Name Selection Poll for Root Certificate brand

[Rob Monster]

We previously announced a search for a great brand name for an online service for sourcing domain certificates. The thesis is that there will eventually be innovative alternatives to the likes of LetsEncrypt that empower more people to secure their sites with robust technology. That search was described here:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/ssl-root-certificate-authority-ca-brand-name.1158491/

In the meantime, we have had some great domain candidate submissions. In order to select a winning name, we welcome your input on name selection through poll and discussion as we make plans to co-create another tool that helps make the pie bigger.

As for the list of brand prospects, we used every slot allowed in the poll software. There were many good ones left out unfortunately, but it is still a long list from some very thoughtful submitters who I look forward to highlighting among the top contenders to the extent they choose to be identified!

 

[Rob Monster]

We have a winner:

DNEncrypt.com

This was a hand-reg at Epik. The purchase price was $1500. Congratulations to @Tin Nguyen.

Let me explain my logic for choosing this domain:

1. The domain checked all the boxes. It is brandable, short, and descriptive of the value proposition which is to provide an alternative to the likes of LetsEncrypt.

2. The word encrypt is broad enough to encompass all protocols, e.g. SSL has given way to TLS, which will in turn give way to yet something else.

3. There were no trademark issues. Other very promising prospects like Webseal.com, were available for reasonable prices but came with a near-instant invitation to spend quality time with IBM lawyers.

4. The domain has parallel structure with our recent selection of DNProtect.com which is currently under fast-track development. Encrypt and Protect for which there will be both free and non-free options.

5. The seller, Tin, is an authority on encryption. We know him in part because his fiancee works for Epik in Vietnam and because he is an Epik client. Tin has agreed to do some product consulting for us.

6. The price was reasonable. Sure, it is a nice windfall for a new hand-reg. While an aged domain would have been nice, it was never a criteria.

A few further comments:

- I am aware that the poll was gamed by some of the candidates. Regardless, it is apparent that there are several good candidates on this list. I expect there will be more competitors to LetsEncrypt. That is an underserved market as a massive surge of domains seek encryption. It is already happening.

- For the folks who were participating in our domain suggestion bounty program, if your domain was not selected, PM me to claim your domain(s) for free.

- Special thanks to @Leopard and @Sumeeth for their extensive "behind the scenes" input. @Sumeeth was the winner of our last poll and is prolific namespinner. @Leopard is a NP treasure!

- Apologies to @Ategy.com for my inadequate responses to his comments on this thread. I have to take his strong views with a grain of salt, but his input is always appreciated.

The public comments were also very helpful and, again, much appreciated!

As for product timing, we are some weeks away from having something to share, but @Ala Dadan will be briefed soon!

 

[Rob Monster]

Thanks all for the ongoing input.

As it turns out, I was at a weekend conference to give a talk, and so rather less engaged than usual at NamePros for the last couple of days.

As for the replies to specific PMs, I do try to reply to all. Some days I admittedly don't do justice to the specific replies -- there not quite enough hours in the day. However, I do read and acknowledge all.

I expect we'll select a winner next week. I very much appreciate the great input that this thread has gotten, as well as some of the crowdsourced intelligence gathering on TMs.

Finally, as some of you know, I do my best to return favors. In the meantime, thanks for the ongoing effort to co-create solutions to shared industry challenges.

 

[loredan]

I voted for FullEncrypt, however to be honest none of the domains in the poll would fit for this project, in my opinion of course.

WebSeal is nice too but I understand there might be TM issues.

All the names containing DN/Name/Domain are irrelevant imo, you don't encrypt a domain, you actually encrypt a web page or website.

The names with "crypt" - are kinda vague. It can mean crypto, crypt as a burial place, cryptic, not a good fit imo...

The names with "cert", same as above. The dictionary show several meanings for "cert", none of those relevant for a certificate.

Didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, have no names in this poll, just my 2c as always.

 

[Leopard]

Some of the names with under 5 votes are pretty fine too. Unfortunately, no one and not even the submitter of these domains have given an explanation why they can be a good fit. May be they lost interest with the votes frenzy.

Somehow, i feel the process should be qualitative and not quantitative. Votes really are not much indicative of anything, especially based on how some of the names are gathering them. It skews the entire process and gets into a mad race.

May be next time, we can do away with vote counting and people can just give subjective explanation of what are the pros, cons, good and bad about the list of names. More brand perspective and ideas can emerge out of it. That should be good enough for any Contest Holders or Rob and his Epik team to pick out a name that stands out.

- Leopard

 

[wwwweb]

@Tin Nguyen As per the rules, First the BIN should be publically announced in the auction thread. Second -- BIN should be publically claimed in the thread. Third -- The seller should announce the winner publically in the thread.

When you do not announce a BIN on the auction thread, you are not giving a fair chance for others to claim it. This is called favoritism.

Yes, NameJi is right the BIN needs to be claimed by the winner per namepros rules, otherwise all those bidders were just wasting their time if you can close the auction, and end the process, nobody would participate in any auction. You really shouldn't have posted an auction if your names were in the running in this contest.

Now you make Rob look like a bad guy, and basically saying money can break the rules, and buy an auction bypassing any rules.

