debate NudeKids.com Auctioned ($134 at GoDaddy)

[Ategy]

So I know this is going to start another heated discussion where people think I'm trying to stifle Free Speech .. so I just ask that you read open mindedly until the end so you'll understand that isn't the case at all. I'm actually a staunch supporter of Free Speech. Anyhow .. to the point ...

Late last night / early this morning as I was going through domains making my daily list of names to watch, I noticed "NudeKids.com" on auction at GoDaddy with one bid. In the past I have reported domains on their platform like GasTheJews.com and KKK.info as well as a few other clearly racist/inappropriate domains. So after getting most of my list done, as I've done in the past, I simply sent an email around 9am informing them of the domain NudeKids.com.

Hello,

Just wanted to let you know that NudeKids.com is on auction on the GoDaddy Platform today .. which means it’s been listed for a week and a half.

https://auctions.godaddy.com/trpItemListing.aspx?miid=247522700

Thanks,

I checked every now and then, but sure enough it was still there .. and it got more bids and finally ended at 1:36pm (10:36am in Arizona) at $134 after a relatively short battle between 2 bidders. The last time I checked there were only a few seconds left in the auction.

Then .. literally within 2 minutes of the auction ending at 10:38am Arizona time I received the following email:

Support Staff Response

Thank you for contacting Aftermarket support. We appreciate your feedback. That listing now closed.

Please reach out to us if you have any other questions.

Regards,

Aftermarket Support

I'd go into details on my thoughts on this .. but I think my response is rather clear on my opinions ...

Hello,

It’s (the auction listing) no longer there because the auction ended literally 2 minutes before you sent me this email. Unless you closed it with literally under 5 seconds to go, the auction was not closed, it completed uninterrupted, with a winning bid of $134.

It doesn’t affect me directly .. and I’m also an extremely strong believer in freedom of speech. However .. I’m also a believer in freedom of choice .. and that your choices determine and show your values ... I do realise it can be difficult to catch all such names, even if in all honesty you should indeed be responsible for everything you sell on your platform. But I did notify you several hours ago, and thus, in my eyes GoDaddy chose to profit on a domain that will likely end up being used for child pornography.

Not much more to say .. you guys have the largest selection of expiring domains so I’m not going to start some big boycott! I just find it a little sad. More importantly I also find it personally distasteful that you sidestepped the issue by telling me it’s closed in a way that if I were not paying attention would leave me to believe that GoDaddy took progressive action to actually remove the auction .. the choice of open ended / deceptive language is a surprise .. as despite the numerous bugs and issues I face using the GD platform on a frightfully regular basis .. I never doubted the good intentions of GD to do the right thing if they could, nor the integrity of individuals working at GD. Today is an unfortunate exception.

That's it .. figured it's something to be shared as I'm sure these sort of issues are important to many of you ... be it the lack of action .. or the ambiguous sidestepping response. Because if I got a reply in 2 days stating that they were sorry they missed it, I probably would only have been half as frustrated and just would have forgotten about it.


Even sadder .. are the actual stats behind the domain ...

NudeKids.com: 0.83 cpc | 33875 Exact Monthly Searches | 429000 SERP

 

[johname]

The list of mega earth shaking, make news headlines, look bad for GD if made into a news article or report on tv offensive words is quite small in our it's find to smoke pot and view porn world. We are talking about a company listed on the stock exchange. Take a low payed employee and tell him/her one day a week for one hour search for these mega names, make a list of the most appalling, give the list to a supervisor. Supervisor order the deletion of names from the auctions.

 

[Arca]

@Joe Styler - Some bidders user GoDaddy valuations to determine which domains to bid on. Some companies use your API to automatically place bids on such domains.

GoDaddy values NudeKids.com at $1769, which I believe is possibly why this domain saw a small bidding war.

GoDaddy also values far more overtly offensive/racist/inappropriate domains at similar or higher prices. There is seemingly no anti-racist/anti-child pornography etc. filter in your GoDaddy domain value appraisal tool. By valuing such domains at $XXXX prices you draw attention to and build value in such domains, and this is a form of promotion of these kinds of domains by GoDaddy to entities that use your valuations to determine what to bid on. You value these domains at decent prices, certain bidders bid accordingly.

GoDaddy should implement some kind of filter to prevent your domain value appraisal tool from indicating that these domains have value.

