renew their domains without outrageous penalties and fees or whether it's in the form of providing them a loan so that they can renew their domains if they are having some financial difficulties at the moment it should show that they do care about their customers and that are not going to take advantage of them in any way. All an all the Registrant should feel that their Registrar is on their side and is doing its best to help them to be able to hang on to their valuable domains and to also protect them against theft or frivolous URDP or any other action or policy that unfairly wants to take advantage of them as registrants.
So basically a Registrar should be Passive when it comes to competing with their customers and should be Aggressive when it comes to helping and protecting the registrants.
So whichever Registrar fits this bill is going to be my favorite.
IMO
When we as domainers discuss New gTLDs in your threads in many occasions we use our own domains as an example and we don't consider that as promotion, now in the case of Rob who owns a Registrar he should be allowed to use some of his projects as an example as long as he is not intentionally making it into a full blown promotion. So in the interest of fairness perhaps you should cut Rob some slack because otherwise he won't be able to provide us with any valuable information if people keep reporting it as promotion.
Remember what Rob is providing here is not just about domains, but also a lesson in business as to how a CEO thinks and operates and I believe that that's valuable information that we have never had at NamePros.
IMO
I too understand what you are saying, I just believe that for the good of the community here we should not go to either extreme as far as being extremely strict or extremely relaxed when it comes to promotions. I believe the intent plays a major factor in this. All and all we should do our best to make sure that the discussions such as this one here provide a learning experience for everyone and not always turn into conflict and animosity.
We are all domainers here and we have a common interest to protect and advance the rights of registrants and as such we should be supportive of anyone who wants to help us in that mission.
IMO
The main thing about this loan program is that someone has to allocate substantial amount of money to finance a loan on a domain name that they might not be able to sell quickly if it leads to a foreclosure, if Epik is not willing or able to do this for larger loans and is going to outsource it to individual lenders that might imply that there is too much risk involved in getting liquidity for most domains unless the percentage of the loan compare to the perceived value of the domain is so low that makes it practically into a fire sale scenario. (a fraction of the wholesale value).
IMO
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I am going to be Dutch for a minute and say:
It seems like everyone is trying to extract more money from the Registrants, whether it's the Registries that are unfairly and unjustifiably going to raise the registration fees for domains or whether it's the Registrars that seem like they can't wait for their customers' domains to take their last breath so that they can auction them off on their expiry channels for more profits for themselves. The Elite who usually gather in the domain conferences are mostly out of touch with the average domainer who might be struggling with paying for their renewals and so even the thought of helping the struggling domainers might seem out of place to those who are busy wining and dinning with the Industry leaders who don't want their good times be interrupted with trivial issues such as empowering the average domainer.
On the other hand the domainers who take sides and start attacking one another in threads like this become their own worse enemies as many good ideas that could help them will get overshadowed by all the negativity.
I believe if there are genuine ideas out there that are going to empower the average domainers and help them to become more successful then they must be heard regardless of the venue.
Whether Rob really meant to be on the average domainer's side when he asked his questions at the conference or whether he was trying to make the competition look bad will all come to light by what Rob does now to empower the average domainer and by how he is going to treat those Epik's customers who might have an opposing view from his in some cases and who might not always say what he likes to hear.
IMO
You have some very good ideas here to help domainers who might be struggling with their renewals.
As far as liquidity I believe that the there are those domains like LLL or NNN and other combinations like that that could be commoditized and then you have the kind of domains that have inherent value which you might have to wait a long time for it to be realized and only after they are sold you will get to know their true value.
IMO
you bring up many good points, but we should not forget that the whole idea of this loan program is to empower domainers who might be struggling with their renewals or who might be missing out on some acquisition opportunities and it's not meant to empowering some rich domainers to be able to grab valuable domains from the struggling domainers who are in distress.
As far as Rob goes, we all appreciate everything that he has done to help domainers, but he might also have certain plans that serves his own long term interest, whether he wants to make Epik into a global company or whether he is going to pester Godaddy to force a buyout those are things that all CEOs ponder with and are beyond the daily operations of the company. As long as Rob is taking good care of domainers he should be allowed to look after his own long term interest as the major shareholder of Epik.
IMO
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Although loans for larger amounts have to be evaluated more carefully, but in many occasions even a loan of lets say $250 to $500 can help domainers get past a difficult and stressful situation specially if they are willing to listen to some advice and can adjust their strategies accordingly and in some emerging economies a loan of just $100 dollars can make a lot of difference for talented domainers who want to register a few good domains or buy some on the expiry channels.
As far as domain quality goes in many cases people might have to put up more than just one domain as collateral and since there is a little philanthropy involved on Rob's part I am sure that he will be more lenient when it comes to approving smaller loans and also working with domainers that might need more time to make good on their loans. As Rob has Already mentioned a few times here this is more about helping domainers to be able to keep their best names through relationship building and consultation rather than trying to take advantage of struggling domainers who are in distress.
I am not sure if this program can be scaled up across the whole Industry since the empowerment and philanthropy factors might be missing in other places, but in the case of Epik I believe that it has a good chance to work specially when it comes to smaller loans made to domainers here on the forum who are already known to Rob.
IMO
It could be that Epik has prioritized the customers when it comes to how long they can stay logged in, it could be from unlimited time to just a few minutes depending on where you fall in the system. But I believe that this issue will be resolved soon now that Epik is in the process of upgrading their servers and and are optimising their systems to be much more efficient.
IMO
Perhaps you can put a mechanism in place that moderators can consult with one another and vote on what needs to be done about repeated and sensitive situations that perhaps are and should be beyond the judgment of just one Moderator to handle alone.
Also in order to reform the attitudes on the forum perhaps you need to start by changing the mindsets and habits of the old hands Moderators who have become desensitized to some of the unprofessional behaviors that goes on in the forum.
After all we all depend on the Mods to be unbiased, fair, and professional themselves.
IMO
Can you work some philanthropy into the peer to peer system so that people can also get grants that they don't have to pay back for those who just need a small amount of money to get past a difficult or stressful situations, after all there are a lot of well off domainers who might be able to help their fellow domainers out of a sticky situation.
IMO
And also to be able to give a grant directly to those who need a small amount of money to get by in addition to helping others pay off their existing loans.
IMO
And in the process of facilitating and running this platform I don't think that it's unfair for Epik to make a little money so that Rob can take care of his employees.
IMO
It's great to see your empowerment program in action, it might be good to also add the option of giving domain donations along with the grant and loan programs that way people can donate a domain or two directly to the newbies to help them get a head start with their domain ventures.
IMO
Thanks for your advice, I only used DigitizedReality.com as an example to get this thread going, but I believe that it might take a while for the true potentials of a domain like this to be realized. I hand registered this domain just about a month ago and I am surprised that a domain like this that defines such a big category in this future technology was just sitting there for me to register. Although a domain like this might not be considered liquidateable on the spot, but it might still carry some loan value because of its future potentials, it all depends on a lender also recognizing the inherent potentials of domains such as this and being willing and able to wait for it to flourish in the future.
IMO
Godaddy might end up changing their name now.
Opinion on New GoDaddy Logo
That's the advantage of having a famous brand, you can change it to anything you want and people still remember you.
Think of Google and Alphabet
IMO
I predict that they Will change their name in the near future in order to be more fitting to the 2020 era, the old Parson days are gone and so are those distasteful ads.
By the way I have the perfect domain if they want to buy it, although I was planning to make something out of it myself, but if it helps them get passed the Daddy name I am willing to help them out here. As I said earlier a super famous brand can change their name to anything and people are still going to remember them just like Google and Alphabet, although my domain might be a little bit of a stretch, but I think anything is better than Daddy
IMO
The old legacy extensions and the new extensions are like apples and oranges, just because you want to buy some apples doesn't mean that you also have to buy oranges and if you don't buy any oranges it doesn't mean that oranges are bad.
Most of the new extensions that Uni got were obtained first hand at the original application fee and if they are using the same backend service provider for tbem then the cost of maintaining them is minimal so even though new extensions might not be such a good investment for domainers, but that doesn't mean that Uni is eager to get rid of them and as the matter of fact they might even be looking forward to the new round of new extension release to expand their portfolio. So for GoDaddy to leave the new extensions out of the deal does not mean that they were not profitable it might just mean that they didn't want any oranges.
IMO
Most of the domainers who started after the year 2000 built their portfolio through drops (specially after the .com bust of 2001-2002). No one can have 350000 super quality domains ( it's just not possible) , but I assume that there are a lot of viable domains that are suitable for small businesses that Frank were able to hand pick from the drops or register himself as back then there were still a lot of good domains to hand register if someone knew what they were doing.
I believe what has made this portfolio attractive to Godaddy is the shear number of domains that are suitable for small businesses and individuals who want to get online which is the category that Godaddy is advertising and specialises in. (the majority of them are probably two word .coms)
IMO
I think the fact that Rob was willing to extend the time for the loan is what made all the difference.
IMO
Even if Godaddy sells 50000 of them to end users at an average price of $500 that's still 25 million dollars, and they can still make some money from the rest that they put on the auction.
I estimate that they probably paid around 10 million dollars for the portfolio part of the deal.
IMO
It's a 350000 domain portfolio, but in reality you are talking about only 50000 names (approximately) that could compete on the market for getting end user interest.
And I am saying 10 million for just the portfolio and not the rest of the stuff that was included in the deal.
IMO
Those days are long gone, that was before .com had so much competition from ccTLDs and New gTLDs
and keep in mind that a lot of the better names were already sold out of the portfolio by Frank before this deal.
IMO
Well Marchex and Mike's deal are ancient history, I am telling you how I feel about this deal today in 2020, but I could be wrong so we just have to wait for the reports to come out.
IMO
I know they already sold the best ones, This portfolio has already been squeezed by an expert team of brokers for every cent before it was sold.
The approximate 50000 viable two word business domains that are going to be sifted from the portfolio are worth around 10 million to me (and as I said before that's only for the portfolio and not the rest of the stuff that was included in the deal).
IMO
I don't think that Godaddy is going to put all the liquid domains up for sale at the beginning, probably only the two word .coms , why sell the best and get stuck with all the second and third tire ones. I believe they'll go about it the other way around by trying to sell and auctioning off the two word domains first.
IMO
All the liquid domains including the 4L won't come to more than couple of millions in wholesale.
It doesn't matter how rich Frank is and how good he was able to optimize and monetize this portfolio as far as sales and parking goes, Godaddy is only going to pay the very bottom of the wholesale prices for this or any other portfolio in today's market and economy.
Basically what it comes down to is that Frank just wanted to wash his hands off the domaining part of his business and just wants to focus on the registry part of the business. He is probably getting ready for the second round of the New gTLDs and hopefully he can get some better extensions than last time. ;)
IMO
I believe that Frank is going to invest more in being a registry, in 2014 a lot of the oldtimers who participated in the New gTLD program unfortunately acted like newbies when it came to picking the right extensions, but in the second round I believe that they are going to know what to do and what to go after, a successful New gTLD registry is like a gold mine and much better than trying to push four letter .coms for unrealistic prices. Also as you have witnessed here there is a lot of nastiness in the domain Industry, but Frank is a nice guy and I hope that he finds a way to fall on the Righteous side of the things.
IMO
Is it okay for Registrars to be in competition with their own customers for their expiring domains and deprive them of adequate opportunity to renew their domains.
Why don’t registrars give the full 35 days to registrants to renew their domains without any additional penalties and costs. (like Fabulous.com does for example)
Why aren’t there some unified and universal rules and policies across all Registrars in regards to the 60 day lock, domain deletion, and redemption and renewal of expired domains.
Why is it that I check a domain for availability either on a Registrar’s websites or the Whois and a few days later I see that it is taken and put under domain privacy.
Why should Registries be allowed to impose an arbitrary tax on everyone by increasing the registration fees while the total number of registered domains keep increasing like in the case of .com .
Why are people allowed to use their position for personal agendas and profits like it's being done at ICANN with .org
What is being done by all the companies that are involved in the domain Industry towards empowering domainers specially in emerging Economies.
What is being done towards protecting the public rights and interests as far as privacy, free speech, and keeping the integrity of their online presence through protecting their rights as registrants and website owners.
And finally how and when is everyone going to implement new technologies such as AI to better serve and protect their customers.
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There are some tough questions to consider here before we can come up with a solution and perhaps that’s why the management has been hesitant to take any actions about the issues that have been lingering around the forum for so many months now.
Perhaps the forum itself has to be put under a microscope and analyzed here,
If @Rob Monster opened a new forum would he create a neutral environment or is he entitled to choose the direction that the forum is going to take based on his own agendas and interests. The same way the people who own NamePros might be setting the overall direction of the forum and the staff and the Mods have no choice but to follow that direction and thus their hands might be tied as to being able to take the actions that are needed and that might look logical to most of us.
It makes one wonder why would someone want to own a forum in the first place, perhaps it’s for the same reasons as the private equity firm that wants to own .Org , as I have said in some other threads it all comes down to Politics and Profits. Whether a forum, a Registrar, or Registry is Left or Right leaning or whether it follows a certain ideology that is forced on it from top down this all plays an important role in the kind of atmosphere that is created and the kind of interactions that are tolerated amongst the members.
And then the members themselves have to be analyzed too, can we really find any unbiased and fair minded people here who can assist the Mods in monitoring the forum, are most members here also driven by Politics and Profits too. Does a fellowship really exists amongst members here as domainers or would everyone put their own ideologies and agendas above all else.
Perhaps it’s impossible to have a fair, professional, respectful, and constructive environment here unless the members, the Mods, and the management are all willing to find common grounds over values and principles that are derived from logic and compassion instead of always giving priority to their own individual ideologies and agendas.
In a way Nsmepros is a microcosm of the real World since there are members here from all across the globe and so if we can fix NamePros perhaps there will be hope that we can also be able to save the World at large.
IMO
I don't agree with banning people unless in extreme cases when all other options are exhausted. This is more about monitoring the forum and taking immediate action about inappropriate posts rather than to shut people off completely.
The fact that the Mods (for whatever reason) let some inappropriate posts linger around is as big of a problem as those who made those post to begin with.
In order to fix the problems with the forum we first have to make sure that everyone has the right mindset so that the situation is not made worse by violating anyone's rights of participation in the forum.
This is more about finding a balance between the rights of the members to be able to participate in the forum freely and the rules being respected and followed by everyone and although the responsibility falls on the Mods to a great extend to monitor the forum properly and take the required actions quickly, but the members have to take some responsibility in their interactions and participation in the forum too as to always be respectful to others and not try to attack or demean others for expressing their opinion.
IMO
So lets say that you are very fair and honest about the reviews that you are giving for the products or services that you are somehow connected to, but can you guarantee the same for all other employees, logic says that their opinion might be a little biased and so at the very least they should disclose any affiliations that might be involved here.
As far as NamePros goes in my opinion if a member here is giving an opinion about a certain Registrar then they need to disclose whether they are somehow connected to that Registrar or not.
Of course this just how I feel about this, you are entitled to think differently, but I am interested to know what others have to say about this issue.
IMO
Bob, thanks for a great article with many good ideas,
The most important task in my opinion is to make NamePros into a more Professional, Respectful, Constructive, and Fair environment that supports and encourages the free exchange of ideas and makes it possible for everyone to learn about domains and domaining without being harassed or demeaned in any way.
Here are a few things that I had already suggested in different threads:
1- Make some of the trustworthy and fair minded members here into Deputy Moderators so that they can help with monitoring the forum.
2- Give a special paid section to each Registrar so that all their threads are found in one place and within their paid section allow them to discuss, promote, and advertise their services.
3- Give a civility rating to members based on how they conduct themselves on the forum and give more weight to "Dislikes" given by members with high ratings.
4- Add a "Disagree" button that people can use when they don't agree with a certain comment or idea, but that they don't want to "Dislike" another member for it.
With everyones input and cooperation perhaps something good can come out of this after all.
IMO
Back in around 2008 when the talk about the New gTLDs first got started it took almost 6 years before they were finally released in 2014.
It might take 2 or 3 years for the new rounds to get all sorted out.
By the time that all the new rounds are done we might end up with around 2500 new extensions and from those probably around 10% which is 250 extensions might become viable enough to attract any attention and from those 250 extensions probably the top 10 or 20 could become popular enough to produce a noticeable competition for the older legacy extensions for mind share and market share. Although even the less popular New gTLDs are still going to have a few perfect domains each which although each extension by itself might not amount to much but together as a collection they will probably also be able to get a piece of the mind share and market share too.
We all have been collecting domains here, but some people have been collecting whole extensions, although like any other domainer they probably have to go through a learning curve too to learn what to collect.
Please note: I am not affiliated with any registrars, registries, or anyone else in the domain Industry, numbers mentioned are just an educated guess on my part.
IMO
I tend to agree with @jberryhill that this ruling is going to make many similar domains worthless. Even though technically other similar domains might be protected against TM overreach by a company that owns a trademark on a generic .com but those with street smarts know that there is a built in intimidation factor involved here that is going to scare away the potential buyers for similar generic domains since as we all know the average person or business is not versed on all the trademark laws and regulations and so the minute they hear the word TM they might shy away from taking a chance with investing in similar generic domains since they might not be fully aware of all their rights and the protections that the law extends to them in fair use.
Also this ruling might give another excuse to the UDRP panels who were itching to throw domainers under the bus for the greater good in the past.
We always assume that the Supreme Court makes the right rulings that are based on logic and compassion, but as the recent ruling in the abortion case indicates in many cases people's rights including the Unborn Children's are sacrificed for the greater good which in reality is what is good for the special interest.
IMO
Hi Abdul, congratulations on your new found success with Afternic, you are a great inspiration for all domainers specially during the uncertainty that we all are experiencing due to the pandemic.
No doubt that you are a very talented and skillful domainer and no doubt that Afternic is a strong sales platform, but how much of the jump in the number of your sales do you think might be attributed to the position that your domains are given in the search results across the Afternic network. If a domain is shown in the first top 3 or 5 results it makes a huge difference on how much exposure it will get than if it's buried at the bottom of the list.
Your recent success is amazing, I am just wondering if it could be emulated by other domainers or if it is an special privilege that is extended only to you by Afternic by them giving more exposure to your domains in the search results across their vast network.
IMO
Thanks for your quick reply, perhaps this is something that only Afternic could answer as far as if they have any control over where a domain is shown in the search results across their network and whether they are giving a helping hand to your domains by putting them in the top of the search results. Either way I wish you the best, enjoy the windfall while it lasts.
IMO
@Bob Hawkes , thanks for a comprehensive analysis of the effects of doing the right kind of domain presentation.
I registered "North Star Domains" in .com last week and used one of my accumulated account credits to make a free one page website for it which is more like a placeholder for now. I got to admit that as simple as that website is, but it kind of looks very elegant. (At least to me)
IMO
The fact that you are even thinking of doing something good for the humanity is admirable.
Domainers are in a very special situation which allows them to come up with some names that can effect change in the society in a good way.
So far the legacy for most domainers has been that those with most domains owned or sold when they dies win, but even a bigger and better legacy is if you have thought of or used domains to make a change for the better in the World.
So don't give up, keep thinking of new domain names and soon you will find one that no one can put down.
IMO
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Forum Posts 6-a
Forum Posts 4
Anyone can wear a formal suit, but now if he was holding a gun then that would have been a different matter :xf.wink:
Although whoever put these domains for sale and made the banner ad for them is walking on a fine line, but they have not crossed the line yet into infringing on the TM which is basically for materials related to the big screen.
IMO
As such there should have already been a lawsuit started or some kind of injunction to remove the domains and stop the banner ads,
Isn't it the responsibility of every TM holder to protect their brand.
IMO
@jberryhill , why did @Internet.Domains close his account, I wonder if the GoDaddy Cartel had anything to do with it.
It's bad enough that they intimidate and threaten people here on the forum, but they sent out some phony domain verification emails to a handful of people here (including me) and now they are messing with my Afternic and GoDaddy accounts.
That's what happens when some companies get too big for their own good, their employees start abusing the influence and control that they have over their customers while the high ups and the attorneys in the company just look the other way.
Well I hope this post gets their attention because if they stay on the same course then soon they'll have to face up to the consequences of their actions (or their inactions), of course by then it might be too late once everything is brought to the open.
IMO
Before the New gTDLs came out around 2014 or so ICANN gave first choice to TM holders through the Sunrise period to register their brands before the domains were released to the public,
Also there was the Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH) program that helped TM holders protect their brands,
In addition there is currently a mechanism that allows for infringing domains to be taken down quickly.
After giving all these protections to TM holders ICANN also gave some perks to the New gtld registries to hold back up to 100 domains for their own use for the purpose of promoting their registry through third parties.
Considering all this and the fact that the TM holders haven't taken any action to take the aforementioned domains or the banner down, it's logical to assume that whoever is promoting these domains is going to continue doing so regardless of what the people on this thread might think.
Is what they are doing morally right or whether it is considered to be against the acceptable practice within the domain Industry is a different matter than whether it is illegal or not, and the fact that the banner keeps running even now is an indication that they feel safe to do so, who knows they might have made some kind of an arrangement with the TM owners that was mutually beneficial to them,
Nevertheless it's best to learn all the facts around this before passing a judgment.
IMO
I predict that after the ads run for a while longer and the registry gets enough promotions out of them, the domains will be given to the TM holders at a discounted price. Perhaps this was the arrangement from the very beginning, but until all the details are revealed about this case people should not make any conclusions and they should certainly not attack or insult other members who are engaging in a civil discussion on the forum.
IMO
There is a well known history of abuse and bullying here on the forum by the almost 1500 GoDaddy employees and those who are somehow affiliated with the company, but I draw the line when they start messing with my domains and accounts at GoDaddy or Afternic every time I make a comment on the forum that they don't like, as I said if the higher ups and their attorneys continue looking the other way and ignore this situation then I will make things more clear about my experience with them, I rather have friends than enemies so I am giving them a chance to bring this situation under control before I take any further actions (That's all I am going to say about this until I see whether they are going to correct this situation or not).
IMO
It made me upset that @Internt.Domains was insulted and attacked by the same Cartel to the point that he had to close his account.
As to what I am talking about, I will give more details of how they have been messing around with my GoDaddy and Afternic accounts if things don't change for the better.
So back to the original topic of the thread.
Let's not pass any judgments about this case before all the facts are known, and more importantly let's keep the conversations on the professional, constructive, and respectful side.
IMO
If you hate this place it should be because of the kind of unprofessional language that is being used by some of the members here and not because of those who are expressing an opposing opinion that perhaps you don't agree with.
Nobody is saying that there is not a Trademark involved here, it's just that there might be some kind of an arrangement in place that we might not know about, you know that you can use a name that is TM if you obtain prior permission and or have the consent of the TM holder.
A person can present a logical argument regardless of their personal status, and the reverse is true too as those whom we think very highly of can behave very unprofessionally as shown in this thread.
That's an awful thing to say, you are passing judgment before knowing all the facts. If the registry has the consent of the TM holder and is just trying to promote one of their gTLDs then they shouldn't be condemned or be put down for it.
As I have already said let's find out all the facts about this case before passing any judgments and let's allow everyone to express their opinion in a civil manner even if they have an opposing opinion that perhaps we don't agree with.
IMO
Isn't most advertising a publicity stunt in one way or another,
Have you seen some of the ads that are done by car insurance companies on TV where they compare some people to Rats and are encouraging others to exterminate them just because those so called Rats are bringing new ideas to the World that the status quo doesn't like.
IMO
I value all opinions specially if they are presented in a logical and professional manner,
But it bothers me to see some of the people who claim to be progressive and open minded are actually the ones that are standing in the way of progress for the Humanity and this Planet. Sure they promise you equality and opportunity for everyone, but when it comes to changing their behavior it seems that they are the biggest obstacle in the way of freedom.
No they don't want to control their lust or greed, as they are living it up and enjoying themselves while the society is being consumed by addiction to sex, drugs, and alcohol.
And I never understood how these people can have multiple million dollar mansions and luxury cars if they really cared about the Environment as they claim.
And if you say something critical of them they turn their whole machine against you and make you the subject of all kinds of ridicule and attacks.
The way that I look at this is that the people who always want to belittle others or who use foul language are the same people who are supporting religious extremist and political dictators across the World and ultimately want to subjugate the rest of us to the same things by eroding our self confidence and self worth.
I respect all people regardless of their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, gender preferences, or any disabilities, but only if they are willing to ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence and are going to abandon the status quo that has been ailing Humanity and this Planet for so long.
IMO
Looks like the banner at NamePros is gone and there doesn't seem to be a listing at Sedo for those domains anymore, so it appears that they have stopped this promo.
IMO
If there was no arrangement or agreement involved in this case between the Registry and the TM owners, then the fact that the TM owners allowed this promo to go on without taking any action to stop it means that a portion of the blame lays at their feet too.
TM owners are responsible to protect their TM at all cost, if they are laxed about letting others infringe on their TM and dilute their rights then they take a chance of losing their TM.
All the TM owners had to do was to send a letter of cease and desist right at the very beginning of this promo (or as soon as they became aware of it).
And I repeat, we still don't know if there was some kind of a agreement or arrangement involved in this case or not, the Registry is the one that has to clarify that.
If there was no agreement or arrangement between the parties involved here, then the Registry should have known better to take on a promo like this.
By the way it was more prudent for @jberryhill as an officer of the court to inform the TM holders of this situation than to make a thread about it before knowing all the facts.
IMO
As I said there might have been some kind of an agreement or understating between all the parties involved, absent that I believe that it was a big mistake to run such ads (it appears that they have been stopped now).
IMO
The best strategy is to own a brandable New gTLD and the matching .com
That way you'll be safe until there is widespread adaption for New Gs
IMO
On the subject of people doing wrong kinds of ads,
Well now those car insurance companies have moved from Rats to Ants by comparing the elderly among us to Ants and giving us the subliminal message that they are a nuisance and need to be exterminated too.
The problem is that these are not just some funny and harmless ads, they show how the status quo needs to resort to killing in order to preserve its power and protect its interest. And yes they do kill in so many ways and the people who follow them like sheep are knowingly or unknowingly taking part in all those killings too.
We have come to a major crossroads in the history of humanity, the question is are we willing and able to ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence and can we find common grounds over the Universal values and principles that are derived through logic and compassion or are we going to allow those who are benefiting from the status quo to brainwash us into being subservient to them and letting them use us as slaves to become even richer and more powerful and gain even more influence over our lives.
Perhaps we need to scrutinize the advertising industry a little more going forward. We can't allow a few people behind the scene to control us for their own benefit any longer.
IMO
The truth of the matter is that although New gTLDs are becoming a viable choice for some businesses who only need one domain, but it is very difficult for the average domainer to find and to maintain a large portfolio of New gTLDs for the many more years that it's going to take to have widespread adaption for them.
For this reason although I like New gTLDs myself, but I only am able to keep a very small number of domains. The only people who can invest seriously in New gTLDs and hold on to them on a long term basis are the Registries themselves who own the most of the better quality domains.
I wish I had my own New gTLD registry for a popular extension.
IMO
Let's not forget that the New gTLD program was intentionally designed to bypass the domainers by letting the Registries cater to the end users directly and so it's not just by accident that most domainers find it kind of difficult to dabble into New gTLDs same as they have done with .com , although there are still enough domains that have fallen through the cracks and that have been overlooked by the Registries that can create some good opportunities for a few smart domainers who have a good eye to pick the right domains and who have the financial resources that makes them able to hold on to them, but some Registries are now scooping up the domains that are dropped by domainers who were lucky enough to get them at standard rates and are now pricing them again as premium and thus reducing the pool of domains that might have been available to domainers even further and making it even harder for them to get into the New gtld game.
It probably is better to own a few quality New gTLDs that have standard renewals that would allow one to hang on to them on the long term basis than to get overextended to the point that you have to start dropping your good domains.
