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Where Have All The Good Guys Gone?

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Anjani

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Have been reading most of the old threads on Name pros and what struck me hard is the lack of warmth and depth in today's responses compared to the past.

Maybe the fatigue has seeped in answering the same questions over and over.

Let's bring back the camaraderie as it's a marathon not a race:xf.smile:
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
IMHO this isn't true, and I'm kind of annoyed that someone gave you what I would consider misinformation though of course they are entitled to their beliefs. This community was literally incredible back in the day, it was a blast to be here we used to log so many hours in the chat room and there were always "events" going on. If anyone had a problem becoming part of the community then it may have been because they weren't able to accept they were new to the game and/or they didn't have a friendly demeanor. I made some awesome friends here in 2007-2008 even though I was new, some of which I actually got to meet in person and still talk to this day. NP was so much fun to be a part of that most of the people I knew here had left another prominent webdev/domainer forum to join us.

I hope someone backs me on this lol.

Yes. Old days were great.
 
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I think Domaining is same over the years.
 
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IMHO this isn't true, and I'm kind of annoyed that someone gave you what I would consider misinformation though of course they are entitled to their beliefs. This community was literally incredible back in the day, it was a blast to be here we used to log so many hours in the chat room and there were always "events" going on. If anyone had a problem becoming part of the community then it may have been because they weren't able to accept they were new to the game and/or they didn't have a friendly demeanor. I made some awesome friends here in 2007-2008 even though I was new, some of which I actually got to meet in person and still talk to this day. NP was so much fun to be a part of that most of the people I knew here had left another prominent webdev/domainer forum to join us.

I hope someone backs me on this lol.

The fact that only 800 to 1000 members are online out of 1 million members is a testament to something. Maybe an unfriendly re seller platform could be one of the reasons:xf.smile:
 
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Parking not what it used to be
More Fish Hooks in the Pond, Less Fish in Pond
ngTLDs over load
Forum Owner That We Knew and Talked To Us
 
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The fact that only 800 to 1000 members are online out of 1 million members is a testament to something.
I really can't pinpoint what caused it to change over the years though like I said I think biggie did a good job. It would be hard to lay the blame on one specific element of the domaining world, I do not think it helps to hold certain members of the community on a pedestal like they have a magic touch or a special gift that others have no way of possessing when really it could be they a) got started earlier like the 90s or early 2000s or b) started with more capital or c) both. There are definitely more know it alls these days though that don't help things either and want the get rich quick money that simply does not exist, again in my honest opinion lol.

I want to add that I still am happy to be a part of this community, I think there are some great people still active here and alot to learn, I just wish it was a bit more honest overall.
 
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I think the difference is that in the old days it was easier and there where many different avenues to make money like parking, typos, keyword domains, mini sites etc

There was a lot more excitement and money flowing around which made people happier and more responsive to questions.

The quality of question plays a part also. Why should a member of any forum waste their time giving an answer to someone who is clearly too lazy to, at the very least, try google first.

Domaining requires 3 main qualities IMO. Common sense, a willingness to learn/work hard and patience.

If a member with at least 2 of these qualities asks a question, I guarantee he/she gets a good answer.

Personally I'm thankful to all the members who go out their way to offer valuable advice for free.
 
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There is an interesting part of mathematical science called "game theory"; it is perfectly well applicable to enomics, markets in general and domaining in particular. It is _scientfically_ proven that each player can win more if there is cooperation, trust and honesty between players, and each player, doing better for others, will do better for himself. Ref: mr. John Nash, "nash equilibrium".

This is what happened earlier, likely at the beginning of this forum (which I cannot personally confirm, as I registered here in 2007) and on another forum under its original ownership many years ago (which I can personally confirm).

Where Have All The Good Guys Gone? Many good guys are right here, some in read-only mode. However, some other actual players are not going to "cooperate" in any aspect, or may have reps. on the forum that are allowed to say limited things and are instructed to ignore inconvinient questions, etc. etc. And there are a lot of trust issues of course (lack of trust).

Resultingly, it makes less and less sense to provide detailed information for new players - as the "nash equilibrium" will not be reached, due to unfortunate reasons mentioned above.

In any case, I decided to think about some basic things I might welcome a new player with...

So far:

- Kudos to you for being brave enough to start at this time

- Please learn at least 3 months before handregistering your first domain name

- Use all available sources, such as this forum archives, to obtain _pure facts_ and learn how to separate facts from their analysis posted by others (which analysis may or may not be complete. It may also be simply incompetent, btw).

- The best "bet" would be to use the following motto: "Everything you hear is a lie". Apply this motto especially when you read mixed blogs feed and what is/was recommended or advertised by bloggers inside (domain investment advice in particular).
 
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Well put fellas and ladies, You know the next generation is gonna take us out to the pasture and shoot us. I have not been on here for 2 1/2 years have not been active in 4, due to medical reasons, I'm back, I just listed refreshed posts and instantly the admins locked my threads. No biggie to me, I will go list them somewhere else though I do not understand the coldness. I did not break any rules.
 
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Thanks tonyk2000 for excellent observation. True to the core.
 
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Though to be honest and speak of the giant elephant in the room, NamePros did not start to go south for winter until it was hacked multiple times. hackers gave the previous owner a hard time during that timeframe.
 
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I've got a different feeling.
In my mind, NP has always been mostly a low-quality forum for newbies interested in investing in speculative names such as LLLL.com, or blockchain domains for example now.
Until about 3 years ago, I much preferred another site, but when it started to go down, I stopped participating into forums. I discovered again recently NP and saw i was wrong, NP is a quality forum. About the little warmth, I guess it's because it's international, with many different cultures and ways of living. Our small French forum is of incredible quality, with excellent relationships between us, but unfortunately it's almost dead now, as the market has never grown enough so that we could dedicate fully to domaining.
 
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I am not senile yet :xf.wink:
I confirm you are not. I started to be (relatively) successful at domaining the day I stopped to believe all the bullshit we read here and there and rather follow your advice.
I've done it for more than 10 years I guess, and you never made a mistake. I've discussed about domain names with thousands of professionnals, some very rich and/or very famous, but I don't remember any that would have half of your expertise. So for sure you are not senile yet:)
 
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Thanks for starting this thread, with the interesting perspective that perhaps things have gotten less positive over the years. That seems so in society, so probably not surprising here, but still unfortunate.

I would urge us all to even when expressing a view strongly, to do so courteously. Based on a lifetime of experiences outside domaining, I honestly believe that it will have more impact that way. Yes, don't deceive and provide an honest opinion, but express it in an encouraging and supportive way. On the positive side, I see countless cases of this being done by NPs long term members, especially on the thread welcoming new members.

I think we should also recognize that this is not an exact science. Yes, with experience you get far better in predicting what will sell and for roughly how much, but there is still a lot of uncertainty for any particular name. It's easy to find major sales that I suspect almost none of us would have predicted (that would be an interesting thread to have actually), and other names that went for less than most would think.

I am wary of comments like "no value" when not supported by any evidence/argument, or assuming that a simplistic "rule" is an absolute. It's not hard to find cases on NPs where "experts" have boldy stated a name has no value, then it sold for $$$$ or more within months. We all can, and are, frequently wrong. That is just another reason to not be over the top when promoting our opinions and discounting those of others.

frequently wrong,
Bob
 
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Thanks for starting this thread, with the interesting perspective that perhaps things have gotten less positive over the years. That seems so in society, so probably not surprising here, but still unfortunate.

I would urge us all to even when expressing a view strongly, to do so courteously. Based on a lifetime of experiences outside domaining, I honestly believe that it will have more impact that way. Yes, don't deceive and provide an honest opinion, but express it in an encouraging and supportive way. On the positive side, I see countless cases of this being done by NPs long term members, especially on the thread welcoming new members.

I think we should also recognize that this is not an exact science. Yes, with experience you get far better in predicting what will sell and for roughly how much, but there is still a lot of uncertainty for any particular name. It's easy to find major sales that I suspect almost none of us would have predicted (that would be an interesting thread to have actually), and other names that went for less than most would think.

I am wary of comments like "no value" when not supported by any evidence/argument, or assuming that a simplistic "rule" is an absolute. It's not hard to find cases on NPs where "experts" have boldy stated a name has no value, then it sold for $$$$ or more within months. We all can, and are, frequently wrong. That is just another reason to not be over the top when promoting our opinions and discounting those of others.

frequently wrong,
Bob

@MetBob is a paragon of virtue...always courteous and professional...one of my role models in the domaining business.
 
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The old guys don't know how to answer domain questions in 2018 so they don't participate. Everyone knows what makes a great domain name and that is the only info that an old domainer can provide. These old guys are clueless to what makes a good domain name that can be handregged today. Anyone would know that redfox.com, yellowfish.com, arizonahomes.com etc....has value. The majority of new domainers can't afford those type of names so they go the handreg route which most don't have the ability or know how to answer those questions correctly.

A perfect example is the brandable market which I know pretty well. When I see the names these old guys own that they think are good brandables just makes me laugh. Huge difference knowing what you're talking about now compared to 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. They keep their mouth shut because they are clueless.
 
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IMHO this isn't true, and I'm kind of annoyed that someone gave you what I would consider misinformation though of course they are entitled to their beliefs. This community was literally incredible back in the day, it was a blast to be here we used to log so many hours in the chat room and there were always "events" going on. If anyone had a problem becoming part of the community then it may have been because they weren't able to accept they were new to the game and/or they didn't have a friendly demeanor. I made some awesome friends here in 2007-2008 even though I was new, some of which I actually got to meet in person and still talk to this day. NP was so much fun to be a part of that most of the people I knew here had left another prominent webdev/domainer forum to join us.

I hope someone backs me on this lol.

Spot on.

There was a real community back then, especially with the regulars who were in the chat room often. But even the forum content, it used to be useful and helpful. I remember we would laugh at another domain forum where it was just people spamming trying to sell or pump something, now it's like namepros has become that other forum we used to laugh at.

The weekly live auctions, the np$ economy, the active chat room, the great mods who let us have our fun as long as we didn't cross the line too much, the fact we even had someone make a chat quotes website just to save the best moments from the chat room, iowadawg and his spam sites, and the ability to post a question on the forum and get knowledgable replies.

Great times.
 
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IMHO this isn't true, and I'm kind of annoyed that someone gave you what I would consider misinformation though of course they are entitled to their beliefs. This community was literally incredible back in the day, it was a blast to be here we used to log so many hours in the chat room and there were always "events" going on. If anyone had a problem becoming part of the community then it may have been because they weren't able to accept they were new to the game and/or they didn't have a friendly demeanor. I made some awesome friends here in 2007-2008 even though I was new, some of which I actually got to meet in person and still talk to this day. NP was so much fun to be a part of that most of the people I knew here had left another prominent webdev/domainer forum to join us.

I hope someone backs me on this lol.

Exactly that was never true back in the day, and no one from 2003-2005 would have been sharing that opinion with someone, so no one in the know.

Namepros started out us against them, another forum was the forum that made money, RJ kept things free, I used to chat with RJ and I think it was Sharon from Domain Dump almost every night, I remember discussing with RJ ways on how he could make money, I had come up with a forum escrow idea, where he could make a little money, and members would have added security. There was the NP$ that actually allowed you to register domains, your posts mattered because you earned NP$.

Like @Kate and I mentioned earlier Domainers no longer buy from each other, at least not like in the old days. Back in the day a lot more business got done, it didn't have to be a firesale or someone underpricing an asset.

RJ leaving was a big deal, because no ownership since then has been loved by members, liked sure, but a lot of people loved RJ and when he sold the place changed in certain ways.

You also have a lot of older people that made their money and moved along, or were domaining at 18 - 30 and after that got married, had children and a spouse was not going to tolerate 8 hours spent on Namepros all day, and with less deals getting done, more trollish behavior, where was the value proposition in that?

I used to run .TV auctions in chat where we were regging names while the auction was going on, literally someone pmming me, Hey Equity can you add StLouisTV.tv to the auction? I would be like why didn't you send that earlier, they were like I just regged it at Name.com for $10.99 some of these would sell for $30 - $35 it was nuts, plenty were not big money but the fact that a reg 10 minutes old could turn a profit was interesting.

Today if I held a .tv auction in chat, there would be few if any sales unless someone was willing to start a premium name at $1 no reserve.

Domaining has also become a collection of Echo Chambers, confirmation bias matters more than objectivity a lot of the time. So someone is ready to rumble when you tell them new gtlds suck, or hey old man your not up with the times, and the old man could probably buy the commenter saying that a million times over. Or Emoji's are the future, Screw you Emojis suck.