 

[MapleDots]

[email protected]

I vote he gets special super powers

 

[MapleDots]

nudekids.com

A website to report any child nudity or offensive websites.

Report any offences to [email protected]

Just a scenario

 

[Page Howe]

thought Joe handled this pretty well.

page

 

[Ategy]

I was wondering how you found them in case it would be helpful for us to use. Using lists is what we have in place and we pull words from filters we set up automatically. Manually checking the names is very time consuming which is why I was wondering your way of finding them.

@Joe Styler .. Nah .. nothing fancy .. I probably consistently go through more names at GD auctions than anybody else for both my own personal list .. and for the list I share here at NP with others .. as such I guess it's only normal I find more than anybody else.

It should be stated that despite my reporting extreme names from time to time, I always assumed there was a pre-filter to mark domains for human inspection .. while the NudeKids combo might seem obvious .. I can see how programming an algorithm to detect NudeKids might have been tricky because both Nude and Kids are completely benign keywords on their own. Arguably however, both (mainly nude) "could" potentially combine with another word to synergize into a 2 word combination far more offensive than just the sum of the 2 base words. Even more so with a domain like GasTheJews.com from a while back.

However seeing 3 "N I G G E R" domains pass through the filtration process led me to think that maybe there's less energy devoted to it than I've assumed.

Either way .. given the number of domains passing through GD auctions each day I think the number of such domains is relatively small .. but maybe use this as an opportunity to tweak the process .. add a few more words to the pre-filter that tags names to be verified by humans .. and maybe add an extra 30 minutes every 2nd day for someone to manually go through those extra names.

 

[Ategy]

[email protected]
I vote he gets special super powers

lol .. I'm already fighting to make GD better for all of us.

I've probably made at least 2 dozen emails/calls regarding various issues, problems, bugs, miscommunication, pricing errors at GoDaddy. I've found multiple bugs and errors that remained unfixed for months (many still aren't .. lol). I did a session with one of their development teams that gave them so much to go on that they asked I volunteer for another session (which I did).

It's gotten so bad that I actually start some of my emails to my rep with an apology because I feel really bad for him having to always deal with all my issues. Last month I lost a domain while on vacation because of a perfect storm combining 3 issues (2 bugs and a missing automated communication). If GD were like Google and offered a $6006 reward for each issue/bug found I'd be rich (well .. not rich .. but I'd literally be making more $$ than I do at my real world job .. lol!

So it's definitely not that I complain about GoDaddy simply for the sake of complaining ... lol. And while I'm most certainly not their most important client by a long shot .. given the synergistic combination of my power usage of multiple corners of their platform .. combined with the fact that I do like to experiment and tinker and go into corners .. the result is essentially that I can guarantee I know the ins and outs of the entire GD platform more than any ONE employee (although I'm sure most employees know their own department well enough)! In fact .. if there is an employee that knows more issues about the GD platform than I do .. then they most certainly aren't doing their job properly because there are countless bugs/inefficiencies still out there unaddressed and unfixed (many that I've reported a year ago or more)!

What I hate about all this is that I see all kinds of other people constantly complaining JUST for the sake of complaining .. they gripe but never actually report or contact. Everyone assumes GoDaddy is this big corporate monster with the only intent of taking every last cent out of your wallet. But the fact of the matter is that nothing could be further from the truth. There are no deliberate actions being taken by GD to deceive GD customers. When it's something easy to do, they will do it to help customers (yes .. EVEN if it means sacrificing a few dollars). The problems stem when things get a little more complicated to resolve .. that's when issues get pushed around from desk to desk because nobody wants to deal with it and then eventually it end up swept under a rug somewhere in the basement. It's essentially the same thing that happens in all big departmentalised companies .. in that more often than not one department has no clue how what it does can affect another department. The right hand is clueless as to what the left is doing so to speak. Add to that, the fact that being a platform based company, tons of things have been upgraded over the years and proper internal audits have obviously not been done to make sure all possible side effects of each upgrade have been taken care of. So yes .. GoDaddy is a mess .. their platform is a disaster .. but they are not evil .. and the people who work there are indeed nice friendly humans who sometimes make mistakes, who sometimes are lazy, but who for the most part do the right thing when given the choice .. most importantly .. they do have the largest selections of auctioned domains in one place by far .. which keeps us all coming despite all the other issues .. lol.

 

[Ategy]

@Ategy.com we cancelled the auction. It will drop unless the original owner renews it. thanks for bring this up.

@Paul Nicks or @Joe Styler .. Not sure I really need to say anything here ... I REALLY want to give GD the benefit of the doubt .. but given the screenshot below and the fact that until the domain expired it was parked at Sedo (and not HugeDomains) .. can you please explain how anything other than the following happened:

1- The auction was not cancelled
2- HugeDomains won the auction
3- GoDaddy profited $134 + $8 renewal (minus whatever bulk discount HugeDomains gets)

Again .. I sincerely hope I'm missing something and would love to hear GD's side of things before jumping to final conclusions. But the update status is timed almost perfectly with what would have been the expected date if it was won at auction. Also the creation date leads to believe the domain was not dropped. In theory the domain would not even be available for handreg for a little more than a month from now.

 

[Joe Styler]

I said we cancelled the auction and we did. I also believe I previously stated we didn't profit from that auction and that is also true. That does not mean people are not allowed to backorder a domain name and get it. If there are multiple backorders and no auction winner it would be awarded to whoever placed the first backorder.

 

[Sathyam]

Thanks Athegy...

 

[alcy]

Thanks Athegy...

please use the like and thanks buttons to express these emotions on namepros.
in all situations. everything else is not permitted.

cheers.

 

[johname]

I think what Ategy expected was a Godaddy Nuclear button. Once a domain is considered so bad it gets eliminated form the Godaddy system period. Doesn't matter if people back order it, its gone.

 

[MapleDots]

I think what Ategy expected was a Godaddy Nuclear button. Once a domain is considered so bad it gets eliminated form the Godaddy system period. Doesn't matter if people back order it, its gone.

They don't have the power to do that, someone else will just register it at another registrar when it drops. You would have to go above the registrar level to truly take the domain off the market.

 

[johname]

Thats not what I am talking about. It would be if a domain so bad that it has to be pulled from auction, well then pull it out of all of godaddy (force drop) If someone regs it at a different register that's not a PR problem for GD

Mindful this is just for the mega mega rare ultra offensive domains that are topic wise could be listed on one hand

 

[wwwweb]

That is just gross, I don't even want to punch it into a whois search, Huge Names should be ashamed at themselves for owning this.

 

[AMRO1001]

I said we cancelled the auction and we did. I also believe I previously stated we didn't profit from that auction and that is also true. That does not mean people are not allowed to backorder a domain name and get it. If there are multiple backorders and no auction winner it would be awarded to whoever placed the first backorder.

why not lock this domain ( if the original owner did not renew it) or hand it to someone who is going to make good or ethical use of it?

 

[ThatNameGuy]

So I know this is going to start another heated discussion where people think I'm trying to stifle Free Speech .. so I just ask that you read open mindedly until the end so you'll understand that isn't the case at all. I'm actually a staunch supporter of Free Speech. Anyhow .. to the point ...

Late last night / early this morning as I was going through domains making my daily list of names to watch, I noticed "NudeKids.com" on auction at GoDaddy with one bid. In the past I have reported domains on their platform like GasTheJews.com and KKK.info as well as a few other clearly racist/inappropriate domains. So after getting most of my list done, as I've done in the past, I simply sent an email around 9am informing them of the domain NudeKids.com.

Hello,

Just wanted to let you know that NudeKids.com is on auction on the GoDaddy Platform today .. which means it’s been listed for a week and a half.

https://auctions.godaddy.com/trpItemListing.aspx?miid=247522700

Thanks,

I checked every now and then, but sure enough it was still there .. and it got more bids and finally ended at 1:36pm (10:36am in Arizona) at $134 after a relatively short battle between 2 bidders. The last time I checked there were only a few seconds left in the auction.


Show attachment 80569



Then .. literally within 2 minutes of the auction ending at 10:38am Arizona time I received the following email:

Support Staff Response

Thank you for contacting Aftermarket support. We appreciate your feedback. That listing now closed.

Please reach out to us if you have any other questions.

Regards,

Aftermarket Support

I'd go into details on my thoughts on this .. but I think my response is rather clear on my opinions ...