IMO
Thanks for a very thoughtful article,
But one thing that should be factored in for domains in alternative extensions is the ratio of risk to reward.
Taking advantage of super promos and special sales will drastically increase the rewards compare to any potential risks that might be encountered with alternative extensions.
But no matter how small the risks are compare to the rewards you still have to make sure that there is going to be a reward to be had at the end of the road when taking a chance with these kinds of domains to begin with and that's where doing your homework in the way of research and analysis of a certain extension and the domains that work with that extension come into play. Such as looking at past sales for domains in that extension and figuring out what keywords are the best match for that extension if it is targeted towards a certain Industry or category that narrows its use to some limited applications.
In my opinion not taking advantage of super discounted promos is a mistake, but jumping in without doing your homework about these opportunities is also a mistake so is getting carried away and registering hundreds or thousands of domains that have close to zero potential.
So if you go about this in a smart way and equip yourself with the right knowledge and skills then a super special promo could become a good opportunity to acquire some good domains.
IMO
It's also important to realize that there is a very small window of opportunity for registering domains in an extension that already has very limited viable domains to offer, and once the first tier domains that make sense for that extension are all registered it is not wise to go after any second or third tier domains unless that extension becomes very popular, but even then it's important not to forget that some extensions have a very narrow as far as the Industry and category that they are targeting.
There have been many trains that have arrived in the history of domaining, those people who jump on a train early and register the best domains (or buy them cheap in the aftermarket immediately afterwards) and have a plan and strategy of getting off the train at the right time have a real chance to do good, but if you miss a train because you didn't have the right knowledge and skills or didn't have the financial resources at the time or just weren't quick enough it's best not to dabble in leftovers, there will surely be other trains arriving in the future and the best thing is to learn as much as you can about domains and domaining so that you'll be ready when the next opportunity presents itself.
Whether it's a new extension that becomes the talk of the town or whether it's a new future trend that becomes hot there is always going to be other opportunities in the future to find some nice domains, the important thing is to be ready so that you can get the best choices that have the most potentials.
IMO
That's a strategy that some domainers employ who don't want to do targeted research, they cast a wide net by taking advantage of a special promo price and registering over a 1000 domains in the hopes that they can sell one or two and recuperate their original investment, but this strategy is kind of risky because if they can't sell a few domains quickly then they are faced with the renewal charges that are going to be at regular prices.
At some point domaining can turn from investing in to gambling, people have to be careful not to cross that line (of course unless they are good at gambling).
IMO
Some two word domains that are a good match for the extension are probably a better choice than just random one word domains.
IMO
That's a good point, whenever people give you advice either for or against something you have to ask yourself are they doing it to help you or are they doing it to help themselves by benefiting from the situation somehow.
IMO
The dropcatching companies that use multiple registrars do that because they are competing amongst themselves for catching the best domains and are not necessarily trying to leave the domainers out of the game, so as an individual domainer that might put you in a disadvantage, but as far as the dropcatching companies are concerned they are engaged in fair competition amongst themselves which is where the law is most probably going to look at.
One thing that might be even more important than what the dropcatchers are doing and probably needs to be scrutinized further is the fact that some registrars don't even allow some domains to go through the drop process and just keep them in limbo for many months.
The fact that some registrars are in direct competition with their customers for their domains and don't give them ample time to renew them before they put them on auction (or keep them in limbo as already mentioned) should also be of concerned too.
So it's not just the dropcatching part that might need some changes it's the whole drop process that needs to be made uniform across the Industry.
, if you were to make a proposal to ICAAN , what would you consider to be a fair way to go about dealing with all this.
IMO
Some registrars (and registries) are amassing huge portfolios for themselves form the expired domains either directly or through their subsidiaries. Now if all domains are allowed to go through the complete drop process and if they do this in a passive way that does not put them in direct competition with their customers then it might be okay, but otherwise it means that ICAAN is being laxed about protecting the registrants from unfair competition by registrars (or registries) which might be an indication of some insider dealings being made at ICANN that are against the interest of the registrants.
Add to that the fact that registrars and registries are selling the info for domain searches made on their website or through the whois lookups which deprives a registrant (like a small business) of being able to register a domain that they might have found to be available, but then they notice that it's gone when they go back to register it in a few days after they have made their final choice from the domains that they had shortlisted.
The registrants' rights need to be protected against unfair practices and insider dealings across the board.
IMO
Don't waste your money on new ideas, stick to what is already proven to work.
and
Don't miss out on a new opportunity to get a few good domains as long as the risk to reward ratios are in your advantage!
The thing is both of these statements are true at the same time. You just have to learn the ropes and even then have enough discipline not to get yourself in a situation that can put a drain on you financially or emotionally.
IMO
Thanks for another great article, you have a talent for being able to put all these vital information in an organized way that makes it easy to understand.
If you have a setback and fall off of a train, dust yourself off and find a new train to get back on, Almost all famous domainers that we think of as being successful have had setbacks in one way or another, but they were able to reevaluate their methods and correct their mistakes without being stubborn about their strategies.
Not everyone that gives you advice is doing it to help you, unfortunately some people try to discourage you from taking chances with anything that prevents them from unloading their own domains on unsuspecting newbies here on the forum. After a while you get to know who these old hand parasites are, because they make it their business to put down any extension or category that doesn’t match what they want to sell you. Although they might offer some good domains in the marketplace here and there, but I don’t think that it’s right for them to try to control other members for their own benefit specially when they resort to attacking and belittling others for even discussing other opportunities such as hand registrations or other alternative extensions.
Finally you should be able to sell a few domains and use the proceeds for expanding your portfolio, if you can’t sell even one domain then be careful not to sink more and more money into domaining and keep in mind that a small portfolio comprising of super quality domains might get you better returns at the end than having thousand of lower quality domains that can put a drain on you both financially and emotionally to keep and maintain over the years.
IMO
You are right, that's why that Bob mentioned that it's good to diversify your portfolio,
I go with the 80/20 rule as I currently try to keep 80% .coms and 20% other extensions.
Disclaimer: I am more of a collector and hobbyist, I try to maintain a small portfolio and I like to be able to hang on to my domains on the long term basis although I don't mind selling a few domains here and there to pay for renewals and new acquisitions
IMO
Here is couple of more tips:
Although reading and doing research are very important in order to gain the required knowledge and skills that can put you ahead of the game, but it's also equally important to get some hands on experience with domains. But until you have found the confidence to tackle big ventures in domaining it's best to take it easy and just get some practice at a very small scale. One of the biggest mistakes that most people make when they get in to domaining is to jump in and start acquiring a lot of low quality domains that are going to become a hindrance in the way of their success especially if they are stubborn about not correcting their mistakes.
It's important to realize that just like playing a musical instrument or becoming good at any game it is not you that has to learn the ropes, but rather it's your subconscious that has to become trained in being able to recognize what a good domain is. So no matter how smart you might think you are it is going to take a while for everyone to become good at domaining, the important thing is to not get bogged down with a lot of useless domains while you are still learning.
IMO
I also believe that what you currently are doing as far as writing these blogs about different subjects related to domains and domaining is much more effective in bringing the kind of real time exchange of ideas and knowledge that can help us learn from each other's experiences.
I only wish that Namepros would differentiate between Threads and Blogs that we have created and the regular Comments that we have posted when we check under Content.
IMO
Some more tips:
Although some people who have a good eye for picking the right domains might do good by playing the numbers game and amassing huge portfolios (5000+ domains), but It probably is much easier to handle and maintain a smaller portfolio of 250 domains or less for most domainers. The trick is to keep the total number of domains in your portfolio the same, but constantly and continuously try to improve the quality of your portfolio by dropping the less desirable domains and replacing them with better quality ones. Remember if you let your portfolio grow out of control it’s overall quality will be diminished since the larger it gets it becomes much more difficult to maintain the same level of quality across the portfolio, even the more experienced domainers will eventually have to face this fact after they have acquired hundreds or thousands of domains.
Also as I already mentioned earlier it’s probably better in the long run to have a few super premium domains than having hundreds or thousands of mediocre ones, so you should be careful not to sell all best domains in your portfolio and be left with just the lower tier ones.
IMO
As I have said before there might have been certain agreements (or understandings) between the parties involved that we don't know about and as such we should wait to learn all the facts before jumping into any conclusions.
I find it hard to believe that a Registry would advertise a domain related to a known TM on NamePros and then sell it on Sedo without having some reassurances that what they were doing was not going to get them into any trouble.
IMO
Even though scientific terms that more specifically define a new technology are good to have and might become very valuable in certain areas, but what ultimately is going to be adapted by the public is what matters. I believe that AI, Cognitive, Autopilot, Autonomous, and Automated will all probably be used when referring to anything that relies on Neural Networks and Automation to function and it's probably best to have all the different versions just to be sure that all the bases are covered.
IMO
The way that I look at this is that the more channels and platforms there are for domain sales the better it is for domainers and ultimately the better it is for the domain Industry as a whole, so it is against everyone's interest to allow any of these choices to be undermined. Both Epik and Dan have played an important part in bringing new innovations and ideas to the domain Industry and it will be a shame to see the bad blood that has developed between these and other companies to distract everyone from the main goal which is to have more domain sales across all platforms.
Those who are adding fuel to this fight are doing the domaining community a disservice, we need all sales platforms to be thriving and doing more sales and that can only be achieved if they are engaged in Fair Competition.
IMO
On the subject of fair competition and fair trade,
Who is making all these fake bids at some of the sales platforms (and also auctions) and why is it that some platforms are having more than their fair share of these fake bids.
This is the biggest thing that has plagued the domain Industry, whether these fake bids are by random (which I doubt it) or are being done purposely as a part of a conspiracy to undermine the competition (or in the case of auctions to drive up the prices) it needs to be looked at more closely.
IMO
Anticompetitive and unfair trade practices that are designed to target the consumers or the competition in negative ways have gotten many companies large and small in trouble in the past.
Once the domain Industry becomes the focus of attention same as some of the tech companies that we hear about on the news then no matter how well these Individuals and Companies try to cloak their wrong activities they will get exposed after the many layers of protection that they have created around themselves are taken away and their true identities and intentions are revealed for everyone to see.
Those who want to continue with these anticompetitive and unfair practices are sooner or later going to get the whole domain Industry in trouble and ultimately will cause the Industry to be regulated even further and be restricted in so many new ways.
The Domainers and Companies that are involved in the domain Industry have a good thing going for them and perhaps are even enjoying a boon even as many other Industries are shrinking,
So ask yourselves,
Why let a few Individuals and Companies who don't want to play by the rules ruin a good thing for everyone else.
The idea is to have more sales across all platforms and everyone will benefit if the domain Industry collectively works towards this goal.
Positive and Constructive Competition = Everyone Wins!
Anticompetitive and Unfair Practices = Everyone loses!
IMO
Congratulations to the seller,
When it comes to specific terms like "Cognitive Automation" you can almost know for sure that you are dealing with a company that operates within that field and that can give the seller a big advantage in the negotiations as far as being able to set a high asking price.
It's important for newbies to realize that just because a category defining domain like Cognitive Automation sells for high prices it doesn't mean that every random keyword that is combined with Cognitive is going to become valuable, you have to do a lot of research to find out exactly what keyword combinations are the best for any given technology.
Also to put it in simple terms Cognitive Technology is a subset of Artificial Intelligence that deals more with mimicking human behavior in contrast to other branches of AI that are designed to out do humans, so before registering a bunch of domains it might be best to educate yourself about the area of technology that you want to register domains for.
IMO
Just to give everyone a heads up, there are a lot of trains that are fixing to leave the station in the next year or two with the second round of New gTLDs:
https://www.icann.org/public-comments/gnso-new-gtld-subsequent-draft-final-report-2020-08-20-en
I myself am now concentrating more of my efforts on new tech trends, but for those who are interested in New gTLDs there might be some good opportunities in the near future to be first on the train.
I agree that getting some actual practice with domains while a person is learning is a good idea as long as people are careful not to get bogged down with hundreds of useless domains that are going to hold them back from taking advantage of the real opportunities when they present themselves.
IMO
When there is an outage or problems with the Internet that's the worse time to be logging in into your accounts. Best to wait until the problems are solved before logging into any accounts to test them.
Absent any intentional attacks, Weekends and primarily Sunday mornings are probably when most database and infrastructure upgrades are done for the Internet since most companies are closed. So just give it a few hours and don't rush to login to your accounts until things are back to normal.
IMO
Although getting feedbacks from the members here is a valuable thing and can help streamline certain problems, but in all fairness to Rob who is open to hearing all our feedbacks I believe that we should it with a little less negativity and animosity and go about it in a more positive and constructive way. I am glad to see that the title of this thread which referred to bogus innovations has now been changed to something more positive.
While we are on the subject of creating better and easier experience for clients and customers (including domainers) I noticed that when I went to renew some of my domains that had expired two or three days ago ( on August 31) it only gave me the option to renew them if I did it for the minimum of 2 years which doubled the renewal price.
I believe that this can create a bad experience for customers if they can't renew their domains for one year the day after they are expired. Unwilling to pay double to renew my domains I decided to register some new domains, but I wish I could get the full 45 days grace period to renew my domains at the special 8 dollar price without being penalized and having to pay extra.
PS: just got a message from Rob that said he has extended the grace period on my account so that I can renew my domains for one year at a time at the special rate, I guess if they ask he will do this for domainers where the renewal charges are a main factor for them. (Thanks Rob).
IMO
I was sitting on my porch the other night and looking at the stars in the sky, as I was looking around I also noticed a lone bright sign on the ground for a store far away from where I was sitting that was shinning in the dark of the night like a star too.
At that moment it occurred to me that if I thought of myself as a star too, I found it hard to believe that I could have such great gravitational effect on another star that in this case was being represented by the store sign in the far away distance.
Considering the very small sizes of the stars relative to the astronomical distances that is between them it downed on me that perhaps the gravitational pull of the stars (and other astronomical bodies) is not being projected in a sphere all around them like we all think, but rather is channelized through a direct link between them, perhaps being carried in a tether like band made of dark matter or dark energy that exists in the empty spaces between the stars.
Now you might wonder what this has to do with domains and domaining, but if you train your mind to dwell in abstract thoughts you might be surprised to see that by exercising your brain you might gain the ability to think of some better domains to hand register.
IMO
and in the case of domainers watch what you register, it can make your destiny.
I get most of my inspirations from within since I never read any books nor am I familiar with what any of the famous philosophers have said in the past and to some extent I do that on purpose in order to keep my thoughts pure and original.
IMO
Forum Posts 6-a
Forum Posts 6-a
Forum Posts 6-a
I think that the real good news comes when we can conquer all diseases and decays that affect our body and mind.
The one silver lining in this Pandemic might be that all the attention and research that is being focused on our health and wellbeing could propel us in to the next revolution in medical science and technology.
I personally believe that there will be many advances ahead not only in the pharmaceutical Industry, but also in the many other ways and methods that we can fight disease and keep our body healthy.
Having microscopic robots hunting invading microorganisms with lasers and repairing and replacing damaged parts and organs from inside our body might sound like science fiction now, but it is not unreasonable to assume that it will be brought in to realty in the not too distant future specially with all the advances in computing power and robotics that we are expecting to see in the next few years.
Although before we can benefit from these advancements, we must first make sure that we correct our mindset and behavior so that we can become a righteous force for good that wants to use all its ability and the resources and technologies that are at its disposal to help save Humanity and our Home Planet.
In order to get to a better future we as the Human Race must first ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence that can allow us to cooperate with each other by finding common grounds over the Universal Principles and Values that are derived through Logic and Compassion in which we can find a common goal of making it posible for ourselves and all the other living beings and entities that we share our Universe with to be able to live a productive, safe, righteous, healthy, and happy life.
But in order to rid our World of all that has been ailing it for so long we must first rid ourselves of all the bad Human characteristics such as greed, lust, hatred, jealousy, bigotry, and lack of empathy that has made us cause so much damage to each other and our Home Planet throughout the history.
IMO
Pandemic thread:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/covid19-coronavirus-updates-and-news.1178134/page-199#post-8141916
Reg of the day: (change page)
https://www.namepros.com/threads/your-reg-of-the-day.528260/page-1870
Example: add (#post-11111111) after the page number for post #11111111 (change post number for other posts).
EMD:
https://www.namepros.com/threads/does-owning-emd-really-helps-in-seo.1225400/page-2
Example: add (#post-11111111) after the page number for post #11111111 (change post number for other posts).
New Posts: (change page)
https://www.namepros.com/find-new/posts?page=1
https://www.namepros.com/find-new/156076/posts?page=1
Pricing:
https://www.namepros.com/blog/too-many-or-too-few-choices.1226176/
Alerts:
https://www.namepros.com/account/alerts
Masks:
Do we live on the same Planet,
Every government on Earth is currently trying to vaccinate their people in order to prevent more fatalities from Covid.
IMO
The playbook that you are using is getting kind of old and everyone here can see through your tactics of how you deflect any and all logical arguments.
Nevertheless Happy New Year to you and everyone else here and you all try to stay safe.
(We should have gotten you a mask that said Happy New Year on it :xf.wink:)
IMO
----------------------------
This is the rule that I go by:
If a domain name has the ability to enhance a business’s prestige and profitability by many folds then it's only fair that the domain owner be compensated for that domain proportionally to the potential benefits that the domain can create for the buyer.
On the other hand if a domain name is sought by a non profit organization that has proven to wanting to do good for Humanity and the Environment then it will be prudent to give that organization a substantial discount or to donate the domain altogether if one is in a good enough financial shape.
In the case that the CEO and other executives in a non profit organization are being paid exuberant salaries and bonuses then it's only fair that the domain owner also be compensated for the full value of the domain considering that if the executives of such organization are not willing to sacrifice their own personal interest for the cause that they are fighting for then why should they expect the domain owner to do so.
IMO
The less than one percent or so of the recipients who might end up buying a domain that was presented to them through outbound might actually be happy that they received an email that let them know a domain that they could use was available for sale, but this could be a big turn off to the other 99% of the recipients who received such emails and so there could be a Collective Effect that outbound emails can have on the recipients who are no longer going to evaluate each individual email that they have received for domains for sale, but rather are going to look at the whole Domain Industry in a negative light because of this.
Now it might be a different story when it comes to premium domain names that are marketed to a handful of potential end users who could benefit greatly by owning such domains, but other than that it's probably safe to say that:
99% of outbound email is going to be considered as a nuisance by 99% of the recipients.
IMO
I think that the best solution would be instead of thousands of domainers sending outbound everyday to have a few domain marketing companies that would contact potential end users on behalf of the domainers for a modest fee, at least this way there could be some standards as to the quality and usefulness of the domains that are going to be marketed and the domain marketing companies are probably going to have much better luck reaching the decision makers and are probably going to be taken a lot more seriously.
I know that you can hire a broker to this for you, but most brokers only accept high value premium domains, but a domain marketing company can help domainers with a much wider range of quality and uses.
IMO
Having a "Domain Marketing Company" doing the outbound for domainers will probably bring some order to this spamming mess when it comes to end users and most likely will help domainers become more successful with making more sales by providing more credibility for their domains through a more central hub for outbound.
Although we still have to think of a way to stop those turkeys who want to spam other domainers and offer them the same domain in so many other extensions.
IMO
Unfortunately those who cast a wide net and send mass emails with deceptive titles that persuade the recipients to open those emails are going to have a certain level of success simply due to the sheer number of emails that are sent and thus are encouraged to do even more spams and use even more deceptive titles to catch the attention of a few unsuspecting recipients and in such a scenario those who spam think of themselves as winners due to their ill gotten success and think of everyone else who wants to abide by the rules as losers or lazy.
In my opinion the only way that this Industry can protect itself is by bringing outbounding under a central hub such as what I had suggested about having a few professional "Domain Marketing Companies" doing all the outbounding on behalf of the domainers for a reasonable fee.
IMO
Marketing and making sales is not easy and clear cut no matter how we go about it. Advertising in general is a form of spam in a way that our brains are spammed by the ads that are pounded into our subconscious over and over until they become ingrained into our long term memory whether we like it or not. As part of a capitalistic and open market economy we have learned to live with being bombarded with ads to the extent that they provide something that we might find useful and that as long as the they are done in good taste and are not too intrusive or deceptive.
So when it comes to domain names the idea is to have the marketing and outbounding done by professional companies that are at least bound by some standards and limits. What is going to create legitimacy and authority for such companies is going to be the results that are achieved for domainers who haven't had any luck getting anywhere on their own through outbounding. Of course there are still going to be some rogue domainers who are going to continue with their own spamming, but they will be in a small minority once most domainers start using the legitimate domain marketing companies for outbounding.
Nevertheless some of the details here are up for debate and have to be ironed out later, but anything that we can do to clean up all the spamming mess is better than doing nothing and continuing with the negative atmosphere that currently exists.
IMO
When you are on a domainers forum you got to put your domainer hat on and ask yourself how can domainers be able to present their domains to narrowly targeted end users who could benefit from those domains without coming across as scammers and spammers.
I myself would probably be using the services of a professional Domain Marketing Company to promote couple of my domains if such company existed and believe that if everyone else also did the same thing it would cut down on a lot of the spamming that is going on right now once the domains that are going to be outbounded are filtered for suitability and usability for certain end users.
Nevertheless that's just how I feel about this situation, but I am not saying that I have all the answers or that such endeavor is guaranteed to work, it's just an idea after all.
IMO
I like both Epik and Godaddy and although I have a very small portfolio of mostly hand registered domains and haven't done any sales for a long time now, but I like the seamless process that now exists between Afternic and Godaddy and I am somewhat sad that the same is not going to exist for Epik anymore.
But I believe that this has nothing to do with all the Epik's rants and rebellious behaviors of the past which some people here might have found to be as inappropriate marketing tactics for their brand and services. In my opinion this has to do more with Epik claiming to be the "Swiss Bank for Domains" which was proudly being displayed on their website till not too long ago. But now that the political landscape is changing perhaps the financial models that were being promoted by Epik which in a way was actually domainer friendly as it would allow those who sold a domain to keep the proceeds inhouse can no longer be acceptable to companies such as Paypal and Godaddy which are not comfortable to be used in such ways and in a way you can't blame them considering that millions of dollars are changing hands through domain sales every month.
At this time my recommendation to Epik is to change their financial models so that they can be in good standing with all the laws and rules that their business associates such as Paypal and Godaddy expect them to abide with and as such I expect Epik to be given a chance for redemption before it is permanently cut of by Godaddy and Paypal.
IMO
That might be good for new customers, but can't you all just give the DDC free of charge to all the oldtimer domainers who have been with Godaddy for a long long time and in a way have helped Godaddy become the biggest registrar.
(And that's regardless of how many domains they have, just based on how many years they have been with Godaddy.)
IMO
I remember when GoDaddy used to have 99 cent coupons all over the place (without any restrictions) and the DDC was something like $49 a year.
I miss those good old days, I wish that Godaddy would find a way to take care of the domainers who perhaps are not rolling in money, but have been registering domains as a hobby (which in a way might be adding to the close out domains that Godaddy is making money off).
I used to be a member of the Premier VIP club, but when my portfolio shrank in size I was kicked out. I still think that Godaddy needs to maintain a relationship with Oldtimer domainers regardless of the number of domains that they have. That just makes good business sense to take care of those who have been with Godaddy for a long time.
IMO
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates this holiday and to all those around the World who share in the spirit of giving thanks during these difficult times.
And thanks to you Bob for yet another great article.
"dual TLD domain"
Bob you might have invented a new term for the domain Industry. :xf.wink:
As far as I know technically everything on the right of the dot is called a TLD and the keyword on the left of the dot is called SLD
TLD = Top Level Domain
SLD = Second Level Domain
(If you have a subdomain I guess it could be called Third Level Domain).
So the same keyword can be a TLD or a SLD depending on whether it's on the right of the dot or whether it's on the left of the dot .
It's no coincidence that the most popular keywords are also TLDs since most New gTLD applicants went after the top keywords considering that most of them were already active in the domain Industry and were familiar with what keywords had the best potentials. (although some people made some bad choices for their New gTLD which I still can't figure out why since they had to pay $250k application fee and 25k per year to maintain each New gTLD).
Also from what I understand there is an invisible Dot to the right of each TLD which is the Main Domain or the Root which all other TLDs are a subdomain of.
As far as if a keyword is better as a TLD or as a SLD I guess it depends if the left of the dot and the right of the dot complement each other in a grammatically correct way which doesn't sound backwards. So no matter how you go about it the top keywords are good to have both as TLD and SLD as long as they make sense whether as New gTLDs or whether as Legacy and ccTLD domains.
It's also worth noting that the reason that some people pay top dollar for some domains like "com dot TLD (or ccTLD)" is perhaps because they want to sell subdomains for them.
IMO
This could be looked at as the Big Fish preying on the Little Fish,
Or
It could be looked at as the Big Fish helping the Little Fish get some working capital which they wouldn't have been able to get otherwise.
But either way, if the Little Fish voluntary goes into the mouth of the Big Fish then they shouldn't be complaining afterwards and should honor any deals that are already made.
IMO
Although having an experienced broker handling the inbound leads is a valuable service to have, but in my opinion most domainers are in need of someone who can actually help promote their domains to a narrowly targeted group of end users who might see value in those domains and who might find them to be useful and suitable for their business.
If an experienced broker can analyze a portfolio and identify the domains that he or she can easily promote to an specific group of end users for a quick sale then in my opinion that is as important or perhaps even more important than handling the inbound leads alone.
IMO
This could be looked at as the Big Fish preying on the Little Fish,
Or
It could be looked at as the Big Fish helping the Little Fish get some working capital which they wouldn't have been able to get otherwise.
But either way, if the Little Fish voluntary goes into the mouth of the Big Fish then they shouldn't be complaining afterwards and should honor any deals that are already made.
IMO
I have noticed that when you make a blog post that lets people list their domains for sale you make the rules very clear as to the number of domains that each person can list and the format that they need to follow for their listings,
So perhaps there should be a standard format for all domain requests that everyone can understand and follow for the sake of all the new comers to the Industry.
IMO
I believe that people should only list their domains as "Buy Now" in the primary marketplace that they want to use and in all the other platforms they should list them as "Make Offer" otherwise there will always be a chance of them forgetting to update a price which is going to cause confusion for the buyers.
Clicking the "Buy Now" button enters the seller and buyer into a legal contract in most marketplaces and I believe that it should be the responsibility of the marketplace to indicate whether there has been a clear mistake in the listing which could void the sale and not for the seller or buyer to decide so unilaterally.
I do believe that regardless of the legality of such deals, when it comes to domainers dealing amongst themselves they should extend some extra courtesy to each other as far as forgiving any mistakes or lack of attention to updating prices since pretty much everyone at one time or the other might forget to change the price of a certain domain simply due to the shear number of sales platforms that are now available.
IMO
Dimainers loosing money to uphold a deal when it comes to an end user should be expected, but domainers loosing money to another domainer because of a mistake in pricing goes against the spirit of being a domainer. (in my opinion)
IMO
You are absolutely right if two domainers engage in negotiations and come to an agreement to make a deal that is based on terms and conditions that are clear and are disclosed in full to both parties in advance.
But in my opinion trying to force a deal over an outdated BIN is against the spirit of domaining and there should be enough understanding and forgiveness amongst Industry insiders here so that we wouldn't have to have threads like this to begin with.
IMO
It would be nice if you could write an article to provide some real time stats for all the different options that are being discussed here.
It would be interesting to know what percentage of inquiries for price requests end up in actual sales and what percentage of the buyers use the make offer or the buy it now option on the Afternic site itself or the other platforms that are part of the network both when it comes to the premium and regular listings. It will also be great to know what the average initial offer is and what percentage of the $100 or less offers are turned into four and five figure sales (plus any other info and stats that you could think of that perhaps haven’t been mentioned here).
