Thousands Of New Land Rushes To Come Thanks To ICANN!

[Asperger]

Why don't all you high-rolling domainers' get together and apply for '.domains', just too be on the safe side?

 

[Rubber Duck]

I think you are right to be disparaging of Dingbat domains. I don't own any.

As for Mongolia, all I have is the capital city in Russian Cyrilic.

No, the main languages of speculation are Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Russian and Hindi.
If you having problems working out why, then it is to do populations rather than anything else, but GDP per head of population is also important, which is why we have a small but very impressive portfolio of Azeri. Azerbajan has and will continue to have the high GDP growth on the Planet.

 

[Sarcle]

Icann, "We'll make a few million but we'll slit our thoats in the long run."

Domainers, "The sky is falling."

Icann, "We welcome the death of 2.0."


The slit your own throat mentality in this thread is sort of astounding to me. Direct Navigation will always rule. Domains will always define websites with alpha/num domains. Icann will not slit it's own throat. They will only make a few million off the suckers on new extentsions.

 

[Rubber Duck]

It is the ignore all the facts mentality that does my head in.

 

[Seraphim]

The value of .com has been hit hard in certain market niches, due to the increased availability of other domain extensions. That is a proven fact. If acknowledging that is slitting your own throat, as opposed to creating a sense of awareness through observation, then apparently denial is major investment strategy in this part of the woods.

Was the value of Pizza.com hit because Pizza.mobi became available, of course not, it would be laughable to even suggest that. But if you look at .com for what it really is, and it's a very broad playing field, you'll find numerous examples of where values were hurt by the release of other extensions. So if it has happened, then it can happen again. Look outside of the scope of ASCII English based category killer domains for example, and you'll find some very damaging inroads. And support infrastructure, and mind share, contrary to what RubberDuck is suggesting, 2 years and BAM!, it's dominant. What happened to all that money, well it became bigger money by adapting and strengthening it's position. That's what money's all about, and it's lightening fast when it moves.

It's a wild world outside of the minuscule sales charts posted over at the DNJournal. The establishment is unshakable? Well only in world where generalizations pose as the truth. What's wrong with seeing all angles, covering your arse, how does that equate to advocating the destruction of the .com? If cheerleading is what some of these threads are actually about, then let's replace the 65 year old British guy with some attractive women at least, and the next time I'll just bite my tongue.

 

[Theo]

then let's replace the 65 year old British guy with some attractive women at least, and the next time I'll just bite my tongue.

Time to push forward for that initiative and grab Hot.Women

 

[Donny Simonton]

I'm going after www.acroplex



Donny

 

[Seraphim]

Imagine this scenario. We all know that web giants tend to pop up every 5 years or so. Now imagine if one of these business phenomenons like MySpace, YouTube, or Facebook, where to hit the internet while using say, a ".web" extension (if it comes out). Now imagine if this particular company is really hot with newer generation web users, a trend setter or household name like the examples I listed above. Is there anyone here that actually believes a scenario like that would have no affect on the mind share and value of the .com? Would it sink the ship, of course not, but if .COM were a stock, and it generally trades at $1.00 a share, it's pretty reasonable to think it's value would drop a little, maybe a lot depending how the dynamics play out on the ground. Even if it didn't drop in value, perhaps it's appreciation would slow. That has happened already, big well financed players have dumped millions into alternative domain extensions, but right now .coms are still breaking sale records, so any ill effects are well masked by volumes of substantiated good news.

Look at how faddish people are with technology, fashion, dieting. It's fantasy land stuff, but imagine if .com developed a grandfather association with newer web users. Is that a plausible scenario albeit far reached, I think so.

The reason I leaned so heavily into this subject, is because I get tired of listening to the unsubstantiated cheerleading in the forums, and blogs, about certain TLDs. It's collective blindness. The more investors that see .coms weaknesses and vulnerabilities, the safer their investement becomes (foresight increases, reaction time increases, etc. etc.). Obviously some trends are just too big to counter in any form, but such is investing.

My 2 cents... I'll bow out now, and stop boring people.

