.US Heating Up!

[Rubber Duck]

I, but looking at the bigger picture dot US does not seem to performing particularly well.

how so??

highest sales by far on the new tld is .US

out of 10 highest sales on the chart at dnjournal .US has 5 or half ,,info only 3 .biz 2 :huh:

Precisely, dot US has not graduated from the New TLD table on DNForum. You will note that the establish ccTLDs are actually in the main table and that only ccTLD that appears in the special table for TLDs that would not otherwise get a look in is dot US.


Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[zouzas]

well i guess if your going to compare extensions of 15-20 years to extensions of 2 years your right :approve:

 

[Rubber Duck]

well i guess if your going to compare extensions of 15-20 years to extensions of 2 years your right :approve:

Well again that is a distortion because all ccTLDs with a few exceptions, where there have been major changes in geographical boundaries, were all notionally set up at the same time. The fact that dot US has been largely ignored is down to the fact that the US regards dot com as its ccTLD.

Quoting from:

http://isp-planet.com/hosting/2002/allforus.html

So what better time to unleash this new country code top-level domain (ccTLD) to patriotic dot-com organizations. Transferring the .us country code from its previous manager, VeriSign, has been on the agenda for the fledgling ccTLD for over a decade.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[zouzas]

[
Quoting from:

http://isp-planet.com/hosting/2002/allforus.html

Dave Wrixon[/QUOTE]



nice try but your article is dated feb 02 ,,.US wasn;t even released till april 02 :approve:


wheres sasquatch when you need him :cheeky:

 

[DryHeat]

Yes, .US is not doing well and the outlook for it looks quite bleak....so this is what .US holders need to do....drop all of your names however you can, then get your retirement savings out, get a second mortgage, or whatever else it takes to get some hard cold cash and invest in IDNs of local/regional Indian and Chinese languages....:laugh:

You see, I am literally a shrink and even I seldom come across this type of schizophrenic logic where you find blatant denial of reality (of .US having pretty decent prospects) on one hand, and the grandiose delusion of something non-existent not only becoming reality but being a huge success (IDNs) on the other......I realize its a strong and exaggerated analogy but at times thats exactly what is needed to make a point...and I am sure that most reasonable minded folks would understand what I'm trying to point out here!

 

[carlton]

Interesting observation DryHeat. I've noticed a similar phenomenon on various Yahoo message boards pertaining to stocks. The term used there is "bashers". These are people with an incessant need to put down a company and talk down the company's practices or potential.

Bashers often times appear to start out with a moderately legitimate gripe but then display an almost neurotic obsession with promoting their negative opinions. Even in the face of improving company earnings or other emerging positives, the basher will escalate his negative spin becoming increasingly argumentative and defensive with others who are trying to realistically evaluate the company's next moves. Unfortunately, the basher's perpetual pessimism and sarcasm ruins the message board for those who try to have reasonable discussions of the company stock.

Many of these individuals are bitter because they made an unwise investment decision (or missed out entirely on a good thing). Instead of looking for other opportunities, they'd rather use their time to launch repeated attacks.

Can't help but notice the parallel here with some posters' comments on .US.

 

[DryHeat]

Just like it'd be illogical and foolish of me to put down .com and hype up the new tlds, similarly it's childish and bizarre to put down new tlds and hype up something that does not even exist yet. Its even more ironic to incessantly talk negative of .US when it is neither your country code nor in any way its going to affect the future of IDNs whatever it might be!

I'd never wish ill for other's aspirations and investments and hope/pray that they get handsomely rewarded but also its not easy to be so saintly to roll over and take all the negativity just lying down.

 

[seeker]

Yes, .US is not doing well and the outlook for it looks quite bleak....so this is what .US holders need to do....drop all of your names however you can, then get your retirement savings out, get a second mortgage, or whatever else it takes to get some hard cold cash and invest in IDNs of local/regional Indian and Chinese languages....:laugh:

You see, I am literally a shrink and even I seldom come across this type of schizophrenic logic where you find blatant denial of reality (of .US having pretty decent prospects) on one hand, and the grandiose delusion of something non-existent not only becoming reality but being a huge success (IDNs) on the other......I realize its a strong and exaggerated analogy but at times thats exactly what is needed to make a point...and I am sure that most reasonable minded folks would understand what I'm trying to point out here!

