For Sale Are you for or Against WLS

[Bob]

Here is the much anticipated poll. The results will be interesting.

Thanks to HiHoSilver for the suggestion.

-Bob

 

[cyphix]

You should of included an option for leaning toward WLS or leaning toward not for WLS.

 

[Bob]

Originally posted by cyphix
You should of included an option for leaning toward WLS or leaning toward not for WLS.

I thought about it, but Polls can only have 10 options.

-Bob

 

[hiOsilver]

Bob,

Thanks for setting this up.

Howard

 

[David G]

Thanks for setting it up but sorry, polls like this are of no real value, except to support a very small minority of membership views.

Why? Because a very small percentage of members will vote, resulting in an non-scientific sampling size. Plus, the relatively few members here who are successful at expired's will almost assuredly vote due to their personal vested interest in the current poor drop system.

Only the most adamant and vocal ones normally vote, thus heavily favoring the anti-wls as they are the ones who are much more likely to vote.

Whereas the very large silent majority will not bother to participate, though they are believed to favor WLS.

 

[Anthony Ng]

Originally posted by RealNames
[color=ff0000]Pro[/color]-WLS members more likely to vote

... Only the most adamant and vocal ones normally vote, thus heavily favoring the [color=ff0000]anti[/color]-wls as they are the ones who are much more likely to vote.

So WHO are more likely to vote then?

 

[David G]

That was a typo error, corrected by edit.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Anthony Ng]

Originally posted by RealNames
Thanks for setting it up but sorry, polls like this are of no real value, except to support a very small minority of membership views.

Why? Because a very small percentage of members will vote, resulting in an non-scientific sampling size. Plus, the relatively few members here who are successful at expired's will almost assuredly vote due to their personal vested interest in the current poor drop system.

Only the most adamant and vocal ones normally vote, thus heavily favoring the anti-wls as they are the ones who are much more likely to vote.

Whereas the very large silent majority will not bother to participate, though they are believed to favor WLS.

Your mentioning of an inadequate sampling size and that of the vocal minority are valid; however, I do not see the logic behind your coming to conclusion that the poll result will be skewed towards the "against" side, and your assumption that the silent majority actually favor WLS does not have any supporting evidence at all.

On the contrary, we are going to have some hard data which may be useful for further analysis with this poll. I therefore strongly recommend everyone here to vote. Of course, you may want to educate yourself a little bit before doing so. A starting point may be http://www.icann.org/bucharest/wls-topic.htm (although you probably also need some updates elsewhere).

 

[David G]

Originally posted by nameslave Your mentioning of an inadequate sampling size and that of the vocal minority are valid; however, I do not see the logic behind your coming to conclusion that the poll result will be skewed towards the "against" side, and your assumption that the silent majority actually favor WLS does not have any supporting evidence at all. On the contrary, we are going to have some hard data which may be useful for further analysis with this poll. I therefore strongly recommend everyone here to vote. Of course, you may want to educate yourself a little bit before doing so. A starting point may be http://www.icann.org/bucharest/wls-topic.htm (although you probably also need some updates elsewhere).

Right, I doubt if there is any wls data on the silent majority.

Was assuming the average person wanting to get a domain already reg'd which they think may drop, would much prefer to simply buy a wls on it being assured they will get the name with 100% certainty and at a low fixed cost.

That compares to spending zillions of hrs hanging around the forums, registering and visiting the many drop services and getting involved in insane bidding wars, and likely not get the name in the long run anyway.

 

[Anthony Ng]

Originally posted by RealNames
... spending zillions of hrs hanging around the forums, registering and visiting the many drop services and getting involved in insane bidding wars, and likely not get the name in the long run anyway.

LOL! Let's vote!

 

[GeorgeK]

http://forum.icann.org/wls/ has a larger "sample" (most of the pro-WLS posters are located in in Oregon, though).

http://www.petitiononline.com/antiwls/ has 4000+ signatures.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by RealNames
Thanks for setting it up but sorry, polls like this are of no real value, except to support a very small minority of membership views.

Dave did you come to that conclusion AFTER you saw WLS was getting trounced in the poll or before? :cheeky:

My Pro-WLS friend Howard (HiOSilver), hinted in another thread (suggesting this poll be conducted) that he was confident Pro-WLS'ers would easily win a poll:

Originally posted by hiOsilver
I have been trying to get the thread monitors to start a poll to see where sentiment for/against WLS is headed. I can already predict the outcome. Most people now see the profits of this business shifting to the registrars as they take de facto ownership of the expiring domains, and auction them off a la Pool, Namewinner, Enom, etc.