I understand you sitting at $32, and maybe having a bigger offer in play, but you should have placed the bin price at whatever you sold it at, and posted it in the thread, and first post, and then whoever claims it first takes it.

Regardless, hopefully you do better next time. Congrats on your sales.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

While full words obviously make domains longer, they are SIGNIFICANTLY more memorable unless the abbreviation is a day-to-day commonly used abbreviation (which is not the case here, nor for almost anything technical in nature).

I have not thought very deeply on this, and while @Ategy.com makes some good points, remember that many tech brands that we no longer associate with the abbreviation they started with, indeed started as a descriptive abbreviation:

• Intel was INTegrated ELectronics
• Microsoft was MICROcomputer SOFTware
• Compaq COMPatibility And Quality
• etc.

While we now look back as big brands that no longer associate with their abbreviation, I think in early days the abbreviation meaning is a useful early brand traction, while once they get big the fact that it was a unique contraction helps them have a nice brand.

Just my 2 cents worth!

Bob

 

[Leopard]

@Rob Monster

TrustCert.com is a name i recommended for the poll. It seems popular too. However, just found out there is another company with the same name and same service. Looks like they partnered with Comodo and e-safer too.

http://www.trustcert.com.br/
https://www.comodo.com/news/press_r...artner-to-expand-cybersecurity-in-brazil.html

Apologies, i couldn't figure this out earlier.

Regards
Leopard

 

[Vimal Kumar]

Well, if you want to challenge the big boys out there you'll need to start with a better brand name they currently have (not just in this particular case but for any new startup in any niche).

Personally I don't understand what Rob is trying to achieve with these contests and polls, but if you really want to setup a new venture, better go out there and privately purchase the best name you find and afford.

Asking the opinion of 40, 50, 100 people from different backgrounds, with different education levels and different interests to vote for the brand name of my future venture, well I for one, not quite a fan of it. If you would have asked 100 of the world's best branding experts, that would have been quite a different story.

You just can't pick your startup new brand name based on what 100 (more or less) domainers vote for. Just my opinion of course, Rob is a very smart guy and he surely know better than myself how to conduct his own branding research.

I beg to differ. I think it is logical to have a poll and seek the opinion of the people 'specialized' in the domain branding field ( of course, it is a open forum and not all are exactly specialists). It gives a good 360 degree perspective. It also helps to identify issues which could have been overseen ( TM issues, etc).
Lastly and most importantly, it helps build the community in terms of learning and sharing perspectives and helps each of us grow.
Thanks for facilitating this Rob!

 

[HotKey]

At face value: Ethics, terms & conditions, integrity, etc. -- all very much a grey area and in question here.

NPs is not a proper aftermarket venue, and that's why people aren't scared to bend rules or be sketchy. It's the wild wild west without proper moderation and guidance.

No, we can't have that. And I don't see why we should allow bending the rules now. It starts with this, and then what? People will start closing their auctions for other reasons?

I think we need some players to man up and make things right.

The last bid by @Hasan.khan was $32. There is absolutely nothing in the auction that invalidated it. That bid still stands.

This auction:

https://www.namepros.com/threads/sold.1158877/page-2

was closed prematurely. It does not have a SOLD in the thread by a member other than the OP, nor is there an updated BIN price placed in the thread by the OP, giving all current bidders and new bidders an equal opportunity.

Don't you think it's ironic to be building a trust brand on a footing of doubt?

Guys.. what gives? If there are no consequences, there is no integrity, and if we lose that it does become the wild west as Ms.Muse pointed out. I'd rather see it made right, rather than consequences. I think there's still an opportunity to do that.

 

[NameFather]

FullEncrypt.com

Holistic Encryption (SSL) Solution; Secured, Free, etc; All-in-One!

 

[Rahul Sinha]

FullEncrypt.com for me .

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I agree with others that have said lots of great names in the mix, I could easily have voted for a dozen (although only voted for 3).

I have one of the entries so won't comment on it as a conflict in my opinion.

Many of the words include encrypt. With Let;sEncrypt having so much of the current market, I am not sure if it is wise to use that so people will associate it with a similar product, or not include that as it is too similar. I slightly feel not to include, but can see strong logical argument either way.

Best wishes in your venture @Rob Monster - as I said, many great names here.

Bob

 

[Vimal Kumar]

Of all the names, only the following 3 fits the bill:
RootAuth.com, TrustCert.com and CertAuth.com
On googling these names Root certificate Authority related info comes up.
Rest all throws up unrelated information ( nothing related to CA).

Interestingly, the current poll leader WebSeal appears to be an IBM linked product. Could lead to potential IP issues

 

[Tunababa8v]

 

[Mary Muse]

Lucky you ... I was told by pm that my domains where not included as he was looking for domains that fit the request and are prized fair and hat my domains usually don't fit that .... this is a very unprofessional response to say the least ... but this is very common at this forum ... however I expected to be given at least a chance and be asked for prices ... but I guess he is not much for second chances ... so after all I will take it Personal .

You're lucky you got a detailed response from Rob, imo. He doesn't need to answer, especially if your submissions weren't adequate.