very well put!
I didnt want to really participate here as I know Dave's obsession with Chinese IDNs, and, that there is no way to change his mind. Of course, no one should *have* to change their minds, but when statements are made about what might happen vs. what is happening (not only is .us happening, but so is .info which Dave also has launched a crusade against), then things get messy.
Heck, even .in is way ahead of .cn, and probably will always be (not to mention .us and .info).
reasoning: geopolotical and socioeconomical conditions.
China is still a dictatorship that heavily censors the internet.
I as an investor would NOT place serious money in such a market.
here is the catch. Were China to become a democracy (unlikely), or stop its censorship (unlikely), then there no longer will be 1 China (because China is made up of hundreds, if not thousands of provinces that are very independent thinking). that brings us back to the fact that this ccTLD is not a safe investment. it is not a bad investment to resell to fellow investors perhaps, but to end users, you need to be really really lucky.
Next reason: China is much much poorer than other countries. it is also way behind in the IT sector than India, the US (and of course a no competitor to gTLD like info etc...)
.us on the other hand is already established, and still has way to go in a free country that doesnt have the economical hurdles of China (nor the social ones).
with the thinking of the .cn IDNers, .cn might one day even compete with .DE etc... this is a dream. *IF* .cn ever takes off, the market will be very different, people are not going to pay as much for keywords, and the only way to make money in such a market is to wait very very long. So, If you want to wait 10-20 years for .cn to take off, go ahead and say it *might* compete with .us, on the other hand if you want to make money in a safe for investors environment, invest in .us (or info or biz) and wait a couple of years.
My opinion of course is just that, an opinion based on my experience. I am not putting down Dave's opinion, he has the right to have it, I just disagree with it as a domain investor.
and of course it is a no brainer that .com is way up there, and as much as .com is the giant in the industry and it towers over .us, so does .us tower over .cn and IDNs

 

[Rubber Duck]

QUOTING seeker

very well put!....

Heck, even .in is way ahead of .cn, and probably will always be (not to mention .us and .info).

Absolute rubbish, China has the world's fastest growing ccTLD! I would not, however, advise on general speculation in dot CN, as phrase registered need to relevant to the market, which most English keywords won't be. My holdings in dot CN are limited to a small number of popular 3 Letter Acronyms.


reasoning: geopolotical and socioeconomical conditions.
China is still a dictatorship that heavily censors the internet.
I as an investor would NOT place serious money in such a market.
here is the catch. Were China to become a democracy (unlikely), or stop its censorship (unlikely), then there no longer will be 1 China (because China is made up of hundreds, if not thousands of provinces that are very independent thinking). that brings us back to the fact that this ccTLD is not a safe investment. it is not a bad investment to resell to fellow investors perhaps, but to end users, you need to be really really lucky.

No, doubt all these thousands of provinces will then adopt English or perhaphs Greek as their official languages and seek accession to the US or EU!

No, none of this is plausible, but in any event, it would only strengthen the value of my dot com IDN investments. I do not have any dot CN, IDN! The Chinese are not going to stop speaking Chinese whatever happens and the fragmentation would favour the gTLDs. If China fragmented into 100 Taiwans, then the value of dot com IDNs would probably be greatly enhanced!

Next reason: China is much much poorer than other countries. it is also way behind in the IT sector than India, the US (and of course a no competitor to gTLD like info etc...)

Nonsense again, China has a much large Internet than India, more domains, more web content! Furthermore, China's economy is bigger than Indias and expanding at a much faster rate!

.us on the other hand is already established, and still has way to go in a free country that doesnt have the economical hurdles of China (nor the social ones).

Contentious

with the thinking of the .cn IDNers, .cn might one day even compete with .DE etc... this is a dream. *IF* .cn ever takes off, the market will be very different, people are not going to pay as much for keywords, and the only way to make money in such a market is to wait very very long. So, If you want to wait 10-20 years for .cn to take off, go ahead and say it *might* compete with .us, on the other hand if you want to make money in a safe for investors environment, invest in .us (or info or biz) and wait a couple of years.


PPC IDN traffic in Japan at least will be a reality the moment IE 7.0 is released. It is possible to park Japanese IDN at Sedo and point them at well populated list of Google Adwords. The price per click is already comparable to the west. Local Overture clearly indicates that Japanese keyword searches are primarily in local characters and Overture scores are often in the 1 Million searches per month bracket. The only reason I can see that we are not getting significant levels of earnings is lack of browser support. Firefox is not big in Asia and it would seem there is not much interest in the IDN Plug-in.

In China things will take a little longer as the main US search engines are less well established and Adwords is poorly populated. Baidu do have well populated PPC adverts but PPC access is problematic at the moment.

Either way, as we have only paid reg fee for any of the domains huge earnings are not required to cover costs.