Wonder if he thinks a poll is not really valid now either (hindsight is always 20-20). :-D

Seriously, I think the majority of domain resellers clearly realize that WLS would only make this business harder to succeed in, not easier. But whichever side of the fence you come down on we can all remain friends and try to respect everyone's viewpoint. The landscape is changing so rapidly a lot of opinions could still change either way .

 

[bidawinner]

Actually Duke, the poll tends to give credibility to the idea the no longer are the majority against WLS.. in fact as you can clearly see..

if you add those that either were against WLS and now are either undecided or have moved for WLS.. that number represents a DROP of support for WLS by 40%.. nearl;y half those tht supported WLS last year.. no longer do.. I see a trouncing alright.. and it isn't in the support column :laugh:

 

[Kid Kool]

Originally posted by bidawinner
Actually Duke, the poll tends to give credibility to the idea the no longer are the majority against WLS.. in fact as you can clearly see..

if you add those that either were against WLS and now are either undecided or have moved for WLS.. that number represents a DROP of support for WLS by 40%.. nearl;y half those tht supported WLS last year.. no longer do.. I see a trouncing alright.. and it isn't in the support column :laugh:

I think it shows that the liberal PRO-WLSers are more waffly, like a bunch of women who don't know what they want.

 

[Duke]

You have succeeded in confusing me Bid. Your first sentence says the majority is no longer against WLS.

Your next sentence says WLS lost half its supporters from last year and it " is a trouncing but not in the support column " (which was my point).

 

[Jack Gordon]

the fact is that extremists on both sides are most likely to vote, effectively cancelling each other out. Kinda like the primary process here in the States. Hopefully what's left when the dust settles is a reasonable, rational policy on how best to kill WLS :-D

 

[hiOsilver]

Originally posted by Duke


Dave did you come to that conclusion AFTER you saw WLS was getting trounced in the poll or before? :cheeky:

My Pro-WLS friend Howard (HiOSilver), hinted in another thread (suggesting this poll be conducted) that he was confident Pro-WLS'ers would easily win a poll:

Wonder if he thinks a poll is not really valid now either (hindsight is always 20-20). :-D


Duke, glad to hear we are still friends. Actually, I was confident that a poll would show that opinion is moving towards the pro-WLS side. So far (as of this post) that is the case. Of those who were against WLS last year, 1/3 have shifted to undecided or pro-WLS. Of those who were pro-WLS, none have changed position. Of those who were undecided, 2 have become anti-WLS and 4 have become pro-WLS. Regardless of the position last year, people are tending to become more pro-WLS. I expect the trend to continue as more people see more of their potential profits sucked away by the registrars.


Seriously, I think the majority of domain resellers clearly realize that WLS would only make this business harder to succeed in, not easier. But whichever side of the fence you come down on we can all remain friends and try to respect everyone's viewpoint. The landscape is changing so rapidly a lot of opinions could still change either way .

I agree with you that we should respect each other's opinions.

I disagree that WLS would make this business harder to succeed in. A year ago I was not sure. Now that I see how things are going, I know that the cost of domain procurement has risen sharply for me. And my investment in lots of great Snapbacks has been SEVERELY devalued by the competition from the auction-based drop services. Names that I could have picked up at Namewinner for $25 a year ago are now going for $200 at NW or Pool. This negative trend will continue to get worse without WLS.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by hiOsilver
Actually, I was confident that a poll would show that opinion is moving towards the pro-WLS side.

OK, I see your point there and yes, I think there is no doubt that recent developments have led some to believe WLS would be better for them. However, I think frustration with the current state of affairs is similar to what we see in politics. People want to throw the incumbents out to "send a message", even though the next administration (WLS in this case) could be even worse for them.

 

[bidawinner]

Originally posted by Duke
You have succeeded in confusing me Bid. Your first sentence says the majority is no longer against WLS.

Your next sentence says WLS lost half its supporters from last year and it " is a trouncing but not in the support column " (which was my point).

Hey I confused myself so dont bang your head trying to figure it out ! LOL..

actually ..the point was simnply that nearly half the people that were against WLS.. no longer are against it.. not necessarily for WLS ..but certainly not against it either..


Basically it isnt as a trouncing lieit was last year when nearly everyone was against it..

people are realizing the way it isknow ..is never going to get them any of the REALLY top names and are willing to try anything else.. thats my interpretation anyways..

 

[Bob]

Against leading the race:

Against: 22
For: 14
Undecided: 7

-Bob