Ethics of staying quiet when newbies reg rubbish?

[DomainGist]

I dip in and out of this forum, leave for 9 months, back for 6 etc. Most recently quit domaining and had a change of heart and started to rebuild.

But every time I come back here I see a few newbies hand-registering absolutely turgid rubbish by the hundreds or even thousands.I won't name any names here as it would look like an attack.

I know that some people just won't listen, and I see a few people trying to get them to stop, but these people are undermined by people who 'like' their reg of the day.

Lets be clear here, I'm not talking about 'subjectivity' here, but I'm talking about people registering domains with 3 hypens, or 50 character nonsense domains.

So two questions:

1. Do we have moral obligation to be straight with these newbies and tell them that they are registering rubbish, even if this is a thankless task and the person refuses to listen and even doubles down on what they are doing.

2. Is it ethical for experienced domainers to 'like' posts which seem to validate the newbies selections.

I look at some of these people with thousands of completely unsellable hand regs, and on one hand I do think that they probably play their part in keeping registration and renewal prices down for every domainer as these nonsense domains are part of the ecosystem and generate cash for the registry and registrars, but on the other hand these domainers could be in debt, or blowing money from family savings without their wives knowing.

I find it very difficult to see people spending like $7000 on terrible handregs without saying something.

One particular individual got very angry with me and suggested that he isn't rich enough to get domains from closeout, but a domain from closeout costs what... $25 including one year renewal, and this individual has hundreds and hundreds of hand regs from all sorts of extentions. So if they took their time they could build a decent port of say 100 closeout domains over a period of 12-18 months, that would probably cost them less.

Why do people ignore these newbies and let them waste their money, and more importantly why do some people seem to encourage this really self-destructive and damaging behaviour by pressing 'like' on red-widget8383eu.biz or whatever nonsense they have registered?

Thoughts?

 

[ThatNameGuy]

If the horse doesn't want tips, he might want to stop posting in a public forum about his efforts to find water.

Too funny...i told Redd how you've been the Beacon for my domain life. Keep up the great work

 

[Joe N]

Too funny...i told Redd how you've been the Beacon for my domain life. Keep up the great work

Thanks Rich! Always glad to help and motivate.

There's no denying your and @Reddstagg 's passion. I'm sure you'll both have some great results to show for it before all is said and done.

 

[Reddstagg]

Thanks Rich! Always glad to help and motivate.

There's no denying your and @Reddstagg 's passion. I'm sure you'll both have some great results to show for it before all is said and done.

Joe,

Many thanks for your kind words.

 

[Rakom]

I am a new domainer and I agree with your thoughts for the most part. I know most of you seasoned domainers have got it right, but I also think a little baptism of fire for the newbies is good. Losing money certainly makes people think hard. But I also think that you can't really get it 100% in domaining. In addition to the online learning material available, I think one has to pass through highs and lows to develop that innate instinct for good domain names

 

[DoughMayne]

If you want to see what types of names not to register, just follow ReddStag

 

[Reddstagg]

If you want to see what types of names not to register, just follow ReddStag

DoughNut,

If you're going to disrespect someone at least get their name write. REDDSTAGG...2 D's and 2 G's.

However, by constantly disrespecting me you are also disrespecting other domainers due to the fact that I have, in addition to my many hand registrations diversified and started buying domains from our peers here at Namepros. I've also had some domainers reach out to me who have seen my portfolio too and they don't think that they are all bad, so in direct contradiction to your own perception.

I wonder now if they too are sick and tired of your whining. OK, I admit...you're better than me. You win. Move on. Nothing to see here.

It is getting tiresome now.

Regards,

Reddstagg

 

[DoughMayne]

DoughNut,

If you're going to disrespect someone at least get their name write. REDDSTAGG...2 D's and 2 G's.

However, by constantly disrespecting me you are also disrespecting other domainers due to the fact that I have, in addition to my many hand registrations diversified and started buying domains from our peers here at Namepros. I've also had some domainers reach out to me who have seen my portfolio too and they don't think that they are all bad, so in direct contradiction to your own perception.

I wonder now if they too are sick and tired of your whining. OK, I admit...you're better than me. You win. Move on. Nothing to see here.

It is getting tiresome now.

Regards,

Reddstagg

E-Zoox nuff said

 

[Reddstagg]

Just click 'Ignore' and move on.

Regards,

Reddstagg

 

[DoughMayne]

Zoox is the name of a company. If they want, they can take it from you. This is like owning, e-walmart.com

 

[frostify]

I'm a member of a facebook group that buys/sells domain names and it always pains me to see people drop a few hundred bucks on hand reg'd names at $10 each that will more likely than not never sell.

All you can do is encourage best practices and preach "Quality over quantity" but at the end of the day it's their money after-all and they're going to spend it how they want, even if that means registering 100 mediocre domains with domain extensions you've never heard of

Just try to steer newbies on the right path.

Tips like:
- When starting out, stick just to .COM .NET and .ORG (but mostly just .COM)
- Quality over quantity, don't be afraid to invest $50 to $100 on the secondary market if it's a great name
- Get a few 'blue chip" domains such as 4L .com's or single dictionary words
- Research past sales to see what domains REALLY go for, not just what they're LISTED for.
- Follow industry news, see what other's are doing. Learn from other's failures and successes.

