Tribute to Yun Ye

[mole]

I started "domaining" back in 2000, a time when UltSearch or 'Yun Ye' was busy grabbing names with RRP connections in the likes that were pretty incredible. Yun also put Snapnames to good use back in the time when snapbacks were going at $49 per pop, blocking out thousands of snapbacks on names with military precision.

In those days, you could get very good names for very cheap prices with your wits and hard work, today the game has turned into nothing more than who has the biggest wallet - paying hundreds and thousands for crap names.

Yun finally sold me my portfolio flagship name for $4k about 3-4 years ago (it was a king's ransom to me), after months of email him with no response, that was the only time I ever had dealings with him.

Here is an article that just came out, brings back memories of the time when domaining was really fun...

Yun Ye is one of the most elusive, and successful, businessmen in Canada. His fortune is worth over US$150 million. Yet he has no known address, office or employees. Even his former lawyer refers to him as more myth than man. People have spent years trying to secure a business meeting with him. The few who do leave wondering if it was really Yun Ye that they met. For all that's known about Ye, a Chinese citizen rumoured to have been living until recently with his family in a modest condo in downtown Vancouver's Wall Centre, he might just run his affairs from a laptop computer and a lawn chair. He's what's known as a "domainer." He is, in fact, the world's most successful domainer, a pioneer in a highly lucrative industry based on buying, selling and developing Web addresses, or domain names.

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/business/article.jsp?content=20060306_122704_122704

 

[peekaboo]

if this guy is really naturalized canadian citizen we should be in awe not only for him selling out for so much, but also for slick ways in which he managed to bypass 'revenue canada'.

for that reason, and if my hypothesis is true, i personally don't believe he is in canada any longer nor that he will ever step one foot back there again.

 

[Ed30]

Good article - I too remember the days of $49 snaps - and yes it was more fun then.

 

[sasquatch]

This is terrible article probably written by some second-hand backwater freelancer. Obviously the guy is writing something just for sake of writing, and is rehashing the same old things he found in couple of other media pieces (most notably Business 2.0 piece which is painfully obvious from the article title itself). Also, he is at least a year-year and half late to write about Yun Ye, because as far as anyone knows there's "no Yun Ye" anymore, only his legacy.

 

[dotNetKing]

This is terrible article ...

Still, it's nice to reminisce from time to time.

I remember competing for traffic names that Yun Ye was going for three or four years ago. I'm pretty sure I beat him to some with the help of NW, CD and GD.

 

[Sarcle]

because as far as anyone knows there's "no Yun Ye" anymore, only his legacy.

Going from the fact that history repeats itself. It's happening everyday in a new area known as IDN. There are two main people that are registering most all the drops, every single day. I believe we have another Yun Ye in our mist and it's happening right now.

 

[Anthony Ng]

Yun finally sold me my portfolio flagship name for $4k about 3-4 years ago (it was a king's ransom to me), after months of email him with no response, that was the only time I ever had dealings with him.

Good for you. At least you have something to brag about. I haven't even tried to contact him for the domain which I believe he beat me by just a couple of minutes at the most back in 1998, when Snapnames haven't even started beta-testing, because it was, is and will be worth way much more than just a few thousand dollars. :sigh:

 

[peekaboo]

Good for you. At least you have something to brag about. I haven't even tried to contact him for the domain which I believe he beat me by just a couple of minutes at the most back in 1998, when Snapnames haven't even started beta-testing, because it was, is and will be worth way much more than just a few thousand dollars. :sigh:

beijing?

 

[hugegrowth]

Interesting, that article is in the latest issue of MacLeans, which if some of you don't know is a widely read magazine in Canada - sort of like Time but with more general interest articles related to Canada. Domaining is making it more into the mainstream media now, which will just increase the whole market.