In an email sent out today, Epik mentioned they have acquired DNForum.com. A strategic acquisition that will provide them the opportunity to market all their offerings.
The oldest domain related forum has had it’s share of owners including Greg Ricks, Adam Dicker and George Verdugo.
Best of luck to Rob and his team.
Special Announcement: It is with great excitement that Epik also announces its acquisition and planned integration of DNForum. As the oldest community of domain investors and collectors in our industry, we recognize the tremendous opportunity it represents to extend new opportunities and financial empowerment through its experienced membership base. Stay tuned for official announcements and invitations to check out new resources, content, and special promotions! We are excited for the future, and all the good things that are to come.
dnforum who in the hell uses that defunct website.
We’re adding a lot more functionality to the forum and always open to suggestions on how to improve user experience!
Well, with comments like this, and attitudes like this, is what makes people hesitant to try.
Excited š long overdue. Thank you! Would not have ANYONE else buy.
Weāre in great hands, Love the company, epik; dont just talk the talk, they walk the walk,
If you dont have anything nice to say?dont! but internet, smh.
Look forward to future!
Samer
Rob Monster commented about this on our Canadian forum at:
https://dn.ca/topic/927/epik-announces-its-acquisition-and-planned-integration-of-dnforum
I think DNForum has gotten a bit stale and Epik might just infuse some new blood.
I saw the title and thought it was the domain gang blog. Then I saw it it wasn’t. OMG! This is pretty big news for the industry. Other registrars are going to be mad LOL
Oh wait I just left the comment. For some reason I thought they bought namepros. Dnforum no big deal.
Well it will hopefully bring some much needed competition.
I talked to Rob and he will end the “you cannot speak about another forum” rule.
The draconian censorship at namepros and dnforum has alienated so many members. I have a feeling DNForum will be much more open to free discussions and I for one welcome that. In fact I can see a lot of ex namepros members coming back to dnforum if that is the case.
DNForum has never (to my knowledge), and will never, have a “you cannot speak about another forum” rule. You’ve anyways been able to link from one forum to another, be it to shift a discussion to an external sale.
The voices of all will be heard. We are focusing on condensing the rules to just the basic societal rules of treating others how you would want to be treated. I don’t foresee more than 3 rules and a paragraph in length in the future.
There is very minor censorship in the works, but this will be opt-out for those logged in and choose to view the full opinions expressed by others.
I’d like to welcome all back to DNForum. It was the platform that helped many of the brightest minds in the industry. People haven’t forgotten about DNF, DNF just neglected the community in the past for other side projects which killed sentiment, in my opinion.
There was a time probably before your time, when DNF and Namepros did not allow the other name to be mentioned.
Thanks for correcting me, Ray. I was unsure about it as I’ve never seen others spoken of in public (added to parenthesis because I was on the fence about it trying to recall to the late 00s) — everyone just knew alternatives existed.
However, if there is value that can be added to DNF from any other forum, by all means, we welcome anyone to share the link! There is no masking of text to preemptively obfuscate links and no obscure errors thrown when attempting to post in public (and even in private).
Absolutely correct Raymond, in fact I specifically remember a post where DNForum had an agreement with one other forum and the mention of any other was prohibited.
I remember thinking this is just to weird, I could never refer to a post on another board without getting scolded, on namepros this is just crazy enforced. On DNForum this is changing and a breath of fresh air.
Although my tiny little forum is banned on namepros we have no such rule, we post news from all domain sources. The only rule we have is you cannot repost info from the PRIVATE forum.
On namepros, it’s not just censorship, they have all these crazy “rules” about supposedly needing to access with a residential IP address. And yeah, my account is restricted just because of this (allegedly. It’s probably an excuse because I said something which displeased them about deleting a thread. I mean, it wasn’t a problem for months until it suddenly was, hours after said comment…)
And they’re just acting like pricks when I tried to talk to them about it/solve it. At the same time, they are behind Cloudflare and you can’t find any mention of an address or a name anywhere about them (not even a country).
I’m very happy there is a decent alternative to these people (I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if some negative comments in this very comment section are from them. It would totally fit their behaviour as I witnessed it)
Hopefully DNF will just become better and better over time.
It probably will be the case.
DNForum banned VPN’s that are not owned by Epik!
I used a VPN to login at DNForum before Epik bought it. It worked beautifully in 2020 but now that Epik bought DNForum it tells me “Your IP address has been banned.” For all of them! I tried multiple and they all say that before I even try to login! But it’s ok because you can buy Epik’s VPN if you want to use a VPN on DNForum!! What a sham. At least no one else blocks you to sell you a VPN if you want privacy like Epik does. What a joke of Epik to treat customers like that.
