.us Petition for Ron Jackson to further discuss "ccTLDs- Is North America Immune" panel

[Jaco]

http://www.dnjournal.com/lowdown.htm

After Latona's opening comments, the show's first business session got underway with Neustar's Ken Hansen and Steve Smith of WebNames joining me in a panel discussion titled ccTLDs are Taking Over the World - Is North America Immune? The session, moderated by Rick Silver, covered the prospects for America's .US extension and Canada's .CA as they try to gain recognition on a continent where they have been overshadowed by .com.

(L to R in the photo above) Ron Jackson (DN Journal), Ken Hansen (Neustar, operator of the
.US registry) and Steve Smith (registrar Webnames) discuss the prospects for .US and .CA.

With conference activity to cover almost around the clock, I won't have time to get into the specifics of the business sessions until we produce our comprehensive conference review article a few days after the conference ends but I can say that the overall consensus from this seminar was that .US and .CA are both making slow but steady progress as more businesses use the extensions (in the case of .US, Maserati.us, Shell.us, Transamerica.us, Hitachi.us, BASF.us and Carrabas.us are just a few examples) and search engines giving them favorable positions in local search results.

Please provide an overview of this and discuss in the greatest detail possible.

Signed

Jaco

 

[snoop]

You don't know much about development; do you...

Either way, that's what you call a 'circular argument'.
You cite that US isn't making any progress and has no real market, but then when one cites major companies using .US, they're dismissed with a 'who cares'?

The usage isn't significant. These aren't popular sites. Most people would never have heard of these sites.

The "lists" are typically big companies that sound impressive but in reality those aren't high trafficed sites. The fact that people need to constantly try and name drop with these lists is a very good example of how the average person has never heard or visited these sites.

The day people don't feel the need to justify or try and "defend" .us is the day it will be a success.

 

[gr8trfoo]

One peculiarity is that the US has not one but several TLDs.

effectively the united states owns ALL the tlds. its all in the hands of the commerce dept. dont think the rest of world is happy with this situation either, they all want the net, and the dns in particular to be in the hands of an international body.

 

[snoop]

The .US extension should have around 5-10x as many active regs as it does now. Potential for .US registrations and renewals is staggering considering:

US: 300 million population and only 1.6M .US regs
UK: 60 million population and 8M regs
DE: 80 million population and 13M regs

There is some hope. Registrations are growing slowly but steadily. Adoption is slow but I have seen more .US sites now than before and notice more whois records showing non-domainer registrants.

Rather than "potential" the above shows just has much of a dog this extension has been. In my opinion it should not be lumped in with .de or .co.uk. It is more comparable to alt tlds like .tv/.biz/.mobi etc.

 

[Jaco]

The usage isn't significant. These aren't popular sites. Most people would never have heard of these sites.

The "lists" are typically big companies that sound impressive but in reality those aren't high trafficed sites. The fact that people need to constantly try and name drop with these lists is a very good example of how the average person has never heard or visited these sites.

The day people don't feel the need to justify or try and "defend" .us is the day it will be a success.

Actually, yes, the 'usage' is significant. Quite significant.
No one is claiming that .us is a .com killer. Nothing is a .com killer. What some people realize is that it's 'useful' inasmuch as it's a ccTLD of a very, very relevant country. It's not some cobbled up knock-off gTLD. It's the ccTLD of the United States of America. To be sure, the United States is 'unique' as ccTLD's and .com goes, but a lot of people are seriously underestimating .us not based on the merit of the extension (or particularly, how it performs in the engines) but rather, as a purely relative matter, focusing on what it isn't at the expense of TOTALLY ignoring what it is.

Say you walked into a Honda dealership....

Salesman: Hello sir, what can I do for you today?

You: I see you sell Hondas?

Salesman: Yep, that's correct...

You: Hondas aren't Ferarris...

Salesman: (uncomfortable laugh) Nope, they aren't Ferarris, but they don't cost near as much as a Ferarri, they get fantastic gas mileage and are much less expensive to maintain. Have you seen the new Civic?

You: BUT IT'S NOT A FERARRI!!!!

Salesman: Uh, yeah. They're not Ferarris. They're Hondas. Not Ferarris, but they definitely have some good things going for them...

