Are .xyz and Network Solutions "Cooking the Books"?

[Ms Domainer]

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Very interesting article at The Domains:

http://www.thedomains.com/2014/06/03/did-networksolutions-com-give-away-free-xyz-domain-names/

According to the article, when someone regs a domain at Net Sol, he/she automatically is "given" the matching .xyz. One has to opt out by going to a separate link.

Indeed, I checked a couple of The Domains samples (both crap domains in any gTLD) in both .com and .xyz, and, yes, they are owned by the same person.

But I noticed something else that's interesting: the registrant email for .xyz is under privacy, but the .com isn't.

Check for yourself:

00938625.XYZ (privacy email)
00938625.com (regular email)

03304cjp64ubzd1.xyz (privacy email)
03304cjp64ubzd1.com (regular)​

I bet that the registrant doesn't even know that the .xyz has been awarded to him/her and that renewal notices won't even go to the registrant.

It does look fishy, I'm afraid.

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[JB Lions]

So the numbers suck... nothing is changing... you don't want to contemplate anything not grounded in reality. This just begs the question... why do you check the numbers so regularly? To check that they are still bad? Seems silly.

But already spent too much time outside of sts and I'm missing LeDouche getting CRUSHED.

I already answered that question earlier in this thread, why I check the numbers. Just go reread it. What seems silly is you asking the same question over and over again, even after it's answered, and being more concerned about the people who do look at numbers. Plus, this isn't some group thing. 20,000,000? Only 1 has a chance of even breaking 1 million without throwing freebies into people's accounts.

DU keeps messaging me to post the current numbers, so without further ado:

104,780 - 84.57% of which 88,608 are at Netsol
96,246 - 84.06% - yesterday

Wondering how many freebies they have. 2-3 more days, should be over 100k at Netsol.

 

[DU]

DU keeps messaging me to post the current numbers, so without further ado:

Thanks, but today the only numbers I care about are 112 and 92

 

[jmcc]

The obsession with numbers goes far beyond .xyz and covers all gTLDs. At one point .co was a failure and would never reach 1,000,000 and then it reached 1,000,000 and then what... did it become a success?

COInternet were also engaging in creative marketing to some extent with a bogus web usage and development "survey" of .CO domains that considered redirects to Godaddy's PPC lander for undeveloped domains as simple redirects. As for development, it is not a core TLD for most markets so development is low. Usage and development are the real metrics of the importance of TLDs. Now .CO might be a success for the registry but it is no competitor to .COM or even most of the legacy gTLDs.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Keith]

I didn't realize how bad this was. My assumption was that you were given a .xyz with a new domain registration. Not the case!

Network Solutions emailed me today to alert me that I was awarded a .xyz free of charge. They just went ahead and put a domain in my account for no apparent reason. News flash...I don't want it!

 

[The New Guy]

I didn't realize how bad this was. My assumption was that you were given a .xyz with a new domain registration. Not the case!

Network Solutions emailed me today to alert me that I was awarded a .xyz free of charge. They just went ahead and put a domain in my account for no apparent reason. News flash...I don't want it!

Can you check to see if it's set to auto-renew?

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

The dirty ba$tards, I read the press release for .xyz and thought owow, now after reading countless articles, Daniel wont reply to messages or questions. I can see into the future, thats why they should call ME mr. Wonderful. I predict .xyz will go under, disappear.He will get lazer beamed and poof, dont worry about renewals, they wont be in business next year. I personally would prefer a .abc and it will come out. By someone who is not a slimeball, buttering up his friends, giving them away to inflate numbers. Everyone should cancel network solutions .xyz give away at the same time. 10000-50000 all at the same time, see how their servers really work. Daniel Negari, your a good shit, in the long run. And everyone likes a long running shit.
Dump him and his extension

I wonder how many .xyz daniel has purchased?

 

[Keith]

Can you check to see if it's set to auto-renew?

It is not set to auto renew but was auto set for privacy protection. I'm going to manually cancel it!

 

[Acroplex]

It is not set to auto renew but was auto set for privacy protection. I'm going to manually cancel it!