Joe, as someone who also values privacy, I’m very sad to hear that. Which VPNs did you try and are blocked? I use one without any trouble. On DNF of course. Just go have a look at NP abusive “rules” if you want to have a good laugh. And they do block a lot of VPNs. I wasn’t aware of DNF doing it. Or maybe you were talking of NamePros?
It’s DNForum, I’ve never had that message on other sites on a VPN: “Your IP address has been banned.” It doesn’t even tell me why but I turned off the VPN and it worked. Which VPN do you use on DNForum? If it’s not Epik’s VPN maybe I’ll try it. I’m not paying Epik for their VPN, that’d be crazy:
“DNForum is free but you must pay for our VPN to use it!” No thanks.
No VPNs should be banned. The system does detect VPNs in some instances to preemptively thwart malicious acts. I would be very interested in knowing what IP addresses were used so that I could look into the account for what actions were taken in steps leading up to the banning of the IP address. This would allow me to not only fix the standing of the account but also look at making it better for future members using the same VPNs.
I assure you that we did not ban the use of non-Epik-owned VPNs though. I, myself, use Surfshark — which is often snipped by the big guys (Netflix, etc.) very quickly as to its cheap price point — from various locations and have not once triggered a ban event. However, I have landed myself in the moderation queue quite a few times.
See you around!
Amplify, you probably won’t get an answer, because this was IMO someone from NP lying and describing what happens with their own forum (most VPNs banned, and those which aren’t will often get you in trouble afterwards). The kind of behaviour I cannot stand (accuse others of doing something they don’t, but that you’re actually doing yourself).
Any one can try a VPN on DNForum to see it’s not a lie:
https://ibb.co/album/tzvHzv
https://postimg.cc/5QXrjrhm
Epik block their customers from using VPN’s then Epik calls their customers liars, horrific service!
I perfectly saw this. It is the case with some TOR exit nodes, as specified above. Of course you didn’t answer the questions which were asked numerous times (WHICH VPN would cause this).
Nobody from Epik called you a liar. I did. Come on, stop the nonsense at one point. I won’t answer anymore.
Joe, I can’t help you if you don’t want to be helped.
I showed it is blocked and you make up stories “No it’s not this, it’s that” maybe a VPN uses “that” I dunno but you wanna call me a liar, then I know you don’t care to help
A very smart move if the price was modest.
I’m excited to be able to roll out some exciting enhancements that will make the forum experience much more tolerable for all in the near future.
No one is coming back to dnf that’s a dream, or a hype job. The place has been nothing for years and will stay that way. Epik should have just started their own forum for their conservative membership. I would not even accept being paid to belong to dnf.
The world is on discord, twitter and clubhouse. Forums are a wasteland.
We’re currently in the process of bridging some of the gaps between forums and social media.
Thanks for the valuable feedback!
No one cares!!!
DNForum sucks always has, brightest minds? Say what???
No one except forum owners cares about forums, there is no bridging you are the past not the future.
Could improve under Rob, the key is what you want to get out of a forum?
Thank you for your constructive feedback, but I would have to politely disagree with you here. There is a lot that can be dropped into our core software that bridges a lot of gaps of how you interact with people when comparing new social media vs. the older school forums, which a lot of “domainers” ā people other than you by your own admission ā started on, and are comfortable with, as they joined as early as 20 years ago.
If you have any ideas of being able to bridge the gaps, we’d love to hear them in our suggestion forum. There is a very brilliant development team assigned to DNF to be able to get from our core software (Xenforo) to something amazing that has a nice medium between the older generation (>30) and the newer that’s not seen on any other forum today.
Hope that Dirty Dicker doesnt appear in that forum.
I meant the scumbag Adam Dicker for those who don’t know!!!!
Thanks Raymond for covering this topic. Although we did not make a press announcement, we did mention the acquisition in our July 4 promo announcement. Great video for anyone who missed it:
https://twitter.com/EpikDotCom/status/1410765491468124163
As for DNForum, yes, it is retro to invest in a forum but with ~500,000 registered users, many of the oldest domain investors signed up there. We think there is value to re-engage them.
The DNF acquisition also lines up nicely with our digital empowerment strategy. We acquired DomainGraduate.com back in 2020 from Sean Stafford and made that free. It is making impact. Example:
https://twitter.com/Furquah13/status/1411220487850500096
As for the DNF user experience, I believe it will evolve rapidly. We are a technology company that believes in lawful free expression and free enterprise. The industry needed more of both.
