Hello again from Seattle, Domain Roundtable Day 2

[RJ]

Hey everyone! Just checking in again from Seattle at the Domain Roundtable conference. They had another full day planned for us again. I'll share a few of the highlights here.

There was a morning session about WHOIS issues, but I did not attend. I heard it featured a discussion about spammers using WHOIS queries to gather email addresses. I didn't get many other details about it.

The first session I attended today was "Domain Drop". On the panel was Pool.com CEO Taryn Naidu; Ray King, founder of SnapNames; Chris Ambler the developer behind eNom's Club Drop service; and lawyer Derek Newman.

There was an interesting debate about how registrars and drop catching services are evolving around the new drop process and what rights the original registrant should have once a name goes past its expiration date. It appears that more registrars will be sending expired names to auction for resale before they enter the actual drop process. Network Solutions does this now through Snapname's "Transfer Fulfillment" service.

I attended a session about "Legal & Business Issues". On the panel was Rob Garner from Agency.com, Christine Jones of GoDaddy, Doug Isenberg from Gigalaw.com, and lawyers from Verisign and Name.com also. A lot of the session centered on what corporations can do to protect ther domains -- like being aware of who is listed as the admin contact, keeping whois details up to date, and protecting your registrar username and passwords.

One of the panelists (sorry didn't note who) talked about how we're likely to see a trend towards renting or leasing domains rather than selling names. There are benefits to both the domain owner and renter.

The CEO Roundtable session was a momentous event! On a single panel sat the CEOs for GoDaddy, eNom, Moniker, Dotster, NameScout and Register.com. (NetSol's CEO couldn't make it unfortunately, but a representative was sent in his place.) Topics included ICANN, registrar trends, the registrar accredation process, and possible consolidation within the industry in the future.

I also attended a session about domain appraisal. There were six panelists (from Sedo, Afternic, DomainMart, Moniker, Agency.com, and NameIntelligence), all of which offer appraisal services through their companies. Various methods and criteria used for name appraisal were discussed. I took four pages of notes and plan to share some of this on the forum soon.

I had the pleasure of dinner with Snapnames founder Ray King, TrafficClub CEO Rob Montgomery, and Steve Hsieh of ArborDomains.com. What a great bunch of guys! We discussed many domain related issues from each of our different perspectives and backgrounds.

Ray and SnapNames had the honor of winning the "Innovation in Domains" award at the awards ceremony tonight. Sedo and Afternic won the best aftermarket company awards, and GoDaddy won awards for their both their growth and customer satisfaction. I didn't note all the awards, but a full list of winners will probably be available from NameIntelligence.

I did get to walk down to the Space Needle tonight and wow, it was incredible! Seattle seems like a great city, from the limited time I've gotten to enjoy things outside the hotel.

Day 3 tomorrow, and flying home to California tomorrow night. Hope things are going great here at NamePros. I haven't had much of a chance to catch up on everything going on here yet. I know things are in good hands thanks to the awesome NP staff and Forum Leaders.

Talk to you all later!

RJ

 

[zaros64]

Wow.. man when im older I hope theres another one of them on.. sounds cool

 

[StudioWorks]

Very nice and informative trip to Seattle Have fun and a safe flight back home

Cheers

 

[Midano]

Just a thought:

-RJ- - Next time you go to an event like this - would you consider taking a bunch of business cards from those of us who can't attend?
The cards may be distributed among coneference partisipants, represent the array of NP members (extra credibility points for NP) and promote our domain-related businesses (possible contacts for us).
Say, we send you 100 cards each, and you make a 100 card bunldes to be distributed? Charging a nominal fee would be fair I think (maybe in NP$).

 

[marisolblue]

sounds like and exciting trip. Are their any other forums being represented?

 

[IAmAllanShore]

Sounds like they're doing this thing right...
Thanks for the updates, and we really need a :green with envy: smiley right about now
-Allan

 

[.X.]

Sounds like a great day two RJ,Very imformative info attained,It's great to hear your having an excellent time.Take care and see ya soon

 

[Dave_Z]

There was an interesting debate about how registrars and drop catching services are evolving around the new drop process and what rights the original registrant should have once a name goes past its expiration date.

If you could recall, RJ, what "rights" have they said about registrants relating
to expired names? For now, the only "right" they have is to renew it, or get a
cut from auctioning the names like netsol and snapnames are doing.

I for one would be interested in knowing how they're approaching this.

While at it, did they say when will John Berryhill and Ari Goldberger say their
respective pieces? I recall Dr. Berryhill saying he and Ari will also attend.

Anyway, take care coming back home!

 

[RJ]

If you could recall, RJ, what "rights" have they said about registrants relating
to expired names? For now, the only "right" they have is to renew it, or get a
cut from auctioning the names like netsol and snapnames are doing.

It touched on a few things about the domain owner's rights once name goes past expiration. Some were of the opinion that once a name goes to expiration, its the equivelent of someone taking trash out to the curb for the garbage collector to pickup at a later date. The registrars that plan on auctioning the names between that time and the drop period were compared to someone coming to the curb before the garbage man got there, picking up your trash and selling it to someone else.

Should the original registrant get a cut of the proceeds that the name sells for? (This is the case with the current Network Solutions/Snapnames process) Will registrars have incentive NOT to notify registrants that a name is coming up for renewal? (More profit in selling expired names at auction vs. renewal fees for registrar) Those were a couple of the topics.

John Berryhill will be on two panel discussions after lunch. I will be attending those sessions and will take notes to share. I'm sitting in a Buying/Selling domains session featuring Sedo, Afternic and Moniker on the panel as a write this.

 

[Coastalguy]

Do us proud RJ!

Looking forward to future threads,
ST

 

[RJ]

I didn't get around to a Day 3 report and I apologize. I left from the final Rountable session and went straight to the airport. Back home now and trying to catch up on everything I've missed on NamePros while I was away!

DNJournal.com has done a great job summarizing the Roundtable Conference. I have a lot more info that hasn't been posted yet that I'll share in the upcoming days. By the way, two of the final sessions featured John Berryhill who was a delight to hear speak in person.

I had a great time in Seattle! If you get the chance to attend next year, I would highly recommend it.

Sincerely,
RJ

 

[Premium]

Wow, Thanks for the details.

Rentdomains.com - Taken
LeaseDomains.com - Taken

Shucks :lol: