China will block .com's for a competive edge.

[Chris Rice]

The above statement is just a prediction of mine. Blocking .com's for an unfair advantage over US company's would not be beyond them and it is definitely doable. Verisign does not even have a license to use or sell .com's in China, it was only tolerated. But that might change very soon (effective March 1, 2016)

Research MIIT, the Chinese government organization that regulates the internet and domain names in China. This has all been talked about for quite sometime, long before Google re-organized under abc.xyz (do some research for once). It was also well understood that .xyz and .club would be two of the first foreign registrars to get a license in China.

According to Daniel Negari, XYZ is the only U.S. registrar to apply for a license in China AND coordinate with ICANN about it. While a lot of .com loyalists have been bashing new GTLD's a lot of people have been in the background hand registering cheap domain names. A lot of large .COM portfolio holders already sold out and domain name news outlets are slowly easing on their criticism.

TheDomains was right, it will take an intense marketing campaign by at least 2 to 3 major brands. He mentions the Super Bowl as a good example and if you do some research, that is exactly what's happening.

ChrisRice.xyz

 

[CJ6]

I guess you are not familiar with the term 'XYZ'. It is actually a three letter word meaning 'something, anything' or something along those lines. Type in XYZ into Google News and see how it is used.

I didn't know that. I thought it had to do with a zipper being undone.
You learn something new everyday!

 

[Chris Rice]

Many of the back & forth arguments here are a waste of space, IMO.
(I'm holding on in case there is a ride.)

I beg to differ that my posts are a waste of space. I think I am one of the only people on Name Pros who posted this information and it is valid.

 

[Kate]

@Kate

Am I reading this right ? You want to buy vr.xyz at 13K ??? Or you mean something else ?

Holy words from Negari:

.XYZ is the Next .COM – BELIEVE IT

Posted by Daniel Negari in Featured, gTLDs

https://ceo.xyz/believe/

The guy himself admits .xyz has no meaning:

Four years ago, I had a dream of creating the .xyz domain extension. Although the letters “XYZ” have little-to-no meaning, everyone in the world has used and seen “XYZ” at some point in their lives. ...

Why bother... .xyz is nothing special at all, it's just marketing.

 

[CJ6]

I beg to differ that my posts are a waste of space. I think I am one of the only people on Name Pros who posted this information and it is valid.

If .com is somehow blocked (or sites outside China), this thread will really get interesting. It has been entertaining, IMO.

 

[JayT]

I guess you are not familiar with the term 'XYZ'. It is actually a three letter word meaning 'something, anything' or something along those lines. Type in XYZ into Google News and see how it is used. It was used on Fortune.com and Forbes.com earlier this week in that way @JayT

Maybe it can mean "something, anything, everything" as you say, but look at it another way. XYZ can mean bottom of the barrel - a cheap knockoff. Imagine book.xyz...that is not authoritative! To me it sounds childish and so generic, yet without meaning that it's to the point of being ridiculous. I could get behind something as obscure as book.rodeo before I got behind book.xyz. Book.rodeo, I can see a branding chance among other things. book.xyz doesn't tell me anything special, contrary, as i've said, It looks like a cheap attempt to waste my time.

 

[Chris Rice]

Maybe it can mean "something, anything, everything" as you say, but look at it another way. XYZ can mean bottom of the barrel - a cheap knockoff. Imagine book.xyz...that is not authoritative! To me it sounds childish and so generic, yet without meaning that it's to the point of being ridiculous. I could get behind something as obscure as book.rodeo before I got behind book.xyz. Book.rodeo, I can see a branding chance among other things. book.xyz doesn't tell me anything special, contrary, as i've said, It looks like a cheap attempt to waste my time.

Your view is raveled in bias. It almost seems as the you have a hatred for the three letters (I wonder why?). I doubt the general public will hold that same hatred.

Once the major brands like Alphabet adopt it in blatent way, the general public will follow. Remember, Alphabet is a group of companies, not just one.

Work on that hate. See a doctor if you need to.

#HateKills

 

[Chris Rice]

Am I reading this right ? You want to buy vr.xyz at 13K ??? Or you mean something else ?

Holy words from Negari:


https://ceo.xyz/believe/

The guy himself admits .xyz has no meaning:
Why bother... .xyz is nothing special at all, it's just marketing.

