ICANN's new TLD Proposal = The Future

[musicdotmobi]

In the mid 90s I was a teenager and with no credit card or any means to register a .com

50% of .com top generic keywords are parked pages. These were bought for the registration fee back in the mid 90s and these domainers are keeping them and doing nothing in terms of development.

I look at that guy named the domain king who has some really great eproperty but basically does nothing with it but show off.

.com is king but it is getting ridiculous. NOONE can get a .com without paying 6-7 figures. I welcome the ICANN resolution. It is about time. I do not feel sorry for domainers. If they want to register domains and bid for them, they can feel free to do so. The internet is open. Just because you own a premium .com that you bought for $xx and still holding it 10-15 years later does not mean anything to me if it is parked.

ICANN open up the internet. It will happen eventually. .com kings, you can sit on your parked pages and collect monies via suspect clickthroughs. Last thing I heard was Google/Yahoo is looking down on spammy parked pages. I wonder why? Advertisers aren't very happy and neither are surfers.

Before you start complaining about new TLDs I think the complainers should look at the wasted .com property that has been collecting dust since the 90s. Then they ask for 6 figures to sell.

I say in with the new and out with the old. I think domaining should be more entrepreneurial - not a monopoly of a few who were in early in the 90s. If you have issues with new TLDs do not visit them and don't invest in them. People speak of confusing people with different TLDs and they will be abused. Hey welcome to the world of business and marketing. How many advertisements are we bombarded with every day? And do we care or are we immune to them? Actually, the good ones stick to our mind - those are the companies that interest us and we love to check out. It is all about development and product. Yes, .com is king because of its veteran status and billions of advertised dollars. However, the future is obvious. Those who can't see it need to give up domaining altogether. The world is not all .com. There is a place for everyone and it is all about product. If you deliver, the users will come.

Thumbs up ICANN. I am looking forward to seeing some exciting changes next year. For the people that dont like it, that is too bad. Stop complaining and start building your properties instead of letting it collect dust and rely on the ".com popularity is all that I need" syndrome. Again this is my personal opinion. Keeping the status quo can never be innovative. I think the benefits outweigh the costs. It is all about execution.

 

[zambian0]

It is all about execution.[/QUOTE]


So would'nt you think the so called DOMAIN KINGS executed very very very well.

It just sounds to me you have a very bad case of sour GRAPES.

Let me just remind you that,

It is all about TIMING the execution.

 

[-REECE-]

Just a little reality to the discussion...

Take for instance the extension .games... Suppose I build a site on the domain video.games -- catchy name, nice, short, and WAY out of my development budget in .com.

So I make a great site on video.games, and guess what? Half, maybe more of my customers are going to type video.games.com. Owners of prime .com generics will Wildcard DNS these vTLDs, effectively transforming a large portion of the traffic any successful vTLD website obtains into nothing more than a secondary traffic source, all the while laughing as the development efforts of vTLD owners make them even richer.

There's money for the little guy in these new TLDs, but there's a lot more money in it for the big guys imho.

 

[SonnyCooL]

Just a little reality to the discussion...

Take for instance the extension .games... Suppose I build a site on the domain video.games -- catchy name, nice, short, and WAY out of my development budget in .com.

So I make a great site on video.games, and guess what? Half, maybe more of my customers are going to type video.games.com. Owners of prime .com generics will Wildcard DNS these vTLDs, effectively transforming a large portion of the traffic any successful vTLD website obtains into nothing more than a secondary traffic source, all the while laughing as the development efforts of vTLD owners make them even richer.

There's money for the little guy in these new TLDs, but there's a lot more money in it for the big guys imho.

no worry, it going to happen for the first few year .... after that video.game.com will back to collecting dust if they still asking for sky high prices .....

did u mispell wretch.cc to wretch.com (for asian) or did u type del.icio.us to delicious.com (this does happen due to poor subdomain hack) or del.icio.us.com .... no right ?