Stop feeling entitled, and embrace the fact that the CEO of a major registrar is bringing the domaining community together, one way or another. This should be fun, not something you "take personally."

 

[NameFather]

Generally, I agree; these words or word parts do not seem ideal, imo:
Auth
Cert
Crypt
Digi
DN (Domain Name)
Intelligent
Name
Root
Seal
Also: Hyphened, or Irrelevant, or Misspelled, etc.

 

[Leopard]

Also the past experience of such polls, i guess have been successful in finding good names, potential features and connections for these projects. Also has been a good and insightful experience for domainers.

Lets just enjoy the experience. Everyone has something to gain and nothing much to loose

- Leopard

 

[Rob Monster]

These are still just suggestions. Epik isn't bound by the results or suggestions within this thread/poll -- they could totally scrap it all, and imo it would still be 'fair.'

I love the dialogue, and I imagine it's all constructive for Epik's vision.

Yes, totally.

I think Tin's initiative is admirable mostly because he has probably forgotten more about how encryption certificates work than I ever knew. I don't profess to be a subject matter expert there. However, I am fortunate to have hired some very clever folks. Ironically we had just hired Tin's financee in Vietnam so this particular dynamic has an extra level of intrigue associated with it.

 

[karmaco]

I think if a submitter lists their submitted domain on auction isn't really wrong (minus the calls to vote for it to make it seemingly more valuable) .. and is actually more an indication that they don't think the name is relevant, nor that it has much of a chance of winning.

They also were trying to stuff the ballot box so to speak in the chat room trying to give names away for votes which is unprofessional and bordering on desperate. Rob was alerted. It obviously takes some of the fun out of when people will do anything to promote their name as the best.

 

[NameJi]

When the auction was setup about a week ago, the BIN was set to TBD (to be determined) just like my other 3 auctions. Earlier today, I set a BIN on all of my auctions. The terms of each auction is "BIN must be called." Rob messaged me, in effect "calling" it. I then closed the auction to any more bids and updated it to reflect SOLD. I'm unsure where the favoritism comes in. (because I'm in Information Security?) But thank you @NameJi , I truly appreciate your congrats!

@Tin Nguyen As per the rules, First the BIN should be publically announced in the auction thread. Second -- BIN should be publically claimed in the thread. Third -- The seller should announce the winner publically in the thread.

When you do not announce a BIN on the auction thread, you are not giving a fair chance for others to claim it. This is called favoritism.

 

[Blitzpotz]

Many of the words include encrypt. With Let;sEncrypt having so much of the current market, I am not sure if it is wise to use that so people will associate it with a similar product, or not include that as it is too similar.

Same opinion here, better more a feeling. Is the Epik service just a copy of the original?

I cannot say the names ending with auth, my German tongue would break. Also have problems with names starting with Cert. Glad I have, so this great list of domains gets much shorter.

My vote goes to the one name that tells us what the service really is, in my understanding: WebSeal.
It is short, unspectacular and if you talk out loud it gives you a stream of warm, ensured security.

 

[karmaco]

Now I know why commentary isn’t allowed in normal request threads. That’s my only comment.

 

[Mister Funsky]

LOL where should they start.

You do realize these posts will go away as well.

The hoot of it all is that the post was very much on topic (reason given for removal). The only thing that may have rocked someones boat is the fact I listed my three favorites which are:

WebSeal.com
eCerts.org
DNCert.com

The only thing I can imagine is that someone that didn't get mentioned used the report button because their feelings were hurt!?!

 

[Ategy]

So @Rob Monster? lol .. I made my posts on the previous page hoping it would get you to tell us who is the end LCD (lower common denominator) end-user is on the techie spectrum? Are your targeted customers even very familiar with the terms and/or abbreviations? For me, voting/recommending a brand without considering the targeted end-user is not very relevant. It's often easy to come up with a neat, fun, cool brand .. but if it doesn't connect or have meaning with a strong majority of your target market, then even what many would think is the best brand could be a bad choice. My vote will be quite different depending on the answer to that question.

... Particularly since unfortunately @Rob Monster did not say anything regarding his target market. Because while yes it's been mostly technically savvy developers who have been acquiring SSL certification to date, with the changes in Google (search and Chrome browsing) requiring pretty much everyone with a website to get Trust Certificates to be relevant to search engines AND even more importantly to browsers themselves (even small rinky-dink wordpress site). So in my opinion, using technical abbreviations in this case would be a mistake, because while some of the names in the list are actually not bad phonetically, they fail the recognition factor of what should be the average targeted end user (who are no longer just tech-savvy nerds .. lol .. but the average person with only just enough internet skills to set up a WordPress site).

... That's actually ironically a part of the problem in a lot of cases, because a lot of end-users don't even think about their target audience when choosing a name/brand (possibly the case here) .. when in fact they should be the ONLY people that should matter. The only exception is when recruitment is more challenging than sales, or in cases of many B2B businesses when your target-market is effectively people in the same industry who understand the terms/slang .. only then maybe go with the cool "only industry people understand the meaning" name. Otherwise it's a mistake to go with industry abbreviations or words that the "lowest common denominator" end user doesn't know.