You: NOT A FERARRI! NOT A FERARRI! LALALALALALALALALALALA NOT A FERARRI!

Salesman: Is there anything I can help you with today, sir?

You: SHOW ME A FERARRI!!!!!!

Salesman: See that big "H" over there? That stands for "Honda". This is a H-O-N-D-A dealership...

You: Why not a F-E-R-A-R-R-I dealership?

Salesman: Is Allen Funt hiding around a corner somewhere just waiting to jump out and tell me this was all some sort of fucking joke? Look, jagoff, we sell Hondas. Hondas aren't Ferarris... They're Hondas.

You: WHY AREN'T THEY FERARRIS??

Salesman: (walks away)

Lumping in the ccTLD of the United States with .mobi shows just how deep into right field you're playing here. No one is preemptively 'defending' .us or feels the need to 'defend' it, save for when it's subject to bogus accusations and off-kilter trains of thought.

 

[oldtimer]

Rather than "potential" the above shows just has much of a dog this extension has been. In my opinion it should not be lumped in with .de or .co.uk. It is more comparable to alt tlds like .tv/.biz/.mobi etc.

As most people here know when checking for available domains a lot of times .US is taken while those other extensions are still available. So not everyone has such a low opinion of .US as you do Snoopy, I am not really surprised that you never have anything good to say about this extension, after all you have been one of the most persistent naysayers for .US as far back as we can remember.

The day people don't feel the need to justify or try and "defend" .us is the day it will be a success.

This statement might be true once the American people know that .US exists, but until then some sort of large scale promotional and advertising campaign is necessary to show them the justifications behind having their own ccTLD.

-

 

[snoop]

What some people realize is that it's 'useful' inasmuch as it's a ccTLD of a very, very relevant country. It's not some cobbled up knock-off gTLD. It's the ccTLD of the United States of America.

It is only the cctld of the USA is a very techincal sense, in a practical sense it is not, because the USA has .com as its country code.

The reasoning behind using a .us would typically be the same reasoning as using a .biz/.info/.mobi/.tv, because the .com couldn't be obtained. There will be some minor exceptions where a company has chosen it first.

Say you walked into a Honda dealership....

Salesman: Hello sir, what can I do for you today?

You: I see you sell Hondas?

Salesman: Yep, that's correct...

You: Hondas aren't Ferarris...

Salesman: (uncomfortable laugh) Nope, they aren't Ferarris, but they don't cost near as much as a Ferarri, they get fantastic gas mileage and are much less expensive to maintain. Have you seen the new Civic?

You: BUT IT'S NOT A FERARRI!!!!

Salesman: Uh, yeah. They're not Ferarris. They're Hondas. Not Ferarris, but they definitely have some good things going for them...

You: NOT A FERARRI! NOT A FERARRI! LALALALALALALALALALALA NOT A FERARRI!

Salesman: Is there anything I can help you with today, sir?

You: SHOW ME A FERARRI!!!!!!

Salesman: See that big "H" over there? That stands for "Honda". This is a H-O-N-D-A dealership...

You: Why not a F-E-R-A-R-R-I dealership?

Salesman: Is Allen Funt hiding around a corner somewhere just waiting to jump out and tell me this was all some sort of fucking joke? Look, jagoff, we sell Hondas. Hondas aren't Ferarris... They're Hondas.

You: WHY AREN'T THEY FERARRIS??

Salesman: (walks away)

Unforunately such analogies mean very little, because for every analogy there is some analogy which says the opposite.

You could also argue buying a .us domain is like walking into a car dealer and the saleman tries to sell you a car with three wheels,

You: I don't want a car with three wheels!

Salesman: But cars with three wheels are just as good as cars with 4 wheels. Some says they are even better (especially the people who make and sell cars with three wheels)

You: So why does nobody else drive cars with three wheels?

Salesman: I really don't know, it is really strange, for 12 months we've been trying to sell people cars with 3 wheels and most people walk out. We can't work it out, we keep trying to sell cars with 3 wheels because we are sure they are better.

You: If nobody buys them how can they be as good or better? Obviously the market has voted?

Saleman: Those people are all wrong! The market for three wheeled cars will soon explode when the realize it!

.....You go back a month later and the business has closed down.