It wasn't me that wanted to buy VR.xyz it was @Zandibot

Maybe he doesn't know what he's doing @Kate ??

 

[Chris Rice]

Why bother... .xyz is nothing special at all, it's just marketing.

Domain names lack intrinsic value since they can be interchanged (w/one another) without penalty or cost. In that sense .COM's lead over GTLDs is nothing special at all, it's just popularity.

'One day they love you, the next day they hate you.'

Such is life and it is a lot like what can happen to your beloved .COM if it gets banned from the country with the largest internet population (in the world - CHINA)

Try harder @Kate @JayT

 

[Chris Rice]

I half agree because I'm still torn between idn.idn and idn.com. But I totaly agree one of them will be big.

Are the letters 'X' 'Y' and 'Z' used in their PINYIN alphabet?

@Brandingtheweb.com

 

[JayT]

Are the letters 'X' 'Y' and 'Z' used in their PINYIN alphabet?

@Brandingtheweb.com

You know short letter chip domains are popular because they are used to make acronyms, right? xyz can only make so many meanings. If x,y,z is a good acronym, what is it? Does it mean "EVERYTHING" in China too? What does XYZ mean to Chinese? I know what .CN means to them.

 

[Kate]

It wasn't me that wanted to buy VR.xyz it was @Zandibot

Maybe he doesn't know what he's doing @Kate ??

I dunno, but it looks like gambling to me. 13K purchase price, and as much in renewal fees every year ? This is crazy.
This is worse than the previous pricing scheme of .tv.
At least Zandibot is making sales, so maybe he can afford to take bad bets and offset them with sales. You have yet to make any sales. He will chime in if he wants.
And vr.xyz is still unregistered....

If you have that kind of money to invest, you don't have to take such a high-risk route.

Such is life and it is a lot like what can happen to your beloved .COM if it gets banned from the country with the largest internet population (in the world - CHINA)

I don't believe that, besides the end users who buy domains from me don't do most of their business with China.
And I still have a good bunch of ccTLDs. Even if China decides to blocks them - I don't care. China isn't the target market at all.

Once again: China is not 'banning' .com. What they are saying is that Chinese should not be allowed to host .com sites within China. But my end users can still E-mail Chinese factories from their dotcom domains if they want... And the Chinese corporations will retain their .com domains no matter what. You're blowing it all out of proportion.

You said "most of my portfolio is .xyz.", I find it worrying that your portfolio is so unbalanced. A healthy portfolio should not be dominated by highly speculative extensions.
And the .xyz that you've been willing to show us so far are no killers. You talk like a prophet of doom, but we've seen such characters before at NP, predicting the demise of .com, the rise of .tel .mobi .etc. They vanished long ago.
I'm afraid you are going to drop out of domaining sooner than you think
PS: no hate from me, just amusement, perplexity, and mocking the hubris of .xyz.

 

[Ali]

It wasn't me that wanted to buy VR.xyz it was @Zandibot

Maybe he doesn't know what he's doing @Kate ??

Don't make assumptions. I wouldn't pay $12k a year for a domain name. I was joking with Negari on Twitter.

 

[Chris Rice]

Don't make assumptions. I wouldn't pay $12k a year for a domain name. I was joking with Negari on Twitter.

Got it. I wanted you to chime in since I value @Kate 's insight and @JB Lions but both of them equate .XYZ to junk.

I was hoping that another respected domainer would add to this discussion. I doubt anyone on Name Pros would be as bullish as me but I brought up some valid points.

Kate doesn't believe that China will block .com's but if the government restricts their citizens to servers in China (recently announced) and .COM doesn't have a ICP license (also in the cards), it would make sense that .COMs would effectively be blocked in China once the GTLD regulations are enforced on Verisign.

Regulations that have prevented Chinese residents from using many new top level domain names will soon affect .com and .net domain name registrations, too.

The rules will apply to .com and .net domain name registrations starting March 1, 2016, according to documents obtained by Domain Name Wire.

http://domainnamewire.com/2015/12/03/china-to-enforce-real-name-verification-on-com-domain-names/

China might only enforce name verification with .COM but new GTLDs are currently blocked in China. So I think .COMs will get blocked too, at least until they get a ICP license.