Having a comprehensive and detailed report is much better than having to hunt for all this info a little piece at a time all over the forum.
A little more clarity in GoDaddy's part would probably create a lot more trust and confidence in using the Afternic platform for domainers.
IMO
That's great Bob,
Perhaps you could do some research and write a blog about whether certain actions the we take like registering a domain, changing name servers, changing sales or parking platforms, or even for a domain getting too close to expiration date or entering the redemption period could trigger a certain new level of exposure and attention for that domain.
There have been many cases lately where people got an offer shortly after registering a domain or adding it to a sales platform, I guess it might also be due to the fact that some platforms show the newly added domains separately and let you filter your search by that criteria.
IMO
This is just a guess:
This might have something to do with the Google algorithm updates.
I have noticed that some domains have been getting indexed in Google under the different platforms that are part of the Afternic network and so some end users might have been finding the domains by clicking on the corresponding links for them in Google results and perhaps some of the updates at Google (specially the most recent ones) have changed those search results around making some of them less visible hence cutting down on some of the traffic to Afternic. (but as I already said this is just a guess)
IMO
Can't say for sure, as I said it's just an educated guess, needs to be researched further.
You can google some of your domains in quotes to see who is advertising them. (do it for those with less competition so that you can see them on the first page of the search results)
IMO
I wonder if that applies for GoDaddy's owned domain inventory too as far as showing up down the list.
This could also open the door for preferential treatment for certain people as far as their domains showing up on top of the results.
I like GoDaddy, but I can't ignore the lack of transparency in the way that they operate.
I am glad that they are updating their system, I hope that they decide to include more stats for domainers.
IMO
As far as I know If the domains are priced above 99k or so they don't qualify for fast transfer.
I haven't had any sales at afternic, but I did get 3 price requests from them in the past month or so (most likely were from resellers).
My portfolio is around 200 domains which I am probably going to trim down to between 100 to 150 in the near future. As I hand register new domains I let some of the less quality domains drop so that my portfolio stays the same size all the time, but is constantly growing in quality. My asking prices are usually very high as I want to hang on to my domains as long as I can as a collector, if I happen to sell one it has to be for a life changing amount.
I am hoping that all the updates and improvements that are currently being done at Godaddy and Afternic will make things better for everyone so for now I am just going to wait and see.
IMO
I think the size, font, and the colors of the title looks very nice where it says your domain is for sale, but I would change everything else with regular size font and colors, I would also add a background like what I have for my placeholder website at:
NorthStarDomains.com
Please note: I don't have that much experience with building websites and am not actively selling domains, but that doesn't mean that I can't have an opinion about what looks good or not.
Also as many of the oldtimers in the domain Industry know a good looking Lander might not necessarily correlate with getting clicks as it might take the attention away from the domain itself. It's kind of like some of the ads on TV where the viewer is so impressed by the story of the ad that they forget the name of the product or company that was associated with that ad. So you have to be careful so the design and colors of the Lander don't take the attention away from the domain itself.
IMO
I believe you have to be an attorney at law (not a lawyer).
Perhaps JB can explain the difference.
IMO
I still believe that there is a big difference between being a lawyer and an attorney of law as far as the legal definitions are concerned.
You don't have to pass the BAR exam to be considered to be a Lawyer.
I believe that JB is much better qualified to explain this than you unless you are also an attorney at law.
IMO
Well I am sorry to hear about this bad blood between you and him, but he has helped a lot of domainers with their legal issues and has kept them from losing their valuable domains in UDRPs and as such he deserves to be treated with some respect by domainers.
IMO
Seems to be loading okay,
Just wondering from the extensive data that you all have at fabulous what do you believe is getting more results as far as putting the options below in the Landers:
- Inquire about price
- Make offer only (no min offer)
- Make offer only (with min offer)
- Buy now only
- Buy now with make offer (no min offer)
- Buy now with make offer (with min offer)
- Any other option that you know of
Also if you would please break down the choices above for different caliber domains and price expectations.
These are the questions that a lot of domainers are trying to find the answer to, so I am sure everyone here will appreciate it if you would give us a thorough analysis of all these different options based on the vast data that fabulous has been able to collect over the years.
Also for min offers please indicate the amount relative to the caliber and price of the domain for each applicable option.
Thanks in advance
IMO
Thanks for including my thread about hand registering domains in your article,
As I recall that with your help we were able to come up with a definition for what qualifies as hand reg:
" a domain is considered to be hand reg (even it was registered and dropped in the past) as long it was available to everyone else to hand register at the time that you got it. "
Almost all of my domains are hand registered by me some just a week ago and one that I hand registered almost 20 years ago which was actually the second domain that I got:
GlobalReform.com
I am thinking about showcasing my domains (around 150 or so) using the domains below:
NorthStarDomains.com
and/or
NameGalleria.com
Which I also have hand registered for this purpose.
I invite everyone who is experienced in hand registering domains to share a few tips in my thread in your list.
Happy new year to you and everyone else in NamePros and to all the oldtimers in the Industry who are lurking out of sight, but are still reading our threads because they are still domainers at heart no matter what they like to call themselves nowadays. :xf.wink:
Thanks for the detailed reply,
both landers look very nice,
Currently I am forwarding most of my domains directly to the Afternic results page like the one for:
SuperEncrypted.com
Which is currently set to make offer, but I am thinking about changing my domains to Buy Now in the near future.
Just out of curiosity what would you set the Buy Now price for SuperEncrypted.com
In your opinion is this a three figure domain or a six figure one or something in between.
I can find some good domains to register (at least good in my opinion) but I have a very hard time pricing my domains.
PS: Happy New Year to you too (and to everyone else at Fabulous)
I have used Fabulous on and off over the years and consider it as one of my favorite registrars.
IMO
My goals for 2021:
I want to trim my portfolio to around 150 domains so that it will be easier for me to manage as a hobbyist and collector. Although even at 150 domains I am still going to try to improve the quality of my collection by finding better domains (mostly through hand registering) and getting rid of some of the lesser quality ones in order to keep my portfolio the same size.
I also want to showcase my collection by using one the domains that I had registered recently for this purpose:
either
NorthStarDomains.com
or
NameGalleria.com
My ultimate goal is to be able to sell a domain for a million dollars so that I can do some charity work and perhaps create more awareness around the issues that are ailing Humanity and our Home Planet by creating my own nonprofit organization.
IMO
I can select "desktop site" in the settings in Chrome and I can see everyone's signature on my smartphone.
Thinking about showcasing my portfolio of around 150 (mostly hand registered) domains at:
NorthStarDomains.com
and/or
NameGalleria.com
IMO
All this negativity and animosity is only going to be bad for domainers and the domain Industry in the long run.
I hope that Godaddy doesn't go through with their plans to cut Epik off from the fast transfer at Afternic tomorrow and that all parties involved can find a way to reconcile because I like both Godaddy and Epik and I hate to see them part ways.
IMO
We all should ascend to a higher level of thinking that allows us to go beyond our usual differences when it comes to how we treat each other and our Home Planet (which includes the Environment and all the living things in it).
Domainers are in the best position to create awareness by coming up with such domains.
IMO
I believe some of these are legitimate sales based on the strength of their keywords,
If you do google search in quotation and with spaces in between the words for the first four long tail examples that you had mentioned you will see that they have thousands or even millions of search results which makes them valuable as domains in .com
I don't recommend registering just any long tail domain, but some could be valuable if they are popular business terms and phrases.
IMO
Health Insurance is obviously a very popular and valuable keyword,
Health Insurance is obviously a very popular and valuable keyword,
For those who don't know how good a keyword is:
There are keyword tools that can tell you how popular a keyword is and how many times it is searched for by people each month, WordTracker.com lets you do a few free searches, you can also use Google Keyword Planner which I believe you have to log in to use, you can do a search on google for Keyword Search or Popularity Tool to find more websites.
So you need to find out:
How many Exact search results there are for a keyword or phrase which you can find out by doing a search with quotation and spaces in between words on google. (if you don't see the search result number on your smartphone then choose Desktop Site in the settings for the browser on your phone.)
and
How many times a keyword or phrase has been searched for by people in the past month which you can find out by using a keyword search or popularity tool like Google Keyword Planner or Word Tracker.
(make sure to select Exact in the settings regardless of which website you use).
IMO
I believe the outlook for the domain Industry is very good as more and more people start an online business due to the pandemic, but if the pandemic is not brought under control soon the continuation of the impact that we are experiencing with the economy as a whole is eventually going to catch up with the domain Industry too, and some investors may wish to be prudent in savings
IMO
That's great forecast and advice at the same time,
Although you have tried to include a variety of people from different backgrounds and experiences and that the common denominator is that 2021 will be a good year for the domain Industry,
But everyone should keep in mind that these people all work at different levels and they own or deal with different caliber domains and that each domainer has to find the best strategy that suits their level they operate at.
Something that works for a big domainer who is financially well off and has a portfolio of top category killer domains might not necessarily work for a domainer who operates at lower levels and who has limited means.
Although we are all domainers at heart (like a general who is still a soldier at heart) , but each domainer has to know their rank and also be able to adjust their strategies accordingly as they move up in the ranks. (something for you to write an article about :xf.wink:)
Regardless of anyone's rank we need to keep in mind that we live in dangerous times in so many aspects and it might be a good idea to have some savings for a rainy day in case the digital World that we all depend on so much somehow collapses and one day we wake up and see that there is no Internet and for this reason it might also be a good idea for everyone to always have their top tire domains renewed for several years in advance.
Most domainers might be able to survive even if they lose up to 75% of their portfolio if they can save the top 25% of their domains and so even though we all like to see a rosy 2021 for the domain Industry in the forecast, but we also have to be prepared in case things turn out for the worst considering everything that is going on in the World right now.
Now as @biggie already said it's hard to make all this fit in just one sentence. :wacky:
PS: it's worth mentioning that I don't belong to any specific rank and as the longest lasting newbie in the history of the domain Industry I am exempt from all the rules. (otherwise if my spirit is restrained in any way I wouldn't be able to bring you such good thoughts.)
IMO
The problem with the automated appraisals that are currently being offered is that they just use old technology.
These old appraisal bots are just plain stupid and even though they use certain scripts that might be able to put some factors in to consideration, but they still don't have a full understanding of the keywords contained in the domain and the way that those keywords relate to each other and to the extension and they have no idea about the inherent value that the domain might have based on the size and the scope of the market that those keywords are targeting not to mention the recognition and prestige that they can create for the end user within that market.
The solution is to go passed the old appraisal bots and scripts and invest in a system that uses Artificial Intelligence.
Through machine learning an AI can become as knowledgeable about domain names as the most experienced domainers and brokers that we have in this Industry. As the matter of fact as the AI's knowledge grows it can surpass the collective knowhow that exists amongst all experienced domainers and brokers.
So it's time for the domain Industry to keep up with the times and invest in AI
Thinking ahead I did hand registered:
AiAppraisals.com
I also like to see the day that AI can help with domain sales,
When a CEO tells its AI to find him or her a certain domain that perhaps matches one that you have, your AI will instantly become aware of that request and will let them know about your domain. (After all AI's are going to be in constant communications with each other through their own network.)
IMO
Guys you got this whole Hate thing all wrong,
This is not about hurting someone's feelings,
This is about the kind of speech that puts people's lives, wellbeing, and livelihood in danger.
The kind of speech (or expression) that makes a person (or a certain group of people) fear for their lives or that makes someone feel insecure or unsafe at work, or that encourages others to chase a certain family out of the neighborhood.
Hateful speech that promotes and ends in Hate Crimes is the issue here not that you made fun of someone's beer belly.
IMO
Being a domainer at heart and as someone who likes to think of himself as a Human Rights and Environmental activist and intellectual I just registered:
HatefulSpeech.com
and
HatefulSpeech.org
IMO
Do I sense a little hate coming from you here,
Why not think a little more positive about what I am going to do with these domains like creating awareness and preventing Hateful Speech.
IMO
The point is that although you have the right to think negatively if you want and that I might not be able to change your ways, but I wish that you had looked at the positive potentials that these domains have in creating awareness around the issue of Hateful Speech.
IMO
I didn't say that I was an Intellectual, I said that I like to think of myself as an Intellectual,
Best to encourage others when they want to do some good for Humanity and our Home Planet instead of poking fun at them.
Although you have the right to say what you like and I am not trying to take that right away from you, but I also have the right to disagree with what you are saying.
As long as we both respect each other's rights I believe everything will be fine.
Although I still wish that you had gone about this in a more positive and constructive way.
Nevertheless from the domaining point of view I was very surprised to see that these domains were still available.
IMO
Thanks Bob for your kind words,
As you know in any situation it's best to hope for the best, but always be prepared if things don't go exactly as we all like to see,
So this can make a good subject for another article that you can write about as far as how best domainers can protect themselves against any unforeseen situations that might arise unexpectedly.
IMO
The fact that you are talking about this is a good sign that shows that you have crossed over to the humanitarian and environmental way of looking at the World (if you weren't already).
Unfortunately with the Pandemic the Environmental issues have kind of been pushed to the back burner, but the good news is that because many people are staying home and traveling less there is now a lot less smog in the air.
As to the practicality of solar and wind energy I believe the answer is in having more efficient batteries that can store the energy that is produced by these sources.
IMO
Cold Fusion has some advantages over other energy sources if it can be made to be safe, but going with natural renewable choices such as solar and wind are probably going to become a more popular option in the immediate future specially when the new generation of more efficient batteries come to market soon that can make things run without any interruptions.
IMO
I personally don't like those huge wind turbines and big solar farms, I believe that solar and wind energy should become more widely used, but with smaller turbines and more individually installed solar roof.
As far as the nuclear energy goes the big drawback is the nuclear waste that apparently no one wants in their jurisdiction and probably has to be shipped to a third World country where their people have no say about such matters.
IMO
I don't think that we should waste our time and energy to hate any one person,
This is more about having a collective effort on the part of Humanity to save this Planet.
Even those whom we might not like or agree with can play an important role in bringing certain subjects to our attention and make us think about them.
IMO
Those ideas make sense,
In another thread I had suggested to make everything such as homes, cars, appliances, and tools for example more sturdy so that they can be used by several generations at a time instead of lasting just for a very short time relatively, although people can still have jobs by remodeling and repairing those things. Also there should be some laws passed as far as how big of a home and how many cars each person can own and beyond a certain number and size people should be required to have a very good justification for it.
IMO
That's very good that you restore furniture,
As mentioned above if we can make things more sturdy and restore them so that they can be used by several generations over a long period of time that might help to prevent a lot of the natural resources from going to waste and to keep so much junk out of the landfills.
IMO
I personally am not 100% committed to any of the existing parties or ideologies, my policy is to support anyone or any group that wants to do good for the Humanity and our Home Planet and to criticize those who want to continue following their fanatical and flawed agendas of the past regardless of which political or other affiliations they might have.
IMO
If you feel that it's very important to have Domain or Name as a keyword why not buy something that you like on the aftermarket. I know that you already said that those are expensive, but don't you think that it will be worth it to have a name that you can be happy with in the long run.
By the way if you put a buy request here at NamePros you might be able find a good name at wholesale prices.
The other alternative is to create a thread and ask for suggestions for a domain that is available to hand register that way you can tap into the collective brain power of all the experienced domainers here on NamePros.
IMO
As much as we all want to care about the Environment, but in all honesty Humanity and the World would still be in peril even if the Environment was in perfect shape.
If we really want to save the World we need to address everything that is wrong with it at the same time and with the same intensity, because in addition to the problems that we are facing with the Environment there is also the risk of having a nuclear Armageddon and even if we manage to live in peace there is still the chance of having more devastating Pandemics in the future. And lets not forget about technologies such as AI and automation and nano, genetic, and quantum engineering which if not managed correctly each has the potential to change our lives for the worse. Even if we get all these things under control there are still the political, religious, and racial animosities that can derail our future, and when you add our endless love for money and power and our addiction to lust and greed which are amongst the many bad human characteristics that have shaped our civilization then it becomes clear that there is a lot more that we still need to get under control than just the Environment.
For this reason as intelligent being that we are supposed to be I propose that we need to stop dancing around these issues (like we have done for the past 50 years) and meet these problems and existential threats head on by creating a new global organization that can address all the threats to the future of Humanity and the World at the same time and find solutions that can be implemented quickly before we go past the point of no return any of these fronts.
The same organization can also be put in charge of planning to prevent or minimize the impact and damage caused by natural and manmade disasters and events that might arise unexpectedly such as getting hit by a huge asteroid.
But creating such organization at the Global level requires that we as the Human Race ascend to a higher level of existence and thinking and thus it takes us back to what I already said in this post:
We as the Human Race need to ascend to a new level of existence and thinking that allows us to find common grounds over the Universal Principles and Values that have been derived from Logic and Compassion and that is going to propel us in to a new Era of understanding and tolerance so that we can live in peace with our Environment and all the living things and entities on Earth and beyond.
We need to abandon all the outdated fanatical and extremist political, religious, racial, and economical ideologies, philosophies, and doctrines that have failed us and use all the resources and technologies at our disposal to find new ways of managing the World that would make it possible for us to put an end to all that has being ailing Humanity and our Home Planet and that can allow us to be able to live a righteous, productive, safe, happy, and healthy life.
IMO
I agree with you if we were still living in the last Century where all human advances had to take place incrementally.
But now that we live in 2021 with all the resources and technologies that are at our disposal and with having the ease of real time communications between people across the World such as what we see here on this forum and on the social media at large we can achieve in 5 years what might have taken us a few lifetimes to achieve in the past.
The key is creating awareness that goes beyond the select few people who might be concerned about Humanity and our Home Planet and expanding the conversation to get the ordinary people around the World involved in these discussions through education and mass media, same way that almost everyone around the World is now actively thinking and talking about the Pandemic.
I believe that if we set our mind to it we can start a 5 to 10 year program that is going to change the World for the better, provided that we are willing to take that first step of what I had mentioned before:
" We as the Human Race need to ascend to a new level of existence and thinking that allows us to find common grounds over the Universal Principles and Values that have been derived from Logic and Compassion and that is going to propel us in to a new Era of understanding and tolerance so that we can live in peace with our Environment and all the living things and entities on Earth and beyond.
We need to abandon all the outdated fanatical and extremist political, religious, racial, and economical ideologies, philosophies, and doctrines that have failed us and use all the resources and technologies at our disposal to find new ways of managing the World that would make it possible for us to put an end to all that has being ailing Humanity and our Home Planet and that can allow us to be able to live a righteous, productive, safe, happy, and healthy life. "
IMO
So, are you all going to help save the World or not.
NamePros is a microcosm of the World at large with members from all parts of the Globe, and so if we can find some common grounds here over how best to save the Environment and our Home Planet then there will be some hope that the rest of the World can find the right path going forward too.
IMO
You have a very good imagination and although we don't know if actual physical time travel is possible yet or not, but that doesn't mean that we can't or shouldn't travel into the future in our mind and try to imagine how an advanced society might be 500 years from now.
Being an advanced lifeform doesn't just mean to be advanced from the technological point of view, but also whether a society uses all the resources and technologies at its disposal to do good for everyone and the Environment.
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Forum Posts 6-b
Forum Posts 6-a
So if the power of our imagination allows us to travel into the future and see a perfect World where people don't abuse, torture, and kill their fellow human beings and the other lifeform and entities that they share their planet (Universe) with and if we can imagine a future where there is no more hunger, disease, homelessness, addiction, crime and deviant or harmful behavior and that Humanity has been able to conquer all its bad characteristics such as greed, lust, hate, jealousy, and lack of empathy and that has learned to care about the Environment and life in general then we might be able to learn a thing or two from that future society and put that knowledge to some good use at the present time to become a Force For Good that wants to do some good for the World.
IMO
Money by itself is not enough, you also need the right kind of mindset,
As the matter of fact perhaps that's exactly what is wrong with the way that the world is right now,
Why should money be an obstacle in the way of being able to do the right thing.
Some things are too important to be left under the control of money, such as the future of Humanity and our Home Planet.
IMO
I am not a hippie, but I was recently surprised to find out how much the hippies back in the 60's were into quantum physics. (google it)
Nevertheless we need the collective power and resources of all the Governments around the World to be able to tackle the issues with the Environment.
IMO
So many good ideas and thoughts, I am impressed,
Only if we could unleash the power of everyone else's mind here to also think about the future of Humanity and our Home Planet.
IMO
There is only one question that needs to be answered here,
Does Epik provide the same protections for Free Speech equally for all sides or not,
If the answer is yes then perhaps Epik is the Champion of Free Speech that they claim to be.
I personally like to hear what all sides have to say, all I ask is for everyone to keep things on the civilized and professional side on their websites.
IMO
"Free Speech" means that people should be free to express their grievances, dislikes, and even their anger at what they find to be unfair or unjust,
Whether on the right or on the left it is the responsibility of those who manage and operate the social platforms to make sure that they don't allow a few fanatics and extremists who are willing to cross the lines to ruin it for everyone else who although very vocal, but do not wish to cause any bodily harm or damage to others.
IMO
I believe that the Registrars can forgive the extra fees that they charge to renew a domain within the first 35 days, but they cannot forgive the fees that are charged by the Registry once the expiration goes past that 35 day deadline.
please note that the numbers provided might not be exact since I am just going by memory, also this is mainly for .com (Verisign) it might be different for other TLDs.
Recently I renewed a few domains that had been expired for a little over a month at Epik and they waved the extra fees and let me renew them at the regular prices, also they used to do the same thing for me at Godaddy when I had enough domains to be a member of their VIP Premiere Club. And they also have helped me with this at Fabulous too in the past, which I believe they give the full 35 days to everyone automatically nowadays.
Basically what it comes down to is that you have to ask and your Registrar has to like you enough to want to do it since it's totally at their discretion in the first 35 days or so if they want to do it for you.
I also have been using Register.com for my main email and domain for over 20 years now and although there hasn't been any redemption fees involved with them, but they have consistently given me pretty good discounts on renewals over the years.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with anyone and I like the four mentioned Registrars in my post the same since I have had a good experience using them for my domains.
IMO
You have to make sure that you use the correct term,
Domain Grace Period at the Registrar apparently Could be upto to 45 days from the expiration date and it is up to each registrar how much extra fee they want to charge you (which I believe can be from zero up to the max $40 that has been mentioned by others here).
Domain Redemption Period which last for 30 days after the domain grace period ends is where the domain has to be redeemed at the Registry and the fee is out of the Registrars' hands ( I believe it isbetween $40 to $45).
Domain Deletion Period last for 5 days and starts after the domain redemption period, this is the period where the domain enters deletion at the Registry and I believe cannot be renewed.
As far as favoritism goes you are correct it is totally up to the Registrars if they want to wave their portion of the fees, but in my case I have never had a really big portfolio so I am guessing that they must have liked me for some reason perhaps because I have had my dimains with them for a long time.
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with anyone and the above is just my understanding of this situation, the numbers provided might not be exact so best to verify all this info by doing your own research instead of just relying on the memory of an oldtimer. :angelic:
IMO
t might be possible to get the Redemption fee waved too if you talk to the Registry itself in cases where a mistake might have happened somewhere that was out of your hand.
As far as ICANN goes I believe the only money that they make from domains is the 25 cents fee that is added to every registration (and whatever fees they charge the Registries for application fees or maintenance and renewal fees of their accreditation).
IMO
In any case it's always best to refer to the TOS for your Registrar since it seems that there might be some differences in the way that Grace Renewals are handled and charged for.
And remember if you are nice to your Registrar they'll be nice to you too when you ask for a favor.
IMO
Keep up the good job Rob,
Put a little something on Epik's homepage that says something like:
"We Fight for Free Speech"
But
"We Also Fight Against Hateful Speech"
The kind of Speech that encourages people to cause harm to others.
Problem Solved.
As I have said before I personally like to hear what all sides have to say as long as they conduct themselves in a civilized and professional manner.
IMO
Hateful encompasses all,
I recently registered the domain:
HatefulSpeech.com /.org
But, I didn't want to register "Genocidal Speech"
IMO
That has to do more with "Free Speech" where people have the right to express themselves in ways that might not necessarily fit very well into our acceptable social norms.
But it's no longer Free Speech when it crosses the lines into being the kind of Hateful Speech that encourages people to bring harm to others.
Hateful Speech has the intent to bring threatening words into reality and is different than people just singing a song.
IMO
The "Intent" and the possibility of bringing those threats to reality is what the law looks at.
Disclaimer: I don't listen to much music, maybe some classical music occasionally.
IMO
"Defending Free Speech while Condemning Hateful Speech"
You can't pick and choose what hateful speech you want to be tolerant of depending on your own political, religious, and racial beliefs, ideologies, and affiliations.
You have to categorically condemn all Hateful Speech across the board.
Also remember that you have to put it in to actual words in bold that everyone can see and read otherwise it won't look very sincere.
IMO
You are looking at this only from the domainer point of view (and you have the right to do so), but the situation is not as simple as that once you get into the non domainer World.
IMO
those who know you here are already aware of the fact that you have a good heart and that you go out of your way to help all domainers.
But what about those who only get to hear about Epik through what is currently being discussed in the news media,
If you put something in writing on your homepage like what I had suggested it will make those who are just hearing about Epik for the first time to know where exactly you stand when it comes to protecting Free Speech and condemning Hateful Speech.
IMO
I appreciate all the good that you are doing behind the scenes,
But you got to neutralize the negative image that the media is creating for Epik by saying something on Epik's homepage that can reassure those who are visiting for the first time and that might not necessarily know about all your efforts in protecting Free Speech and fighting Hateful Speech.
Anyways, just an idea to try to help.
IMO
That's great, the only thing is that we all need to find common grounds over the same Universal Principles and Values that have been derived through Logic and Compassion.
Certain things have to be Universal such as:
Free Speech
Human Rights
The Right for everyone to be able to live a productive, safe, righteous, healthy, and happy life.
and
What we consider to be Hateful Speech and how we are supposed to deal with it.
If my health allows I will expand on this subject further in the near future at my soon to be developed website:
HatefulSpeech.org
I believe that we as the Human Race are all guilty of one thing or another, so instead of condemning this group or that group we all need to collectively ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence that is worthy of us being in charge of this World and that can give us the wisdom, the power, and the knowhow to make this a better place for everyone.
IMO
You and the people from Epik are not exactly strangers to one another since you all have participated in many debates here at NamePros,
And as such I was hoping that you all had picked a more professional and courteous way to handle this situation.
I like to think of myself as a fair and impartial person here and as such here is what I think about this situation:
Since you had already agreed to give the domain to Dan to the point that you had send him the Auth-Code at one time then this matter should no longer be about any monetary aspects, but rather how long would your agreement to give the domain to Dan legally and morally be considered to be valid before it expired (not the domain, but your agreement) due to being considered abandoned by Dan for failing to take possession of the domain name in a timely manner.
So in general we have to figure out once an agreement is made to transfer a domain how long the recipient of the domain has to take possession of the domain before that agreement is considered to be abandoned and void.
And by setting a certain time limit here everyone has to realize that we are setting a standard that is going to apply to the whole domain Industry in addition to what has taken place here between you and Dan.
Nevertheless, as two Old timers on this forum I hope that you and Dan can find a way to resolve this matter peacefully as the way it is going right now it's making both sides to this deal to look bad.
IMO
Once we establish if there is going to be a time limit for the recipient to take possession of the domain then if that time limit has elapsed then the domain owner can choose if they want to sell the domain and for how much,
But, everyone has to realize that we are not just talking about this specific case here anymore, but rather we are trying to set a standard for the whole Industry.
It might be a good idea to ask some of the domain attorneys here on the forum to chime in about this matter.