Can you record the act on video and post it? :D

 

[MasterOfMyDomains]

Article I found at domaining.com

http://www.thedomains.com/2014/06/1...t-growing-new-gtld-according-to-namestat-org/

 

[JB Lions]

Article I found at domaining.com

http://www.thedomains.com/2014/06/1...t-growing-new-gtld-according-to-namestat-org/

Once you back the netsol numbers out, still in 12th place, which isn't good for what is supposed to be a generic extension. Generic extensions should have the most regs. So they don't even have 18,000 real regs yet. For perspective, .co did 60,000 in the first day, 300,000 first week. It's been over a week and a half and around 18,000.

 

[jmcc]

Global generics tend to have global appeal and are not just North American events. They also have a lot of marketing behind them in various countries and spend months building up the profile of the TLD though Sunrise phase and eventually Landrush phases. The big problem with a lot of these new gTLDs, is the sheer lack of interest in them by large brands. The .xyz/com pairing percentage is so unlike any other gTLD that it may result in extremely low web usage and development.

Some of the domainer blogs are still clinging on to spurious landrush figures (combined with NetSol pumping) as evidence that there is demand in for .XYZ. It was unusual to see Ron Jackson / DNJournal running an article on this mess.

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

I ran a preliminary websurvey over all new gTLDs over the weekend. The website/country for each the new gTLDs are live. This is the one for .xyz: http://www.hosterstats.com/xyz-websites.php

Approximately 85% of the xyz websites have an IP associated with Virgin Islands (UK). A few samples showed some of these IPs to be a PPC lander/parking page.

Some of the other new gTLDs distributions might appear strange with the UK having unusually high numbers of new gTLDs. This is because one of Frank Schilling's IP ranges (Schilling Aviation) is associated with the UK.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Acroplex]

John - the IP is indeed that of the Domain Name Sales parking server.

 

[jmcc]

John - the IP is indeed that of the Domain Name Sales parking server.

Yep, Acro,
Monetised by Rookmedia. Did the IP breaks on the new gTLD websites. The IP density (sites:IP) for XYZ is way out of profile.

TLD - IPs - Websites - Percentage
| xyz  |  1191 |  113280 |  1.0514 |
| guru  |  6689 |  56943 | 11.7468 |
| club  |  5695 |  53850 | 10.5757 |
| berlin  |  3987 |  45023 |  8.8555 |
| photography |  6118 |  35607 | 17.1820 |
| link  |  1298 |  31885 |  4.0709 |
| email  |  5299 |  28237 | 18.7662 |
| today  |  4525 |  24474 | 18.4890 |
| tips  |  3343 |  22053 | 15.1589 |
| company  |  2883 |  18301 | 15.7532 |
| solutions  |  3297 |  15692 | 21.0107 |
| center  |  2852 |  14926 | 19.1076 |
| directory  |  1922 |  14670 | 13.1016 |
| technology  |  3199 |  14208 | 22.5155 |
| expert  |  1745 |  13070 | 13.3512 |
| sexy  |  1504 |  12619 | 11.9185 |
| land  |  2110 |  10731 | 19.6627 |
| photos  |  2681 |  10696 | 25.0654 |
| gallery  |  2297 |  10289 | 22.3248 |
| clothing  |  1714 |  10020 | 17.1058 |

It is a very fast and crude way of measuring activity in a TLD but it is clear that XYZ stands out from the rest.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Acroplex]

Noticed that many NNN .xyz domains were registered and parked at DNS. Didn't complete a full test as the WHOIS server is unforgiving to queries and results to an easy block.

 

[JB Lions]

Thought it was over and Netsol was only giving away about 100,000 names because last 5 days or so, it slowed or didn't update. Tonight the numbers just went to 145,868 from 116,770, with 125,585 of them at Netsol or over 86%.

Side note, .berlin took jump as well: 116,638, now 2nd place with all the free ones I read about on the blogs.

 

[jmcc]

Noticed that many NNN .xyz domains were registered and parked at DNS. Didn't complete a full test as the WHOIS server is unforgiving to queries and results to an easy block.

It seems to fit the general profile of .xyz. A lot of speculation and very heavy reliance on Netsol to fill the zone. It might be interesting to check the NNN and LLL numbers against the availables.

Regards...jmcc

 

[jmcc]

Thought it was over and Netsol was only giving away about 100,000 names because last 5 days or so, it slowed or didn't update.

The .XYZ zonefile had no new additions for a few days.

Tonight the numbers just went to 145,868 from 116,770, with 125,585 of them at Netsol or over 86%.