Lumping in the ccTLD of the United States with .mobi shows just how deep into right field you're playing here. No one is preemptively 'defending' .us or feels the need to 'defend' it, save for when it's subject to bogus accusations and off-kilter trains of thought.

It is ironic that nobody investing in one new or alt tld likes it being compared to another. The .tv people think .mobi sucks, the .mobi people think .us sucks, and the .us people think .tv sucks. Supposedly whatever they are putting money into is so much better.

The comment about defending it I don't think can be taken seriously given current discussion.

---------- Post added at 07:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:04 PM ----------

As most people here know when checking for available domains a lot of times .US is taken while those other extensions are still available. So not everyone has such a low opinion of .US as you do Snoopy, I am not really surprised that you never have anything good to say about this extension, after all you have been one of the most persistent naysayers for .US as far back as we can remember.

Like to happen in all sorts of different extension. I can tell you outside of the circle of .us fanatics it is seen as comparable to those extensions.

This statement might be true once the American people know that .US exists, but until then some sort of large scale promotional and advertising campaign is necessary to show them the justifications behind having their own ccTLD.

-

For this extension to become popular it would need billions spent. Whatever the registry does people will always complain because it is an unwinnable battle and whatever is spent is a waste. The country code of the USA was decided in 1994.

I don't think there has ever been an extension that has done well via someone trying to deliberately promote it. The best we have ever seen is stuff like .mobi or .me in term of promoting an extesion.

 

[DU]

I want a three wheeler ferarri!!!!

Seriously. I'd like a nice new Honda if the choice was a totalled Ferarri... but then an aged Ferarri would be best of all.


What does PEOPLE NOT KNOWING about .US have to do with anything?

I don't see much of an argument for "I used to type in randomword.com... but now I've discovered this .us thing! I'm a proud american so now I type randomword.us. It's awesome!"

It's the site you own, the site you push that has value.

From a "pure" speculation POV I can understand but some of you are "developing"

 

[oldtimer]

For this extension to become popular it would need billions spent. Whatever the registry does people will always complain because it is an unwinnable battle and whatever is spent is a waste. The country code of the USA was decided in 1994.

I don't think there has ever been an extension that has done well via someone trying to deliberately promote it. The best we have ever seen is stuff like .mobi or .me in term of promoting an extesion.

Its not going to take billions (it might take a few millions though ), you got to realize that this is not like launching a new global TLD that has to be promoted all over the World. This will be similar to the money that is spent for promoting a new product or company here in the US.

Going back to your car analogy, .US is like a new model or brand of car that has been out for a while, but not too many people know about it because it has not been promoted or advertised in a substantial way. Now you are telling us that if people really liked this car we would be seeing more of them on the road, and so because not too many people are driving them that means that our new model car is a failure. What I am saying is that lets make sure that everyone knows about this new car first before we talk about its success or failure.

The only ones who want us to believe that our new car is a failure before its even mass marketed to the American people are probably those from competing car companies that don't want people to know about a more economical and more dependable car than what they have to offer.

-

 

[snoop]

Its not going to take billions (it might take a few millions though ), you got to realize that this is not like launching a new global TLD that has to be promoted all over the World. This will be similar to the money that is spent for promoting a new product or company here in the US.

A few million just won't buy significant promotion. How much money has been spent promoting .com addresses? It is probably in the trillions now. The best thing about it is business did it instead of the registry having to do it, that is why it worked. Like alot of this industry for it to work you need to piggy back on someone else efforts.

The same is true for popular country codes. A huge amount of free promotion. No registry can ever afford that kind of promotion, someone else has to do it, it needs to be natural. That is why none of the new tlds are really working out.

.com, .de, .co.uk are only worth investing in because someone else has spent the dollars (not domainers, not registries, not registrars).

Tens of millions will buy you the kind of promotion effort .mobi got, small scale. I can't remember the exact amount but if I remember correctly each backer put in a couple of million. A few million wouldn't even be what .ws or .cc has had spent on it.

Going back to your car analogy, .US is like a new model or brand of car that has been out for a while, but not too many people know about it because it has not been promoted or advertised in a substantial way. Now you are telling us that if people really liked this car we would be seeing more of them on the road, and so because not too many people are driving them that means that our new model car is a failure. What I am saying is that lets make sure that everyone knows about this new car first before we talk about its success or failure.