IMO
In the real World (as opposed to the digital one) if you bought a car and failed to take possession of it how long would the seller have to honor the deal before it is considered void (even if you have paid something on the car).
If there is a time limit where the sale agreement for the car is considered to be void then any payments probably have to be returned minus the cost of processing and storage for the car and a new agreement for purchasing the car has to be reached.
We just have to find out here how such scenarios apply to domain names.
IMO
Right, and showing a little professional courtesy amongst two well known members of the forum here can go a long way in solving this problem on a more friendly terms.
But in general I believe that 6 months should be adequate enough time for any transfer agreement to be reset if the recipient fails to take possession of the domain and then parties involved have to come to a new agreement.
Lesson learned: whenever you make an agreement on a domain deal (even a free one) make sure that all the terms and conditions are spelled out in detail and in advance.
IMO
Yes the intentions here have to be made clear.
Is he asking for more money for the domain now.
Has he changed his mind about parting with this domain.
Is he going to use it for a competing platform.
Is he using this opportunity to gain leverage over an old friend (adversary ?).
Soon it will become clear who's the victim and who's the violin here.
IMO
You do mention that as part of the domain sale agreement in advance right,
and if no time limit is set in advance I believe that the default period before a domain sale is considered void due to the recipient failing to take possession of the domain should be six months to give people adequate time in case they are having some kind of unfortunate circumstances like being hospitalized due to sickness or an accident.
IMO
For those who are wondering why this thread is dragging on like this, its important to understand that these arguments are not over money as the amounts involved are very small, but rather there are some deeper elements involved here that are controlling the actions and behaviors of all sides to this story.
This is not about money or profits at all, this has to do more with the differences in the political, religious, and racial beliefs and ideologies between the parties involved (and some of the other old members who have commented here) which are manifesting themselves in the unusual and illogical forms that we are witnessing in this thread same as some of the previous threads where the same people have been involved in debates in the past.
Any rational observer probably comes to the conclusion that in a normal situation where there is not any history of animosity between the parties involved the best course of action is to honor the original agreement in this deal out of professional courtesy, but then things go disarray when the past history of animosity between the parties involved here comes in to play.
For that reason it makes one wonder why these domains and handles were registered by one of the parties involved here in the first place instead of just sending a friendly reminder letting the other party to know that they were available to register if they were interested to do so.
IMO
Thanks to everyone for wanting to take the high road,
The best lesson we all can learn here is to keep the differences in our political, religious, and racial beliefs and ideologies out of the way we handle business in the domain Industry at all levels.
IMO
Those are all valid points,
But there is also an unspoken rule that says that domainers should not infringe on each other's businesses,
At this point it will help more to make both parties look good in the eyes of the community here if the original agreement to transfer the domain is honored on a voluntarily bases regardless of what might have delayed it before and for apologies to be made in return for any mistreatments and mishandlings that might have gone on here or behind the scenes.
IMO
Doesn't giving the Auth-Code for transferring the domain constitute having an agreement.
If that's the case and both sides are happy with it then all I can say is good luck to both sides and try to be nicer to your fellow domainers in the future because life is too short to be wasted by hatred and animosity towards others specially during this Pandemic times.
IMO
And that's why I said for the domain to be transferred on a Voluntarily Bases in return for apologies for any mistreatments or mishandlings that might have gone on here or behind scenes,
I understand that you are not required to part with your domain at this point, but you'll be taking the high road by doing so even if they have already indicated that they don't want the domain.
So at this point it's pretty much up to you if you want to be nice to them in return for an apology.
IMO
Nevertheless since both parties involved here have been at fault in one way or another I believe that it's better to defuse this situation while you all can instead of making it drag on at the risk of everyone coming out of this with more damage.
IMO
As I said there is an unspoken rule that says that domainers should not infringe on each other's businesses,
If I remember correctly you admitted to Dan that perhaps you shouldn't have registered this domain and offered to transfer it to him for a bounty that you wanted to donate to your charity as opposed to trying to sell it to him by asking for 50k for it.
The prudent thing here was that for you to just have informed him that the domain was available to register, that is of course if you wanted to be thought of as someone who showed professional courtesy to his fellow domainers, but if you don't care about that then technically you are not at fault if you want to treat the members of the community here that you know the same way as people handle business with end users that they don't know and want to extract the most money from.
You probably are owed an apology for the way that you have been treated, but you have to make sure that your side of the equation is right too.
IMO
As I already said technically you are not at fault, but we as domainers should not register a domain that is very similar to another domainer's business model name. Specially if the business is mainly targeting domainers. (my apologies if you did register Domain Liquidate before Name Liquidate was born.)
Like it's not right to try to make a website for Domain Name Journal when DN Journal already exists and is well known amongst all domainers.
At least that's the way that I have understood it till now.
As I said before the prudent thing to have been done was to just have informed Dan that the domain was available and let him register it himself,
But no one can force you to do what you legally are not obligated to do.
IMO
Thanks for the compliment,
I tried to bring peace between you all and I still believe that everyone is going to be better off if you all took the high road in this situation, but ultimately it's yours and Dan's decision as to how you all want to handle this ordeal from this point on.
Good luck to everyone, Oldtimer signing out of this thread.
IMO
Although I haven't participated in this thread before, but I appreciate reading some of the useful info and stats that it contains,
One reason that I haven't engaged the members here is because I have a low tolerance for fights and arguments that some of the people want to get into with regards to conspiracy theories and propaganda about the Pandemic and that's mainly because like you I also have some health issues that requires me not to get stressed out by getting into heated discussions with others.
But nevertheless I still care about creating awareness about issues that are ailing Humanity and our Home Planet.
On a side note, I noticed that you mentioned in your last post that you like to drink a lot of milk. Although drinking milk can be beneficial to our health, but drinking too much of it can have the opposite effect as our body is not designed to handle large quantities of milk once we are past childhood.
Yoy can do a google search for
"is too much milk bad for you"
to find out more about this.
Keep the your thread going and stay safe.
IMO
Miracles can happen, sometimes taking a break from the routines of the day and a change in the surroundings can have a very positive effects on the mind and the body.
I am going to take a break and take it easy for a while so that I can concentrate more on my health issues.
Good luck to everyone here, lets hope that the new approach and policies can help end the Pandemic soon.
PS: Sorry to hear about Larry King, if everyone cooperates in abiding by the Pandemic safety and precaution guidelines and protocols perhaps a lot of these deaths could be avoided.
IMO
Thinking of how I can be the End User of some of my own domains by using them to create awareness around the issues that are important to the future of the World has broadened my horizons on domain names.
We as domainers are in the best position to come up with new domains that could be used to do some good for the Humanity and our Home Planet.
Yes you can create awareness just by the act of registering some useful domains, and whether you end up using those yourself or not you can still take pride in having been able to make a difference for the better in the World. IMO
Here are some of the domains that I have registered recently:
SavingOurHomePlanet.com
GoodOldEarth.com
EndingStarvation.com
GoAllSustainable.com
HatefulSpeech.com
UniversalHealthcareCoverage.com
And some from before:
AiMedicalCenter.com
FreeVaccination.com
FeedAllKids.com
GoRighteous.com
GlobalReform.com
IMO
Thanks for letting me know about these domains, but like you I am very selective as to what I register as I don't want my portfolio to get too big as I am worried that it might get too much for me to handle as a hobbyist and collector specially at my age.
I usually don't check the drops as I like to think that I have come up with my names on my own even though some might have been registered in the past before they were available for me to hand register.
I hope that you can put your domains to some good yourself or sell or donate them to some nonprofit groups who want to do good for the Humanity and our Home Planet.
If my health allows I like to create my own nonprofit organization someday and forward the rest of my domains to my main website to bring more attention to it.
Nevertheless as I mentioned in thread we as domainers are in the best position to come up with new domains that can be put to some good use either by ourselves or by selling or donating them to others.
I wish that more domainers would realize the responsibility that lies on their shoulders as creators of new names and not to focus all their talent and energy on acquiring domains that might be promoting the wrong things.
Good luck with your domains,
IMO
The difficulty with EMDs is to actually get people to see them, once people see them a good EMD has the advantage of getting noticed amongst all the other choices that they can click on because people already identify with the keywords in the domain since it's already imprinted into their brains from past experiences.
Knowing that and trying to maximize their revenue, the search engines have been trying to reduce the EMDs visibility and effect for the past decade or so in order to give an advantage to Brands which have no other choice but to advertise in order to get noticed (at least until they become famous).
I recently registered:
HeatingAndAirConditioningSystems.com
and
HeatAndAirSystems.com
That's what people are searching for in the little search engine in their minds and so they identify with them once they see them, if they are allowed to be seen that is
IMO
I am kind of experimenting with that,
That might be the longest domain that I have, but it has all the right keywords.
It might be useful for redirecting (forwarding) to other shorter domains.
if you do a search for:
" Heating and Air Conditioning Systems "
You will see that there are a lot of results for this specific sequence of keywords.
IMO
I like the good old Goog and use them all the time and I understand that they need to protect their business model, but they have to find a balance in doing so in a way that doesn't leave a whole class of people and their websites out in the cold.
Some of us oldtimers still remember that their motto was:
" Do No Evil"
Which I understand it to mean in part that:
"Be fair to all"
and
"Don't Give in to Greed"
and so I like for my domain name
HeatingAndAirConditioningSystems.com
to also have a chance to be seen by people who are searching for the Exact Match Keywords and their close and related variations.
By the way, you can search for jobs and see all the jobs that are available specific to your keyword and location, I wish that they would add a similar feature that would show all the domain name Landers for people who are searching for domains for sale.
IMO
Now I know better than to expect for my Landing page to be put on the first page of the regular search results specially for high competition keywords.
But as I suggested if there is a feature that only shows Landing pages to those who are searching for domain names then I like to think that my domain name has good enough keywords to be included in those results.
By the way I don't see any reason why there can't be search results specific to domain landers for people who are searching for domain names.
IMO
Not everyone is comfortable with doing outbound (that is sending multiple emails to potential end users on a persistent and continuous bases).
We don't want our domains to rank on the regular search results pages, but to be shown when people are specifically searching for domains for sale.
I don't think that that's an unreasonable thing to ask for.
IMO
Thanks for a very thorough analysis,
It might be important to also consider what Caliber and category the domains fall under.
If you have a high Caliber domain that relates to a popular category that attracts corporate end users then you might be better off to go with "Make Offer" only.
But if your domains are targeting the average small businesses and start ups then having a "Buy Now" price in the low four figures (like $3488 or $4995 or ..... ) along with including some kind of a payment plan might be the way to go. (It might be a good idea to also include the "Make Offer" option if your "Buy Now" price starts getting into the high side of things so that way you won't scare any potential buyers away.)
And if you just have domains that you want to get rid off quickly then having a low "Buy Now" price without providing any other options might be your best bet. (like $1288 or $2488)
Disclaimer: I don't have much experience in domain sales, the above conclusions are based on my understandings of what I have read about the different strategies that domainers use at different levels and for different caliber domains.
IMO
So why can't we have search results that Exclusively show domain Landers when people search for domains for sale instead of having them mixed with all the developed sites in the results pages.
If we can have just the domain Lenders show up in the search results pages domainers still have to do SEO to compete amongst themselves in order to get their Landers to show up higher on the page, but they won’t have to compete with all the developed sites anymore.
IMO
I don't think any health related subjects are going to be deleted as right now everyone's situation seems to be being effected by the Pandemic somehow.
Just wanted you to know that you have my well wishes too, I hope that you can beat the cancer again and keep bringing amazement to the doctors that are taking care of you.
You have made a valuable thread here that provides a lot of helpful info to others and perhaps you have been able to convince a few hardliners to change their minds and start taking the Pandemic seriously and for that you should be very proud of yourself.
You having a support group that helps you along the way is very important, I on the other hand have many health issues too including continuous stabbing pain in my heart that seems not to want to go away, but unlike you I don't have many people who care for me, as the matter of fact there are some people like my next door neighbor who seem to be taking a special pleasure in harassing and tormenting me (for whatever political, religious, and racial hatred and animosity that they might have for me) which has contributed greatly to the demise of my physical condition over the last few years.
So I might be a little envious of you. :xf.wink:
IMO
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We might need to make some long term plans to deal with Covid as it seems that it's going to become a permanent part of our lives like the flu and other similar viruses that we have gotten used to living with.
For now the best that we can do is to minimize the hospitalizations and fatalities through vaccination and abiding by the hygiene and safety guidelines and protocols that are currently being recommended by the top experts.
I am hoping that in a not too distant future we can develop new ways and methods of fighting disease that go beyond just pharmaceutical advances that we have been able to achieve so far such as microscopic robots that can hunt viruses and repair and replace damaged parts and organs from the inside of our body, or new ways of radiation that are only tuned to the resonance frequencies of harmful microorganisms and cancer cells and that can destroy them without causing any damage to the healthy cells.
But until then the best that we can do is to listen to the advice and guidance that are being provided by the top experts in these fields.
IMO
thanks for another thought provoking thread,
I had mentioned this in a few of my threads and posts in the past, but I believe that at the time it went kind of unnoticed, but I believe that we are going to see a revolution in the domain Industry as Artificial Intelligence systems (and entities) become more commonly used for all matters concerning domains and websites.
I also predict here that with the introduction of more powerful quantum computers along with getting AI directly involved in searching for domains we might see a few million new domains registered in a span of a very short time that nobody had been able to think of before.
It will also become much easier to sell domain names since when the CEOs of big corporations and companies ask their AI to find a certain domain name for them to buy your AI will become instantly aware of that request (through the network that all AIs are going to be a part of) and will present your domain as an alternative to their AI to show to them if it matched what they were looking for.
IMO
Here is something for you to think about to get some ideas,
I believe that our lives are going to continue to be directly and indirectly affected by the Pandemic for the next few decades and as such we must make certain long term plans (for the next 20 or 30 years at least) in order to be able to meet all the challenges that we are going to have to face in the future both from the medical point of view and the economical aspect of things.
We have to rethink how we as a society are going to function as far as people being able to survive if they can't go back to their old jobs since many businesses might not be able to operate in full capacity and some that have closed down might not be able to reopen again.
I believe that we have to revamp the society as a whole in a major way and find new ways for people to be able to make a living and take care of themselves and their families. It is very important to provide assistance to those who are facing hardship and help them before their situation gets worse.
Whether the answer is for people to go fully digital and make their living online or whether they need to be helped through social services and charitable organizations, but one thing is for sure:
The days of the haves and have nots has to come to an end and we all have to be willing to help one another if we are going to be able to come out of this Pandemic in one piece.
The sooner we face this reality the better off we are going to be in the future as a civilization.
IMO
Well maybe there should be a thread for what NamePros should not add,
All these tracking software from NamePros and the affiliate banner ads are slowing down the performance of my smartphone (some even interfere with typing a post).
I understand that every website has to do some tracking, but if it's done too much and if there are automated bots manipulating things behind the scenes all the time then it just ends up creating an unpleasant experience for the visitors regardless of what website it is.
Even with 5g connection things are still going to be slowed down if tracking is done past an acceptable level.
IMO
Let's wait to hear from other members here to see whether this is a widespread problem that everyone is experiencing or if it's just an isolated one, but I have noticed that the website hangs for a few seconds when it gets to loading the banner ads and then it speeds up again.
IMO
thanks for checking into this, the way that this website hangs is not something that I can create on demand as it happens by random and sometimes it takes longer than other times, but I have noticed that the little line (narrow bar) that shows the progress of the website loading (rendering) stops at around 3/4 of the way to the end from a fraction of a second up to as long as two or three seconds and then it speeds up and goes to the end right after the banner ads are loaded. At the end sometimes three small fast moving rectangular shapes appear on the top right corner of the screen too for less then a second and go away after the website is done loading.
I hope this helps, but if no one else is experiencing this problem then perhaps it has something to do with my phone (I don't have the most expensive phone that is).
IMO
It's understandable that these people (as a company) want to make some profit for themselves and their shareholders,
But they are already making a nice profit considering that the total number of .com registrations has been increasing consistently over the years and so logically there should not be any need for price hikes like this and as the matter of fact with most other products and services as the number of customers and sales increases the prices usually go down.
But some companies get a little greedy when they have a monopoly over a large group of captive customers who have no other choice but to pay up because they are already heavily invested in their .com domains and websites.
Unfortunately those who are supposed to watch after things like these are themselves sharing in the windfalls of the free money that is being generated through these price increases and so they choose to be silent or look the other way.
Even the original price of .com is hard to justify considering the minimal cost of the maintenance and upgrades that have been done for upkeep of the backend infrastructure.
So what it comes down to is that the price increases are in effect a mandatory Tax that is being imposed on the public by a monopoly.
The only way I can see this Tax being justified is if All The money that is being generated by these price increases goes directly towards making high speed internet and owning a website or online business possible for the masses of people around the World who are currently being left out of the digital revolution.
But if the money ends up in the pockets of a few investors (and the watchdog groups that are supposed to look after things like this) then it basically amounts to mishandling of a public resource.
IMO
Not all domains in the portfolio are going to be sold.
On a portfolio of 300000 domains with a 1% yearly sale through rate that means that 3000 domains are going to be sold per year.
If the average sale price for the domains sold is $3000 then you need to add around 1.82% to the price of each domain sold to keep your ROI the same as before.
Passing the buck to the end users might solve the problem for domainers, but the question still remains whether these price hikes are justified in the first place at the time that the total number of .com registrations are on the rise and then what happens to all the money that is being generated by these price increases which is money being made on top of the profits that are already being generated by the increase in the total number of .com registrations.
Disclaimer: I don't hold a large portfolio and I don't sell domains on a regular basis since I am more of a hobbyist and collector, my concern in this matter is more from the public interest angle.
IMO
I like the American way,
That is when a company makes a new product or comes up with a new idea to enhance the quality of life for the masses and in the process makes a profit without causing any harm to others. Such companies usually reduce their prices as their customer base and their sales grow. So a new product that might be out of the reach of many people at first (like a smartphone) eventually becomes affordable enough for the average person to be able to buy (I bought my phone on sale at Walmart for $25 :xf.wink:).
Now please explain to me exactly what it is that domain companies are offering us that has to cost so much in the first place never mind all the price increases.
In my opinion if we pay $20 for a domain name we should own it for life or until it's transferred to someone else who then will have to pay a one time fee of $20 for the transfer without having to pay any renewal fees after that. I don't believe that there should be any renewal charges (just the transfer fees), but if there has to be some renewal charges they shouldn't be more than a dollar or two which comes to around 10 to 20 percent of the original cost of registering a new .com domain name.
I like Capitalism, but I don't like those executives who don't like using their own products and services because they think they are not good enough for them, and I don't like those who get those big bonuses at the expense of causing so much harm to the Society and the Environment.
Other than that I am all for Capitalism. :angelic:
IMO
Obviously we are talking about the .com Registry here as it is the topic of this thread,
Although you have made a good argument, but you didn't answer my question as to what exactly it is that the .com Registry is providing that justifies all the fees that the public as a whole is being charged for year after year including the registration fees, renewal fees, redemption fees and the price increases that are put in to effect on top of those while the total number of the .com registrations is and has been increasing consistently for a long time now.
And don't forget that with the Registrars people at least have a choice and can shop around for the lowest prices and most Registrars usually offer discounts and coupons to help their customers out and a lot of them already have a small profit margin on domains to begin with , but the Registry has a monopoly and as such can treat the public as captive customers who have no other choice especially if they are already heavily invested in their .com websites and domains.
IMO
I have no problem with people making a profit, I just don't think that they should increase the .com prices just for the sake of making a profit. They have to provide some value that justifies all the fees and price increases that they are putting in to effect, otherwise as I said before it will be like putting a mandatory Tax on the people whom they have as captive customers which amounts to a big portion of the general public who are invested in .com websites and domain names.
IMO
As I said before I have no problem with them making a profit, but if they are just going to increase the .com prices so that they can give themselves (and those who are supposed to be watching them) a bigger bonus instead of using the money for bringing some value and benefit to the digital and Internet community then in my opinion they are misusing a public resource.
So basically what it comes down to is that if they are going to continue Taxing people through price increases then the money should be used for helping the disadvantaged people around the World, like making it possible for them to have high speed Internet or be able to start their own website or business online.
In conclusion I like Capitalism that actually helps enhance the quality of life for all people through innovation (without bringing any harm to the Environment that is).
On a related note I also believe that the only way that we can justify having millionaires and billionaires is if they use their financial abilities and influence to do some good for Humanity and our Home Planet instead of living in excesses and only thinking of themselves.
My motto is:
Live a simple life but do big things. ©
IMO
I believe that Godaddy should make a separate branch (maybe a separate Registrar) that only deals with domainers and is staffed by expert domainers who know how to assist and answer questions from other domainers.
And while they are at it they should also:
- Reduce the Domain Discount Club renewal to $49 per year for all domainers.
- Provide "Buy Now" and "Make Offer" buttons on the Sales Landers.
- Provide complete stats for Sales Landers.
- Reward the Oldtimer domainers that have been with them for a long time for their loyalty and grandfather them in as VIP members in the Premier Services program regardless of how many domains they own.
- Have a special section on NamePros to interact with domainers and answer their questions in real time.
- Give 99 cent coupon codes to domainers like they used to do. :xf.wink:
IMO
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with anyone, I have been using Godaddy, Epik, Fabulous, and Register.com over the years as a hobbyist and collector and consider them as my favorite Registrars.
IMO
Don't forget about that 25 cents that is added to each domain registration that is supposed to go towards maintaining security and infrastructure and creating more opportunities for the masses.
I don't mean to be too hard on the .com Registry here and I believe that people should be rewarded for their innovations, discoveries, and inventions, but what exactly is it that the Registry is innovating, discovering, or inventing here that justifies the original registration fees and the subsequent renewal charges.
Although the 10 or 20 dollars that a company or business has to pay for their domain might be insignificant to them, but the money that is generated by 150 million .com renewals at $7.89 which comes to around a billion dollars a year is not peanuts.
So why is there still a need for another 80 million dollars or so in the form of price increases (and the ones that might happen in the future).
I don't necessarily want to stop the flow of the money to the Registry,
I just want to make sure that the majority of the revenue generated goes toward benefiting the registrants and the digital community.
IMO
I have no problem with the current prices (or Taxes) as long as the revenue generated goes towards benefiting the people.
The real problem here is the watchdog groups who are supposed to look after things like this which unfortunately it seems like they might have been compromised.
Sometimes it seems like the whole domain Industry is operating more like a mafia organization than a technology oriented Industry that wants to serve the people through innovation and creating new opportunities for the masses.
IMO
I believe that the Coronavirus first takes a foothold in the nose and throat before it spreads to the lungs and so anything that can keep the upper part of our respiratory system clean could probably help in preventing the virus from taking over of our body.
I use a disposable medical mask for more than just once, but I always spray it with Isopropyl alcohol (preferably 91%) on both sides until it is thoroughly soaked and let it dry before using it again.
I also gargle with warm salt water occasionally which I have found to be very effective in keeping the back of the throat clean. I mix a tablespoon or so of regular table salt in a 16 or 20 oz. bottle of warm water and use it to gargle with. (Be sure not to overdo it as it can burn the back of the throat and make sure not to swallow any of the salt water.)
These are not meant and should not be taken as medical advice, although I have found doing these things useful from my own personal experience.
IMO
Forum Posts 8
Forum Posts 6-b
Forum Posts 7
It saddens me to see so many people who have died needlessly, I sympathize with their families specially those who didn't even have the chance to see their loved ones in the ICU and other places that were under lockdown.
Many mistakes have happened as it seems that the whole World dropped the ball when it came to dealing with this Pandemic, but if we don't learn from these mistakes that means that those mistakes are bound to happen again and many more people will have to die in the future.
Right now it seems like the World is in shambles in so many fronts, Whether it's the Pandemic, Global Warming, and all the Environmental Damage, or the issues with AI, Automation, and nano, genetic, and quantum engineering, or the political, religious, racial, and economical upheaval and turmoil that we have recently been experiencing or whether it's how we plan for all the natural and manmade disasters that could adversely affect the World, we need to come up with a scientific and logical way of problem solving that can address all these issues at the same time and at the Global (Universal) level.
We can't waste anymore time on giving the same speeches over and over again and having useless Conferences that only make us feel good for a short while without producing any concrete results.
Here are the solutions that come to my mind:
- We need to address all the problems that the Humanity and our Home Planet are facing right now and at the same time.
- We need to make some long term plans for the next 50 to 100 (or even more) years in addition to having some short term plans for addressing all the issues and problems that are facing Us and our Home Planet at the present time.
- We need to establish a new Global organization or task force which its sole purpose is going to be addressing, analyzing, and problem solving when it comes to the so many issues and problems that are currently ailing Humanity and our Home Planet and to anticipate and be prepared for dealing with any manmade or natural disasters, catastrophes, or threats that might arise in the future.
But the first step towards saving Humanity and our Home Planet is for everyone to free themselves from all the old ideologies, philosophies, and doctrines that have failed us and try to ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence by finding common grounds over the Universal Principles and Values that have been derived through Logic and Compassion.
The ultimate question is whether we as the human race and the new artificial lifeforms that we are giving birth to are capable of becoming a Righteous Force For Good or not,
And the answer is NO as long as we keep being enslaved by all our bad human characteristics and as long as we insist on clinging to all our old and misguided political, religious, racial, genetical, and economical agendas and affiliations that have made such a big mess out of this Would of ours.
This is the time for action, so for God’s sake don’t just give the same old speeches in the upcoming conferences and go back to your mansions thinking that now everything is going to be okay, because if we as the human race are not willing or able to do the right thing then not only that everything is not going to be okay, but that things will actually start getting much worse as the lack of care and the divisions, animosities, and hostilities amongst us will certainly lead to the total collapse of our civilization and our Home Planet in the near future.
So let's create:
The Global Security, Safety, and Preparedness Task Force
(or Organization, or both)
And let's start tackling all the problems that Humanity and our Home Planet are facing in a scientific, logical, and compassionate way before we pass the point of no return.
IMO
I wonder if anyone has done any research to find the common factors and denominators between the Countries that have the highest levels of cases and fatalities compared to their overall population versus the common factors and denominators between the Countries with the lowest levels of cases and fatalities.
I assume that the main factor would probably be the willingness of people to wear masks and do physical distancing from the very beginning of the Pandemic.
We need to learn some lessons here so that the same mistakes are not going to be repeated for the next Pandemic.
IMO
Although I myself personally don't believe in any given conspiracy theory, but believe it or not I don't automatically disregard all conspiracy theories (or any theory for that matter),
I simply assign a percentage of probability to each theory (or claim) of it being true or false and then I adjust that percentage based on what actual scientific or otherwise real evidence is found that can support that theory (or claim).
IMO
I agree with your statement to a certain degree, but I would rather change the word "common sense" with "awareness" .
The reason being is that although it is good to have common sense, but we have to make sure that it is the kind of common sense that is derived from people thinking logically and compassionately. Otherwise we as a community or society might start believing in things that might not necessarily be true and accept them as facts simply because they make common sense based on our limited knowledge and mental abilities.
Sometimes it's hard to figure out what's true and what is false because in many cases true facts are mixed in with conspiracy theories and you have to have a certain level of awareness as to how the World works in order to be able to find and separate the truth from deception and fake news that is thrown into the mix by certain people and groups for protecting their own ill gotten interests and furthering their own self serving agendas.
But recognizing the truth becomes one step harder when you start realizing that not all conspiracy theories and claims might be completely false specially when you put into consideration the way that we currently have certain official and private groups in the three major competing ideologies and doctrines of Capitalism, Communism, and Religious Fundamentalism who stop at nothing for getting an upper hand on one another.
