Domainers Need Thick Skin

Domainers Need Thick Skin

Luckily, my skin is like that of a transformer. I have had enough successes and failures in my environmental business endeavors, and have been both praised and laughed at over the years, that nothing really bothers me. Despite being a workaholic, I have a pretty laid-back personality and generally live my life that way. I get along with most everybody I meet and have learned a long time ago to live the real cliches like “don’t sweat the little things”, “life is to short to hold grudges”, “to each his own”, etc. Although I do know that not everybody is that way. In fact in today’s society, many people are a little too tightly wound, IMO, and are eager to snap the first chance they get. After 18 months of dabbling in the domaining world, it is apparent that both sides of the spectrum are alive and well in the domaining sphere.

It is pretty obvious that there are ALL kinds of people delving into the domaining world, and this will obviously continue for some time. Domainers come from all over the world and generally represent various walks of life. Some are wealthy, while others are just trying to get by. Some are old but just getting started, some are young, but have doing this for a bit of time, or vice versa. Some are educated, some clearly not so much. Spending some time on the domaining forums will quickly give you a sense of the spectrum of people getting involved. With so much diversification, there are so many interesting dynamics and interactions that do take place.

I have come to notice some of the seasoned domainers embrace the industry growth, by encouraging and educating the newbies (granted while also selling them their domain names or getting them to visit their blog or buy their products). On the other hand, there also seems to be some frustration among some seasoned domainers regarding newbies in general, which is very evident on some of the domaining blogs and forums. As more newbies come in and ask the same questions that have been asked over and over, I can see why some of the domaining veterans get all wound up. When newbies don’t learn lessons, and continue to purchase worthless domain names and then try to sell them under the title “Premium” or “Quality”, through spamming and other annoying tactics, I can certainly see why the frustration exists. However, at the end of the day, we are all people and should all be treated with respect and professional courtesy.

If you’ve been around the block, you know not everybody operates in that fashion, which is why you need thick skin. I’ve seen several newbies join a formum over the last year, only to post once or twice, and never post again after getting comments they didn’t like. As the majority of business being conducted in the domaining world is over the keyboard, I can understand why some operate the way they do, and in the end, it really is their prerogative to do so. This is the real world people. This is not a crazy “politically correct” industry that will tell you they don’t count strikes or keep score when they play baseball, because they don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. It’s a business – dog eat dog, what have you done for me lately, etc. Don’t let some dislikes on a name you posted on Elliot’s Blog ruin your day. Instead, examine and maybe learn from the critisism, learn from the mistakes of others, do what the successful people are doing. Don’t get all bound up about what somebody thinks of you. Don’t melt when you receive criticism, embrace it. Turn it into a positive. Grown some thick skin, it will do you some good.

Guess what folks, newbies are not going to go away and are only going to continue to get added into your domaining sphere at a logarithmic pace. Find a way to embrace it and perhaps capitalize from it or just ignore it, if you so chose. Just do it in a respectable and professional way. On the other side, newbies should at least realize going in that there will be bumps in the road and some assholes too. Domainers need thick skin. Grow some and try to get along!

Vincent L. Jacques is the owner of Vins Domains, you can also follow him on Twitter.