The only ones who want us to believe that our new car is a failure before its even mass marketed to the American people are probably those from competing car companies that don't want people to know about a more economical and more dependable car than what they have to offer.

-

The key thing from both the car analogies is that it is all a load of rubbish, both my analogy and the one I was responding to. For every unrealistic analogy there is an unrealistic counter analogy. Instead of trying to find comparisons look at the actual situation. People are not flocking to .us. It is a small, niche extension. It is an alternate, not mainsteam. There is no real change occuring. Make money based on what it is today.

Nobody is willing to spend money promoting it in a significant way, because they know it is waste of money. Their closed wallet speaks volumes.

Domainers would love someone else to do it but as soon as it comes them spending money that is where the line is drawn. "Please you should spend the money but not me, I'm not stupid". Guess what, the registries and registrars aren't stupid either.

 

[Jaco]

Oh yay. A parsed-down, quid pro quo reply... These always go well...

It is only the cctld of the USA is a very techincal sense, in a practical sense it is not, because the USA has .com as its country code.

The reasoning behind using a .us would typically be the same reasoning as using a .biz/.info/.mobi/.tv, because the .com couldn't be obtained. There will be some minor exceptions where a company has chosen it first.

Oddly enough, we don't even really disagree much here. This is actually true. There are no circumstances where I would take a .us over a .com, period. Given the way 'navigation intuition' has evolved in the US, a .com is the standard-bearer. On all this, we completely agree.

Where you go off the rails is when you devolve into domainer-centric thinking that holds if it isn't .com, it's useless all together- as in, no utility whatsoever. I don't know where you're from (as far as what state or perhaps, what country) but if you're from the US, then you know that the .us extension isn't exactly a come-lately. It was the default platform for most official US Government sites for a long, long time and still to this day, a number of local municipalities continue to use it (usually in an awkward, dot-dot-dot-dot format). It has it's own presence in the minds of US citizens. As much as .com? No, but cost ratio substantially favors .us, factoring in what it costs to acquire a dead-on, memorable, definitive keyword and whatever 'memorability' properties the domain might have, versus the number sales that might be 'lost' to traffic bleed when people type in the wrong TLD.

.us isn't .biz. It isn't .tv, it isn't .mobi. I don't know what part of the country you're from, but that's a really odd comparison to make, even if it's just in theory. It sounds like one of those tired domainer-BBS-maxims that just gets regurgitated over and over and over again, irrespective of its underlying truth (or lack thereof).

Unforunately such analogies mean very little, because for every analogy there is some analogy which says the opposite.

Some analogies are more valid than others.

It is ironic that nobody investing in one new or alt tld likes it being compared to another. The .tv people think .mobi sucks, the .mobi people think .us sucks, and the .us people think .tv sucks. Supposedly whatever they are putting money into is so much better.

... and some of them are right, while others are wrong.

The comment about defending it I don't think can be taken seriously given current discussion.

Sure it can.
You're just being good old, Nattering-Nabob Snoop, coming into whatever thread and raising any number of 'points' that are either self-evident, or contorted. Personally speaking, I really don't feel the need to 'justify' .us. My development schemes do that, whenever I resell, that's justification enough. Unlike other extensions, there are people- in this very thread- who are making money, right now, off .us. That speaks for itself. When you come and do your shtick, of course people are going to raise counter-points, to which you then cite as an example of the extension 'needing to be defended'? Kinda lame, sir.

 

[bmugford]

One thing you don't realize is 99% of all end users can't afford a top end .COM domain, so there is plenty of money to be made by smart investors in alternate extensions right now.

The vast majority of .US domains I have sold end up being developed, or used in some way, which I can not say with .COM sales.

Will it take off? That remains to be seen. However, I would roll the dice on a ccTLD of the most dominant country on Earth over a 7th option gTLD.

Brad

People are not flocking to .us. It is a small, niche extension. It is an alternate, not mainsteam. There is no real change occuring. Make money based on what it is today.

 

[barefoottech]

It is only the cctld of the USA is a very technical sense, in a practical sense it is not, because the USA has .com as its country code.
Snoop, IF .com is the American ccTLD, rather than .US than how come I can buy them easily in australia, but .us needs me to declare an american connection. (the NEXUS agreement)

 

[bmugford]

He is basically saying .COM is the de facto ccTLD of the United States.