My opinion of course is just that, an opinion based on my experience. I am not putting down Dave's opinion, he has the right to have it, I just disagree with it as a domain investor.
and of course it is a no brainer that .com is way up there, and as much as .com is the giant in the industry and it towers over .us, so does .us tower over .cn and IDNs


Yes, dot com does tower over everything, even in the Far East, which is why that is where we have invested our money! Dot com IDNs are as much part of the dot com registery as any other dot com domain. When dot us and info are taken out the incumbator at DNJournal, then may be more of us will take them seriously! At the moment Korean dot org IDNs are dropping at a much faster rate than dot US or dot Info are picking up registrations!

Anyway, I can feel one big TOLD YOU SO coming on!

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[StockDoctor]

Getting a bit off-track on the theme of my thread here.

The original theme was that the .US ccTLD is heating up with the increasing high ticket sales reports and new site development. That was all.

I saw a recent report in the NY Times that about 1/3rd of the US still does NOT use the Internet in any significant amount. That says to me that the Web is still NEW and Evolving, and the demand for domains (including .US) will surely increase. The idea that this 1/3rd of the population may be motivated by more local search features and local business applications and promotions speaks loudly in support of the .US future demand.

Can we take the Chinese unrelated comments back to the IDN (whatever that is) thread?

 

[mole]

That says to me that the Web is still NEW and Evolving, and the demand for domains (including .US) will surely increase.

It will certain be for those 25 years and below.

You will notice that the .COM cults are normally populated by people from the baby boomer generation, those born in the 60s and 70s. Who grew up with DOS in their hand, and a peace sign in the other.

Generation Y, the digital nomads, aren't aware there is a DOS file called command.com, let alone imagine the world without a mouse.

The techno dinosaurs of the Internet age will eventually wander off into their .COM slumber, as a new generation replaces their foggie thoughts and beliefs.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Getting a bit off-track on the theme of my thread here.

The original theme was that the .US ccTLD is heating up with the increasing high ticket sales reports and new site development. That was all.

I saw a recent report in the NY Times that about 1/3rd of the US still does NOT use the Internet in any significant amount. That says to me that the Web is still NEW and Evolving, and the demand for domains (including .US) will surely increase. The idea that this 1/3rd of the population may be motivated by more local search features and local business applications and promotions speaks loudly in support of the .US future demand.

Can we take the Chinese unrelated comments back to the IDN (whatever that is) thread?

Totally agree, but I don't accept most of the blame here.

All IDN bashers or indeed enthusiast are welcome to pursue the debate at:

http://www.idnforums.com/

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[StockDoctor]

Interesting observation DryHeat. I've noticed a similar phenomenon on various Yahoo message boards pertaining to stocks. The term used there is "bashers". These are people with an incessant need to put down a company and talk down the company's practices or potential.

Interesting post Carlton. I'm quite familiar with the stock "bashers" as you noted. In a number of those cases, these "bashers" are holders of a short position in whatever the stock is that they are trying to move lower thru negative comments. Other's may hold stock in a competitor company/issue and think that by knocking the competition, they will somehow help their holdings. I think that last reason is a much closer analogy to what happens in the domain world. Some holders of .com (commies) are threatened by any gain made in what they see as potentially their biggest threat, a cheaper American domain extension alternative. This fear could be very well justified when US local business search becomes more common. The problem then in a local business selection of a .com name doesn't just involve price (if that's not enough), it involves the lack of a geographical qualifier. With Globalization increasing in speed, .Com may come to mean International, with the ccTLDs distinguishing specific countries (as was intended of course). With even further "LOCAL" distinction becoming desirable and necessary (including within the US), what extension would be best suited?

 

[mole]

With even further "LOCAL" distinction becoming desirable and necessary (including within the US), what extension would be best suited?

.EU?

As the saying goes, would you rather be a small fish in a big pond, or a big fish in a small pond? I'd rather eat the fish, to be honest.

Some people pay ridiculous sums for generic .COMs without realising that they are doing nothing more than sipping a drop of the internet ocean.

Sometimes its better to situate your vision and business model to an immediate but well understood surrounding - be all things to everyone, and end up being nobody to anyone.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Interesting post Carlton. I'm quite familiar with the stock "bashers" as you noted. In a number of those cases, these "bashers" are holders of a short position in whatever the stock is that they are trying to move lower thru negative comments. Other's may hold stock in a competitor company/issue and think that by knocking the competition, they will somehow help their holdings. I think that last reason is a much closer analogy to what happens in the domain world. Some holders of .com (commies) are threatened by any gain made in what they see as potentially their biggest threat, a cheaper American domain extension alternative. This fear could be very well justified when US local business search becomes more common. The problem then in a local business selection of a .com name doesn't just involve price (if that's not enough), it involves the lack of a geographical qualifier. With Globalization increasing in speed, .Com may come to mean International, with the ccTLDs distinguishing specific countries (as was intended of course). With even further "LOCAL" distinction becoming desirable and necessary (including within the US), what extension would be best suited?

