What happened with Bodis?

BlazeD,

Those people caused Bodis much loss by clicking on their own ads.

I can imagine how difficult it was for Matt to run the whole parking company by himself.

I have very little patience for abusers who wrecked havoc on this little company.

Personally I am not sure I would have been as polite to all the people who posted such negative stuff as Matt is. Especially when he gives explanations in detail about payments and restarting membership applications. Don't people read anymore?

I am sure all the lessons learned will help the company grow.

Whenever I used Bodis, the one thing I admired most was the simplicity of idea and execution. Maybe not to everybody's taste, but imho they're way more advanced than even some of big boys, eg DomainSponsor (cough). Can't wait to see how v2 pans out.

just disregard what i said. it was not meant as an accusation. I was just curious what others would say. I know nothing about parking in the first place or how muc hosting would cost. My comments were just my thoughts and the perspective of an outsider looking in. Not trying to cast blame since being dropped did not affect me enough to make me mad in the first place. I was mainly just trying to note how clever that would be, IF it was a scam. I only have 100 something posts on here so im obviously a newbie and know nothing about this kind of stuff.

Most of the negative comments about Bodis are from members who do not keep up with the thread and the postings made by Matt. The rest of us know he is being extremely professional and honest and we admire that considering everything that has happend to his company.

It takes so much in the way of effort and resources to build a great parking site. It won't happen overnight.

What has happened is one person has showed the domain world that a small ( one person) company can launch a giant idea and create a parking company.

The company was on a roll. It got crushed by scammers, fraud artists and whiners.

That is not a problem though because the owner is still dedicated to the idea.

I only want to lend support. Its not often I have seen this kind of focused energy create so much hope for domainers who eagerly want to see their parking profits grow.

I have never seen this from the biggest parking companies, let alone done by one man.

At first I was frustrated with Bodis because they did not accept my account and they had NO good reason not to. I received a namepros PM inviting me and then I was rejected. I own over 350 .com quality domains with most over 6 years old. They never even asked for a list of domain names.

I am now glad I didn't get an account with them. To drop so many people with out notice, after all their work they did in setting up, is a poor way to do business. I don't see how they can be trusted in the future. Hopefully they will learn from their past. I wish them luck.

I will wait and park my own names when I get the time to set them up. I wish there was an easy turn-key system I could use to customize and host my own parked pages.

A couple thoughts:

1) In the US, you are innocent until proven guilty. Show me proof I had click fraud, and I will happily accept being kicked off.

2) If I was to automatically exclude 90% of a group of people becuase they "might" have commited a crime based on crime statistics of those allready convicted, that is called profiling.

I am not saying I had a huge account, but I have NEVER been dishonest and to be falsely accused of it without any proof irks me. I did write and ask for reinstatement, and recieved no response.


Prove I am a thief, and then put me in jail, if you don't have proof, then ask me about certain clicks or visits. To immeadiately shut down 90% of your clients should never be seen as "smart for business" but more of a desperation move of a company in serious trouble.

I wish him good luck in his business, but he should really learn how to deal with customers, even bad ones, before trying to further his website.

Show said:

but more of a desperation move of a company in serious trouble.

Click to expand...

That's exactly what it was. If you've been following any of the posts, you'd understand that the company was in trouble, and you'd also understand that clients were not removed because of "click fraud" but because of "low quality" traffic. And low quality traffic can be generated by anything such as robots, email harvestors, and anything else that crawls the web. We removed any accounts that received many of these robots.

I am not going to re-explain this ever again. So if you are posting, read this a few times, and read my other posts. And I am also not going to keep responding to the immediate decision of closing many accounts. This is the LAST reply for that decision that I have made.

Read the posts, don't come here and write a book without reading anything beforehand.

PS
Do you really think I just woke up one day and decided to remove 90% of my clients because I just felt like doing so, without any good motive or reason? You think I spent 6 months developing this entire company in Coldfusion code, spending over 10k on the old Bodis design, and over 80k on the v2 design, developing the whole database architecture, setting up all these servers, renting all these servers, hiring an employee which had to quit her very stable job to switch over to a very risky new startup company, and everything else along with that, just so I can wake up one day and throw out 90% of my clients pointlessly? I spent the last 1 year DAY AND NIGHT working on Bodis.com. I don't think there has been anybody in Brooklyn sitting in front of a computer more than I have the last 12 months. Why do you think I am sitting up at 2 am today and probably until 5 am on Christmas day working on this parking program if I wanted to just pointlessly remove my clients and have to deal with the enormous criticism of these removals for weeks?