Sure .COM is the most dominant extension in the US, just like in virtually every other country, but it does not mean .US is not used here.

People who actually live in the US and deal in .US probably tend to know the market much better than someone from Australia (Snoop) with limited actual experience with the extension.

Brad

It is only the cctld of the USA is a very technical sense, in a practical sense it is not, because the USA has .com as its country code.
Snoop, IF .com is the American ccTLD, rather than .US than how come I can buy them easily in australia, but .us needs me to declare an american connection. (the NEXUS agreement)

 

[snoop]

One thing you don't realize is 99% of all end users can't afford a top end .COM domain, so there is plenty of money to be made by smart investors in alternate extensions right now.

No I do realize it. That is why most enduser buy or register 2-3 word .coms. That is what top end .us names are competing with. Mid range .com's. 99%+ of the time people will choose a lower quality keyword rather than a stonger keyword in a lower quality extension. Extension first, keyword second.

Personally I'd say there is some money to be made, I wouldn't say "plenty" and I think over the long term alt extension have underperformed .com and mainstream country codes for the majority of investors.

The vast majority of .US domains I have sold end up being developed, or used in some way, which I can not say with .COM sales.

A new argument but what can we really take from it? Should we really take anything from it? The market is what it is, most people know it isn't commonly used and prices have not done well.

Will it take off? That remains to be seen.

It is the same old question, how long should people wait? Because as with every other alt or new ext it is always "wait a few more years". In my view people should set a definite point in time when they will admit it didn't go as planned.

 

[oldtimer]

A few million just won't buy significant promotion. How much money has been spent promoting .com addresses? It is probably in the trillions now. The best thing about it is business did it instead of the registry having to do it, that is why it worked. Like alot of this industry for it to work you need to piggy back on someone else efforts.

The same is true for popular country codes. A huge amount of free promotion. No registry can ever afford that kind of promotion, someone else has to do it, it needs to be natural. That is why none of the new tlds are really working out.

.com, .de, .co.uk are only worth investing in because someone else has spent the dollars (not domainers, not registries, not registrars).

Tens of millions will buy you the kind of promotion effort .mobi got, small scale. I can't remember the exact amount but if I remember correctly each backer put in a couple of million. A few million wouldn't even be what .ws or .cc has had spent on it.

Snoopy, it’s not right to compare .US to those other TLDs, for two reasons:

1- Those TLDs were being promoted around the whole World so 10 million might not have been enough, but that money can go a long way when it comes to promoting .US which only needs to be advertised here in the United States.

2- American people didn’t feel any attachment towards those TLDs so most didn’t care about those even after they found out about them, hence all the money that was wasted in promoting those here in the United States, but when it comes to .US most Americans would probably be interested to learn more about it once they become aware that such an extension exists and that it is the official ccTLD for the United States.

What it comes down to is that the naysayers (such as yourself ) seem to only be focusing on the current standing of .US which unfortunately might not be as good as some of the other major ccTLDs, but those of us who have invested in this extension and believe in its long term potentials are counting on .US getting a much bigger portion of the mindshare and market share here in the United States once a large scale advertising campaign is done to promote it to small businesses and American people in general.

As far as how to go about doing all these promotions and who is going to pay for them, I guess that’s something that we as .US fans need to figure out.

-

 

[bmugford]

I will say "plenty" from personal experience. Then again I have done very well from many extensions you like to bash. Maybe I am the exception to the rule, but I doubt it.

I just sold CloudComputing (dot) info for $3,500 last week. You can see it on DNJournal sales. I are sure to you that domain is worthless, but it sure wasn't to the right end user.

I don't normally report sales but just for your benefit here are some more recent ones in "bad" extensions -

OliveOil (dot) us - $1300
FamilyLaw (dot) biz - $1500

Smart investors can make money in any extension, including .COM. Ask the buyer who flipped your JJJ.com for what a $30K profit?

JJJ com $48,500 Nov 09 Sedo
JJJ com $16,000 Dec 08 Sedo

There is a big world out there. Maybe you don't know as much as you think you do.

