It’s official: People hate the domain name industry

[Archangel]

I’ve said it many times before: the domain name industry has problems with its reputation. But now the official figures are in that — apparently — prove it.

According to ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade, the industry is perceived four times worse the IT industry average.

Read more: http://domainincite.com/11717-its-o...ampaign=Feed:+DomainIncite+(DomainIncite.com)

 

[-NC-]

It's a pity there are no details about what those perceptions are. ( I didn't watch the video in the linked to icann blog post )

I assume that the perceptions are that the registrars are all unreliable leeches in cahoots with an army of squatters?

"Out of the CEOs I met — and I met many — I’d say half of them don’t know who we are"
Er, yeah, the domain industry is tiny? The largest registrar has a few thousand employees and barely takes in a billion a year?

http://www.webhosting.info/registrars/top-registrars/global/
http://www.inc.com/profile/godaddycom
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/full_list/

I don't really see why most CEOs would be concerning themselves with who ICANN is anymore than they do with who provides their SSL certificates or who's running w3c.

DNS is IT. How many CEOs have an IT background?

 

[Kenny]

Hello.... are you new?

Seriously, this industry is viewed one step below TV Repairmen, and deep down, we all know why.
The comments by RS & Kevin are interesting, but Avtal hit it on the head:

Avtal says:
January 26, 2013 at 5:49 pm
Most people first encounter the domain industry when they try to register a domain for their organization or small business. That’s when they discover that the domain they want has already been snatched up by a “@#$% cybersquatter”. How do they know it’s a cybersquatter? Because the domain points to a “@#$% parking page”.

Everyone reading this comment is well aware that registering generic domain names is not cybersquatting, and that UDRP panels (mostly) recognize parking pages as “bona fide offerings of goods and services”.

But to the public at large, I and my fellow domainers (sorry, I mean “domain investors”) are “@#$% cybersquatters” who “pollute” the net with “@#$% parking pages”.

I think that this, more than GoDaddy’s sales process or ICANN’s policy tangles, is what gives the domain industry a bad image among the general public.

Avtal

Looking at it honestly, and not from a $$$$ point of view, Domainers have polluted the web with F'd up parking pages, and totally ruined any kind of search results with tweaked SEO...

Dont get me wrong, I'm not innocent in all this either.

Just sayin...


Peace,
Cy

ps,
Thanks Randy, and congratz on your 9th Star.

 

[Ms Domainer]

*

In the comment section, Rick Schwartz blames ICANN.

Ha, ha.

We need to look inward and stop pointing fingers at everyone else and start admitting that this is a tainted industry.

How many of us can HONESTLY say that we have never regged a TM, either by design or just because of plain ignorance?

When I first started in this industry, I thought it was okay to register TM's that acted as adjectives, such as IPhone_______.com, so I regged some.

By educating myself in basic TM law, I soon learned my lesson. Fortunately, I did not have to experience the dreaded UDRP.

*

 

[iowadawg]

Look at threads and posts here on namepros.
By people who want domains just to park them!
Or who want to know the best place to park domains.
Who are in it just for the money that parked domains can bring.

Parked domains pollute search results.

It really would be best for the internet, domainers, the domain industry as a whole if parked domains and parking companies were not allowed.

But then, it would be an invitation for ever more pages of crap from domainers then putting up one pagers for their domains to make money.

Just one vicious cycle and I can assume most people see all this and know that the entire domain industry is flawed.

 

[Jasonn]

who cares. at least we aren't killing the planet.

---------- Post added at 04:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:41 PM ----------

Look at threads and posts here on namepros.
By people who want domains just to park them!
Or who want to know the best place to park domains.
Who are in it just for the money that parked domains can bring.

Parked domains pollute search results.

It really would be best for the internet, domainers, the domain industry as a whole if parked domains and parking companies were not allowed.

But then, it would be an invitation for ever more pages of crap from domainers then putting up one pagers for their domains to make money.

Just one vicious cycle and I can assume most people see all this and know that the entire domain industry is flawed.

if parking is bad then SEO is bad too. seo is an attempt to manipulate search results which in an ideal world should be organic. nothing and no one is innocent.

 

[freedom30]

...so what is the article about? Wearing our hearts on our sleeves and feeling guilty about capitalism in action?

I must apologize for NOT following the lemming over the cliff. I am a proud domainer and see nothing wrong in an industry that has been around longer than when I started to get involved in it

As for the new gTLD program, it'll have to sink or swim on its own, I ain't interested in a pig( or pigs) in a poke. But good luck to those that are...

 

[Kate]

Parked domains pollute search results.

That isn't accurate, but it's a widely held thought.

Google have no problem with parked domains actually, because they are easy to spot (just the name servers tell it all).
On the other hand, Google have a problem with black hat SEO techniques like cloaking etc.

Parked pages can still be found in the index, but typically will rank (very) low, if at all.

Seriously, how often do you stumble on parked domains while doing a search in Google ?

But for some irrational reasons, domainers are considered worse than spammers and scammers. I think it boils down to jealousy, you have a name that somebody won't have, because you know their shitty blog brings more added value than your parked domain

 

[Archangel]

It is always in the mindset of non-businessmen that if something isn't being used, then it should be available to them at a standard-rate cost. In this case, every domain not in use should be available for regfee to everyone. ppl don't understand that domains are property & can be owned without usage. If I see a house that no one is living in, that doesn't mean I'm entitled to own it by default. I can't tell the owner, "It's vacant so you're obligated to sell it to me." No: The owner will sell if he damn well wants to. Non-business owners don't understand this principal.

Of course, there are the sad sacks of shit who'll spam you as soon as you reg a domain a la "Nice reg. But my domainns are better--wanna buy from me?" or "We think uur domain is worth $100. We encourage you to buy ours!" or the noob "I have domains you might be interested in." AND the "Use our registrar service instead of your preferred--we're a cheap SIXTY DOLLARS A YEAR FOR .COM!"

And on and on and on...

Domaining is the 2nd biggest industry in the world, I think I read, behind stocks and before housing. But it's still hated. I'm shocked a study was even needed to confirm this.

Thanks Randy, and congratz on your 9th Star.

Thanks--I've been here almost from the beginning

 

[zoomactive.com]

How many CEOs have an IT background?

Unless I am mistaken, CEOs should not have an IT background. They need to have a business & marketing background. They have to run companies and manage employees. I can't imagine a web developer managing 2,000 employees or even taking a company making $1m and turn it into $100m etc.

Different breeds for different jobs and good CEOs surround themselves with the talent they need. Their job is not technology, their job is to grow the business and generate more profits. Obviously, marketing and customer satisfaction are high on their list but having the latest and greatest servers or how to manage dns should not be high on their list.

 

[maksimfa]

as an enduser and a domain hoarder, I have no issues if someone registers a domain name to sell it in the future.... where I do have issues, are domainers who registered obvious trade marks, or register a domain to hijack it and sell it for massive profits to a local business.

In case of trade mark violations, I feel companies should enforce them fully, and go for the full civil cases, bankrupt those people. Greed and capitalism are good, hijacking domains and trade marks, is just insulting.

 

[HeyNow]

In my experienced but humble opinion, here's what the problems are:

1) Domaining is rife with fraud. Snapnames proved that. So did Adam Dicker, former VP at Godaddy! That's a real reason we are considered pond-scum, bottom feeders, etc., because some of us continue to play in that cesspool. Placed a backorder with Snapnames recently? If "yes," then you are part of the problem. Participate at DNF lately? If "yes," then you are part of the problem.

2) Typosquatters like Kevin Ham http://articles.businessinsider.com/2009-01-09/tech/29989894_1_ebay-cameroon-redirects

3) Domain "news" websites, like DNJournal.com, which have painted the schmucks mentioned above in a positive light, week after week, telling us that Snapnames is "reputable," even after Snapnames admitted to massive shill-bidding, which is essentially fraud. Do you kiss Ron Jackson's ass when he posts domain "sales" results when some of those results come from admitted and/or outed auction fraudsters? If "yes," then you are part of the problem.

Whether you know it or not, the rest of the world has watched the domain business, and even participated to a degree. Steve Forbes participated at at least one or two domainer conventions, along with amazing attorneys like John Berryhill. I don't see them anymore. Perhaps they saw the cesspool as something they'd rather not be part of.

 

[DU]

John Berryhill. I don't see them anymore. Perhaps they saw the cesspool as something they'd rather not be part of.

He's more involved than ever really if you look around.

The domaining industry sucks basically. Who doesnt know this?

 

[Kate]

Cheaters and unethical conduct exist in every industry.

What makes the domain industry different is the lack of regulation and self-regulation. There is no spokesman for the domain industry, no lobby, no professional body to uphold reputation. Easy game.

Now consider the following:

Bankers evict people from their homes. By lending money to the banks you support the system.
Big corporations exploit workers in the third world and plunder resources. By investing in stocks you are part of the system.

Bottom line, domaining may be the cleanest form of capitalistic speculation.
Nobody has ever died of cold or hunger because they couldn't afford a domain.

Mind you, those pointing fingers at the domain industry aren't all nice either. Everything is relative.

 

[Dave]

What do we have to feel sorry about? It's called business.

Enough said.

 

[lincolndsp]

people hate people
so what??

 

[maksimfa]

Cheaters and unethical conduct exist in every industry.

What makes the domain industry different is the lack of regulation and self-regulation. There is no spokesman for the domain industry, no lobby, no professional body to uphold reputation. Easy game.

Now consider the following:

Bankers evict people from their homes. By lending money to the banks you support the system.
Big corporations exploit workers in the third world and plunder resources. By investing in stocks you are part of the system.

Bottom line, domaining may be the cleanest form of capitalistic speculation.
Nobody has ever died of cold or hunger because they couldn't afford a domain.

Mind you, those pointing fingers at the domain industry aren't all nice either. Everything is relative.

What does banking have to do with anything? Real bad example.

Bankers give people an opportunity to own a home. They had plenty of time to pay, if you cannot pay and are behind for more than 2 years, yep, bet your ass you should be out.

IE.... If you leased out a domain to someone, and they had free use of it for 2 years, don't you deserve to get it back?

Domaining, at a big level, is taking advantage of other business (trademark violations). Giving someone a mortgage is not.

Please stop trying to justify it.

For the most part, domainers are good, and I (as end user) have no issues if someone buys a domain, where I have massive issues is when someone registers and holds hostage an existing trademarked business name, a brand name, a typo. All this shows is that you have no ability to look ahead for a good name, and are trying to take advantage of something that is not yours.

 

[FPForum]

There are haters in just about every industry..It's called business.

 

[baseballworld]

There are haters in every industry or group even for that matter. Most of the time it only takes one or two bad experiences or people to draw the negative attention. The only exception to this is a group no one knows about really. Someone will always dislike someone else or something. Especially the more known or popular it is.

 

[Kate]

What does banking have to do with anything? Real bad example.

The point is that domainers are investors too.

Bankers give people an opportunity to own a home.

And an opportunity to wreck the economy... at the expense of taxpayers.
Point made, but one single bank probably does more harm than all domainers combined

Domaining, at a big level, is taking advantage of other business (trademark violations). Giving someone a mortgage is not.

Please stop trying to justify it.