 

[Theo]

I'm going after www.acroplex



Donny

Donny, thank you for pointing out the upcoming mess that this new "freedom" entails. Since "acroplex" is a registered trademark, what happens if I don't find out the TLD is up for grabs or it's being auctioned? And through my own mark, I'm referring of course to the thousands of common and "generic" registered marks that exist. E.g., which one of the 4,330 holders of "City" trademarks should get .city ? Would an auction be a fair process? Would it be contested regardless of the outcome? Would all the trademark holders be contacted prior to the auction, and why would they be required to pay up thousands of dollars simply to defend their mark?

 

[Sonny Banks]

More new extensions more .com worth.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Seraphim,

So you are absolutely sure that there is a new revolution about to hit the street, and your mind is open to anything, and even though you know the new revolution will be popular in nature and not primarily driven by the big American Corps that control the internet, you are still absolutely sure that new entrants to the internet that don't will be totally turned off by the concept of communicating in languages and scripts that mean something to them rather than all the drivel you are likely to find in an .Asia listing thread over at name pros. And this this is definitely of far less consequence that the issuing of more English gTLDs, when most people cannot think of a practical use for anything past the first three anyway, and several quite TLDs based on popular keywords are already bombing financially. Hmmm...

Just double checking. You did say that your mind is open and you are against collective blindness?

Ok, I guess that is it. How can I argue with that?

 

[katherine]

Past experience indicates that most of the new extensions have been failures.
Hardly surprising given that most are crappy, pointless and/or poorly marketed. How often do you visit .coop .aero or .jobs websites ?
More important is there any demand in the first place ? Your products are worthless if nobody wants them.

Generic extensions carry a potential burden of language/culture issues with them. Tomorrow you could register .realestate names for example, that may have some appeal in North America but if you speak British English names like these are hardly attractive.

All in one they look like novelty items à la new.net. Possibly they will do fine (but not better) for SEO purposes but will be avoided for any 'serious' development. Saying this, .me may be a foretaste of the vanity extensions coming our way.

I'm not too concerned about .com or established TLDs taking a hit. It is not a zero sum game. For instance the rise of the ccTLDs does not mean .com becomes irrelevant.
There is room for growth in both gTLDs and ccTLDs as the masses readily identify with them.

Any new extension will have to play by the rules of the market and will fail if it's not backed by a sound business plan, relevance and of course a raison d'être.

 

[Seraphim]

Seraphim,

So you are absolutely sure that there is a new revolution about to hit the street, and your mind is open to anything, and even though you know the new revolution will be popular in nature and not primarily driven by the big American Corps that control the internet, you are still absolutely sure that new entrants to the internet that don't will be totally turned off by the concept of communicating in languages and scripts that mean something to them rather than all the drivel you are likely to find in an .Asia listing thread over at name pros. And this this is definitely of far less consequence that the issuing of more English gTLDs, when most people cannot think of a practical use for anything past the first three anyway, and several quite TLDs based on popular keywords are already bombing financially. Hmmm...

Just double checking. You did say that your mind is open and you are against collective blindness?

Ok, I guess that is it. How can I argue with that?

See, there you go again with absolutes. Is it all or nothing with you? Stop looking at .com through a straw. I observe, I question, I analyze, and I see some possibilities. My conclusion is merely that there are possibilities, vulnerabilities, .com has been hurt before, you're saying it's untouchable, and I find that ridiculous in light of the facts, obvious facts.

Will a new revolution hit the street, well if you're all about absurd conclusions, then maybe. Can the value of .com be damaged by new extensions, yes, has it before, yes. If what I'm saying is so ridiculous, so contrary to everything rational, then why are your feathers so ruffled? After all you're the IDN guy, you're not sitting neck deep in foreign language script .coms are you? If so ouch!

 

[katherine]

Can the value of .com be damaged by new extensions, yes, has it before, yes.

You mean the ccTLDs ?

 

[Rubber Duck]

Which obvious facts?

Do you seriously think that all ASCII dot Coms are owned by Americans. Dot Com is a global brand. Dot Com is by far the most commercially used extension everywhere except Germany and Russia and some smaller Eastern European Countries.

Where are we currently getting most IDN traffic, well Russia actually because browser support for IDN is more established there than elsewhere. As for China and Japan, I have bought counterparts in ccTLD to test the traffic. The ccTLDs just don't cut the mustard. I am not saying they won't continue to be important and I am not saying that ccTLDs won't continue to dominate in Germany and Russia, but in the latter there has to be considerable doubt considering the migration from RU to Cyrillic RF.