 

[deleted984054565403]

no worry, it going to happen for the first few year .... after that video.game.com will back to collecting dust if they still asking for sky high prices .....

did u mispell wretch.cc to wretch.com (for asian) or did u type del.icio.us to delicious.com (this does happen due to poor subdomain hack) or del.icio.us.com .... no right ?

I think we're talking about the average Internet user. Of course, most domainers and developers understand how the Web works and which URLs go to which places.

On Tuesday, I helped a family member with his computer. Whenever he performed a search, he typed in what he wanted and added .com every single time.

To the average Internet user that isn't aware of ICANN's new extensions, they'll almost certainly add a .com if someone tells them to visit video.games. It's going to take a long time for these extensions to be widely recognized. I know a lot of people that have never heard of .info, .biz, .pro, etc.

 

[SonnyCooL]

I think we're talking about the average Internet user. Of course, most domainers and developers understand how the Web works and which URLs go to which places.

On Tuesday, I helped a family member with his computer. Whenever he performed a search, he typed in what he wanted and added .com every single time.

To the average Internet user that isn't aware of ICANN's new extensions, they'll almost certainly add a .com if someone tells them to visit video.games. It's going to take a long time for these extensions to be widely recognized. I know a lot of people that have never heard of .info, .biz, .pro, etc.

yah agree ... that why it take another few year to blow ...
btw my younger cousin don't even bother to type .com he just type the domain in google and he click on there cause he complaint most of the company (in malaysia) domain in some funny page (park page), btw he only 11 ...

 

[-REECE-]

I think in the case of kids growing up today (like your cousin), there may be potential -- but that's many, many years away. For people who've known but . com for 1+ decade of internet use, I think it's going to take one heck of a lot of marketing to convince them that there exists an alternative (most of these people haven't even heard of anything but .com, .net, and maybe their countries cctld). And all that marketing will have to be all the more impressive to drown out all the advertising money which constantly flows into the great .com. It really is an uphill battle -- get a whole bunch of domainers/corporations to outlay some serious coin to play "wannabe registrar" and try to convince the world that the wannabe registrar is just as good and worthy of their money as the real registrars and extensions which have been around for 20+ years. I have to admit -- who hasn't ever dreamed they could be Verisign (or ICANN for that matter ) and get paid to do nothing?

yah agree ... that why it take another few year to blow ...
btw my younger cousin don't even bother to type .com he just type the domain in google and he click on there cause he complaint most of the company (in malaysia) domain in some funny page (park page), btw he only 11 ...

 

[jacal1]

We are still in the relative infancy of the internet...in the infancy of any new real estate venture, e.g. the opening up of new land somewhere, there are always a huge number of investors and speculators who own but don't move in and "develop" their land right away. They resell when the time is most ripe.

Or we could run with the analogy of diamonds (and other precious investments). The vast majority of diamonds are owned by people who own them as diamonds - not "developed" jewelry. They are investments.

But, I'm sure many would rant about the guy who owns a 50 acre island that could be developed for millions (green issues aside!), or the guy with a sack of diamonds in his basement. But I believe we'd change places in a second!

 

[Michael]

Most internet users do not even understand .tv and .mobi yet, how the heck are they going to understand .game or any other .vTLD? It is going to be pointless for the most part... it's just another way for ICANT and the people rich enough to create these vTLDs to make even more money.

 

[Kate]

I think domaining should be more entrepreneurial - not a monopoly of a few who were in early in the 90s.

Agreed. For instance I think the geodomainers are leading by example
But not all domainers are lazy or complacent

Yes, .com is king because of its veteran status and billions of advertised dollars. However, the future is obvious.

Yes the future is obvious. It's about .com and ccTLDs :blink:
Based on past experience we can say that most newly introduced extensions have been failures. So what makes you confident the upcoming TLDs will be adopted by the masses ? That's the $64,000 question.