 

[Elie Eweka]

Thank you, Bob, for your two cents. To the rest of us, we should be sensitive in our comments/feedback. If someone is already standing on the edge of a cliff, don't encourage them to jump, rather save them. Your informative and constructive feedback is always helpful. Sometimes, not saying anything may be considered wisdom. Hurtful words/comment really hurts. Take a minute to read your comment before you press the blue button on the bottom right. My two cents

 

[DN Playbook]

I wrote an article that hand registering is not domain investing with the hopes of waking up newbies. Got a lot of negative flack for it. Whatever. It is their decision and they have to live with their choices.

https://www.namepros.com/threads/hand-registering-domains-is-not-domain-investing.1245813/

 

[DN Playbook]

I hate to say it, but most newbie domainers are pretty dense. I just re-read my article and cannot comprehend why it received so many downvotes. People, please wake up.

 

[Surya Giri Kurniawan]

Almost every domain investor goes through the phase where they think they found something that others missed and then back up the truck. Early in my own domaining career, I had 5000 domains at Godaddy, and probably kept 5% of those in the end. So, yes, it is a thing and we do see it often.

Sometimes the stories are heartbreaking, e.g. people who spent their entire nest-egg on names that are almost unsellable. The reality is that the vast majority of the 390 million domains registered are of no value to anyone, even the registrant themselves.

If you see someone spending way too much on domains that are almost certainly not to sell, or where the new investor has a wildly uninformed expectation, I think you can gently engage them in a dialog about their domain investing history and see if they want any help selling their domains. Some will appreciate the help.

DomainGraduate.com is a free online course that we did produce in part for this exact reason. The course was acquired from veteran domainer, Sean Stafford, and then upgraded. We made it free from the outset, precisely to help more folks learn before they spend big. It exists in a few languages now.

As one of reputable person in domaining industry, you can share advise like in Domain Sherpa Show. We had seen Rick Schwartz, Mike Berkens, Page Howe, and others share they experience. Domain Sherpa is very good show for newbies, there are reviews of submited domains. And the Sherpas share their thought about the domains. The Sherpas also share the domains they bought, and share why they bought them.

Sometime it is not ethical to judge other domains, even they are craps, unless the owner asked forum opinion. It is better to give an education on free domaining sites like Domain Sherpa, DomainInvesting, Rick's Blog, etc.

 

[bmugford]

I hate to say it, but most newbie domainers are pretty dense. I just re-read my article and cannot comprehend why it received so many downvotes. People, please wake up.

The field has a low bar to entry. For $10, or often much less with a coupon code, anyone can register a domain and be a "domainer".

The leap from simply registering domains to becoming a profitable domain investor is massive.

Brad

 

[bmugford]

Sometime it is not ethical to judge other domains, even they are craps, unless the owner asked forum opinion. It is better to give an education on free domaining sites like Domain Sherpa, DomainInvesting, Rick's Blog, etc.

I agree. I would not go out of my way to generally mention someone else's domain unless they bring it up first, especially as far as asking for an opinion.

Still, I would say about 90% of domaining is just figuring out what a quality domain is...what has potential to sell.

That is the foundation you need to proceed to any further steps in the process.

Brad

 

[Sam1234]

They don't listen anyway

 

[DN Playbook]

They don't listen anyway

You can offer advice. But don't feel sorry when they bitch about how domaining is not working for them and they have lost a lot of money.

 

[DN Playbook]

You can scream from the rooftops. But you will not convince those who are trapped in their fantasies.

 

[DN Playbook]

A domain becomes an investment when you see value in it, sufficient enough to expend money to renew that domain for multiple years. And the reason is because you see it achieving a profit or material result.

Can anyone see a fault in this logic?

 

[Ostrados]

Advising someone can be very tricky. One dude here was hand registering hyphenated names like they are the next big thing. When I openly critisized him he got very upset and I had to oppologize to him.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Sadly, Twitter has become the new dumping ground for newbies to spam their rubbish domains without any cold hard feedback on their lack of quality.

 

[LoveCatchyDomains]

Advising someone can be very tricky. One dude here was hand registering hyphenated names like they are the next big thing. When I openly critisized him he got very upset and I had to oppologize to him.

Do you think that, in general, sending a DM instead might be helpful?

There is a kindly aspect to this entire thread, seeing folks here worried about some of the likely worthless domains some newbies are acquiring. It's noble to try to help someone early on, who might otherwise lose a significant amount of money due to misguided beliefs. In such delicate circumstances, for some individuals, perhaps it might be helpful asking if they would like a DM from you, to have some honest feedback?

 

[phaethon]

I think 99% of domainers will never be successful domainers and 95% of them will never make a decent sale. That will never change either they are reading this forum or not.
It's not about ethics, its about reality.
This forum is very helpful, its just the quality of people that come here looking for a get rich quick scheme. They are the same people that would invest in Ponzi schemes and lose money.

 

[NameInbox]

domaining is not easy and it's true.
"Domaining - is the business of making money with internet domain names."
Any type of business is a risk. Newbies mostly just comes and buying on emotions ( they see topics like "Swetha’s Sales" and it's looks simple )

I agree most will not sell, even those who will sell will not sell all as they plan.
Reality is not so pretty as business plan =) It's business: You should be ready to start from ZERO for 5-10 times. Good Luck to all of us.