The point is, however, although you claim you mind is open it is not open. You just cannot see that the overwhelming important things in the local markets Keyword recognition and TLD recognition. The latter already exists. The Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Russians and Arabs have no problem with TLD recognition, although the Arabs clearly have a problem with it running back to front in their own script. Where they all have a problem is in the Keywords. Here it is not just a question of remembering a three letter sequence that they have seen a billion times before, it is a question of learning a foreign dictionary.

Of course, you haven't even mentioned the possibility of Aliasing of TLDs with local characters, so I won't blow your mind with that one.

In the meantime, be my guest to sink your stash in dot Nugget. Hope you get some good ones!

You mean the ccTLDs ?

That is the only thing I can think of, but please don't mention Localisation or we will have brain cell debris all over the forum.

 

[Seraphim]

You mean the ccTLDs ?

I mean both. Money diverted elsewhere, is well, money diverted elsewhere. 200K spent at an auction on a .mobi does conceivably delete the pool of available funds for .com purchases, doesn't it? I'm looking at .COM, not .com niches, there's a huge difference. Look at the whole picture, a certain percentage of the whole sum of money spent on .mobi to date, in all likelihood would have been spent on .com had that extension not hit the market. What percentage exactly, your guess is as good as mine.

If you buy a blue sweater, as opposed to very popular red sweater, that effects red sweater sales performance negatively, but it doesn't make it less popular in the short term, does it? I'm not predicting doom and gloom here, I was just pointing out some facts and observations that are in stark contrast to what some of you keep saying.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Yes, but dot Mobi was a one off. A really plausible concept at the outset. And comparatively big buck advertising budgets and the Sheep were herded in by their very own Shepherd, who seem to have a nasty accident somehow and ended up in the pie.

Mobi did suck a lot of liquidity out the market, and will certainly have put many potential speculators off domains altogether. However, most dot Mobiers are never going to admit failure regardless of the outcome, and probably won't be dissuaded from atempting to add to their successes. The real shame is that it lead many up an intellectual blind alley, from which they seem unable to escape.

 

[Theo]

I prefer a blue sweater

 

[Seraphim]

Mobi did suck a lot of liquidity out the market, and will certainly have put many potential speculators off domains altogether.

And there you touch on a very valid point. Aside from new alternative TLDs diverting funds away from .com themselves, "chipping away at marble so to speak", what ill effects could wide spread TLD confusion have on the market? The shadow of uncertainty has already hit home, I mean look at all the "sky is falling" threads that have gone up in the forums over the last several weeks. That has to have had some ill affect on .com liquidity, as you pointed out.

There are some big question marks hovering over the industry right now, .com included. I don't really foresee a huge wave of TLDs hitting the market in the short term, but in the long term, who knows. What if one of them sparks, the whole point of my rambling was, judging from I've seen at the fringes, losing mind share quickly is much more of possibility then some folks are willing to admit.

 

[Rubber Duck]

And there you touch on a very valid point. Aside from new alternative TLDs diverting funds away from .com themselves, "chipping away at marble so to speak", what ill effects could wide spread TLD confusion have on the market? The shadow of uncertainty has already hit home, I mean look at all the "sky is falling" threads that have gone up in the forums over the last several weeks. That has to have had some ill affect on .com liquidity, as you pointed out.

There are some big question marks hovering over the industry right now, .com included. I don't really foresee a huge wave of TLDs hitting the market in the short term, but in the long term, who knows. What if one of them sparks, the whole point of my rambling was, judging from I've seen at the fringes, losing mind share quickly is much more of possibility then some folks are willing to admit.

I think the sky is falling threads are generally knee querk reaction due to misleading articles and zero research, which is why I would implore people to read the actual policy documents.

I don't see a big explosion in Latin extensions. There are really already sufficient to meet demand. Further extension are always going to struggle financially, and the more there are, the more they will struggle.

I don't really see it as incrementable chipping away at dot Com. Much of the erosion will come from existing Wanabee TLDs. Sure the dot com registery is bloated with rubbish and nobody would miss 20 to 30 million drops. However, don't confuse a shake out of the crap with the possibility of dropping values at the top end. Most guys at the top end really don't need to sell that badly anyway.