To clarify: niche extensions like .pro or .aero with registrations figures in the mid 4-figure range are failures in my eyes... the exposure and critical mass just aren't there.

 

[Hurley4540]

I know a lot of people that have never heard of .info, .biz, .pro, etc.

Yup me too, most people I know only know of .COM, .NET, and .ORG.

 

[xman]

Very interesting comments I might say.

I've been doing case studies and been interviewing (social network focus group) people and then put the theory to the test and the results were amazing.

I will say no more as I will enjoy reading all your comments in this thread.

 

[musicdotmobi]

Thanks for all the feedback.

Most people do know .com, .net and .org

Most people did know Friendster before Myspace then Facebook came along.

Look at the case study of Last.fm. Classic example of a great site WITH millions of users. And yes sold for $200,000,000+ to CBS.

I am talking about the future here not the past or what people are comfortable remembering. This is my question to you all. Let us say there are 1000 extensions out there in the first year. You think people will NOT notice the change and get the concept? Dont assume consumers are not intelligent. They certainly get it. They WILL read about the new TLDs and the WILL notice them popping up left and right. Guess what? You think if major corporations start promoting .microsoft or .google or .ibm people wont notice? This is not about sour grapes. We will have this discussion in 5 years time and I believe a lot of the dynamics of the internet will change.

Look at the math and calculate. How many non-internet users and what is the potential of growth (outside of the USA and first world countries)? This makes so much sense.

About me feeling sour grapes about the domain kings, my key question for that is what did domain kings done for the internet and the internet community apart from fill their money with pockets and show off undeveloped eproperty? Domainers (again in my opinion) contribute when they develop their domains (and extensions) thus adding value to the end consumer. This leads to more exposure. I dont deny the timing. Like I said, if I wasnt a teenager and had a credit card I would have jumped the .com bandwagon in the mid 90s and registered as many as I could. That is backwards thinking. Timing is important from now onwards and so is execution. Dwelling on the status quo will leave some in the "old" music record industry positioning in respect to domaining/development. The "new" music industry positioning to domaining/development is about change, taking chances and having the balls to do something more than park your pages and await to get paid by sitting on your ass. That to me is the .com mentality. The premium .com mentality.

Change is inevitable. You either embrace it or you just get left behind. I suggest the doubters do some market research and ask users what they think the future of the net will look like. Also in there mention the new ICANN resolution and see their reaction. This was inevitable.

Best wishes to you all. I am glad everyone has their opinion on this. If everyone agreed with me, this discussion would be pointless.

 

[Jingles]

I will be keeping an open mind, especially since I seem to get more interest and sales with my ccTLD's than my .coms. Change never stops and people DO adapt...otherwise we'd all still be tracking down our next meal with a big stick... _\|/_ !!!

 

[xman]

Music you made a lot of good points and I value your intelligence.

You mentioned pretty much some major social network outthere besides MySpace and Facebook.

I've been a member of Friendster for a while now as well as Asianavenue (you don't need to be asian to join there by the way). My GF belongs to MySpace and Facebook so when I wanna gather information to get feedback we pretty much conquer all the major Social network in Cyber Space and then I put that whatever theory I'm working on to the test so I can get thousands of responds.

I haven't seen you in this forum and this is actually the first time I saw your post.

I would definitely like to get in touch with so perhaps we can cover more grounds getting feedback from an average users.

 

[Ronald Regging]

There are several reasons this will never work.

First of all, new extensions require speculation in order to take off. If there are hundreds of new extensions coming out, who is going to speculate them all? In fact, what registrars are even going to carry them all? Do you think the major registrars are going to start offering every new extension that comes out? Not likely. I don't think it would be financially feasible for a company to start a new extension in this type of overly competitive environment. We'll end up with a bunch of extensions that have very few registrations and the companies running them won't be making enough money to sustain their business. As a domainer or a business owner, would you want to invest in something that doesn't have widespread acceptance or support from consumers and registrars? What will happen to your domain and investment if the operating registry goes bankrupt? Is some other company going to swoop in and take over beating a dead horse or will the extension just cease to exist?