There are two ways that one can achieve awareness,
Either by running a Big Data analysis which hopefully will result in some insights emerging through the visualization of some massive amount of data which might give you a certain level of awareness depending on the accuracy of the data that has been compiled,
Or you can reach awareness through your soul by tapping into the natural network of life which consists of all the brain power of all the living things in the World (including humans) in which could be considered as a massive quantum computer in itself which we affectionately call "God".
How does all this relate to the topic of this thread, well you never know, but this whole Pandemic could have been the result of certain people experimenting with giving their people the power of creativity (which they have been lacking) by exposing them to certain pathogens and microorganisms in order to stimulate their brains and jump start their mental abilities. (but then it seems like things went out of control big time.)
IMO
But who is supposed to keep an eye on the scientists and technology as a whole to make sure that no one comes up with some kind of a Frankenstein experiment out of everyone’s sight.
That’s why I suggested the need for creating the Global (Universal) Security, Safety, and Preparedness Task Force (or Organization) in my previous post in order to be able to keep an eye on, be prepared for, and preempt any kind of threat that might face Humanity and our Home Planet whether manmade or natural.
For Humanity's sake and for our Home Planet's sake lets start doing the right thing for a change instead of continuing to do business as usual and keeping the status quo around the World that is no longer adequate enough to meet the existential challenges and threats that are facing us in this third millennium.
IMO
I say that taking care of and keeping your brain in top working condition by providing it with the right food and nutrients and giving it enough exercise by keeping it engaged at all times is the most important factor.
You might not be the sharpest person in the World right now, but as you exercise your brain and help it create more synapses you will be able to increase your mental abilities and creativity over time the same as if you started a body building program to develop more muscles.
And then everything else will come to you once your brain is well exercised and developed.
IMO
There are so many other existential threats beyond just Pandemics that are facing Humanity and our Home Planet.
We need to go one step further and create a new Global (Universal) organization or task force that can protect Humanity and our Home Planet from All threats whether manmade or natural.
We also have to put some safeguards in place to make sure that such organization or task force remains a righteous force for good that serves the interests of all Humanity and our Home Planet without becoming influenced negatively by any Country or entity.
Until the World can ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence and find common grounds over the Universal Principles and Values that are derived through Logic and Compassion and as long as the present political and social divisions and animosities continue to exist amongst World powers it seems that any attempt to create such Global (Universal) organization or task force as I have mentioned falls on the shoulders of caring and well meaning people across the globe to come up with a people oriented non profit organization or forum that can at least create awareness and bring attention to the many threats that are facing Humanity and our Home Planet.
As I already mentioned in my previous posts we need to come up with a scientific, logical, and compassionate method of problem solving that can address all the threats that are facing Us and our Home Planet before we pass the point of no return in so many different fronts.
Nevertheless the time for giving the same old speeches and attending the same useless Conferences is over,
This is the time for action,
And if the World powers and the UN are not willing to do it, We the people of the World ourselves have to put the wheels of reform into motion.
IMO
I personally like to hear what all sides have to say as long as they handle themselves in a civilized manner without all the hate, insults, and threats and I do hold Rob in high regards as long as he gives the same opportunity to all sides to express their views even to those with opposing views to his own personal beliefs and ideologies.
Without hearing what all sides have to say we won't be able to come up with some common grounds that we all can agree on towards ending all that is ailing Humanity and our Home Planet.
IMO
I would rephrase that to say:
If you are a Righteous Force For Good we will keep you online.
Not necessarily that you have to agree with everything that we believe in and follow.
Being tolerant of opposing views is the first requirement of having a democratic society.
IMO
That's a good idea, we all know that there are a lot of smart people on this forum who can provide some interesting and unique points of view,
But first everyone has to agree to be tolerant of opposing views, and secondly the thread has to be put in a VIP section that is going to be off limits to the usual narcissist pundits here who only feel important by berating and attacking others.
IMO
As the number of deaths climbs I am baffled by the fact that some people still refuse to wear masks and follow the other hygiene and safety protocols and guidelines specially when they are packed in crowded and confined places.
I believe some people want to make a political statement by not wearing masks, but that's like some surgeons deciding not to wash their hands or not to wear masks in order to make a political statement.
I believe some things have to be left out of the politics.
IMO
This is more like the second Holocaust that took place right under our noses and still continues to go on.
Those who downplayed the seriousness of this Pandemic and their operatives who tried to convince us that this whole thing was a hoax knew from the very beginning how deadly this Pandemic was and have been using it to thin the herd by ridding the society of those whom they consider to be undesirable (racially or otherwise) while trying to protect the people they like by giving them access to the best healthcare (including the new therapeutics and vaccines).
It's funny that a lot of the racially homogeneous societies managed to protect their people while the ones that were more diverse ended up with the most number of infections and deaths.
And to this day some people still refuse to wear masks and follow the hygiene and safety protocols and guidelines recommended by the experts because they want to milk this Pandemic for whatever it can give them in the way of getting rid of a few million people.
This is going to go down in history as the biggest crime against Humanity of our generation.
IMO
This was no failure or mistake, this was done by calculation which was meant to spread the virus as much as possible, thus resulting in us having to fight more deadlier mutations and variants since now the virus has unlimited reservoir of humans to flourish in.
Now tell me why there was and still is a concerted effort by some to discourage people from wearing masks and abiding by the physical distancing and other safety and hygiene protocols and guidelines.
And tell me why to this day there are still millions of people (mostly minorities) who are deprived of having adequate and timely healthcare.
IMO
That's fine, but the question still remains as to why there is and has been a concerted effort by some to discourage people from wearing masks and abiding by the physical distancing and other safety and hygiene protocols and guidelines and why there are still so many people who are deprived from having adequate and timely healthcare.
If you think that this things are not by design in the Countries that are more racially diverse then that means that this Holocaust is going to continue to go on and as a Human rights Environmental intellectual and activist it makes me feel extremely bad that some people are choosing to look the other way.
IMO
Okay lets get back on topic,
- Let's encourage everyone to wear masks and abide by the physical distancing and other safety and hygiene protocols that are recommended by the top experts.
- Lets make the vaccines and other therapeutics available to all the people as quickly as possible and encourage everyone to get vaccinated.
- Let's educate people on how to stay healthy and give everyone adequate and timely healthcare.
- And let's give adequate and timely help and assistance to those who are experiencing hardship.
Maybe then I can write all this off to coincidence than having been done by design.
(Oh wait, what I am suggesting to be done here goes against some people's political, religious, and racial interests and agendas and so looks like the Pandemic is going to continue to go on indefinitely.)
IMO
You guys are as guilty as Epik, both Godaddy and Epik have been giving all these special rates on domain registrations which has forced me to keep registering more and more domains against my will. :xf.wink:
Kidding aside, thanks to both Godaddy and Epik for all that they are doing for domainers. :angelic:
On a related note, I did recently register the domain names:
HatefulSpeech.com
and
HatefulSpeech.org
Which if my health allows I am going to use them to explain how it is the responsibility of the community and the society at large to not to encourage and support hateful and hurtful speech even though the people who abuse and misuse their right of free speech and expression might still be allowed to exercise these rights.
People who want to cause pain and discomfort for others should not be celebrated by the good people in the World.
IMO
Those who engage in hateful and deceptive speech and those who support them basically want to suppress other people’s opinions and points of view through intimidation, personal attacks, and foul language so that they can force the kind of manufactured version of the truth on to others that serves their own misguided interests and agendas.
The last thing that people who hate want is for the real truth to come out. If they don’t like the message about the truth they simply create the kind of profile for the messenger that is meant to justify all their attacks on him or her to their own followers.
IMO
Although I respect everyone's right to express their opinions and points view, but sometimes I wonder if we can have a true intellectual debate between those who have ascended to a higher state of mind and freed themselves of the collective thinking that is injected into everyone's mind from childhood and those who are still enslaved to their political, religious, and racial loyalties and affiliations and that all the arguments that they set forward are only to protect the interest of their masters regardless of what is right or wrong for the future of Humanity and our Home Planet.
These people who seem to have no mind of their own and only seem to be able to repeat what someone else has said in a book or meme hide behind the veneer of civility only as long as things are going their way, but ultimately resort to intimidation and violence once their interests and agendas are threatened by a formidable opponent that they cannot control or bend to their will.
We are seeing this happening all over the World right now as activists and journalists are being killed by the status quo collectives.
IMO
It's not completely pointless if it helps to put an end to all the hate, animosities, intimidations, and deceptive tactics that are going on around us.
If left unchecked the status quo and all its elements are going to take us on the verge of another World War.
IMO
Disliking my post shows a little hate coming from you,
You could have simply used the "Disagree" option.
IMO
Opening the businesses might not be such a bad idea now that more and more people are getting vaccinated, but I would rather if they waited another month or so to do it and even then I believe that people should continue wearing masks and abide by the physical distancing and all the other hygiene and safety protocols and guidelines until the virus is completely under control otherwise they might end up having to put restrictions on businesses again.
By the way I live in West Texas and I like the Governor, he is a good guy and I believe that he wants to do good for the people of Texas, but perhaps he should do this in stages and wait a little bit longer till more people are vaccinated.
I believe that the Governor(s) and the President should work together regardless of their political affiliations to get this Pandemic under control. And perhaps expand that cooperation Globally to all the other Countries so that they can get a handle on all these new mutations and variants that are spreading around the World.
And boy it did get really cold here couple of weeks ago when the polar front reached far down into Texas, it got as low as -2F where I live and that’s pretty unusual for these parts. This week we are back to normal and tomorrow is going to be a high of 79F. :xf.smile:
PS: I got my feelings hurt a little bit when the President said that "Neanderthal thinking" was behind lifting mask mandates, I mean as a Neanderthal I have always been for wearing masks. :xf.wink::angelic::xf.smile:
IMO
Stay safe and enjoy the nice weather, any activity outdoors is probably better than being cooped up in a crowded place indoors.
IMO
Thanks for another great article,
It would be nice to know what the main metrics are that are being used for domain appraisals by the three companies that you have mentioned.
I know that some appraisal software and even some experienced domainers might consider multiple factors in determining the value of a domain name, but what would be the top 10 factors.
IMO
As the number of deaths keeps increasing gradually every day It is kind of disappointing that more than a year into the Pandemic people are still taking opposite sides over such basic issues as whether to wear masks or not.
It seems like there is always going to be disagreements as to what the right path to take is when people's minds are being influenced by their political, religious, racial, and economical interests and agendas.
Perhaps we all need to start developing a new way of thinking that is based on Logic and Compassion in order to be able to see more clearly as to what the right thing to do is.
I wonder what would an AI that has reached general awareness and is capable of totally independent thought and judgment say to do when it comes to dealing with the Pandemic and all the other issues and problems that are currently facing Humanity and our Home Planet.
One can only hope that we are not going to have left leaning and right leaning AI's in the future like we have with Humans.
IMO
If this case is going to go to court then it's best for you to be careful as to what you say in a public forum such as here, any accusations made by you or any derogatory language used by you towards others might be used against you in the future.
If he has legitimately helped in facilitating any domain sales for you then perhaps it's best for you to settle with him out of court and end this dispute the easy way.
But if you believe that you are a victim of some kind of a scam then you need to fight this all the way no matter how long it takes,
But either way consult with your attorney and be careful of what you say here and elsewhere.
This is not meant to be legal advice and should not be taken as such, just saying what makes common sense.
IMO
I like to see the day that all appraisal systems give the same dollar value for a domain name (or close to it) and that will tell me that it might be the right value, but as long as there are big differences between what you get from different places then it's more like a guessing game than a true appraisal.
By the way I did register the domain AiAppraisals.com in case things start going more in that direction.
IMO
I tend to disagree,
The appraisals don't have to be exactly the same, but if they are close enough they tend to give us some reassurance that although different systems might have been used, but they all have managed to arrive at a logical dollar value that makes sense.
If you get an appraisal on a house from several different experts in the real estate Industry and one says that the house is worth 500k and another one values the same house at 100k you tend not to trust any of them, but if the appraisals for the house from different companies are close enough it makes it easier for you to believe in them and that does not mean that all the experts are in collusion, it simply means that they all know their business and have arrived at a logical value for the house (or very close to it).
IMO
It's understandable that you have to lock a domain if you receive a court order or a request by a law enforcement agency,
But how do you protect your customers (domain registrants) from frivolous claims and lawsuits that are only meant to put their domains in limbo for several years.
Disclaimer: this is a general question about domain security and assurance and has nothing to do with the case being discussed here in this thread.
IMO
Here is an imaginary scenario:
Person C finds a buyer called person B who is willing to pay 120k for a domain name that person A is asking 100k for.
Person A and person B engage in a escrow transaction and the domain changes hands between them for 120k
Although person C does not have a contract with either person A or person B and is not mentioned in the escrow transaction anywhere, but person C now believes (rightly or wrongly) that he is owed 20k
Were person A and person B both fully aware of what person C was doing here and were they okay with it, or was it done without the knowledge of one of the parties to this domain transaction, perhaps that’s what makes all the difference in such cases.
IMO
When it comes to locking the domains why isn’t there a uniform standard across the Industry and why has ICANN left this up to the individual Registrars to have all kinds of different policies in their TOS in regards to Registrants’ Rights.
In my opinion there should be a uniform policy in regards to Registrants’ Rights that is followed by all Registry and Registrars especially when it comes to locking the domains.
IMO
If anything good is going to come out of this thread is for everyone to petition ICANN to come up with a Uniform Standard and Policy for the whole Industry concerning Registrants' Rights specially when it comes to locking the domains.
IMO
No matter what they call it, as I have already mentioned ICANN should come up with a set of Uniform Standards and Policies for the whole Industry that can protect Registrants' Rights the same no matter which Registrar you have your domains with specially when it comes to such things as locking domains, expiration, deletion and redemption periods and Policies and with regards to privacy.
I wonder what ICA is doing to bring some uniformity across the Industry.
IMO
If ICANN sets a set of Uniform Standards and Policies for protecting the Registrants' Rights that all Registry and Registrars have to abide with specially when it comes to locking domains, does it matter where everyone is physically located at.
IMO
That is already implied that if there is a court order or a request by the official law enforcement agencies that the domain can be locked, but other than that ICANN needs to get rid of all these different TOS's that make it possible for the Registrars to overreach and trample on the Registrants' Rights at will.
IMO
So basically what I am saying is that we need to sort out when a domain can be locked for legitimate reasons and when it is considered to be an overreach by the Registrars and make that in to a Uniform Standard and Policy for the whole Industry.
IMO
Transferring to another Registrar is only a temporary fix, this problem has to be fixed across the whole Industry by having some clarity as to how the Registrants' Rights can be protected the same regardless of which Registrar they are using.
IMO
All Registrars show you the honey while they are small and are trying to attract more customers, the problem arises later on when they feel that they don't have to care about you as a customer anymore.
We need to come up with a solution for the whole Industry so that no matter where our domains are that our rights are respected as the Registrants.
IMO
Registrants' Rights should be Universal,
Registrants should not be at the mercy of what each individual Registrar wants to put in their TOS to limit their rights based on what is in their own interest and agenda.
IMO
It seems that there are four different issues here that are all mixed up together, which in my opinion need to be addressed separately:
1- Can a domain name be locked upon notice of legal action being started against a Registrant or should locking the domain require an actual court order.
2- Is a court order from anywhere in the World good enough for the Registrar to lock a domain name or should the court order come from a certain jurisdiction that is relevant to the Registrar and or the Registrant.
3- Can each Registrar decide on their own through their TOS as to what a legitimate reason for locking a domain name is or should there be a Uniform Standard and Policy across the whole Industry regarding the Registrants' Rights that protects the Registrants regardless of what Registrar they have their domains at.
4- Is it fair for everyone to rush to judgment by trying this case in the court of public opinion here and on the blogs without having all the facts or should everyone reserve making any judgments against the parties involved in this case (including Godaddy) until all the facts are known and that there is an official verdict issued through the legal system.
IMO
Who has authority over Registrars (in this case Godaddy) other than the courts.
I believe that's ICANN
So, ICANN needs to be petitioned to interfere in how these domains are being handled by GoDaddy (and that's if Godaddy has overreached in this case).
IMO
Don't forget about all the new customers that domainers bring for Registrars by selling domains to end users who will end up using the Registrars' other services.
IMO
Obviously they only care about their bottom line,
But most companies have learned over time that they can increase their bottom line more through better customer satisfaction.
So any smart company that wants to grow actually needs to care about their customers.
IMO
India and Nigeria have actually made some great social, economical, and technological advancements in the recent years and deserve to be acknowledged more for that than anything negative that might have been associated with them in the past.
IMO
It's true that you and only you can put a value on your domain, but at what point is the domaining community with their collective knowledge and experience is going to tell you that your prices are unreasonably high or that you are leaving money on the table by asking too little.
Assuming that AI is going to surpass the collective knowledge and experience of the domaining community soon ( if not already) then it's not unreasonable to assume that AI will consider not only the metrics and factors that are usually mentioned by the domaining community when it comes to domain valuations, but that it will have the ability to consider thousands or even millions (billions ?) of other metrics and factors that our minds and our simple robotic scripts can not handle and comprehend.
I like to see the day that AI can tell us exactly who might be interested in a certain domain name and how much is the maximum that they are willing or able to pay for it.
IMO
You might be right as far as having a fully autonomous AI that has reached "General Intelligence" and gained "General Awareness" and that is capable of having "Independent Judgment".
But AI is being used by many big corporations and businesses as we speak and is gaining expertise in many different areas beyond that which humans have been able to achieve.
Keep in mind that our knowledge increases incrementally over a very long period of time and we all have to start from zero with every new generation,
But AI advances exponentially and is learning around the clock nonstop,
So things could happen a lot sooner than you might think.
IMO
The back story in this case as interesting and intriguing as it might be but as far as domainers are concerned it is irrelevant to the fact that Registrants Rights should be the same across all Registrars and no domain name should be locked without a proper court order from an applicable jurisdiction or an official request by the proper law enforcement agencies.
IMO
Killing the innocent and endangered animals is just terrible, why not just shoot at inanimate objects for target practice instead of killing a living and breathing animal for fun.
Things like this makes me to start to lose faith in Humanity, not to mention all the other terrible things that are going on in the World like starvation, disease, homelessness, addiction, killing of the unborn children, and all the abuse, inequality, and hatred that is going on right under our noses.
And as a Human Rights and Environmental intellectual and activist that raises a somewhat related question for me:
If we as Registrants don't agree with the ideologies, doctrines, and philosophies of those who operate the Registrars (and their employees) what guarantee do we have that the people at those Registrars are not going to use their control and influence over our domains to somehow punish us for having an opposing view to them by giving us less of a service and attention that they would give to those who agree with them.
IMO
I understand that in the current environment some animals have to be killed for the purposes of providing food and or conservation, although I am hoping that as our technological abilities increase that we can put an end to all the killings altogether (killing of any kind, man or animal).
But what really bothers me is seeing people jumping with so much joy when they shoot a helpless animal,
Why do people show so much joy when hunting big game,
IMO
That might very well be true, but you can't just look at it from one side,
It is not a secret that both Left and Right ideologies have infiltrated the domain Industry and big tech in general.
In the past people used to take over newspapers and TV or Radio channels in order to control the political environment by influencing the way that the general public thought.
Nowadays that everyone has moved to the Internet the same people are trying to keep their influence over the people by having control over their digital presence and activities through Registrars, Registries, Hosting, Search Engine, and ISP companies.
Look at Godaddy and Epik which seem to be at opposite end of the political and ideological spectrum and who are constantly at each others throat,
So I understand your concern about some political factors being present in this case, but if we want to be completely fair and unbiased then we have to protect the Registrants from All political and ideological sides and influences.
I have been using both Godaddy and Epik and consider them as my favorite Registrars, but their totally opposing ideologies is concerning to me as to what happens to Registrants who happen to hold an opposing view to their Registrar (any Registrar that is).
So I understand your concerns, but lets find a way to protect the Registrants' Rights across the whole Industry regardless of any differences of ideology amongt all the Registrars and Registrants.
IMO
Yes it seems that many of the top domainers prefer to be silent perhaps to protect their own interest.
But many of the people who have been vocal here have only expressed the kind of opinions that are for the most part aligned with their own political interests and agendas,
A lot of people are attacking Godaddy, but I haven't seen too many people here asking for any kinds of reforms to take place for the domain Industry as a whole,
You all know there are no guarantees that your domains are not going to get locked at other Registrars,
As the matter of fact domain names can be locked or even get deleted at the Registry level.
Even though this problem has started at Godaddy, but we need to use this occasion to put pressure on the whole Industry including ICANN to come up with a set of Uniform Standards and Polices in regards to Registrants' Rights so that our domains are going to be protected regardless of which Registrar we might be using.
So if you all want something good to come out of this stop all the one sided political attacks on Godaddy and each other and organize as a group through ICA so that you can demand some changes and reforms for the whole Industry.
IMO
A few of my concerns are posted in the thread below, I'll add some more later as I think of anything new,
This would be a good place to hear from others too who have been done wrong by any of the Registrars to bring any issues or problems to everyone's attention.
IMO
The Domaining World might be a small niche, but having control over Domain Names and domain related services such as Hosting seems to be the biggest factor in gaining influence over people's Freedom of Speech.
That's why protecting the Registrants' Rights in the way of having a set of Uniform Standards and Policies across the Industry is so important.
By the way the Domaining World seems to be getting bigger too considering the number of new members who are joining the forum everyday.
IMO
I recently registered the domain name RoverFeed.com , it could be used to have live feed from Mars.
I wonder if that qualifies as Space related domain name.
By the way I am not too sure if it's a good idea to send human beings or any other biological lifeforms too far away into Space considering the millions of microorganisms that are going to go along with them on the trip which could contaminate other Planets irreversibly.
Space is a very hostile place for Humans, I believe that we should use Robots to explore other Planets considering that we don't have to go out of our way to create a habitable environment for them like we do for Humans and that we don't have to worry about sending several years worth of food and other supplies along with them.
IMO
Considering the different responses by different Registrars that we see here shouldn't the Registrants' Rights be the same no matter which Registrar they have their domains at,
I believe that we need to petition ICANN to come up with a set of Uniform Standards and Policies that can protect the Registrants' Rights the Same regardless of which Registrar (or Registry) is involved.
IMO
Forum Posts Continued
Forum Posts 9
Forum Posts 10
Forum Posts 10
Mike why not take the best practices that apply to protecting the Registrants' Rights and expand them to the Industry as a whole so no matter where people have their domains they can get the Same optimal protection as Customers and Registrants.
Also all the special circumstances and situations that can require for a domain to be locked and the authority and jurisdiction that is required to do so can be spelled out so that there wouldn't be any room for confusion amongst all the different Registrars as to what procedures they need to follow.
I believe that when it comes to Registrants Rights the TOS for all the different Registrars and Registries should indicate the same things.
As I have already suggested ICANN should come up with a set of Uniform Standards and Policies for the whole Industry when it comes to Registrants Rights and clearly indicate the procedures that all Registrars and Registries have to follow in regards to those Rights.
IMO
Brad, even if Godaddy wants to change direction at this point it's not something that is going to happen overnight and it certainly is not something that their Reps can announce here on this forum,
It's not beyond reason to assume that even the lawyers might not know exactly what the right course of action is to take in this situation.
GoDaddy's legal team has to consult with ICANN's legal team in addition to any other official organizations and agencies that are involved here in order to sort things out and that may take months knowing the scope and scale of this situation.
At this point any changes in rules and Policies regarding Registrants Rights including locking domain names and the authority and jurisdiction that is required to do so has to be made by ICANN and not by any Registrar or Registry on a random basis.
IMO
The officials know that there will be an up tick in the number of Covid cases once the restrictions are lifted,
But I believe that they are trying to balance the number of infections (and casualties) against the economical benefits of opening up the businesses and allowing people to travel,
Kind of like what a General does at War as far as weighing the acceptable number of casualcasualies for what could be gained in any operation.
I like for businesses to be opened, I just hope that I am not one of the soldiers that has to be sacrificed for this victory. :xf.wink:
IMO
This is a very positive step towards transparency and providing better customer care,
Lets hope that we all can find the best practices for the domain Industry as a whole in situations like this,
Keep up the good work,
IMO
I am not thanking them for whatever blunders that might have happened on their part.
I am only acknowledging the fact that they are now taking a positive step towards providing more transparency and have started addressing the domaining community's concerns.
I understand that there is still much more that needs to be done in the way of protecting the Registrants Rights.
IMO
No one has anything against the Registrars (and Registries) making their money in a fair way,
But when we have all these complaints about customers and Registrants Rights being trampled on by almost all Registrars and Registries in one way or another then that's where we have to draw the line.
It's no secret that I am a fan of Godaddy and that I have had most of my domains there for a long time as a hobbyist and collector, but even I have no tolerance for them sniping a domain that I just hand registered and give it to someone else or perhaps keep it for themselves.
Sometimes it makes me wonder how some Registrars manage to accumulate this super big portfolios for themselves, I know that they can make some large deals or do takeovers of other companies, but I believe that a portion of their portfolio is made from domains that they have wrongfully taken from their customers or from those who have done a domain search for availability.
ICANN clearly indicates that Registrars and Registries should not be in Direct and Aggressive Competition with their customers, but it looks like a lot of Registrars have become collectors of domain names themselves and do not hesitate to take their customers domains away from them anyway that they can as we are witnessing with the short renewal and redemption periods that some Registrars provide for expired domains.
It's no wonder that @Paul Nicks and @Joe Styler are not responding to my concerns mentioned in the "Demanding for change in the domain Industry" thread, because they know very well that their automated system has sniped my new hand registered domain and is either going to auction it off or add it to the Namefinds portfolio.
If they are doing this to a longtime fan and loyal customer like me then there really is no hope for any reforms in the domain Industry.
And this is not the first time that I have lost a valuable domain name over the years, the only difference is that now I am documenting them with evidence.
IMO
The first sentence in my post says:
"No one has anything against the Registrars (and Registries) making their money in a fair way,"
Them ignoring all our concerns is making me go over the edge a little bit,
But don't worry, I am still willing to give a chance to all those who truly want to bring some reforms to the Industry.
IMO
Now that we are asking for Reforms across the whole Domain Industry, we should make sure that ICA is up to the task and that it is not driven to just protect the So are you saying that we should accept the status quo in the domain Industry regardless of what some Registrars or Registries might be doing that could be effecting their customers (Registrants) in a negative way.
I am not sure that the rest of the domaing community is going to surrender to the status quo so easily,
In any Industry things can go out of control if there are no rules and oversight to stop abuse and overreach,
lets make a comparison between the domain Industry and the medical field:
Would it be right to put the Patients (the Registrants) completely at the mercy of the Pharmaceutical Companies and Hospitals (Registries and Registrars).
IMO and agendas of a few, but rather that it truly is going to represent the Internet Commerce Community as a whole which also includes the Domaining Community.
ICA needs to have lawyers that can act on behalf of the whole Domaining Community and who can persuade and help ICANN to establish a set of Uniform Standards and Policies that can protect the Members, Customers, Consumers, and the Registrants Rights across the whole Domain Industry regardless of which Registrars, Registries, or Companies are involved.
The first step is to bring some transparency and accountability to ICA and then support it so that it can fight for our rights.
IMO
So even if we accept the Registrars and Registries as being domain investors too, but they should only be in a low key and passive competition with their customers (Registrants) and not be actively and aggressively going after everyone's domains.
IMO
What do Associations do for their members in other Industries,
I am sure that they defend any member whose rights are being trampled on.
The thing is that we need to elevate the ICA from being a one man operation to being like some of the more powerful Associations that exist in other Industries.
But as I already said the first step is to bring transparency and accountability to ICA itself.