 

[Ali]

I dunno, but it looks like gambling to me. 13K purchase price, and as much in renewal fees every year ? This is crazy.
This is worse than the previous pricing scheme of .tv.
At least Zandibot is making sales, so maybe he can afford to take bad bets and offset them with sales. You have yet to make any sales. He will chime in if he wants.
And vr.xyz is still unregistered....

If you have that kind of money to invest, you don't have to take such a high-risk route.

I agree here. That kind of renewal is crazy, for a domain investor. If a business really wants a name, and they don't mind the renewal, then it's essentially their decision to make when registering these domains. The only way I pay that much is if I HAVE to have the domain for a product. Personally, I have a small handful of researched acquisitions with higher renewal rates(but nothing even close to $12k) because my other investments allow me to pay some higher renewals, and still be in the green.

I don't think I have one generic keyword .xyz btw. I invested in China with the TLD. For a multitude of factors. I agree that it's a risky investment. But I can afford to take calculated risks, as I don't have all my eggs in one basket. And i'm profitable enough to be able to risk a "few grand" on something that I highly researched first.

 

[Chris Rice]

@Zandibot

Can you re-review my previous post?
- I updated it.

This is something all of us have been debating about since January.

 

[Ali]

@Zandibot

Can you re-review my previous post?
- I updated it.

This is something all of us have been debating about since January.

Wether or not China blocks .com's or .xyz fails is not something I'm up to debate about. It's all speculations, theories, opinions, blended with some semblance of fact.

All I can do is prepare so that if the "fat lady sings" one way or the other, my portfolio is still profitable.

 

[TRY]

You mentioned vr.xyz and my first thought was if I'm going to gamble this is a name I would choose, But $12k a year to renew each year, He'll NO!, I'm not that stupid! Look what happened to all the investors in .tv that Initially paid hi renewals only for them to get screwed in the end.

 

[Recons.Com]

$12K/yr is an equivalent of $240K one time payment.
Go buy 4-6 L+VR or VR+L com for that amount and you are much better off...

 

[Chris Rice]

China’s Great Firewall just got harder to climb

Beijing has expanded its internet footprint with the release of new regulations on online news and information.

This dovetails with President Xi Jinping’s efforts to make all state media serve the Communist Party.

Xi made this clear during a recent visit to media outlets in Beijing.

Under the new rules, all foreign solely owned companies and joint ventures with domestic partners must obtain a license to provide internet news and information services.

All technical equipment, servers and storage facilities must be based in China and subject to inspection anytime.

Licenses are renewable every five years.

The conditions are stringent.

All internet news providers must guarantee that their content will not threaten national unity and honor or disrupt social harmony among different ethnic groups.

But it’s not clear what constitutes “internet news service”.

Chinese authorities merely define it as anything engaged in “collecting, publishing and reposting information to the public”.

Under that definition, all news and information websites run by the foreign media are subject to the new rules.

The question is whether official websites of non-media foreign entities such as banks, retailers and IT companies fall under that definition.

If so, these companies might need to make some concessions to ensure their websites continue to operate in China.

Certainly, individuals and companies can set up websites offshore such as in Hong Kong or the United States for a mainland audience to circumvent the new guidelines.

But Chinese authorities are farther along that road.

They have blocked several virtual private networks, making it that much harder to crack the Great Firewall, China’s supposedly impregnable internet fortress.

The new regulations don’t take effect until March 10 but that is little consolation to many foreign publishers and producers who are having a hard time assessing their potential impact.

This is yet another sign Beijing is trying to impose total control over the internet, making life more difficult for foreign companies in China.

One of them is Apple Inc., which recently launched Apple Pay to compete with Alipay and WeChat Pay.

Apple is mired in a legal battle with the US government over unlocking an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino attackers.

If it loses, will Apple allow Chinese authorities to inspect their technical equipment and servers?

Shielded from foreign rivals, domestic players such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent will continue to dominate the Chinese market.

But lack of competition will ultimately harm China’s economic and social growth.

This article appeared in the Hong Kong Economic Journal on Feb. 23.

Translation by Julie Zhu

[Chinese version 中文版]

– Contact us at [email protected]

http://www.ejinsight.com/20160225-chinas-great-firewall-just-got-harder-to-climb/

 

[Chris Rice]

@Kate @JB Lions @Brandingtheweb.com

What do you think guys?

Will China block the .COM in China?