Over the years on forums and blogs there seems to be a disconnect. Domainers seem to be upset or not understand that everyone is looking to make money.
Parking companies, Registrars,Registries,Secondary exchanges and on and on. It seems selling domains is honorable and everyone else is shady, a scam or a rip off.
A lot of domainers will tell you that the new tld program is a money grab. What is the name for their domains for sale ? I mean no one needed you to register them, by that logic you regging a bunch of domains is just a money grab. Its not a money grab on any side, its just business. Hopefully its done legit and everyone can make some money.
There also is some hierarchy, domainers have always felt they were at the top of that chain. Afterall they were the ones with the genius to register these bits of data.
So when domainers look at extensions where they cannot make money, the extension sucks. Well maybe for the domainer but not for the registry or registrars. Both imo are higher up on the ladder.
I have been involved with .tv for a long time. It amazes me that some in 2011 are still talking about 2004 issues.
There still exists premium pricing and some legacy .tv for renewal. Verisign does not care what the domainer thinks. First .tv is a small part of Verisign. Second they are happy with their way.
Owning a registry is being the king of the extension, and its good to be the king.
Verisign does not care, you can only get a company to do something if you hold some leverage. You don't like legacy premiums ? Ok, drop them, Verisign actually would like that you did. You have no leverage.
This is my opinion of how a call to Verisign would go:
Legacy Owner: "Hello is this Verisign ?
Verisign: Yes
Legacy Owner : I don't like premium renewal, you better change it or else
Verisign : Or else what ?
Legacy Owner: I will drop the name
Verisign : Great, because all those other domainers you think are on your team (hahahah you sad deluded fool) They are fighting to be first for the back order. So you drop it and have a good day.
Legacy Owner: ehhh, I mean,ehhh, wait, what ?
Verisign: Thank you for calling Verisign
As the industry matures domainers will have to work harder and smarter. Frank Schilling did not like what was going on with parking. For the moment Internet Traffic looks to be a game changer for big domainers with traffic domains.
More people are going to come into this industry looking to make money. They may not always be asking domainers for their opinion, so domainers need to hedge their bets and stay on top of their portfolio.
Compelling article.
I agree with most of what you said. ICANN is not a for profit company so I have a problem with them. Good article though
You make some really good points 🙂