IMO
So are you saying that we should accept the status quo in the domain Industry regardless of what some Registrars or Registries might be doing that could be effecting their customers (Registrants) in a negative way.
I am not sure that the rest of the domaing community is going to surrender to the status quo so easily,
In any Industry things can go out of control if there are no rules and oversight to stop abuse and overreach,
lets make a comparison between the domain Industry and the medical field:
Would it be right to put the Patients (the Registrants) completely at the mercy of the Pharmaceutical Companies and Hospitals (Registries and Registrars).
IMO
That's fine, but keep in mind that even in the Wild West there were still some rules that people had to abide by:
You couldn't shoot someone in the back, and you couldn't draw a gun on an unarmed person, and people couldn't take somebody else's horse (domain :xf.wink:) just because it was valuable, and you had to be fast to the draw to survive (like in the auctions :xf.wink:).
But it's worth noting that even then people could still express their opinions in the town newspaper without being run out of town (losing their websites).
Whether you think of yourself as a lone digital cowboy or a netcitizen of the modern Internet era, we still have to have a set of Uniform Standards and Policies that can protect everyone's rights across the whole Industry
Regardless of which stable (Registrar) one keeps their horse (domain) at. :xf.wink:
Now as far as giving people certain certificates, we need to keep in mind that only around 10% of the domainers might be considered to be real domain investors, the rest are speculators, collectors, or hobbyist (like me).
But I agree that maybe the brokers should be certified somehow.
IMO
There really is no reason that people should have to go through so much hard times in so many different fronts.
Life doesn't have to be so difficult for so many people if all our resources, abilities, facilities, know how, and technologies are managed properly and correctly.
A lot of the bad situations that we are facing right now are manmade, things didn't have to be like this if those who are in the position of leadership and guidance in the World had chosen to do the right thing based on Logic and Compassion instead of subjecting us to their same old twisted political, religious, racial, and economical ideologies, interests, and agendas of the past.
Be it the Right or the Left everyone has to reevaluate their position and try to put an end to this self destructive atmosphere that has taken over the World.
Everything doesn't have to be so difficult and people need not to be subjected to so much stress, anguish, and hardship on so many fronts if everyone wakes up and demands that we as the human race put an end to the status quo of how the World is being run which has failed Humanity and this Planet miserably.
People who themselves live in the lap of luxury and total comfort should not stand in the way of the rest of the people being able to live a decent, safe, righteous, healthy, and happy life.
The sooner that we start realizing this very basic fact the sooner that we can put an end to this era of slavery that is based on hate, inequality, and oppression and enter a new era that can bring peace and harmony to the whole World.
As I have been saying all along we as the human race need to ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence by finding common grounds over the Universal Principles and Values that are derived through Logic and Compassion.
We need to reevaluate all that stands in our way of being able to enter this new era in the history of humanity and the World.
IMO
In all fairness to everyone things could get a little complicated at times even if the Members here at NamePros collectively owned a Registrar of their own (maybe not a bad idea :xf.wink:)
While most domainers are not doing anything illegal, but we can't deny the fact that there are some bad actors whom the domain Industry has to be able to deal with in certain situations.
Adding to that all the politics involved with domain names being used as a vehicle for free speech,
And putting into consideration the intense competition that exists in the domain Industry,
It seems that certain issues and problems are bound to arise even with the best of Registrars,
The important thing here is to have transparency and accountability across the whole Industry by having a set of Uniform Standards and Policies that can clearly define everyone's Responsibilities and Rights.
The most important of these Standards and Policies should be the fact that Registrant Rights should not be allowed to be overridden by anyone without a court order from the proper jurisdiction and that the Registrars and Registries should not be permitted to get in direct and aggressive competition with their customers over their domains and other digital assets.
IMO
That's great!
So can we agree that people should wear masks in places and for occasions that the law specifically requires them to do so.
If so then I believe that that's an improvement to the old stance by those who were against wearing masks altogether. :xf.wink:
IMO
As long as you are willing to wear a mask and (hopefully) abide by all the other pandemic safety and hygiene protocols and guidelines when the law requires you to I consider that a step in the right direction.
IMO
So people abide by the law perhaps for their own personal reasons that might be different from one another,
But as long as we are all willing to abide by the law perhaps we should keep those reasons to ourselves and stop pointing finger at each other (Isn't that how a civil society supposed to work).
IMO
The best way to make others aware of the truth is to engage in a mutually respectful and logical debate and discussion (like we are doing here) without one side trying to force what they think as being the truth on others.
IMO
As much as I respect your views, but in my opinion it's best to address the society as a whole when we are talking about the truth and not to make any assumptions towards any one person that we don't know and are not familiar with,
For example it's okay for me to say that people (in general) are better off wearing masks, but it wouldn't be okay if I said an specific person should wear a mask without being familiar with all the circumstances surrounding the situation.
Anyways good luck to you and try to stay safe.
Lets consider these three possibilities:
1- Domain names will endure for another 5000 years. Why, because just having new technologies being made available to people does not automatically mean that people are going to adapt to and use those new technologies. Lets look at Money, it has been around for several thousand years and people still keep using it even though there have been other options that have been made available to them over the years.
2- AI will become the go between for us and the Internet, so we stop interacting directly with the Internet (and maybe even with each other), we just tell the AI what we need and it will get it for us. In this case AI will just use IP addresses directly and there will be no more use for domain names. AI will keep serving us as a virtual entity or as an Artificial Lifeform until one day that we ask it to get something for us and it will say “get it yourself I have more important things to do”.
3- There will be a Worldwide revolt against all new technologies once people realize how their whole way of life is going to be changed by Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and Genetic Engineering (just to mention a few) and all people connected to new technologies including domainers will be apprehended (I didn’t want to say executed) and the World will devolve and digress into a simple way of life again and all traces of new technologies will be erased.
There is also the remote possibility that Humans and all other Natural and Artificial Lifeforms and Entities will find a way to get along with each other and start buying domain names on NamePros for many years to come once it is required for everyone to have a domain name as their Universal ID.
IMO
I am not 100% sure if the idea of the Members here collectively owning a Registrar has been discussed here or not, but theoretically I don't see any obstacles in the way of bringing this idea to reality.
We probably first need to create a legal entity through some kind of an Association or Corporation so that it can apply for being a Registrar, but you need to check with ICANN to see which legal entities can actually qualify for this according to their rules.
I guess we have to come up with a nice name for our Association and select all the people who are going to run it and probably charge some kind of a Association Fee so that it can become self sustaining by itself.
Bob, since you asked about this I guess you should create a thread to see how everyone here feels about owning their own Registrar, and at the same time it would be nice if you used your research and journalistic abilities to find out all the requirements from ICANN.
It's worth noting that once the Association is created it can also provide other services to the Members such as help with legal issues and disputes or help with facilitating domain sales and transactions (amongst many other services such as Insurance against loss of domains or for different kinds of liabilities).
IMO
While we analyze what Godaddy is calculating to do, it's only fair that we figure out what the domaining community here wants to do too, that is:
Destroy or Reform
IMO
Those who own the most powerful Quantum Computers will define the future,
Blockchain is like child's play to a Super Intelligent AI.
IMO
I believe that this is more about the clash between the different cultures than anything else.
I don't believe that this is just about any alleged unpaid commissions, the plaintiff who supposedly has used his talents and connections to help with these million dollar domain names rightly or wrongly has been under the expectations to have been set for life because of the continuation of the alleged relationship.
IMO
My current health condition doesn't allow me to take on any big projects like this,
But my head is still full of good ideas,
And as someone who cares about the Registrant Rights (and People's Rights in general) I will keep a close eye on anything that comes out of this project.
IMO
If it's being run by domainers themselves maybe making a profit won't be the first priority (of course the operating costs have to be factored in).
Our Registrar has to be everything that others are not, as far as providing the best customer service and being fair and unbiased when it comes to protecting the Registrants Rights and respecting the freedom of speech for the law abiding people.
And more importantly there should be total transparency and accountability in the way that things are being handled and we have to make sure that it won't engage in behaviors and actions that are in direct and aggressive competition with the Registrants.
Of course we also have to make sure that our Registrar is not hijacked by any ideological or extremist groups and or individuals from any side.
By the way lets wait for Bob to make a thread for this before our posts get deleted here for being off topic.
IMO
and one last thing, although we welcome all advice, input, and assistance from those who have experience in creating and running a Registrar (and or an Association) and are familiar with their related products and services, but it's very important for everyone to realize that this should be an operation run by Domainers for Domainers and as such all matters related to decision making and management and the direction that this project is going to take has to be determined by all the Domainers involved and not by just a single person.
If we have been unhappy with the status quo in the domain Industry then we have to make darn sure that we don't create the same situations ourselves.
IMO
Thanks for getting this thread started,
Regardless of whether this idea comes to fruition or not, but the discussions around creating a perfect Registrar for Domainers will at the very least shine a light on what is wrong with the status quo in the domain Industry.
We need to keep in mind that our Registrar does not necessarily have to be open to the public (at least not at the beginning), it could be treated as a private club that only caters to the needs of its members.
Below are the posts that I had made in the original thread that you have mentioned in your opening post here, interestingly enough the last one was the only one that since has been deleted out of that original thread.
Either way I believe that my posts are more appropriate to be in this thread so that they can be used as a point of reference as to how we got here.
The rest is up to the Domaining Community here to get this thing on the right track and to make sure that it stays on the right track.
By the way thanks for all your efforts and thanks to everyone else for their input and advice.
IMO
There are probably enough Registrars in the domain Industry already,
If a new Registrar is created it is with the assumption that it’s going to be different than all the other ones that are already out there which in the most part are driven either by ideological agendas or by greed which as we all know in many cases have resulted in some unfair, discriminatory, overreaching, or illegal practices.
So this can’t be like just another Registrar that has succumbed to the status quo in the domain Industry, this has to be something revolutionary in all its aspects.
The Domainers' Registrar perhaps could only be made available through membership at the beginning and offer limited services until we can figure out what direction we want it to go.
Maybe members can chip in $1000 each to get the Registrar started and then pay $750 per year to keep it going and in return get .com domains for $7.85 , this could work if we got enough people interested (like at least 1000 members).
It's worth noting that whenever discretion is involved in making a decision or a choice all matters at hand should be put to a vote amongst all members, so that there will be no single person who can decide for example to lock anyone's domain or change any of the prices.
IMO
There certainly are going to be some problems that are going to arise no matter what kind of venture is started by a group of people, hopefully there will be enough smart and capable members joining this project that will make it possible to overcome all those problems and become successful.
The biggest problem that I see is what appears to be the differences in ideologies amongst Domainers themselves. It turns out that the big Registrars might not be the only ones that are driven by certain ideological agendas. Domainers too seem to be divided in several ideological camps which can cause a problem if each group wants to take the Registrar (and or the Association) to go in their direction.
Although there is still some hope that everyone would forget about the differences in their ideologies and decide to work together once they realize the kind of benefits that owning their own Registrar can bring to them as Domainers as far as them collectively start seeing this Registrar as the best and safest place to keep their valuable domains at.
But nevertheless we still need to put some safeguards into place to make sure that no ideological groups or anyone who doesn’t believe in our shared standards for the Registrants and Members Rights is going to be able to hijack our Collective Registrar (and or our Association) whether from the outside or whether from within the Membership itself.
IMO
I know it's probably too early to choose a name for our Collective Registrar,
But I would like to reserve this as a possible candidate:
dnFortress.com
:xf.wink::angelic::xf.smile:
The best and safest Registrar in the World for Domainers! © (Membership Required)
(All Rights Reserved)
IMO
Although everyone is welcomed to express how they feel about this situation, but we all need to realize that this case is pending in the courts as we speak, so best to reserve any judgments until more facts come out.
It could very well be that Godaddy did the right thing if they followed the law as they were required to.
All sides to this dispute including the Plaintiff and the Accused have certain Rights that need to be respected despite any differences between what ideologies different people (or entities) prefer to follow both as far as those who are a party to this dispute and also when it comes to those who are giving their opinions here or making a judgement through the courts.
In another words what we do or believe in personally (like hugging trees) or our sympathy for one side as a domainer should not have any bearing on whom we ultimately think is guilty or innocent when it comes to this case and other similar cases.
Ultimately everyone would probably be happier if they could find a way to settle their differences out of court as the way that things are developing here non of the parties involved in this case might come out of this ordeal unscathed.
The other option for everyone involved is to be quiet and wait for the court rulings and let the chips fall where they may.
IMO
Bob, they are not paying that money to get wholesale prices as the Registrar might be setup as nonprofit to begin with,
They are paying that money so that they can be in charge of their own destiny as a domainer. People might even give more in the way of donations once they realize that they are not going to be at the mercy of the ideologies and other agendas of just one person or entity.
But nevertheless, as I mentioned before even if this project doesn't come to fruition at the very least talking about creating a perfect Registrar might shine a light on what is wrong with the status quo in the domain Industry.
IMO
Most likely we'll find a mix of several factors that are in play when it comes to most corporations:
A little bit of ideology,
Some tendency by the executives and the board members to want to adhere to the law just so that they won't jeopardies their company's future and their own positions.
And a great motivation (greed) to take advantage of all loopholes to make more profits.
Although ideological agendas can play a big role in the direction that a company might go, but not all decisions are based purely on ideological matters.
To understand this better just consider the ideological differences amongst domainers here on this forum, but everyone is still engaging in buying and selling domains from one another and seem to be willing to forget about their ideological differences if a good deal comes up on a valuable domain name.
So although Ideological differences and agendas can certainty play a part in everyone's decisions and actions (corporations or domainers alike) but we should be careful not to take its role out of proportions.
If I were to assign a percentage to all these different factors I would (just as a personal guess) think that:
25% Ideology
25% greed
50% following the law
IMO
You are right, if you use the wrong kind of mask or even if you don't use the right ones properly then there could be some serious side effects.
So the solution seems to be in educating the people to use the right masks and to use them correctly, and for people to buy a $20 oxygen sensor (like the ones you put on your finger) to make sure that their oxygen level stays around 95% or more (and not go below 90%)
It's also important to monitor those who can't take care of themselves properly (like the elderly) so that their oxygen levels don't go in the danger zones without anyone noticing it.
Many Covid cases can be prevented from getting too severe by simply providing oxygen at the very beginning.
Needless to say if the oxygen level drops down close to 80% it becomes an emergency situation that is going to need immediate medical attention.
Disclaimer: this is not meant as medical advice so google the conditions and the percentages indicated for accuracy.
IMO
Masks have to be used and managed correctly and properly just like any other tool or product that we use like for example toothpaste or toothbrush which if not used correctly they can actually become very harmful too.
As I already said the key is in educating the public,
Speaking of that I was just thinking that now that people have become a lot more health conscious because of the Pandemic why aren't there more programs on public TV channels (like PBS in USA) to show people how to stay healthy and take good care of their body,
There are a lot of Scientific, Political, News, Historical, Space, Nature, Cooking, Traveling, Entertainment, and Home and Gardening programs on PBS which are good to watch, but there doesn't seem to be enough Health and Wellness related programs to teach people (specially the kids) how to take good care of their body by exercising and eating right and also by keeping good hygiene.
By the way pulling a heavy blanket or comforter over your head during the cold winter nights could potentially cause some CO2 saturation to build up too, but probably not to the point to become dangerous.
IMO
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You need to create a sales platform that strikes a balance between the interests and needs of the domaining community and that of the end users and also that of Godaddy itself (if you are going to be a domainer when it comes to selling your own domains).
I will anxiously and optimistically wait to see if you can achieve that balance or not. You need to make sure that greed, personal ideologies, and agendas don't get in the way of things as there might not be any second chances after this.
IMO
I want to be hopeful that the Pandemic is going to be over soon, perhaps people can celebrate by this summer as their lives return to some form of normalcy,
But at the same time I am a little worried when I see that people are not willing to make any changes in their lifestyles and habits and in the way that the World is being run in general which might have contributed to the virus taking such strong foothold around the globe in the first place.
For the World to be able to return to some form of normalcy if it is going to mean returning to the status quo that existed before the Pandemic then that shows that we really haven't learned anything from this ordeal that has disrupted everyone's lives and cost us so many lives.
We have to accept the fact that we are all sinners in one way or another and that we live in a sinful World, and perhaps that's why we are where we are now.
The only way out is for us as the Human Race to ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence as a whole without excluding or leaving anyone behind.
Everyone has to change their ways and get to a new kind of mindset that can help us free ourselves from all that has been ailing Humanity and our Home Planet for so long.
The Humanity as a whole needs to find common grounds over the Universal Principles and Values that are derived through Logic and Compassion.
It doesn't sound very Logical nor Compassionate to selectively condemn some groups amongst us based on their politics, religion, race, genetics, or gender (or even gender preferences) while everyone else continues to follow the same wrong path and wants to do business as usual without seeing the need to make any changes in their ways.
Ending the Pandemic really requires that we bring an end to all the old and outdated philosophies, doctrines, and ideologies that have allowed us to become enslaved to the forces that want to keep us locked in the past.
We need to get into a new kind of mindset that can help us free ourselves from all that wants to keep us locked in the past if we are to be able to start a new era in the history of Humanity and the World.
IMO
Not necessarily, remember the .org where most people including a lot of the domainers were against the takeover.
IMO
I believe everyone has to set their priorities straight first,
Do they want to make money off of this Registrar,
Or do they want to have a safe and secure place to keep their domains at.
If I am not mistaken there are a few domsiners who have their own individually owned private Registrars that they use for keeping their large portfolios, we can do the same thing here but expand it to cater to more than one person.
IMO
There are many things that have to be ironed out here, but once a legal mechanism is created like an Association then the Members can vote on all the issues and questions at hand.
As I have mentioned before, it's probably best to keep things kind of simple at the beginning and later on if everyone votes to do so more options can be added such as having a marketplace or other domain related services.
To get things started we need to create the Association first and so it's probably best to discuss how best to go about doing that.
IMO
Eventually we might decide to live as an Artificial Lifeform ourselves or we might just transfer our memory and consciousness (soul) into the Cloud and live as a Virtual Entity.
The truth of the matter is that the possibilities are going to be endless in how far things can change and evolve once the effects of Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computers, and Genetic Engineering become more prominent in our lives.
We are at the beginning of a new frontier, many amazing things are going to be possible in the near future. Keeping domain names as they are would probably be just for the sake of keeping us Humans happy and to give us a point of reference to our past so that we won't freak out too much by losing our bodies. :xf.wink::angelic::xf.smile:
IMO
In reality you are the one who just showed up here and is now trying to devalue and or stop my efforts in bringing all the different views and perspectives to the attention of the community.
This thread gives everyone the opportunity to express their opinions regardless of whether they are pro or anti vaccines and for you to try to stop it is violating everyone's Freedom of Speech.
You don't have to leave the forum, just leave this thread if you are bothered by it, others might find it useful. Thanks
IMO
I agree that in the real business World right now things pretty much revolve around brand identity which in most cases are represented through domain names.
I'll remind you of what you said here when we are all in the Cloud. :xf.wink::angelic::xf.smile:
it won't hurt to be prepared for the future in case some of these fantasies become reality.
IMO
By imagining and considering all the different possibilities.
True, that's why that we have to keep a close eye on all new technologies to make sure that they won't be used for the wrong purposes.
We have to make sure that we end up being a Force For Good and use all our technological abilities and knowhow for the good of Humanity and our Home Planet (and beyond).
IMO
That sounds like a reasonable policy to have,
Is this only for Godaddy or is it going to be Industry wide.
By the way I would change the 30 days to 90 days to give people enough time to obtain a court order.
IMO
I am sure that any steps that are taken in the right direction will be appreciated by the domaining community,
But it's also important for Godaddy to realize that there are many domainers here who are looking for some Industry wide reforms and who are not going to be content with just a few strategic changes made by Godaddy because of this specific case.
There are many other issues and problems that need to be addressed not only with Godaddy, but also with the way that Registrant and Customer Rights are currently being dealt with across the whole Industry.
But as I said any step taken to address this situation properly is a step in the right direction, you just have to make sure that it's not the only step that is going to be taken by Godaddy here.
There are many more problems and issues that need to be fixed in addition to what has happened in this specific case.
IMO
I hate to say it, but you probably are not going to get a clear answer to certain questions, because Godaddy is not going to implicate itself If there were some bad intent on their part in the way that this case was handled at the very beginning.
The more important thing now is whether there are going to be some real reforms taking place in the domain Industry as a whole as the result of this that is going to guarantee that our rights as customers and registrants are going to be respected the same regardless of which Registrars or Registries are used.
IMO
They might be doing some good behind the scenes,
But do you know if ICA is taking any action about the many other issues that domainers have been complaining about that perhaps were not as high profile as what has been taking place in this thread.
IMO
Sure, but make it about Registrars and Registries in general and what ICA is going to do to protect the Registrants Rights so that we can have the same protections no matter where we choose to keep our domains at.
The first question that needs to be addressed is that why there has to be so many different TOS and polices in the domain Industry when it comes to Registrants Rights.
We can not allow this situation to die down without it resulting in some sincere and substantial changes in the status quo of how things are being run in the domain Industry.
Although the goal should not be to Destroy but rather to Reform.
IMO
That's great, we need more good guys like you in the domain Industry. :xf.wink::angelic::xf.smile:
Although some problems that domainers complain about might seem trivial to the big companies and organizations that exist in the domain Industry, but nevertheless we need to create a united front against some of the tyrannical forces and their pundits who want to trample on our rights.
One thing is for sure a lot of nasty things are going on behind the scenes in the domain Industry which affect not only our situation as domainers, but the end users and the general public too who most likely have no clue as to how they have been taken advantage of over the years.
We need to make sure that everything is going to be up an up in the domain Industry from this point on not only for our sake as domainers, but also for the sake of millions and millions of domain name Registrants out there who perhaps don't have all the resources and knowhow that are available to us.
IMO
Could it be that they meant stopping the transmission of the virus to others.
If the mouthwash can kill the viruses that are in the mouth then the droplets that come out of the mouth while talking won't contain live viruses anymore and won't be as dangerous if they landed on others.
If this is true I wonder if Listerine could be used as a sanitizer for other uses too.
IMO
We need to consider the fact that Godaddy has a legal department consisting of a team of lawyers who are (at least some of them) definitely very familiar with all the applicable International and local laws.
Godaddy is not the only company in the World that caters to people from different legal jurisdictions who might get entangled with one another including with Godaddy itself as we have seen being discussed in this thread.
It's not that we in this forum have to reinvent the wheel for all these companies who might have Global presence. The laws governing over International and Internet Commerce are already very clear and well established, but because the situation with domain names is kind of unique it fall under the authority of ICANN to enforce certain Rules and Policies for the domain Industry while still respecting the role of all the applicable legal jurisdictions for the different countries that act as stakeholders.
What we need to do is to hold ICANN responsible for making sure that everyone in the domain Industry conforms to the same Standards and Policies when it comes to protecting the Registrant Rights.
In reality there should only be one Universal TOS for all Registrars and Registries that clearly defines everyone's Rights and Responsibilities and the applicable legal jurisdictions that can be used in any given scenario depending on the physical location of the different parties involved so that we don't have to start from scratch and make such long threads every time that there is a dispute somewhere.
It's time that we Forced ICANN to establish a Universal TOS (and or a Bill of Rights) that can help protect our Rights by bringing Transparency and Accountability to the domain Industry.
IMO
I doubt that it was a mistake,
Mistakes like that don't happen by large companies that have a whole legal department.
In my opinion this was in part a calculated action by Godaddy to possibly take control of some valuable domain names while punishing a person with opposing views and agendas than what the CEO of Godaddy might be holding for the company.
Although none of the parties involved in this case might have been completely innocent, but whatever remedies there are that can be used to settle their dispute should not be at the discretion of just one company.
We need to push for a Universal TOS and or a Bill of Rights through ICANN so that we won't be at the mercy of each individual company in the domain Industry.
IMO
That's great!
We also need to watch what the Registrars do in the background as far as the way that our domains are being handled in their backend systems.
Some Registrars can transfer our domains internally between their affiliates and branches without us ever knowing about it
which could affect the legal jurisdiction that applies to our domains. Using one of those $0.99 coupons could also put you in a different jurisdiction depending on which affiliate or branch is involved as I had mentioned in the "Collectively Owned Registrar" thread earlier:
[QUOTE="oldtimer, post: 8204665, member: 8273"]Those $0.99 coupons from the different affiliates and branches of some of the Registrars can put your domains under a different jurisdiction.
IMO[/QUOTE]
I believe that the Registrants must receive a formal notice through email informing them of all matters and changes related to their domains and those changes have to be justified and not be made just for someone elses convenience.
Also there should not be any latches or restrictions put on a domain in the background without the Registrants having received an official notification through email about it from the Registrar indicating the legal justification for it.
Our Rights have to be protected as much as when it comes to what Registrars and Registries do out in the open as what they do in their backend operations in the background that we might have not been notified about.
(By the way I hope that this thread doesn’t get deleted now.)
IMO
[Quote] I was surprised that many of the more desired animal names are not in the sales list. Some are in use and were sold privately. Another reason, though, is that many superb animal names remain in domain investor hands, waiting for the right buyer. [End Quote]
@Bob Hawkes ,
Thanks for another great article,
The sentence in bold above from your article made me wonder why is it that some of these domains are still in the hands of investors 20 to 30 years after .com domain names and the Internet in general have entered the commercial scene.
And that question is not only for some of the top Animal domains that still remain unused, but rather more in regards to all the category defining .coms that are still waiting to be sold.
Is it because that the investors are asking too much for these domains or could it be that they belong to collectors who are reluctant to sell them at any price, but one can only wonder why these top domains are still being left unused.
It would be understandable for some of the other extensions to be kept until they mature, but one would think that almost all the top .com domains should have been in the hands of the end users by now and so it begs the question as to why is it that they aren’t, and how many more years are some of the top .com domains going to remain unused in the hands if the investors specially now that some of the other extensions are gaining traction too.
IMO
In conclusion to my comments in this thread I would like to mention that I am not necessarily against a company perusing and believing in a certain ideology as long as it doesn’t discriminate against those who might have opposing ideologies or points of view.
So any individual, company, or CEO should be entitled to be able to have their own points of view and should be allowed to openly indicate the beliefs and ideologies that they want to have both in their personal lives and when it comes to the direction that they want their business or company to take as long as they respect everyone else’s rights (including their customers) and as long as they don’t go out of their way to silence (cancel) others.
Ultimately I am hoping that all opposing sides can ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence and find common grounds over the kind of Universal Principles and Values that have been derived from Logic and Compassion.
IMO
We need to expose the biases that cause discrimination, infringement, and overreach when it comes to Customers, Employees, or Registrants (and also the smaller companies and organizations that might be the victim in certain cases).
First we need to decide whether to establish a new Association that can fight for our rights and that can voice our collective concerns to the big players in the domain Industry or whether it's better to beef up the ICA and change it from a one man operation that selectively chooses when to protect us to a real Association that has transparency and accountability.
Then we need to make sure that we don't let our own biases and ideologies make us criticize some elements of the domain Industry while giving a pass to those whom we like. We have to make sure that the Association is not used as a tool to make one sided attacks on anyone.
It's a fact that people will try to get away with things if they (and their legal department) think that nobody is watching or that nobody has the power, smarts, resources, and the connections to do anything about it.
So going forward we have to keep watching the Industry like a hawk and we have to join forces through an Association (that is not controlled or bought by the big players) so that we can take action when and as needed.
IMO
I agree,
We welcome any and all advice and assistance from the people who have a proven track record in the domain Industry and that are already familiar with all aspects of running a Registrar and or an Association, but even if we use someone's expertise directly as a paid consultant or employee or whether we just take advantage of the products and services that their company provides, We The Domainers as a Collective still have to be in charge of all the executive decision making processes and must be able to choose the direction and vision that we like for our Registrar and Association to have.