The Internet is essentially in a box. Even within that box, there have been numerous problems. Now we're going to open up the box and take on a whole new world of risks and problems. I just don't think any of us are ready for that yet. IMO, this decision just shows how utterly incompetent ICANN is.

 

[akcampbell]

I welcome the new ICANN gTLD expansion, it will increase knowledge and acceptance of alternative extensions and help developers who don't have the cash to buy memorable .coms. Henry Ford once said "You can have any color you like, as long as it's black". The same applies to the Internet and .com. There will be new colours and choice and the vast majority won't type in Video.game.com just as most people don't currently type in Last.com instead of Last.fm. The .fm is part of the Last.fm brand, people don't talk about "Last", it's Last.fm. It was a original and brilliant and users happily accepted it. Developing alternative extensions will be no more revolutionary than people developing ground web sites on weak domaining .com names like Google.com, Facebook.com, and MySpace.com.

I agree with Ronald Regging that new gTLD's won't be that lucrative for registries to run and will struggle to take off without speculation. .pro is a good example. I also agree about businesses not wanting to develop something that doesn't have widescale acceptance. However, we are reaching a point where alternatives are becoming better known and more accepted and the ICANN expansion will speed up that process.

 

[kemjika11]

Look at the average "consumer" for any goods. COmplexity and diversity make them pretty inefficient consumers,. and these new TLDs will suffer that same rejection. How many "average" folks will really type in "videogames.games"? and so forth. I think few. For one, you can forget alot of type-ins. People mostly know the top 4/5, and some special, well publicized ccTLDs. As a domainer, i hope ur not suggesting they open up these TLDs, because if ICANN's plans work, your domains become more worthless. Actually, all these new green TLDs are actually strengthening .com more because everyone knows that will be the "universal" TLD most people can easily relate to, so yea, my advice: buy solid .coms

 

[bmugford]

I would guess that 95% of internet users have only heard of the "Big Three". Having a Big 3 extension in my opinion adds credibility over .MOBI, .TV, .US, .BIZ, etc.

I just can not imagine putting an obscure extension on a business card.

Yup me too, most people I know only know of .COM, .NET, and .ORG.

 

[Kate]

Look at the case study of Last.fm. Classic example of a great site WITH millions of users. And yes sold for $200,000,000+ to CBS.

It's not all about a .fm domain name... CBS purchased a business and that's it. The name alone (undeveloped) would sell for reg fee at NP
Does that mean we should invest in .fm domains ? I don't think so. It's a niche extension pretty much like .tv.

Let us say there are 1000 extensions out there in the first year. You think people will NOT notice the change and get the concept? Dont assume consumers are not intelligent. They certainly get it. They WILL read about the new TLDs and the WILL notice them popping up left and right. Guess what?

OK let's imagine we have a .realestate TLD. Assume that it even gets moderately popular in North America. Unfortunately the TLD is not likely to shine beyond North America. For instance the British are more familiar with terms like homes or properties. .realestate will have zero appeal across the pond.
Furthermore you are limited to the English language with a TLD like that. Possibly the French will want a .immo (which also works fine in German, Dutch, Italian etc).
The end result is a proliferation of 'niche' TLDs and fragmentation of the Web.

So I make the prediction that the TLDs that can achieve critical mass are those that are language/culture neutral. Good examples of all-purpose TLDs include .com/.info or .pro - which nonetheless has utterly failed.

You think if major corporations start promoting .microsoft or .google or .ibm people wont notice? This is not about sour grapes. We will have this discussion in 5 years time and I believe a lot of the dynamics of the internet will change.

Assuming we have .microsoft or .google extensions I still doubt they will be available to the public at large. At the very best this will raise consumer awareness about alternatives.

Perhaps vanity TLDs will be doing fine for SEO purposes but they will suck for branding.