I think you need to think more, because these decisions don't come up with a flip of a coin. There are always other motives and reasons involved, that are very serious.

Matt is a victim of being a Wild West Cowboy.

I have to say, as a business person for many years, I may have handled things a little differently. However if you jump into this boys boots for a moment, what would you do? All of the sudden you see your dream being consumed by frauders and scammers. Would your first instinct be not of protecting you alter ego?

The shear fact is that Matt is 20 and he delivered some of the best PPC payments I have ever seen in my few years of domaining, so I have to tip my hat to him. Bodis delivered more return on my clicks than Sedo Pro, Parked, NameDrive, and basically any other popular parking company mentioned on the NP forum.

Granted, the end for some and/or the attempt to repair his dream came rather abruptly. However, facts are facts, people have been paid and he is in redevelopment, promising reinstatement's. You gotta give this guy some credit where credit is due.

All the Matt bashers should be ashamed of yourselves. If one would have read the Bodis thread, I mean actually have read it not just getting on and posting your vent, one would have been aware that Bodis was in BETA! No one twisted arms to park domains with Bodis. In fact there are many comments in the Bodis thread, begging for accounts.

I have been a developer of Internet for over 20 years and from my experience, I know it takes innovative thinking and people of vision to develop uncharted territory. I think Matt is one of these individuals. I also think he has brass to come back here and face his, sometimes tepid audience.

I, for one am anxious to see this cowboy make it

And Matt...whenever you are ready...you can reinstate my account anytime...
:yell:


Disclaimer
btw--this was not a suckup play...
:hehe:

Thank you for the support to those that support Bodis and me.

Yes, I do work hard on this program. It is 4 am at the time of this posting. I am still sitting here trying to figure out why the fraud filters are blocking about 30%-35% good traffic everyday. Once I figure this out today or...when I wake up once again today heh, I will hopefully find the solution to my problem, and a huge revenue increase for those that have been patient!

Good night everyone!

Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere, but how do you intend to stay in business by offering 100% rev share, employing a person full or part time, and renting the servers?

I am curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to and I am not suggesting you are keeping any of the money generated on domains parked with bodis.

Is the point to be bought out in the future? Or are you expecting to limit the 100% rev share offer to the first x clients as a cost of marketing, to get your name out, etc?

These are obviously sensitive questions and not something I would expect you to reply to if you have some grand scheme and this is just the start of some large business plan that depends on various stages of execution.

BTW, I am still parked with bodis despite all the controversy and the current low earnings though my portfolio continues to show signs of promise as the fraud filters are being lifted!!! =)

*AllThings.tv* said:

Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere, but how do you intend to stay in business by offering 100% rev share, employing a person full or part time, and renting the servers?

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From the beginning Matt has said the 100 percent share was only for those who signed up in 2007. Starting in 2008 new clients would be paid a portion.
It's in the Bodis FAQ http://www.bodis.com/faq.html#3

When I first discovered Bodis I initially did not want to apply because I was uncomfortable with the application process in terms of the question asking to know what your current earnings are. I didn't see why that should be there, didn't like it, had never encountered anything like it with any other parking application, and for me the choice was either telling the real figure and applying or not applying at all.

As time wore on it got more and more appealing, however, and I especially liked what I was seeing with both the graphic and the text lander options, and of course it looked like the 100% revenue share was turning into a reality based on what people were saying in the forums.

Finally I started googling Matt because it was still going to take a bit to get me over my reluctance to reveal that kind of information requested by the application form. I discovered some things he had online about himself, and especially an interview of him on the Web. At first I was initially surprised by his age, but after reading the interview I realized he reminded me very much of a friend of mine who was a wunderkind and became a big success. It was after reading this interview that I finally felt a strong inuitive belief that Matt was probably going to succeed with this and that it would be good to get on board while the first flight was still boarding. Since he reminded me so much of this friend of mine and seemed like he might be above board, I became in spirit a supporter of Matt and what he was doing, wanted to see it succeed and decided to get over my discomfort with the application and apply.

That was in September before any announcement on the website or in the forums that I've seen about any temporary closure to new applicants and while the 100% revenue share policy remained in effect. A week later I sent a follow-up note about my application but did not hear back. Then in the forums it became clear that Matt had a lot on his plate to deal with and I certainly understood that.

