Originally posted by safesys
a lost visitor whether its by them not remembering a multi word .com or typing .com rather than .info for a simple term is still a lost visitor and that nets to lost revenue.
considering there is well documented spillover from .org/.net after all this time (explaining why virtually all corporates shun them) - expecting the new tld's to help rather than hinder seems a little optimistic.
the real problem for .info is that why would anyone with a big budget promote something that will, by its nature, lose a significant percentage of that spend?
Without companies doing exactly this, it won't get more common and people won't come across more marketed sites in that tld.
Its catch 22, and theres no commercial reason why this cycle would change as far as I can see.
Excellent point Safesys. Here's a slightly different spin on it. In economics, when action generates something good for which the actor is not paid or something bad for which the actor is not fined, then this is called an externality. One of the problems with .INFO namespace development is that there is an externality problem (could also be called a "free rider" problem). Everyone with .INFO domain names would be better off if they all develop and promote them. However, for any one owner acting as an individual to develop and promote a single .INFO site, a large portion of the money and effort goes to promoting the extension with diluted benefits to many (externality) and only a fraction of the effort goes to the individual owner putting up the money and effort. From the perspective of an individual, for every $1 they spend on ######.INFO, perhaps only 10 cents winds up benefiting them directly. This contributes to the catch-22 you describe. In order to break out of this catch-22, there would have to be: collective action by many .INFO owners; advertising by the registry; news concerning .INFO that catches the public's attention; development of some key .INFOs by market leaders who are willing to take risk and get through temporary losses; or a major market shift of some other type. If some of these things happen, then the individual benefit could begin to outweigh the individual cost. I think the jury is still out concerning whether this will happen or not, but I am guessing it will and the catch-22 will be broken.
I am old enough to remember when it was major trauma considering whether to buy a PC that was not IBM. They called non-IBM computers -- "IBM clones" -- in a derogatory manner. IBM ruled. Why would anyone design hardware or software for any type of machine other than an IBM? And why would anyone buy a machine other than an IBM when there was little hardware or software for it? A catch-22. However... now look at the market. If you had bought Dell stock back then, it would have been a big gamble.... but...
So. We will see whether .INFO joins .cc and .ws in the abyss of odd suffixes, or breaks out of this catch-22 into the light of public awareness
