Isn't he a convicted felon? Not a good choice, imho. I wasn't going to attend TRAFFIC anyway, but I sure wouldn't go with him as a keynote speaker.
He kicked and stomped an employee to death. I mean, that could happen to anyone, right?
I (literally) ran into him once, and he is a very engaging personality. But what's the message here?
On Rick's site, some domainers have suggested that any publicity is good publicity for domaining. So, what? They couldn't get Charles Manson paroled for a day? I mean, domainers already have publicity, and it's already bad. How will inviting King help that?
Others say that he has accomplished a lot, and we have a lot to learn from him. But so have a lot of other people who also have things they can teach us, and they are not associated with the activities that King is.
The point is not to disparage King. The point is that domaining still acts less like an industry and more like a boy's club, cigars and busty girls all around (amazing how many swimsuit models are attending the upcoming TRAFFIC. I had no idea swimsuit models were such serious domainers).
People go on about how they want domains to become accepted as assets, and domainers as serious investors rather than lazy squatters - but look at the conventions!
Can anyone name any other business, outside of porn and some entertainment fields, that presents this sort of image?
Domains are finance and marketing related, and it would be nice to see some attempt at that image being made.
Not to be a pitchman, but this is one reason I have such hopes for Epik conferences, which are more about domaining as a business.
I just don't get the attitude of these conferences. Don't they have enough fun in their personal lives? They have to bring it onto their business, at the expense of the business?
So, yeah, swimsuit models and Don King are not great ways to build a domaining industry... in my opinion.