I still support Matt and what he is doing with Bodis, and want to see it succeed and Bodis become one of the pillars of the domain parking and publishing industry - that's good for all of us. The only thing that would put a damper on that for me is that if those who did apply under similar circumstances while 100% lifetime revenue was still in effect, whose applications have been in suspended animation during this early turbulence Matt has had to deal with, were treated later as being new applicants and forever shut out of the 100% revenue share under which they had applied. If that were the case I would probably not want to apply again, even if it was clear that Bodis was doing very well and standing tall as an option among its other parking peers. Well, unless and until a policy announcement like that is made, I'll remain a supporter of what Matt is undertaking here even though I'm not in Bodis now; and yes by all means, people should lighten up and try to encourage what he's doing for all of us in the industry any way they can.

Web Trader said:

I still support Matt and what he is doing with Bodis, and want to see it succeed and Bodis become one of the pillars of the domain parking and publishing industry - that's good for all of us. The only thing that would put a damper on that for me is that if those who did apply under similar circumstances while 100% lifetime revenue was still in effect, whose applications have been in suspended animation during this early turbulence Matt has had to deal with, were treated later as being new applicants and forever shut out of the 100% revenue share under which they had applied. If that were the case I would probably not want to apply again, even if it was clear that Bodis was doing very well and standing tall as an option among its other parking peers. Well, unless and until a policy announcement like that is made, I'll remain a supporter of what Matt is undertaking here even though I'm not in Bodis now; and yes by all means, people should lighten up and try to encourage what he's doing for all of us in the industry any way they can.

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I think Bodis must honor its word that it will give 100% to all who applied in 2007. I also applied few months ago and except the email saying they will soon get back to me......I never got any other response.

If Bodis does not honor its word, then I see no difference between Bodis and members who cheated Bodis.

Now its up to Bodis if it want to get a honorable mention here or tarnish its reputation.

Bodis have intentionally never responded to these kind of threads where people who applied in 2007 are asking the status of their application and 100% revenue share.

I think Matt need to show some courage and respond (doesn't matter if he says yes or no or whatever).....but not responding is kind of cowardice imo.

Don't have anything else to say.

All Bodis.com members that have applied in 2007 will remain at the 100% revenue share bracket. Even if your application hasn't received a response, and will receive a response in 2008, it will still be at 100% revenue. Even if I reinstate accounts in 2008, they are still back at 100% revenue share. The revenue share was never a problem with us. We are happy to keep all users at that bracket.

In the next version of Bodis we will be sure to have you revenue share percentage displayed so that there are no mis-understandings.

Right on Matt.

maybe your post will help those who

how will people being re-instated be contacted ? I assume by Email.
and Happy holidays Matt and everyone else. Lets all enjoy the holidays.

cfguru360 said:

All Bodis.com members that have applied in 2007 will remain at the 100% revenue share bracket. Even if your application hasn't received a response, and will receive a response in 2008, it will still be at 100% revenue.

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This was the one unanswered question I had about this whole thing, and you couldn't have answered it better than this. For all the remaining doubters, that should confirm your intentions (and character) about this whole project once and for all. Good for you.

cfguru360 said:

.....You think I spent 6 months developing this entire company in Coldfusion code, spending over 10k on the old Bodis design, and over 80k on the v2 design, developing the whole database architecture, setting up all these servers, renting all these servers, hiring an employee .....

Click to expand...

How much financial does it take to setup a Parking company? USD100k? USD200k? I'm moved to tears Here is a guy who spent his own money so the rest of us can earn 100% revenue.

It is not easy to program and run a business at the same time.

I feel I have to say something, but I will keep it short.

Many people just don't appreciate how hard it is to program, to run a company, and to do customer support all at the same time. I have done similar when I was younger and I can totally relate what Matt is facing everyday.

I think domain parking and click fraud is still the Wild West that even the biggest companies are still trying to figure out everyday. Ask.com might not have the experience like Google or Yahoo, and it probably was putting pressure on Matt to make difficult choices.

To me, click fraud is like spam, you have to put in filters, subscribe to block lists, pattern recognitions, etc., and even with all that technology, you still get some slip through the crack.

So, be patient, relax. I know I am, even though I was kicked out Thanksgiving.

cfguru360 said:

All Bodis.com members that have applied in 2007 will remain at the 100% revenue share bracket. Even if your application hasn't received a response, and will receive a response in 2008, it will still be at 100% revenue. Even if I reinstate accounts in 2008, they are still back at 100% revenue share. The revenue share was never a problem with us. We are happy to keep all users at that bracket.

In the next version of Bodis we will be sure to have you revenue share percentage displayed so that there are no mis-understandings.

Click to expand...

Finally Matt, you have made good on your promise.

Now all we need is some action on the applications.

Thanks for clarifying it