Yes, this does make sense. Globalisation is achieved through Localisation!

The US market is highly skewed because it was the first to take off and is still the biggest, but even here the Localisation argument must eventually hold true. Being able to access information not only in the correct Linguistic, but also Geographical context is very important. Dot co.uk and Google.co.uk are very important for search as otherwise, browsers from the UK get swamp with irrelevant commercial offerings from the US.

Despite all the rivalry here, it is clear that the dot US will help the US to localise and therefore does have a role. The problem is that in terms of urgency the US market is probably at the bottom of the list at the moment. Nevertheless, due to the size of the US economy, the rewards are no doubt out there. The main problem is that due to frozen mind set of most speculators, developers and even end users, this probably won't happen soon, and the lesson will be learnt from others who have localised first. This may mean that US will have a whole load more learning to do from the Far East. It won't be a precident as this was already set in the Quality Management field, but history shows that the US only really starts listening to others when the wheels fall off!

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

.EU?

As the saying goes, would you rather be a small fish in a big pond, or a big fish in a small pond? I'd rather eat the fish, to be honest.

Some people pay ridiculous sums for generic .COMs without realising that they are doing nothing more than sipping a drop of the internet ocean.

Sometimes its better to situate your vision and business model to an immediate but well understood surrounding - be all things to everyone, and end up being nobody to anyone.

Yes EU will be big. Domains need to relate to market places and despite the political wrangling the EU is a an important unified market.

Yes, targeting product at market is important. If by trying to be global, you are not sufficiently targeted locally, failure will be the price.

Those that adhere to the dot com creed though will only listen when they are being taken to the cleaners by those that don't.

Without mentioning the dreaded 3 letter acroymn, I will say that both ccTLD and the use of local language characters both have a huge role to play in localisation. My critisism of the dot IN protagonists is not that there is anythign wrong with the extension, but that appreciation of the importance of local language appears to be utterly absent. In the US the language issue is not highly relevant, so the ccTLD will be the primary means of achieving localisation.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[mole]

If by trying to be global, you are not sufficiently targeted locally, failure will be the price.

Agreed drix, people like to astrue .COM as the holy grail but in reality, ask them to show you their .COM category keywords and sucks is generally an understatement.

Those with good .US portfolio's have categories and keywords nailed to the door and through the backyard, people like zou, who have a flipping encyclopedia of true keywords, not the rambling, wannabe mess so characteristic of .COM collections.

I've always felt that while .COM is epitome of US internet icons like Yahoo, Goog and Ebay, .US has a certain branding charm and reads well.

The traffic-centric domain monetizers just don't get it.

 

[Rubber Duck]

The traffic-centric domain monetizers just don't get it.

But they will when the traffic migrates there, which it most certainly will, when people come to understand that the stuff they want is at dot US.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

 

[stuff]

But they will when the traffic migrates there, which it most certainly will, when people come to understand that the stuff they want is at dot US.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon

I doubt it.
But what do I know

 

[mole]

Not knowing; not getting it. Big difference :cheeky:

 

[Rubber Duck]

I doubt it.
But what do I know

Well that just goes to prove the point.

There are two types of speculators in my view:

1) Those that operate in the secondary market and buy up existing registrations with the view to monetising traffic or reselling on the basis of that traffic.

2) Those who are trying to pick up domains for registration fee and thinking out of the box.

Both are valid strategies. Both require substantial investment and a good knowledge of the markets.

I am uncomfortable with the idea of spending huge amounts on new TLDs in the current market, because it would appear not to fit with either of these strategies.

My personal belief is that although those taking risk on the Out of Box thinking have less chance of success, the returns are potentially so much higher that it actually makes more sense.

I fully accept that there is a near 50% chance that my portfolio of alternative investment may never be worth anything. The other side of the coin is that if I am right, I will make more money than all of you for a relatively modest investment.

My critical horizon is now less than 12 months. If things are not going to plan by then, I shall be dumping most of my portfolio. OK, I may feel pretty dumb, but that is the nature of speculation.

Best Regards
Dave Wrixon