There are many people on this forum who probably have lot more Domaining experience than our team - and we will certainly make wrong decisions from time to time. Having said that, we do work closely with thousands of end users in helping manage their naming contests and these one on one interactions give us a perspective about the types and styles of names our customers are looking for.
One thing that may not be very obvious is that we have a database of over 6 million domain names that have been submitted to contests (many of them to multiple contests). The analytics about these names certainly play a role in our decision making process. For example, if a specific name was previously submitted to 7 contests and was liked by 3 of the contest holders, this demonstrates that the name is resonating well with potential end users. If you are submitting a name that was registered after 2011, there is a good chance that it was previously submitted to one of our contests by someone else, and we therefore have some analytical information about it. Even if we do not have specific data about that name in particular, we may have broader data about similar names which might play some role in our decision making.
The article shared previously covers the key branding principles and framework used by our branding team. Everything else being equal, there is a relatively higher chance of your name being accepted if it meets the best practices outlined in the article. However, more often than not, everything else is not equal. We may have additional insights about the name from past contests, or certain nuances about the style of name that make it more appealing or less appealing based upon our interactions with customers.
This may sound obvious, but we have no reason to reject a name if our team believes that name will resonate well with our customers. Similarly, we have absolutely no reason to accept a name, if we have doubts about it's overall fit. Infact, every wrong decision costs us money because we make upfront investment in designing the logos and promoting names without collecting any listing or appraisal fees from sellers.
As far as Trademarks are concerned, we do not conduct an upfront Trademark research while accepting or rejecting the names. Having said that, we may reject certain names if they have a very obvious conflict with a well known brand. We do have Trademark attorneys in our team who assist buyers and contest holders in performing a comprehensive Trademark research against their specific class or industry (where the name is intended to be used).
If you strongly believe we made an incorrect decision in rejecting some of your names, please use the "request review" process to provide an explanation and our team will certainly take that explanation into account while reviewing the name again.
I love your detailed responses. And I appreciate you taking time to do it as well. That is a welcome difference from BB, for example.
And I get a feeling that you genuinely believe what you are posting too.
I wish those explanations would hold some water too. Unfortunately, they don't.
Basically, you are saying that the review process is semi-automated. I.e., your reviewers have access to the "history" of a name at your platform. How that even works? If an ugly name was submitted 10 times and got couple of likes, then it gets some positive score and if a nice name was submitted 1-2 time and no likes, then it gets negative score?
You might have 6 million submissions, but probably most of them are repeat submissions of already listed names or names still available at handreg. Good names don't stay in drops for long for most part (there are exceptions, but not millions and not even hundreds of thousands). So, no, most rejected names probably had never been submitted at your platform, and certainly not 4Ls.
Furthermore, now you are effectively saying that names like Bunny/And/Bo, Nuvi/qe, Rising/Door, One/Carousel, Sell/Vast, Ensight/ian, Quite/Luxe, Edge/larity, Blush/is had multiple submissions and great reception with multiple likes. And I strongly doubt that or the buyers are truly clueless.
No, seriously, you are saying with a straight face that naming a company "Rising/Door" is a great idea, because it was previously submitted while available and then once someone regged it and submitted, your software recognized it and your great reviewers agreed with it? Instead of giving generic response, why don't you break down this example and let me know how it matches your own criteria? How does Rising/Door look? It lies flat on the floor and goes up when someone tries to cross? That would be a novel idea ))) What type of business could use it? Ok, let's look at description:
"
The name expresses the opening and the vertical direction. He is fresh, friendly, and promises growth.
Possible Uses
a Construction company, a Consulting Company, a Real Estate business and more!"
Really? Construction company named "Rising/Door"? ))) And why the name is "He"? Your reviewers can't figure out that a brand is "it", not "he", and yet they are linguistic and branding experts!
Let's look at "Ensight/ian":
"A visionary name based on the words 'sight' and 'envision'. Possible uses: A graphic design firm. A photo sharing platform. A vision or eye wear product. A wearable technology. A virtual reality company. An animation studio. A toy brand. A marketing agency."
Wow! So merging sight and envision gives Ensight/ian? Maybe, Ensight? Who is Ian then? And, envision has nothing to do with it. It is a prefix en- at play here. See enforce, endorse, enable etc. But you don't create brandables by both adding prefix and suffix to a word. This is why enright/ian is still available for hand reg
Let's find out the logic behind Nuv/iqe.
"
A short, elegant, and sophisticated name that insinuates something new and fresh. Would pair well with premium products pertaining to beauty and/or skincare."
Seriously, though, hire editors with a better command of English, if you guys are going to act as if you have figured out branding and are super selective.
Insinuates???
"Insinuate - suggest or hint (something bad or reprehensible) in an indirect and unpleasant way"
So this short, elegant and sophisticated name suggest in an unpleasant way something new and fresh? On the second thought, it does make sense ) And now brands "pair well" with products?
What kind of suffix/ending is /iqe? If I submit new/iqe, brand/iqe and the whole dictionary+iqe, since all of them seem to be available, you will superselectively give them all pass?