I know we all read about Eric's stuff with threats due to having to be an admin, which is terrible, but people have threatened others for something that didn't even affect them like a suspension or ban, people doing crazy stuff over their name getting appraised at reg fee. Back in the days of .tv I used to think wtf is going on? This has become crazy. The only person whose opinion matters on your domain names is you, and that get's extended by one, when you have a prospective buyer. Who cares what everyone else thinks? Every axiom you have ever been told has been disproved at least 100 times.
 
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They keep their mouth shut because they are clueless.

...Or to not offend. We think twice before insulting others intentionally. That might be the difference.
 
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The old guys don't know how to answer domain questions in 2018 so they don't participate. Everyone knows what makes a great domain name and that is the only info that an old domainer can provide. These old guys are clueless to what makes a good domain name that can be handregged today. Anyone would know that redfox.com, yellowfish.com, arizonahomes.com etc....has value. The majority of new domainers can't afford those type of names so they go the handreg route which most don't have the ability or know how to answer those questions correctly.

A perfect example is the brandable market which I know pretty well. When I see the names these old guys own that they think are good brandables just makes me laugh. Huge difference knowing what you're talking about now compared to 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. They keep their mouth shut because they are clueless.

Counter productive to the theme but i guess the world would be a boring place if we were all the same:xf.grin:
 
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...Or to not offend. We think twice before insulting others intentionally. That might be the difference.
The people I'm referring to have no problem offending.
 
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IMHO this isn't true, and I'm kind of annoyed that someone gave you what I would consider misinformation though of course they are entitled to their beliefs. This community was literally incredible back in the day, it was a blast to be here we used to log so many hours in the chat room and there were always "events" going on. If anyone had a problem becoming part of the community then it may have been because they weren't able to accept they were new to the game and/or they didn't have a friendly demeanor. I made some awesome friends here in 2007-2008 even though I was new, some of which I actually got to meet in person and still talk to this day. NP was so much fun to be a part of that most of the people I knew here had left another prominent webdev/domainer forum to join us.
I hope someone backs me on this lol.

Yes i back you up, the old days 10-15 yrs ago were amazing but sadly long gone. I recall going on both afternic and great-domains chat rooms every day and the activity in chat was incredible where you could not keep track of all the conversations taking place at same time. I recall somewhere from 50 to 100 active participants online in the evening hours every day at each site. And the posting activity was also extremely heavy with surprisingly few percentage of for sale posts. I recall most posts covered other stuff such as knowledge and information. Today its the reverse with most posts being for sale ones and little if any activity in chat.
 
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After reading a thread about buying stolen domains and the legal specifics of current escrow/sale agreements, I think maybe the good times are coming back...maybe domaining is complicated/interesting again :) and forums are once again needed to learn(?)

Since the old days, ICANN issues are different now, stolen domains more common, "advancing" of the UDRP system to where clueless companies have unwarranted influence (and still no penalties), consolidation of the trillions of registrars/registries originally created for reasons, now for different reasons, etc.

I'm hoping one of these online forums will become more significant (again), although I am 100% unsure I would pay to belong to it, lol.
 
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I think there's also the fact that forums are becoming less and less popular. Young(er) people mostly use FB groups
 
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I think there's also the fact that forums are becoming less and less popular. Young(er) people mostly use FB groups

I'm a oldie :( How to find the facebook groups related to domaining?
 
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I am also sick of many comments I post being deleted.
I think we have improved on this a lot, but also please keep in mind that if you ever feel strongly that we (moderators) are doing something wrong, we hope you will Contact Management to file a report so they can try to assist you. We want NamePros to be a productive environment that fosters sharing and helping one another. We try very hard to not hinder that.

I think there's also the fact that forums are becoming less and less popular. Young(er) people mostly use FB groups
That's what FB and other companies want you to believe, but it's not true. Reddit is basically a customized forum and growing a lot as the 36th most popular website in the world: https://www.similarweb.com/website/reddit.com

That said, there is something to be said about specialization. There aren't any FB groups, subreddits, or any other communities of domainers that are even 1/10th the size of NamePros. Users of all ages go where the value is, and the most value is at NamePros for domaining. ;)

There have been some excellent points made in this thread so I'll just add that we do actively work with members to maintain a professional and friendly environment. If you see someone not upholding those expectations, please report them to us: https://www.namepros.com/threads/expectations-for-respect-and-constructiveness.845259/

Hope that helps,
 
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