Hello,

It’s (the auction listing) no longer there because the auction ended literally 2 minutes before you sent me this email. Unless you closed it with literally under 5 seconds to go, the auction was not closed, it completed uninterrupted, with a winning bid of $134.

It doesn’t affect me directly .. and I’m also an extremely strong believer in freedom of speech. However .. I’m also a believer in freedom of choice .. and that your choices determine and show your values ... I do realise it can be difficult to catch all such names, even if in all honesty you should indeed be responsible for everything you sell on your platform. But I did notify you several hours ago, and thus, in my eyes GoDaddy chose to profit on a domain that will likely end up being used for child pornography.

Not much more to say .. you guys have the largest selection of expiring domains so I’m not going to start some big boycott! I just find it a little sad. More importantly I also find it personally distasteful that you sidestepped the issue by telling me it’s closed in a way that if I were not paying attention would leave me to believe that GoDaddy took progressive action to actually remove the auction .. the choice of open ended / deceptive language is a surprise .. as despite the numerous bugs and issues I face using the GD platform on a frightfully regular basis .. I never doubted the good intentions of GD to do the right thing if they could, nor the integrity of individuals working at GD. Today is an unfortunate exception.

That's it .. figured it's something to be shared as I'm sure these sort of issues are important to many of you ... be it the lack of action .. or the ambiguous sidestepping response. Because if I got a reply in 2 days stating that they were sorry they missed it, I probably would only have been half as frustrated and just would have forgotten about it.


Even sadder .. are the actual stats behind the domain ...

NudeKids.com: 0.83 cpc | 33875 Exact Monthly Searches | 429000 SERP

Totally Disgusting...and some of you guys and gals wonder why I say this industry has a horrible reputation. I've never run into so many hypocrites in my life!!!

 

[wwwweb]

Totally Disgusting...and some of you guys and gals wonder why I say this industry has a horrible reputation. I've never run into so many hypocrites in my life!!!

Has nothing to do with the industry, you can judge an industry on the actions of a single party.

We all tend to agree on this, this is a domain warehouse company using an automated trading bot who has a perverted ai programming nature. We stand with you on this one. Either way enough attention has been brought to this one, they should delete it, and be done with it.

 

[tonyk2000]

The domain in question is already listed on Afternic for $2,295; alternatively, afternic welcomes offers ($1,606 min.)

http://www.afternic.com/domain/nudekids.com


Description:

The premium domain nudekids.com (nudekids) is for sale for $2295.00
Categories:
Reference, Uncategorized

Listing Date:
February 27th, 2018

 

[pinkdragon]

It is listed at Sedo too.

 

[wwwweb]

Trying to profit from this is disgusting, well afternic is godaddy so hopefully they will delete the listing since they already said they are against this.

 

[tonyk2000]

I am sure that afternic will delete the listing on Monday, as Joe is checking this thread. However, one can expect that the listing will reappear in a few days, as this particular registrant has superuser access to list anything they wish @ afternic, so the listing should reappear after the next synchronisation.

 

[Arca]

I said we cancelled the auction and we did. I also believe I previously stated we didn't profit from that auction and that is also true. That does not mean people are not allowed to backorder a domain name and get it. If there are multiple backorders and no auction winner it would be awarded to whoever placed the first backorder.

What exactly is this supposed to mean? That you didn't profit on the domain since you cancelled the auction, but then you sold the domain to HugeDomains as they had a backorder for the domain? How is that any different?

HugeDomains paid you money for the domain, and you facilitated an ownership change for profit accordingly. Yes, you didn't profit from the auction. But you did profit from the backorder fee HugeDomains paid for the domain. So GoDaddy did profit from the sale of NudeKids.com...

 

[Arca]

And while regular users cannot list anything that even resembles an adult domain at Afternic, corporate portfolios can list whatever adult domains they want with no restrictions (just search for any adult keyword, lots of them listed there, and see who owns them...).

 

[tonyk2000]

And while regular users cannot list anything that even resembles an adult domain at Afternic, corporate portfolios can list whatever adult domains they want with no restrictions

Indeed, Afternic offers an extremely advanced selection of adult domains. If $2295 looks expensive for a potential buyer of nudekids.com, there are cheaper alternatives offered. Such as preteenpussy.com for $2195, or nudenakedboys.com for $688