One thing I will be particularly curious about will be about how to extend the DNForum brand as part of the larger industry ecosystem. I see good potential there for reducing friction in the industry.
I am also closely studying the success of ClubHouse, and believe there are things we can learn from that format in terms of improving real-time engagement and authentic engagement.
Although Epik now owns it, all are welcome. I am not a fan of anti-competitive tomfoolery. We have seen it elsewhere. The Moderators at DNForum will have free reign to keep a level playing field.
As for my personal engagement, I do plan to drop some nuggets there on a routine basis. I also will try to amplify and teach others where I can. If people follow me there, I will follow back.
https://www.dnforum.com/members/robmonster.143534/#recent-content
I will encourage people to use their real names. Handles are great for being an edge lord on forums, but if anyone wants to build reputation, I encourage you to just be yourself!
Didn’t Afternic and Rick have boards/forums before DNForum?
Waste of money.
You know the saying: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Let’s see what happens with it. I would say watch the traffic trend:
https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/dnforum.com
If we do a good job, and create good value for members, DNF will be a top 10K site before year-end.
I am particularly interested in seeing members from 20 years ago, the OGs of the industry, re-engage. Stay tuned.
Thanks Rob!!
Now, definitely going to DNforum more!
DNforum has the best domain name.
Samer
Another year, another owner thinking they’ll do something to revive it, it’s comical. It’s not rocket science, rename it to EpikForums for a total rebrand. The DNForum brand is tarnished and not coming back. Rebranding DNForum to EpikForums is the only way.
DN.ca is someone with branding sense, that’s a good name.
Didn’t Afternic and Rick have forums before DNForum? Another branding fail.
Ricks board was not for people like you, me and the common domaining fraternity.
Only rich domainers, premium domain owners, were accepted in that club.
I don’t think DNForum was ever a brand as so much as it’s what a lot of us desire when seeking out domain name investments: An exact match [forum] domain.
Its logo now reflects “DNForum Powered by Epik” which would tell me it’s a Website operated by a Brand now.
āDNā is not exact match. A exact match domain would be āDomainForumā or āDomainNameForumā.
**JOE N.**
Thank you very much for having answered my question and not having asked another question instead. Also thank you for not repeating exactly the same thing again, like if it didn’t say anything. That was very nice from you. I hate it when people do this (yes, some people do this, believe it or not).
I tried for you with ZenMate, 1ClickVPN, Browsec, TouchVPN, and all the major totally free browser extensions I could find on the Chrome App Store. None was blocked and I was able to access DNForum. I tried through tor, and here, several exit nodes were blocked.
I won’t ask again which one you were using so that I could test it, and I will let you continue to do what you do. I won’t ask you which VPN you can use to access NP either š Take care.
Words are cheap, show screenshots like I did:
https://ibb.co/album/tzvHzv
https://postimg.cc/5QXrjrhm
I think you work for Epik with lies and lies, horrific service attacking customers like this.
I perfectly saw this. It is the case with some TOR exit nodes, as specified above. Of course you didn’t answer the questions which were asked numerous times (WHICH VPN would cause this).
I told again, again and again, I am NOT related to Epik in any way.
Of course you feel “attacked”. People like you always do. I won’t answer anymore.
I answered you, it’s posted under your mirrored post: https://tldinvestors.com/2021/07/epik-acquires-dnforum.html#comment-42308
DomainsGeneral,
I’ve tried to assist several times. It’s not worth your time to get worked up over.
See you around DNForum!
You won’t see me there after the rudeness I experienced, I don’t want to be around rude people, see you around Blogs!
@Joe N.
Could you try on dn.ca if you can post with your vpn?
I know we have no vpn restrictions so I am curious if our software does the same.
I use adguard free vpn when I need a vpn service. It is banned on namepros and I just tried it on DNForum and I was able to engage there no problems using that vpn.
So try installing the adguard free vpn extension for chrome, it seems to work on DNForum.
I never had a problem accessing DN.ca for me, that is a grand group of people! DNForum removed the block on my VPN after first denying it multiple time. The screenshot shows how it was before they chnaged it, rather than admitting it and apologizing they changed it, hid it, and deny. I don’t need to say anything else about it, it’s all here.
DN.ca is positively better then DNForum but make .ca mean cabin to not have excluvisity to canada.
They just need to open .ca up to california and we would all have some serious coin.