Hello All,
I've been silent for a number of months now. I was dealing with a health issue which required I take a medication named Prednisone. In addition to a number of nasty side effects, it seemed to impede my will to write. I'm off the Pred now and feeling much better.
Having gotten into domains in the mid-nineties as well as having launched two successful online businesses in 1996, I have weathered a few storms. Soon after the dot com meltdown in 2000, I saw a complete change of attitude towards the internet at apparel trade shows. Many who didn't understand the dynamics of the Net, assumed it was a fad whose time had come and gone. Lots of folks lost faith in domain names at that time too. There were some great deals to be had back then.
I didn't loose faith then, and I have not lost faith now. There are naysayers who go as far as saying that domain names are a thing of the past. I say hogwash, with all due respect to hogs. Some say that dot com is all that matters. To me thats like saying that Fifth Avenue is all that matters in retail. While it's nice to have a Fifth Avenue flagship store, many get their start and make a good living on Melrose.
In summary, times are tough, money is in shorter supply, budgets are being cut, jobs have been lost and priorities are being readdressed. Domain portfolios are being consolidated by some while others are taking advantage of, what might turn out to be unusually good opportunities.
For those who can make it through these trying times, I believe a better day will come. In my opinion, there has been steady growth for the .tv extension since the metamorphosis in 2010, in spite of the world economy. And the Internet itself is more important now than it ever was.
As always, we are at the mercy of the world economy. If there is a catastrophic failure of the world economic system then hardly any assets will perform well, except for, perhaps, carpenter's sets and basements full of MREs.
This is just one man's opinion and I respect the opinions of others. I hope to be more active in this forum once again.
Best,
Claude