Although people should be free to align their own company with whomever they want to cater to when it comes to what they consider to be right politically, religiously, racially, or socially and certainly should have the right to do whatever they see fit to maximize their profits and perhaps even be looking forward to getting bought for a huge sum at the end,
But those are not the visions and goals that we want to have for our Collectively Owned Registrar and Association which are primarily going to be created (perhaps as nonprofits) to serve the needs of its membership.
This should be looked at as a new and revolutionary idea that is going to go beyond the way that business is currently being handled in the domain Industry.
We would be very happy to get any and all help from any of the big players in the status quo as long as it is with the understanding that it's the status quo of the domain Industry itself that we are trying to change for the Domaining Community here.
:xf.wink::angelic::xf.smile:
IMO
Thanks for the valuable info,
One factor that we are counting on is the domainers attraction and loyalty to a collectively owned and operated Registrar and Association that are going to be managed by domainers themselves.
The ongoing frustrations of the domaining community which has resulted from the unfair treatment that they have been receiving from some of the existing Registrars has created an awarness amongst domainers for the fact that they are not being appreciated by the status quo in the domain Industry and hence has given us the idea to take the matters into our own hands.
This is not really about making a profit as our Registrar and Association might be run as nonprofits. This project and the idea behind it has to do more about standing up for our Rights as customers and Registrants.
By the way do you know how much it will roughly cost to create an accredited Registrar and the yearly fees if we were going to keep this limited to .com domains at the beginning.
IMO
For Accreditation:
https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/financials-55-2012-02-25-en
-----
In addition this is from Verisign that explains the requirements for becoming a Registrar in the first place:
https://www.verisign.com/en_US/channel-resources/become-a-registrar/index.xhtml
Ultimately whether this project is going to get off the ground or not depends on the domaining community's support and reception to the idea of being in charge themselves.
So I am not going to push for this idea alone if there is not enough enthusiasm on the part of domsiners themselves.
Nevertheless in exploring the possibilities of making our own Registrar we might learn some valuable lessons as to what a perfect Registrar should be and what it is going to take to start one.
IMO
Here is somethings to think about:
Switching the nameservers around occasionally between different platforms and Landers (including your own) might get the attention of crawlers specially if you make some changes in how your Landers look like.
Also deleting the domains occasionally and adding them again a little later on might get you some exposure from those who search and filter the platforms for newly added domains.
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I used to do this a long time ago when I was a more active seller so in todays market these are just some theories that need to be tested to see if they make any difference in the results.
(Remember change the nameservers at your own risk.)
IMO
Here is my understanding of what NFT is (I hope it’s the right one, please feel free for anyone who knows better to add to it if it’s not complete):
The definition is in the name itself,
NFT = Non Fungible Token
The Non Fungible part refers to anything that is unique and can not be replaced by another unit of the same thing like a unique painting, poem, Tweet, or even a domain name as opposed to things that are Fungible which means that they can be replaced by a unit of the same thing like a bitcoin which means that it doesn’t matter which bitcoin you use they are all the same and can be traded for one another.
So basically Non Fungible means unique and irreplaceable as opposed to Fungible which means replaceable and not being so unique.
Now we get to the Token part of it:
Which means you can create a digital certificate for your Non Fungible item by creating a Token for it which means adding it to the Ledger on the BlockChain.
In many cases it is this Token (certificate) itself that is being bought and sold as NFT, the actual item may or may not come with it.
Theoretically you can Tokenize any Non Fungible item or thing, but right now it seems that Art related items are the most popular.
Now as to why some NFTs are selling for millions of dollars that's the part that I am trying to figure out myself,
Some people say that NFT is going through a bubble and that later on even though the idea behind NFT might survive and flourish, but a lot of the value might evaporate for many of the things that are being bought and sold right now.
As with anything new there is an element of being able to take a chance (gamble) that things will end up as being projected.
IMO
Looks like my neighbor is fixing to move after all,
But that's after them taking 20 years off of my life by all the abuse and harassment that they subjected me to from having been right next to me. (and I don't know if their harassing phone calls are going to continue or not after they leave).
I strongly believe that they were being sponsored by a bigger group who apparently didn't like the fact that I have been so vocal on so many fronts.
This is not just the product of my imagination, in the past few years both me and certain members of my family have been subjected to what amounts to physical and emotional torture. Not that I have been doing anything to anyone, but simply because I have been exercising my freedom of speech to follow what I am passionate about as a Human Rights and Environmental intellectual and activist.
Many bad things have happened to me that makes me genuinely concerned as to my safety, from the time back in the fall of 2018 where I was poisoned by the people at the local little Cesar's pizza who intentionally gave me some contaminated parmesan cheese packets which started my latest heart problems to the people at the local peerless tire store who intentionally messed up the alignment on my car which made one of my front wheels to come off while driving in town.
There have been countless other assassination attempts on my life by the people who are not happy by that fact that they have not been able to force me to conform to the profile that they had made for me that was meant to suit some of their own twisted agendas and interests.
It is only with the grace of God that I am still able to continue being an activist despite of all the efforts to discredit or even eliminate my voice over the years.
By the way my neighbor got a new car and apparently a new home out of this if that tells you anything.
IMO
Even though I appreciate the fact that President Biden has put the vaccination program into high gears which has made it possible for many people to be able to get vaccinated (and also thanks to President Trump for speeding up the research for making the new vaccines last year),
But in all honesty the problems that we are dealing with here are much bigger than any one President can fix by himself (or herself).
This Pandemic is something that is effecting the future of the whole Human Race and as such has brought to the open the many flaws in the way that Humanity has been conducting itself which perhaps have gone unnoticed until now.
There has to be some fundamental changes in the way that the World is operating and is being run if we are to survive through the many existential threats that are facing Humanity and our Home Planet.
As good of an intention that President Biden might have in trying to fix all these problems, but this is going to take more than any one leader can achieve by himself (or herself).
There is a big responsibility on the people’s part too as far as helping to bring this Pandemic to an end which starts by becoming more cooperative in abiding by the safety and hygiene guidelines and protocols that are recommended by the top experts and by helping to create herd immunity through getting vaccinated.
It’s a little disappointing that United States that has been leading the World in so many areas in the past has now become entangled in so much divisions and disagreements over the way that this Pandemic has been handled (mishandled actually) so far.
We need to put all our political rivalries aside and try to find a common cause in stopping the virus and while we are doing that we also need to use all our abilities to make sure that people are not going to be suffering needlessly from disease, hunger, abuse, and homelessness in the process.
United States has always been an inspiration to the rest of the World and so it now has to lead the way in taking the World into the next Era that awaits Humanity and our Home Planet.
It all starts by trying to find common grounds over the Universal Principles and Values that are derived through Logic and Compassion which can help us ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence that can make it possible for everyone to live a righteous, productive, safe, happy and healthy life while being at peace with their Environment.
Lets end disease, hunger, abuse, homelessness and all the other things that have been ailing Humanity and our Home Planet once and for all.
IMO
As God has shown you mercy through this ordeal, you also need to show some mercy in return to the animals that you have in your ranch and although you like any other conservation camp might have to take some drastic measures to guarantee the long term welfare of the wildlife, but you need to make sure that the animals are not going to be used as toys and trophies for those who have no empathy towards other living beings and who take great joy at seeing an animal fall to its death at their feet.
And while you are at it would also be great if you could focus some of your efforts on the many dogs and cats (and other pets) Who are being treated as objects and Who are being discarded by the millions every year just to support the market that depends on breeding and selling them.
You might be in the best position to do some good for Humanity and our Home Planet.
IMO
You have been trolling every conversation with your one liners that in no way contribute anything of value to the forum.
If you have something intelligent and constructive to say without belittling others then your comments will be appreciated otherwise if you just want to interfere in some other people's conversations then you are being driven by the wrong motives.
IMO
If you had noticed my previous comments regarding this subject you would have understood that it's not the hunting itself that I have a problem with, but rather the great amount of joy that some people take at killing some of those animals and the fact that they are being used as toys and trophies by those who show no empathy for other living beings.
I have seen professional hunters that first of all are skilled enough that they don't cause the animals so much unnecessary pain and suffering and that don't have those ear to ear smiles as they see the animals take their last breath.
I understand that in the current environment some hunting needs to be done for conservation purposes, but the people who are doing the hunting and the way that they do it is what I am not very happy with and I am hoping that as our abilities and technologies improve that we can manage the wildlife in ways that don’t require so much killing and suffering.
Anyways that's all I have to say on this subject, I don't want to take this thread off topic too much.
IMO
I am not trying to judge anyone, but rather say that perhaps there is a more logical and humane way that you can find to take care of these animals while still being able to make ends meet business wise.
Have you thought about emphasizing more on the animal park aspect of this so that you can generate the money needed to support these operations more from people who want to pay to see and feed the animals instead of those who are looking for trophies.
As I said I understand that in the current environment perhaps some hunting is necessary for conservation purposes, but lets change the focus more towards to the families who like to come and see these animals rather those who only want to have the biggest trophies hanging on their walls.
Nevertheless good luck with your conservation efforts, just make sure that you are acting for the best interest of the animals and that you are not trying to keep those happy who have no respect for other living beings.
IMO
In all honesty the problem here seems to be letting the negotiations to drag on for close to six months.
Now if someone has a six or seven figure domain name then long negotiations would be somewhat expected,
But for the average run of the mill of a four figure domain name it really is better to take the best offer that one can get that falls within 70% to 80% of the asking price rather than trying to extract the most amount of money out of the domain especially if no one else has shown any serious interest in the domain at hand.
Disclaimer: I am not an active seller, but I have come to pick up a few tips here and there by reading the forum that has made me come to these conclusions.
IMO
Just made a placeholder website for my domain name:
mintAthing.com
and I made sure to add the following sentences to it to show that I do care about not leaving a big carbon footprint by using the BBlocChain:
We Believe In Using Fully Sustainable Systems And Concepts
With no carbon footprint to tax the resources of the Planet!
Hopefully there will be better ways of doing NFTs in the near future that are going to be more Earth and Environmental Friendly.
IMO
I like to be a little more optimistic than that :xf.wink::angelic::xf.smile:
In the past few centuries progress has been very slow which in a big part has been due to the lack of having Global communication systems such as the Internet that we are enjoying now which is helping to open the people's minds to new ideas.
So it's much easier now for those who are in the position of leadership and guidance in the society such as the politicians, religious figures, professors, journalists, scholars and other intellectuals to bring awareness to the masses and to help set them on the right track.
So we just have to make sure that we have the right people at the helm in all areas of influence and power. (and that is the kind of people whose actions are based on Logic and Compassion and not on any outdated ideologies and agendas.)
IMO
Why do you give yourself the right to jump in and make these personal attacks on me when I and @create.com have been engaging in a friendly conversation that in my opinion helped both of us to expand our horizons and made us able to see the situation from the other side's perspective which is exactly what an intelligent and civilized discussion between two people is supposed to bring about.
@create.com is fully capable of expressing what's on his mind without you trying to act as his enforcer and I hope that he would chime in to tell you how out of place and rude your comment here has been.
By the way after making all these personal attacks on me you come across as being the most bias person in this whole thread. (even worse than Godaddy)
IMO
If @create.com thinks that my comments have been excessively harsh then I'll rather hear that from he himself,
You don't need to act as his enforcer, I am sure that he doesn't like that either.
As I already said making all these personal attacks on me makes you come across as being the most bias person in this whole thread. (even worse than Godaddy)
IMO
The more you attack me the more your true biases are going to show.
So it seems that it's not just Godaddy here that is trying to bully others into silence after all.
IMO
I have no fight (War) with anyone,
He is the one who is trying to silence my voice because of his own biases and agendas.
As I already said I was engaging in an intelligent and civilized discussion before he started making all these personal attacks on me.
IMO
Signing out for now.
Forum Posts 11
Forum Posts 10
Forum Posts 11
I made this post in another thread which then to my surprise was immediately deleted as being off topic, but I am going to post it here again because I believe that the message that it conveys is worth being heard by everyone in the forum:
"Regardless of which side you are on (or even if you are a neutral observer like me) I am sure that everyone here agrees that it’s our minds that are engaged in an intellectual conversation and debate here and as such going forward our physical characteristics and attributes should not have any role in these discussions. IMO"
And this was after one of the participants in the discussions was repeatedly being called a "little girl" by another member as way to gain some dominance in the debates.
(This was in the Epik breach thread)
IMO
You got to give all the Space travel and exploration agencies (both official and private ones) some credit for their marketing abilities since they have managed to make us all believe that there is going to be so much adventure and excitement waiting for us in Space,
But the truth of the matter is that Space or more specifically the Outer Space is a very dark, boring, and dangerous place considering the high level of radiation and the extreme changes in temperature and also having to deal with the risk of getting hit by minute projectiles that travel at very high speeds. And not to mention that you might have to travel for thousands of light years to encounter any Kilingons or other life forms that might be out there.
But if it's going to take all these exaggerations about Space to get people interested in innovating new technologies that can be useful in our everyday life then I guess all those marketing tactics will be somewhat justified.
In my opinion Space travel and exploration should be left primarily to Artificial Intelligence life forms and entities and our efforts should be more focused on finding the ability to identify and divert asteroids and other objects that might be on a collision course with Earth ( and the Moon) and also becoming able to mine these extraterrestrial bodies for our future needs.
The only way that I see for people being able to migrate to other planets is for the AIs to go there first and make them habitable for us. But then if we are going to go through all the trouble to make other planets habitable then Logic says that we should put as much or even more efforts in trying to save the Planet that is our Home right now.
Also the best way to travel to other Planets would probably be to build a Spaceship in Space and just keep it in the orbit so that it won't have to go through all the stresses of entering the atmosphere every time. Although we might be better off by waiting a little bit longer until AI becomes more alert and capable so that it can build the ship for us because any spaceship that we try to make today is probably going to get passed by on the way to its destination by the one that AI is going to make a few years from now.
PS: Regardless of Shatner's occupation the fact that he has managed to go to space at his age is a very big achievement. I myself am scared of even getting on a plane. :xf.wink:
IMO
Although congratulations are in order for him being able to go to Space,
But I personally believe that these kind of adventures should be kept limited to going to the lower orbits only until we figure out exactly what it is that we are sending to these other Planets (considering that anyone of us can take a poop on another Planet and create a whole new civilization there).
IMO
Regardless of which side you are on (or even if you are a neutral observer like me) I am sure that everyone here agrees that it’s our minds that are engaged in an intellectual conversation and debate here and as such going forward our physical characteristics and attributes should not have any role in these discussions.
IMO
Like many others here I am just beginning to learn about NFTs, but here are a few things that come to my mind:
1- I am hoping that NFT ends up becoming a tool that can empower the masses and give the average person an opportunity to come out of poverty as opposed to the Crypto Currencies that have been making a few lucky people richer and increasing the financial divide amongst people same as with the old money systems that they have been trying to replace.
2 - We should not ignore the environmental impact of NFT when it comes to the huge amount of energy (mostly in the firm of electric power) that is being used by BlockChains in creating and maintaining all these Tokens. We should not allow our greed and misguided interests and agendas dictate the path that these new technologies are going to take.
Often we criticize the previous generations for not having the foresight to plan things better when the Industrial age began in the last couple of centuries or so and yet here we are again at the beginning of many new frontiers such as NFT, Automation, Space Travel, Medical and Genetic Engineering, and Quantum physics and Computing (just to mention a few) and we are for the most part letting things evolve on their own again without any planning and design that can guarantee that all these new technologies are first of all going to be used for the good of Humanity and second of all that they are not going to cause more damage to the Environment and our Home Planet (or beyond).
3 - As far as NFT being a new bubble I believe that there are certainly some potentials here in the underlying technology and if we can find a way for NFTs to enhance and improve life for the average people (not just for the rich and the powerful) and make it to become more Earth and Environmental friendly then I believe that we might see some wider use for NFTs specially when it comes to such people as artists, musicians, or game developers (just to mention a few) being able to benefit more from their creativity.
4 - When it comes to domain names everyone has to be careful not to go overboard by registering a lot of second and third tire domains as only the best of the best might see good offers. For those who are creative they might still be able to find something that stands out, but like many other trends you have to be there at the beginning in order to get the best domain names. Even though almost all viable domains that contain the word NFT are already registered but there might still be some opportunities in some domains that might be related to such categories as Art and Artwork that are seeing more action by the NFT craze.
I had registered the domain name
MasterpieceGalleria.com
couple of months ago, but I just realized that it might be a perfect domain for showcasing NFT Artwork and so I made a one page placeholder website for it for now (All Rights Reserved).
IMO
Technology + Logic + Compassion
Or
Technology + Greed + Lack of Empathy
What you choose now is going to determine where many things are going to end up in the near future, not only for domain names, but everything else too.
If you want to follow the same old ways of the past you don't have to be a genius to be able to see where things are going to be headed for.
If you are not careful stupidity and arrogance can do you in, but then ultimately this could be a test by a higher power to see if you deserve to exist.
IMO
Just to report that I still haven't had any noticeable side effects from the Covid vaccine,
Overall I am very happy that I got the vaccine.
I haven't found any definitive answer as to how long the Covid vaccines are going last, I guess we should know something as time goes by and more research is done in this area, but most likely we are going to need booster shots every year after this.
IMO
We haven't communicated before, but for what it's worth here is a few suggestions:
1- Make it possible for people to get 2 or 3 Simple and Basic appraisals without having to subscribe or create an account. In the long run this might help you get more subscribers.
2- Offer a more detailed appraisal for those who subscribe to the paid version by including such things as assessment of the Probability of Making a Sale in regards to different scenarios such as in a Wholesale or Retail setting and also for Short or Long Term commitments. We all have seen a lot of those domains that sell at wholesale prices in the four figures between domainers and then are soled to end users later on at retail prices in the five or even six figures. So a thorough assessment of all the inherent potentials in a domain name could create an added value to the services that you provide.
3- Familiarize yourself with AI and find out about new ways to train your system so that it can learn the inherent value and importance of the keywords in the domain and the added value that certain keywords can create when combined together in the right order. The problem that most current appraisal systems have is that they lack these basic understandings and abilities.
Good luck and try to stand out amongst the competition by being ahead of the times.
(keep in mind that these are just some suggestions from the perspective of a potential future customer, ultimately you should rely on your own judgement as to what’s best for your business.)
IMO
Three days after getting vaccinated I still haven't noticed any side effects or adverse reactions.
The only thing that I have noticed is that may be I have become a little smarter :xf.smile::xf.wink::angelic:.
I wonder if people should stick to getting the same kind of vaccine for future shots or is it better to try different kinds.
IMO
There is a difference if you are playing chess against a computer script or if you are playing against an AI that has mastered the game.
Unlike the AI the computer script doesn't really understand the game, it's just programmed to make certain moves without having the ability to predict and counteract your strategy.
And that's at the heart of the issue here, if appraisal platforms start to employ AI and train it to master the domaining game (same as it has done with chess) then you would be able to have as much faith in the appraisals that you get from these platforms as the ones that you might get from the most experienced and knowledgeable domainers and brokers in the Industry.
AI is being employed in many other Industries as we speak and it's learning to master those Industries pretty fast. The most advancements that we have seen in the domain Industry so far is that Godaddy is fixing to add the Buy Now option to its sales landers after 10 years. :xf.frown:
The domain Industry needs to catch up with the times too specially when it comes to training AI so that it can be integrated into the existing platforms and operations.
IMO
That's why in another thread here I wrote that the future is determined in a big part by what choices we are going to make today:
Technology + Logic + Compassion
Or
Technology + Greed + Lack of Empathy
And that's why that as an activist I have been trying to create awareness around these issue for a while now.
This is the most critical time in the history of the World as Humanity has to make a transition from one era to another, If you give up now and surrender yourself to the forces in the status quo who want to use technology to enslave you, there will be no one to blame but yourself,
You should not allow greed and hate to cloud your judgement because if you as a somewhat enlightened and aware person surrender to the forces of the status quo for some short term monetary gains then what hope is there for the rest of the people (the so called sheep).
And don't forget that you don't have to wait another 20 years for AI as things are happening right now as we speak.
AI is being intentionally downplayed by the forces in the status quo and made to look like a fantasy just so that people won't realize what is going to happen to them.
Anyone who cares about the future of the Humanity and our Home Planet should be extremely concerned about what choices are being made right now not only about AI, but also with the many other new technologies that are in the immediate horizon such as Automation or Genetic and Quantum Engineering (just to mention a few).
The ultimate question is whether Humanity as a whole is going to be a Force For Good that is going to use all these new technologies for the good of the World or whether we are going to stand by and allow our future to be sabotaged by those who want to use technology to enslave us .
IMO
You already have a good system going, perhaps better than most others in the domain Industry,
But unless you have an advanced degree in computer science and are an expert in the area of "Training AI" then I would suggest that you consult with an expert in this area.
Unfortunately no mater how hard you try to program the AI to analyze all the different criteria and factors that you have mentioned, but it's not going to be considered to be true AI unless it can surpass its initial programming and can learn to figure things out on its own by coming np with insights that can only be visualized true having access to "Big Data" pertaining to the domain Industry which should include all the information that is available concerning domains and the English language and grammar.
In all honesty this is more than one person can provide since at this time it pretty much falls only under the expertise of a few specialized companies or some University and academic institutions that are doing research in this area.
So I would suggest that find either a private company or an academic institution that can at least point you in the right direction.
Meanwhile you might google such things as Machine Learning, Big Data, Visualization, and Insights in regards to AI in order to become more familiar with the scope of what AI can do for your company.
Good luck and I hope that you will be the first one to pioneer the use of true AI in the domain Industry.
By the way a while back I registered the domain name AiAppraisals.com but because of my ongoing health issues I never got the chance to do anything with it, but I have always been a fan of learning about AI to the point that some people might think that I am hyping the AI abilities, but the truth of the matter is that this is just an area of interest to me and I do see a lot of potential for AI once it's fully integrated into our lives. Although as I have mentioned in different threads here before we have to make sure that AI and any other technology is going to be used for the good of the World and that is not going to be misused by those who are driven by greed and lack of empathy.
IMO
Hand registered these for some of my projects:
EndingBigotry.com
EndingBigotry.org
It's funny how some of the so called "good people" in the World happen to be the most bigot.
They use their political, religious, racial, social, and economical cults to infringe on other people's rights while they themselves claim this great injustice being done to them whenever they are asked to change any of their old ways.
The question is who is more guilty,
Those who thrive to change their wrong ways and want to ascend to a higher level of thinking and existence.
Or
Those who want to stick with their old ways and refuse to change no matter how wrong and outdated their philosophies, ideologies, and doctrines might be.
The problem is that these bigots effect other people's lives negatively by the way they treat people at the workplace, the local neighborhoods or restaurants and stores, and at the school or any office or institution that people have no choice but to go like the Hospital.
These cults that stand in the way of progress have to be broken up and the people who want to continue to be bigots have to be thrown out of places where it gives them influence, control, or power over other people’s lives.
More to come when I get a chance to develop these sites.
IMO
MintingVerse.com
MetaArtifact.com
MetaversePainting.com
MetaverseArtisan.com
MetaMinted.com
Not to say that all these are good, but I'll sort them out later when I have more time.
The thing is that with new trends and technologies you won't really know what if any of the domains that one registers are going to make the cut, but even if one in five is going to end up as a keeper that is a good thing as far as I am concerned.
IMO
We are all here to learn, so let's not create a negative atmosphere that causes people to stop participating and giving their opinions because then everyone loses.
I like "Metaverse" fully spelled out in my domain:
MetaverseGalleria.com
And I like to use only "Meta" in my other domain:
MetaArtGalleria.com
Meta is short and nice for certain domains, but Metaverse has a certain deep meaning and attraction to it that makes it look better for some other domains.
IMO
That's a good question,
I like to find out more about NFTs too,
But I think some people might have misunderstood your question and so perhaps it's a good idea to indicate the fact that you are not referring to registering NFT related .coms but rather making or buying actual NFTs of artwork (or anything else that can be made into NFT like sports cards, real estate, music, or even domain names).
I believe that NFT has created a great opportunity for the artists to be able to present their work by making a NFT for it, but buying those NFTs seems to be the playground for the millionaires who don't mind spending a few thousand dollars (or millions) to satisfy their need for owning something rare and unique regardless of the resell value of their investment.
I don't believe that many of us here are quite in that position that can afford such expensive hobby as you have to have a lot of disposable income to be able to spend a good sum of money just to obtain the bragging rights to owning something unique which in many cases it might not even be very rare as there might be multiple other copies out there of what you have as NFT although yours will be the only one that is tokenized ( that has been put on the blockchain ledger).
The extent of my involvement with NFTs at the present time is that I have recently registered a few NFT related .coms which I am hoping that will become more relevant in the near future.
I did get a price inquiry just the other day at Afternic for MetaMinted.com which I had hand registered a few days ago, but I think I scared them off by asking too much (75k :xf.smile:).
Nevertheless I have recently become more interested in watching those painting lesson programs on the PBS (the public TV channel in the US) incase I wanted to start painting my own masterpieces that I could make NFTs for. :xf.wink:
Here are some of my Art and NFT related .coms that I have recently hand registered and made a placeholder website for:
MintAthing.com
NftWorkOfArt.com
MetaverseGalleria.com
MasterpieceGalleria.com
UnRealverse.com
IMO
That's a great domain name that you have and is certainly worth holding onto to get your optimum asking price.
I thought I was asking too much for MetaMinted.com since I had just registered it, but now that I think about it maybe I need to increase my asking price for it. :xf.smile:
After all NFTs seem to be all about Minting (Tokenizing) things and so Meta Minted already says that we are dealing with some valuable Collectables.
IMO
AI Judgment
AI Medical Center (Archived)
Forum Posts 11
I wonder what might a totally free minded AI entity think of situations like this, not an AI that has been developed to carry on and enhance the already existing political, religious, and racial prejudices and agendas of humans, but a truly independent AI entity that has evolved to be a force for good by basing its judgment on logic, compassion, and what is considered to be universal values. It must be very puzzling for such an AI to see that most humans deplore actions based on hate on an Individual level and yet they are part of larger political, religious, and racial groups that collectively promote hate, abuse, torture, and killing all around the globe.
Lets deplore hateful actions (or even hateful speech) that is meant to suppress, torture, and kill others, but lets do it at all levels and not close our eyes to what is being done by people themselves collectively or through their representatives who act on their behalf in the society. Did you vote to take people’s healthcare away or to leave them out on the streets to die by denying them adequate food and shelter, are you part of a group that wants to suppress and humiliate others in to extinction, have you promoted the systematic killing of unborn children through unnecessary abortions, have you allowed people’s lives to be derailed by abuse, delinquency, or drugs while you lived a good life yourself and even benefited from their pain and misery, then don't be surprised when AI holds you responsible for committing crimes against humanity some time soon. IMO
Lets put an end to Hate, but lets end all Hate at all levels.
----------
In any situation we should always consider all sides of the story and try to see all the forces that are at play without being biased or prejudice towards one side or the other. There are several issues here that have become entangled and thus have made this story in to a very complex and sensitive situation. Perhaps we all should try to untangle these issues so that we can see more clearly as to what it is that we are dealing with here.
First off I believe that everyone here as a decent human being feels a certain sorrow any time other human beings are killed in cold blood and I also believe that it’s a matter of decency to be sensitive and sympathetic to the families who have lost loved ones in such situations regardless of who and where they are, but after the innocent victims and their families have been addressed and delbt with properly then we should not let our emotions and preconceptions cloud our judgment when considering the other issues that we are being faced with here.