The definition of a Dead Zone is where there is little use or development (typically <10% of sites). Even though XYZ is still in Landrush phase, the high level of PPC parking is unsettling. It might end up as a numerically impressive gTLD of which few have heard and in which even less develop sites. It really didn't need this kind of activity.

Side note, .berlin took jump as well: 116,638, now 2nd place with all the free ones I read about on the blogs.

Well growth in .BERLIN had slowed and the freebie offer seems to be aimed at encouraging people to use it.

Regards...jmcc

 

[DU]

Well growth in .BERLIN had slowed and the freebie offer seems to be aimed at encouraging people to use it.

I don't think so. How many people do you know that have time to "use" 50 sites?

 

[jmcc]

I don't think so. How many people do you know that have time to "use" 50 sites?

The registries may think that if they get enough domain in the zones, people will begin to develop sites and services using the domains (I think there is a usage clause in the .BERLIN registration agreement) and eventually end-users will become aware of the gTLD. The focus of .BERLIN is overwhelmingly German and ccTLD-like. The problem with ccTLDs is that they are slow to grow. Unlike ccTLD registries (who may sometimes seem to operate in a different world), the new gTLDs are in a struggle for survival. The .BERLIN figures slowed dramatically after the compressed Landrush but there's a seasonal factor that is at work here too. Registration figures do fall during Summer months.
These are this morning's figures. The .XYZ zone had not been updated for a few days so this is not a single day's increase. The .BERLIN one is a single day increase.

gTLD - Domains - Change
berlin  115965  67347
xyz  144474  29021
club  71504  476
events  5114  249
wiki  5700  174
kaufen  127  126
archi  176  126
consulting  106  105
guru  61667  95
center  17037  93
email  33032  93
today  27468  90
ninja  9628  76
photography  38205  75

The interesting thing will be to see if freebieitis will spread to the other gTLDs now.

Regards...jmcc

 

[DU]

I think there is a usage clause in the .BERLIN registration agreement

One wonders what determines "usage" and what they will do if someone wants to spend money renewing the name.

 

[jmcc]

One wonders what determines "usage" and what they will do if someone wants to spend money renewing the name.

Section 5.2 of the registrant agreement :
“As the gTLD .BERLIN is a so-called “community based” gTLD, where the registration of domain names is subject to restrictions, a domain name must be put into use within 12 months of registration.

If the registrant sets up a web site which can be reached via the registered domain name, the content of this site must have be directly related to the authorisation to register. “
http://dotberlin.de/files/u4/BERLIN-Registration-Policy.pdf

It is nebulous enough to be non-specific as to the use but clear enough to mention that it has to be related to the registration. Theoretically it might be enough to have targeted PPC adverts on the website but the registry might have their own interpretation.

Regards...jmcc

 

[DomainVP]

.XYZ HAD a real chance in becoming the next .COM in time... but with all of this bad press and shady dealings, they have done themselves in from the start.

.XYZ could have branded itself as an extension for a 'new generation', the extension itself feels very 'alphabetical' and a bit 'juvenile'. You can spin that into an edgy coolness that would bring in bloggers and app developers ( .APP ).

What if I went to a business and offered them a domain for $350,000 USD, and told them it was appraised at $6.5 million. However the appraisal was done in monopoly money, and it's actually worth $15 USD.

That's what zone stuffing is doing. Making new gTLDs LOOK more popular then they actually are.

If you give away something for free, and then have the premium .XYZ domains listed at low $x,xxx; nobody is going to buy into that.

You know that Negari told Netsol to stuff these domains, I cant see a registrar doing so massively without the permission of a registry.

This whole fiasco has single handedly crushed the gTLD market... if you can even call it a market, its more like a giant shakedown.

In the end just use common sense... nobody is stuffing or giving away .COM's

 

[William V]

Godaddy has been giving .com domains away for .99 cents over the course of years. That doesn't devalue .com. Only domainers care about the net sol numbers. I'm primarily a developer and I love my .xyz names and I'm going to drop/sell some of the multi-word .coms I had originally purchased to develop. As long as the .xyz resolves to the intended ip it has value to me.

 

[Kate]

.XYZ HAD a real chance in becoming the next .COM in time... but with all of this bad press and shady dealings, they have done themselves in from the start.

Falling for the hype ? .mobi and even .tel were supposed to be the next .com too.