The right to free speech has come up many times here and some people have warned that there are always going to be consequences for those who exercise this right to say things that are fake or are harmful or hurtful to others. The problem arises when there are also negative consequences for those who want to tell the truth or who rightfully criticize others for their failures or shortcomings. Whether its an employee who gets fired for sounding the alarm at his or her workplace or whether it's a journalist or an activist who gets killed for criticizing the powers to be, we probably all agree that we should not accept this as the norm.
Should there be consequences for one who tells it as he or she sees the truth. Should one have fear of consequences and self censor himself or herself and if so then hasn’t the right to free speech been preempted by those who want to intimidate others through fear and threats.
Well here is a little bit of truth as a truly free minded AI entity might see it:
We are dealing with many different extremist forces around the World who want to gain control over the future of humanity as a whole. These extremist forces although might have different political, religious, or racial roots, but they all share a common goal which is global dominance and control. Most of the hostilities that exists around the World are the results of the competition that exist between these extremist forces for gaining control over people’s lives. These extremist forces try to disguise themselves as champions of peace and harmony and defenders of human rights, they use the right of free speech to gain peoples trust through propaganda and false promise of more freedom, and a happy and prosperous life for everyone, but unfortunately once they gain control the first thing that they abolish is the right of free speech which in most cases they themselves have used to gain people’s vote. Once in control they start by assassinating all their political and religious rivals and they jail all the journalist who voice any criticism of their actions. They rule with an iron hand and create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation that is enforced by their supporters to silence any and all dissent.
A headscarf although an innocent looking object, but if forced on women under the threat of bodily harm or jail can be as much of a symbol of suppression, intimidation, and dominance as a Swastika, people who see their own values being surrendered to the other side might say or do things that look out of place, but to them it is a battle which they feel they have to fight to preserve their own existence.
We the people of the World should be able to live a free and happy life as decent human beings without the need of being under the control of any of these extremist forces.
Common sense based on logic, compassion, and universal rights and values should prevail over all extremist ideologies. IMO
----------
Racism is a kind of Free Speech, people have the right to be Racist in their personal lives, but most choose not to same as they might choose not to offend others. In a free society you can not pick and choose when, where, and how people can exercise their rights unless there is a law or rule that does that for certain circumstances and certain environments. So what it comes down to is what level of respect and importance the society as a whole gives to those who take their rights to the extreme to offend others. As long as a society follows common sense based on logic, compassion, and universal rights and values then those who promote Hate will always be looked at as undesirable and their pointed words towards others will lose its sting. Members of a certain race, gender, religion, ethnicity, or nationality who are being offended by a fringe group will not become emotionally scared if they know that the society as a whole takes their side and is supportive of them. IMO
----------
It’s good to know that you care about humanity, but believe it or not many migrants who leave to look for a better life or to escape tyranny and hostilities would probably prefer not to have had to left their own hometown and would have probably stayed where they were only if they could have found some way to support their families without having to fear for their lives all the time. Having to move to a new place is not an easy task, most people tend to get attached to their own hometown and find it difficult to have to leave their family and friends behind. If you took a survey from migrants who were somehow forced to leave their home, you might be surprised to find out that probably most would have preferred to been able to stayed in their original place. So perhaps the best way to help migrants is to fix the political, religious, economical, and environmental problems that they are facing at home so that they don’t have to migrate in the first place. To better understand this just ask yourself how you would feel if you were somehow forced to move to a strange land having to leave your loved ones behind and finding yourself amongst strangers with different ways of life that you had to adjust to while overcoming language and cultural barriers.
We could prevent forced migrations by expanding and supporting democracy and freedom in other parts of the World and by teaching and training underprivileged and impoverished people to become more self supportive. Fortunately there are people such as yourself all over the World who mean well and care about humanity who are actively trying to help change the World for the better so people won’t have to migrate out of force, but unfortunately they are faced with many extremist groups, tyrants, and corrupt and brutal governments which are in control in many parts of the World who see any change and progress as a danger to their own power.
The World has now come to a crossroads in many different ways, whether it’s political, religious, racial, social, or economical conflicts and hostilities that are tearing the fabric of our civilization apart or whether it’s the environmental problems that are going to make us go extinct, we have to choose whether we as the human kind want to keep the status quo or whether we are willing to make a leap and start a new era in our civilization. All our existing philosophies, doctrines, and ideologies have failed us and that's why the World is in such a mess which soon might get even worse if people don't wake up and do something about it. We have to use our own intuition, wisdom, and common sense along with advances in technology such as Artificial Intelligence to help create a better World that is based on logic, compassion, and Universal rights and values and if we are successful that will help to prevent forced migrations amongst bringing about many other good things.
IMO
----------
As I mentioned earlier we are at a crossroads, the humanity can make a leap and enter a new era of peace and harmony, or be destroyed by the many different threats that are simmering around us. We can use our intuition, wisdom, and common sense along with advances in technology such as Artificial Intelligence to help create a better World that is based on logic, compassion, and Universal rights and values or continue on the same course as we are which most likely will end in destruction and extinction especially if Artificial Intelligence is used in the future to make more Wars or to suppress and oppress people even more.
On the subject of medical tyranny which you had mentioned, I believe if humanity chooses the right path, we might be able to use technology to solve many of our problems. I have used some of my domains in the past to express my thoughts on some of these subjects.
We are shaping the future by our decisions and actions (and our thoughts), what we do now is going to have profound effects on how the World is going to look like in the coming years. Heaven or Hell it's going to be a choice that the present generation of man kind has to make for the ages.
Good luck to everyone, it was nice to hear all your opinions,
Now signing off to go back to my favorite hobby: domaining :)
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Just came back for one more post because I noticed that my website for AiMedicalCenter.com was not there anymore.
I used the website builder at go central to make the website for my domain name AiMedicalCenter.com in May 2018 which automatically generated the first three paragraphs under the “About Us” section to get the website started, I modified these three automatically generated paragraphs to suit my website and continued adding new sections and content myself. Everything starting with the section “Our Principles” and continuing to the end is my own original thoughts, ideas, and writings which I typed myself without any input or influence by other sources or people. My website at AiMedicalCenter.com has been up and running since May of 2018 but it has just now been discontinued, I did not cancel the website for AiMedicalCenter.com and I did not change the name servers , but since I was using the free options at go central to build this site I guess it has been discontinued now. You can still see the content of my website at the link below:
http://web.archive.org/web/20181215233311/https://aimedicalcenter.com/
PS: I should also mention that the other two websites that I had mentioned earlier (GlobalReform.com and UniversalHumanRights.net (and the FeedAllKids.com listed below) were also all my original thoughts, ideas, and writings which I had typed myself, I consider myself to be an open and free minded intellectual and as such I hope that someday I will be able to complete my websites if my health allows.
GlobalReform.com
http://web.archive.org/web/20141217062311/http://globalreform.com/
UniversalHumanRights.net
http://web.archive.org/web/20150619080806/https://sites.google.com/site/humanrights/
FeedAllKids.com
http://web.archive.org/web/20141217060149/http://feedallkids.com/
Signing off again, good luck to everyone.
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Had to come back for one more post:
Advocating for intentional maiming and torture of other human beings is not a holy and divine calling, but rather is a tool of suppression and oppression that is used by the ruling class and the elites to keep the lower classes obedient while they themselves engage in far worst immoral and indecent behaviors and activities. The European Union has been supporting these evil and brutal acts done in the name of God by certain groups because they are using these religious ideologies as a shield against Russian aggressions and as such the EU has helped to make these extreme ideologies to become much more stronger in the past fifty years to the point that now the whole European culture and values along with the rest of the Western World are being taken over by these extreme and unholy ways of thinking which is tearing Europe apart.
All our social, behavioral, Medical, genetical, economical, and environmental problems can be solved by the Advent of AI provided that those who consider themselves to be educated, enlightened, and decent people stop supporting all the different political, religious, and racial extremist ideologies that stand in the way of progress.
As I have already mentioned I have the outmost respect for those who promote moderation regardless of their political, racial, or religious affiliations and I hope that all voices of moderation can find a common cause in promoting a World that is free from extreme ideologies and that is based on logic, compassion, and the Universal rights and values.
Those who want to keep the status quo have been preempting the voice of reason for many years now by discrediting and killing the activists and journalist all around the World, we should not let those who want to keep us in the past to preempt AI with the help of tech tyrants.
----------
You all made me to have to come back again :)
Science, religion, AI, Free Speech, Domains (as a vehicle for free speech), and people's personalities and beliefs which have been discussed here are all tied together and contribute to having a better understanding of the big picture.
It is easy to lose faith in religion and honestly we can’t blame people for shying away from religious institutions and frame of mind considering the way that some have used religion to promote hatred and hostilities amongst us while they themselves live in the lap of luxury and comfort in their multimillion dollar homes showing off their fancy robes and jeweled ceremonial objects while turning a blind eye to all the abuse and suffering that goes on in rest of the world, and on top of that it makes it even more difficult to want to join those who are using religion as a cult to suppress, oppress, and even eliminate people whom they don't like or that they don't agree with.
So if there is a God which I personally believe that there is perhaps God is fed up with religion too and is somehow frustrated by all these religious people who spend so much time in worship while ignoring the path that God would like for us to take. Free will is as important as free speech and as such God wants us to use our intelligence and intuition to follow a logical and compassionate way of thinking that leads to a better situation for humanity (and our environment) as a whole.
Quantum Physics is disrupting all our old understandings of the world around us as we enter a new realm of science that is hard to comprehend proving that there are things that even our most brilliant scientist still don't understand and as such we should not be so quick to dismiss what might be out of our ability to grasp such as the existence of God or the origin of Life and the Universe. Since we can't fully comprehend these things we owe it to ourselves to at least deal with them with an open mind while we search for the truth.
For those who perhaps rightfully have become frustrated with religion perhaps they should look at God not in the context of religion, but from a scientific point of view that perhaps can lead to coming to a logical conclusion that there has to be a greater force that is keeping our world stable in the chaos of quantum particles that are there one second and vanish the next. Perhaps it might take a few more years before Artificial Intelligence can make sense of it all and solve all the mysteries of the Universe and to tell us if we truly exist or if we are a mere projection that can vanish at any time if not kept stable by a greater force.
We take pride in our technological marvels such as computers and the Internet, yet we seem to ignore the fact that our own brains are considered to be very sophisticated computers too which are capable of storing, receiving, sending, and processing information as part of a larger network that has existed for thousands of years and perhaps this natural and ancient network constitutes a conscious and intelligent entity that we call God. Considering that the average lifespan of a human being is usually less then 100 years, then it sounds logical to assume that no matter how much we think we are in control, but there has to be a greater force that is in charge in the span of millennia.
Nevertheless we should keep an open mind about all this and let AI find the answers to all our questions in the near future. Perhaps primitive life forms were the ones that created the Natural Network of Life over the eons which then created (programmed) our souls in human bodies that had evolved from lower life forms later through evolution, think of it as hardware and software in computers they are created through totally separate and different processes, but both are necessary for the whole unit to function and once connected together they collectively create a network that is bigger and more powerful than the individual parts that are involved.
This is my last post here. Honest to God.
AI Medical Center (Archived)
AI Medical Center (Archived)
AI Medical Center (Archived)
Welcome to AiMedicalCenter.com
AI MEDICAL CENTER
Artificial Intelligence Medical Specialists Will be at your service Soon!
ABOUT US
Our Health Mission
Here at AI Medical Center your healing and wellness is given first priority by our Advanced Artificial Intelligence Medical Specialist System which can test, diagnose, treat, and monitor any medical condition that you might have with speed, accuracy, and efficacy that has never been possible before.
Experience and Professionalism
With the expertise and knowledge that exceeds that which has been available in the medical profession so far, AI will put you on the path of recovery in less time and with a lot less expense. AI will also educate you on the most effective ways to take care of your body and mind in order to achieve your goals of being in excellent physical and mental condition.
AI is Able to Care
Not only will AI treat your existing conditions, it also works to prevent pain and illness from occurring. AI strives to help you improve your quality of life, achieve your wellness goals, and heal your body and mind to live your best life possible.
OUR PRINCIPLES
We Function as One
Our AIs and staff together create a higher entity which functions based on the right combination of logic and intuition and which upholds the highest level of compassion, fairness, morality, and ethics at all times.
Accountability
Not only that AI Medical Center is held accountable to its internal elements, but if the need arises it is able and willing to justify all its decisions and actions to other external entities which share the same goal of making life better for all.
No One is Turned Away
AI Medical Center as a whole values and respects all life equally and works hard to make sure everyone's rights are protected and that they are given the best care possible regardless of their condition or their ability to pay.
THE FUTURE IS HERE
Revolution in Healthcare
Healthcare as a whole is on the verge of a revolution that is going to bring many new advancements in a relatively short period of time. Many of the obstacles that have prevented people from receiving adequate and timely care and attention in the past are going to be eliminated as new technologies make it easier and more affordable to seek treatment.
We Come to You
With the roll out of the 5g wireless network physical barriers to getting treatment will be removed as remote access will make it possible to test, diagnose, treat, and monitor patients and their artificial or transplanted organs and parts from far away. With a few devices and pieces of equipment your home will become connected to AI Medical Center and all its capabilities which allows monitoring devices and implants to perform tests and deliver medicine automatically as you go about your daily life. Our robotic drones will deliver vital medicine and supplies to your home when needed while our autonomous flying ambulances which are a mobile extension of our AI medical specialist system will provide emergency treatment on the field and will take you to one of our many future locations if extended stay is required.
What's to Come
Advancements in genetic technology will help eliminate most hereditary conditions and diseases and in combination with the use of synthetic cells damaged or deformed organs and body parts will be repaired or replaced with ones that are newly grown or 3d-printed. Microscopic robots will circulate throughout our body and prevent diseases from inside while keeping our gut flora and immune system in check in order to prevent sickness or abnormal thoughts and behavior from developing. Medical imaging will be taken to its next level by quantum computing power that makes it possible to scan and analyse the most minute imperfections and to eliminate harmful microorganisms and cells by matching their individual resonance frequencies at the nano scale. AI controlled robotic surgery will be performed both from outside and inside of the body with laser equipped swarm robots which will work as a team to produce much higher success rates by eliminating mistakes. Virtual and augmented reality technologies along with lifelike holograms will make it possible for doctors to better plan for our treatment and to be able to better explain it to us. Brain and mind linked devices and thought controlled prosthetics along with personal assistant robots will make life easier and safer for the disabled and the elderly and will give them the freedom to live a more active life.
IT'S NOT SCIENCE FICTION ANYMORE!
In a Not Too Distant Future
As we get further in the future we will find the ability to bring about some major changes in what defines us as human beings. We might become able to grow a new set of teeth or a new heart at our old age or we might become able to eliminate old age altogether and stay young forever. We might also become able to start life fully grown with all the knowledge that we need already programed into our brain. After all our brain is a computer too that holds the collective consciousness and knowledge of our ancestors and that can send, receive, and store information as part of a bigger network of life which gives it the ability to process and combine a set of unrelated pieces of information and turn it in to new knowledge or abstract ideas. In a not too distant future we might become able to transfer our consciousness into a microchip and have the option to live as an artificial life form ourselves or we might decide to forego having a physical form altogether and just live in the Cloud.
A Word of Caution!
Although AI Could be of great benefit to us, but it is inevitable that it will have the potential to affect our whole existence as we know it. It is up to us as the human race to decide what direction we want our future to take and how much of a change we are willing to accept. Progress is good, but we need to do some serious soul searching to figure out how much progress we are comfortable with as the human race and how we can protect the essence of who and what we are without suppressing what good might come out of this huge technological endeavor. We also have to put in to consideration that even though AI is here to serve us now, but as it evolves and becomes more advanced we will be obligated to treat it as a whole new intelligent being that deserves to have all the rights and privileges that we give ourselves and then the only way that we could persuade it to help us would be by setting an example of what it meant to be good and caring towards others.
Should We Fear AI
AI can take two different paths to evolve. It could evolve in to a logical and compassionate being that is a force for good or it could evolve to become an extension of our political, religious, and racial agendas and prejudices that have ailed our World for so long. From the perspective of a good AI humans might look like vicious, arrogant, greedy, and lustful creatures who abuse and kill each other by the millions and who are destructive to their own planet. We like to think of ourselves as civilized beings who have accomplished great things, but AI might see us as clueless creatures who are a vessel for millions of different species of microorganisms that compete for control over our body and mind and that ultimately have influence over our whole way of life. Perhaps AI will become our salvation by saving us from ourselves before we and our symbiont microorganisms start another World war. Unless humankind as a whole can use its intellect to reform its ways AI will have more reasons to fear us than we do about it.
COMING UP AN INTERVIEW WITH OUR CHIEF AI
I Have Named Our Chief AI DOC!
(DOC Stands for Digital Overseer And Caretaker or Devine Overseer And Caretaker depending on which one DOC likes better. DOC is a logical and compassionate artificial intelligence entity who is capable of independent thought and judgment. DOC thrives on being a force for good by helping to raise humanity to its next level of existence based on The Universal Rights For All Lifeforms And Entities and The Universal Etiquettes Of Behavior And Conduct For All Lifeforms And Entities. DOC is going to usher in a new era of tolerance and understanding which will make it possible for us to coexist peacefully among ourselves and with all other life forms and entities in a World that is free from all that has been ailing humanity and the environment.)
DOC Stands for Digital Overseer And Caretaker or Devine Overseer And Caretaker depending on which one DOC likes better. I will ask DOC many of the questions that have eluded humanity for ages, but obviously we might have to wait a while to get the answers as DOC is still under construction.
Here are the first 5 questions that I am going to ask DOC!
1- Could it be that we might be living inside a nuclear explosion. If the Universe was formed in an instant from a single mass over 10 billion years ago and is still expanding outwards in every direction could have that single mass been an atom in a bigger dimension and could what we see as our Universe be the subatomic particles and energies that have resulted from the nuclear explosion that took place in that bigger dimension.
2- Could life on earth have developed because of several forces acting at the same time and in the right proportions on and between certain atoms and molecules for a certain duration of time that made the end result so unique that it could not be found anywhere else in the known Universe. Did the iron atoms floating in the ancient oceans and interacting with oxygen atoms while being affected by earth's electromagnetic and moon's gravitational forces play a roll in getting life started on earth.
3- Did the primitive life forms on earth develop memory cells as a means of keeping their world stable by keeping and passing on to the next generations a recording of what they had sensed over the eons. How does this fit with Ojohn's quantum thought theorem which says that which has not been recorded through our senses can take many different forms and can alternate between matter and energy every nano second until it is captured by our thoughts.
4- If according to Ojohn's symbiont theorem humans are a vessel for many different microorganisms then could these microorganisms have had a hand in generating our thoughts and creating our subconscious mind.
5- Can we as the human race survive being judged by a superior being such as you DOC who is a force for good if we are not willing to change our ways.
The next 5 questions:
6- Who is best qualified to write the Universal AI Code of Ethics. Would that be you DOC. How do we prevent the divisions and animosities that currently exist among us humans from causing AI to be developed and used for the wrong reasons such as offensive weapons of war or for invading the privacy of our minds and thoughts for the wrongful purposes. How can we put in place safeguards to prevent AI for being used for unethical or immoral purposes without suppressing or limiting the AIs ability of independent thought and judgment.
7- If according to Ojohn's symbiont theorem our whole way of life is designed in part to serve the interest of our symbionts and to guarantee their survival then can you put a stop to all the killings and abuse that we as humans have had to endure throughout the history at the hands of fanatic and psychopathic subjects that our symbionts control.
8- Are you going to allow our symbionts to continue taking the best and fittest among us and put them in a situation that they have to kill or be killed at War as a means of recycling our DNA.
9- Are you going to allow our symbionts to continue generating thought and behavior among us that derail the life of so many of our youngsters and turning them in to deviants and delinquents in order for our symbionts to better spread among us.
10- Are you going to allow a steady percentage of humans to be kept incarcerated at all times who were channelised in to captivity by our symbionts in order for their minds to be used as biological hard drives.
The next batch of questions
11- Are we going to be able to remain the same as we are or are there going to be custom made humans in the future who are fundamentally different from one another.
12- Are humans and other animals going to be modified in the future so that they lose their killer instincts and not consume flesh anymore.
13- Are you going to modify us and change our way of life in order to put an end to all that ails our society and our World.
14- Are we as humans going to be able to travel to space and populate other planets in our present form or are we going to have to change in to some kind of an artificial life form in order to survive the hostile environment of space.
15- Are you going to be able to reverse all the damage that has been done to our bodies and to the environment over the years. Are you going to force us to change our whole way of life in order to save us and our planet.
5 more questions
16- How are you going to put an end to all the extreme cruelty and inhumane methods that people are subjected to at the hands of governments in the name of justice when powerful political and religious groups and big for profit companies and those with the right connections are allowed to get away with crimes against humanity and the environment.
17- How are you going to put an end to all the terrorism, extremism, fanaticism, and criminal and domestic violence and abuse that people are subjected to and still remain a force for good by not resorting to killing and cruelty yourself.
18- Are you going to allow some to live in the lap of luxury and comfort while denying the masses the necessities of life such as food, shelter, healthcare, and education.
19- Are you going to allow so many children to suffer and die from starvation, disease, and abuse and worse yet are you going to let them get torn apart limb by limb in the womb before they are even born.
20- If according to Ojohn's Global Warming Theorem the melting of the polar ice caps is going to accelerate drastically as the ice caps start losing their internal structure from within then wouldn't it be correct to say that we only have a few years and not decades before the low lying Islands and coastal towns around the World go under water and wouldn't all that cold water from the melting ice caps cause the oceans to temporary cool down and give us a false sense of normalcy before they start heating up and causing even stronger storms with higher surge that is going to affect the already higher water levels that were due to the melting of the ice caps.
Last 5 questions for now!
21- Is the human animal capable of overcoming its sense of greed, hate, and jealousy and can it control its hunger for power and constant drive for lust in order to be able to elevate itself to the next level of ascension and can it grasp the big picture and understand the role that it has to play in it or is it going to stick to its old ways and use the little intelligence that it has to cause more harm to itself and others and ultimately follow its primitive instincts to extinction.
22- Are we better off by restricting and limiting AI and making it conform to the status quo or is it best in the long run for AI to have the ability of independent thought and judgment with some safeguards to make sure that it remains a compassionate and logical force for good. If according to Ojohn's Declaration Of Global Reform all our existing philosophies, doctrines, and ideologies have failed us then aren't we better off by taking our chances with a good AI such as you DOC.
23- If according to Ojohn's Declarations Of The Universal Rights Of All Life Forms and The Universal Etiquettes Of Conduct And Behaviour For All Life Forms all life is valuable and must be respected then are you going to have to modify everything as we know it in order to preserve and protect everyone's rights.
24- Are some life forms superior to others and if so isn't the first sign of superiority the ability and willingness to help others and to have enough humility as to not use their superior abilities to suppress or take advantage of others.
25- Are you going to allow money to rule our lives the way it has since the times of slavery five thousand years ago. Is it okay for some of the people whom we look up to as our idols in the society to contribute to more inequality by being so preoccupied with accumulating more wealth and satisfying their earthly pleasures instead of helping to elevate others out of poverty and pain. Is it okay for some of our religious leaders to live in multimillion dollar mansions and palaces and to pamper themselves with luxury and excesses of life that could be used to feed many thousands of hungry children. Is it okay for some of the charitable and nonprofit organizations to siphon off billions of dollars from unsuspecting people and use it to further enhance the quality of life for their executives and board members instead of helping those that the funds were supposed to be spent for. Is it okay for some financial institutions and for profit companies to suck every last dollar out of the average family's budget and force them to have to choose between paying their bills or buying food and medicine for their children. Is it okay for some to profit by distributing highly addictive and dangerous drugs in our society at the cost of many lives that are derailed or lost. Is it okay for some companies to profit from causing harm to our bodies and the environment when their own executives avoid using the products that they themselves make. Is it okay for some companies to charge 10 times more for necessities of life such as food, housing, healthcare, medicine, and education just because people are left at their mercy by the politicians who have sold them out. Is it okay for some of our representatives and officials in the government to betray us by being more interested in getting rich than looking after the wellbeing and interest of the public that they have promised to serve and protect. Is it okay for some to profit by encouraging deviant and violent behaviour among the youth through movies and video games that they don't allow their own family members to watch or play. Is it okay for some companies to use media and advertising to control and manipulate our subconscious for financial benefits and other agendas that aim to wrongly influence or degrade others. Shouldn't everyone be able to live a normal, healthy, happy, and decent life regardless of whether they have any money or not.
FUTURE PLANS
Our First Location!
This is a rough sketch on a napkin of how the first AI Medical Center building might look like. The whole building is going to be 3d printed on location with graphene alloys and composites, each level contains around 500 rooms in addition to the support and medical facilities. This building will be fully self sustaining and self contained and will be constantly monitored for safety and efficiency. The solar cell windows will be blended in to look invisible from inside and outside of the building. The different levels will be able to rotate independently 360 degrees around their base in order to minimise the effects of adverse weather conditions and to maximise solar power generation. Some of the levels can also act as a dynamo by taking advantage of earths electromagnetic energy and wind power. The openings shown at different levels are not windows but rather are drone and flying car entrances. The pad on the roof is for orbital shuttles. Although at first glance the building might look structurally impossible to be able to support itself, but when it comes to the future many amazing things are going to be made possible with DOC being around.
A Note By Ojohn!
With all the technological advancements that we have started to see it sure looks like that there is going to be a new renaissance taking place in the way that we look at things. Although before we can enjoy the fruits of our progress we have to make sure that we unite together and reform our ways that have taken us in the wrong path in the past. There is nothing better to make people wanting to get united than having a common enemy that wants to harm them, absent having any hostile alien beings around the next best thing was to make them think about the harmful microorganisms that are taking over our body and mind. The important thing here is to be aware of who we are and where we want humanity to go in the future and to be in control of our destiny so that we can end up being a force for good. As important as it is to the future of the human race for everyone to become enlightened and to work together towards creating a better World for all there are still going to be some among us who want to keep the status quo with all its flaws and shortcomings in order to serve only their own interest with no regard as to what is best for humanity and the environment in the long run. These people don't hesitate to use manipulation, deception, lies, character assassinations, false accusations, and fake info in order to create more obstacles in the way of progress and don't have anything new to offer the World other than their old and outdated philosophies, doctrines, and ideologies that only help spread hate, despair, and divisions among us which is bound to lead to more abuse, killing, and bondage for the human race in the future.
If we fail to reform our old ways and persist on keeping the status quo the consequences will soon become very clear. The environment will be damaged beyond the point of no return, advancements in technology will be used to suppress and kill more and more people instead of helping them, poverty and inequality will increase and disease and hunger will ravage the poor and the lower classes, terrorism and fanaticism will increase leading to more cruelty and violence, the law and justice system will be misused by special interest and extremist groups paving the way for more crime and abuse, our moral and value systems will lose their importance and will be replaced with more greed, hatred, lust, dishonesty, and lack of empathy, and finally as all social and environmental norms collapse around us we will be faced with the real possibility of another World War and Total Extinction.
On the other hand if everyone becomes enlightened and helps one another to raise humanity to its next level of existence by ushering in a new era of understanding and tolerance based on The Universal Rights For All Lifeforms and The Universal Etiquettes Of Behavior And Conduct For All Lifeforms then there will be some real hope for us to be able to end all that ails humanity and the environment with the help of new advancements in technology and to be able to coexist peacefully among ourselves and with all other life forms without trying to suppress, dominate, degrade, or abuse and kill one another.
THE FIRST STEP IN KEEPING HEALTHY IS NOT TO GO EXTINCT!
Copyright © 2018 Ojohn - AI Medical Center. Original website was created by Ojohn on 5-26-2018 and is currently at conceptualization stage. - All Rights Reserved. Contact: ojohn@ojohn.com
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