Brad

Personally I'd say there is some money to be made, I wouldn't say "plenty" and I think over the long term alt extension have underperformed .com and mainstream country codes for the majority of investors.

 

[snoop]

Snoopy, it’s not right to compare .US to those other TLDs, for two reasons:

1- Those TLDs were being promoted around the whole World so 10 million might not have been enough, but that money can go a long way when it comes to promoting .US which only needs to be advertised here in the United States.

It is the largest market in the world. A few million won't change anything. It is the equivilent of one super bowl commercial. It needs the equivilent of thousands/tens of thousands of superbowl commercials.

2- American people didn’t feel any attachment towards those TLDs so most didn’t care about those even after they found out about them, hence all the money that was wasted in promoting those here in the United States, but when it comes to .US most Americans would probably be interested to learn more about it once they become aware that such an extension exists and that it is the official ccTLD for the United States.

"Would probably" doesn't mean anything. The fact is people have no attachment to this extension. They think .com is their country code, and they are right...it is. Only to geeky domainers like us is .us the country code of the United States. We are living in a betamax world. Yes from a technical sense it should have been popular. In reality is wasn't.

What it comes down to is that the naysayers (such as yourself ) seem to only be focusing on the current standing of .US which unfortunately might not be as good as some of the other major ccTLDs, but those of us who have invested in this extension and believe in its long term potentials are counting on .US getting a much bigger portion of the mindshare and market share here in the United States once a large scale advertising campaign is done to promote it to small businesses and American people in general.

Exactly right. Naysayers are focusing on here and now, rather than predicting dramatic and in my view unlikely changes.

As far as how to go about doing all these promotions and who is going to pay for them, I guess that’s something that we as .US fans need to figure out.

It has already been figured out. Nobody is going to pay anything beyond a trivial amount. Pass the hat around and see how much people will commit, you'd be lucky to raise $1000 from domainers. Maybe the registry will shout a couple of beers. It is short a trillion dollars or so.

 

[Jaco]

Here's what I propose.
We enlist snoop to convince other domainers to stay away from .us and to drop their existing .us names.
He goes in other threads, posts in the other boards- wherever a .us conversation is raised, we send Snoop in to convince the domainers it's garbage.

My own best case scenario is less domainers interested in .us, the better. If snoop helps us arrive at that point, I'm all for it.

 

[bmugford]

Snoop has his plate full with bashing in the other various threads.

I would think he would have something more productive to do, but I guess not.

I am actually comfortable with where the .US market is right now. Reseller prices are low enough to make a nice ROI while still offering reasonable prices to end users.

Brad

Here's what I propose.
We enlist snoop to convince other domainers to stay away from .us and to drop their existing .us names.
He goes in other threads, posts in the other boards- wherever a .us conversation is raised, we send Snoop in to convince the domainers it's garbage.

My own best case scenario is less domainers interested in .us, the better. If snoop helps us arrive at that point, I'm all for it.

 

[Kate]

It is ironic that nobody investing in one new or alt tld likes it being compared to another. The .tv people think .mobi sucks, the .mobi people think .us sucks, and the .us people think .tv sucks. Supposedly whatever they are putting money into is so much better.

I think .us is different in that it's not an artificial or vanity extension (unlike .tv or .mobi or .biz). It's the official ccTLD of the United States. It didn't take off, that's a fact.

It might not take off, let's get over it.
For me it hasn't been a good investment.

While I believe in .us I don't think it is shocking to draw comparisons with .mobi or .tv market-wise. Look at reported sales, and see how often .us makes an appearance. It's clear other ccTLDs are doing better.

For domaining purposes, I wouldn't advise investing heavily in .us.

The country code of the USA was decided in 1994.

You mean 1985.

I don't think there has ever been an extension that has done well via someone trying to deliberately promote it. The best we have ever seen is stuff like .mobi or .me in term of promoting an extesion.

Not someone in particular but I think it really helps to have a registry that is professionally run, predictable and a tad proactive.
In Europe the local extensions are thriving, it's not just .de or .co.uk BTW. But you can observe differences.
For example, the French registry has a (deserved IMO) reputation for being conservative. In spite of the restrictions .fr is not as popular as it should be. The French army recently launched a promotion campaign using a .com. In the neighboring countries like Germany but also the smaller ones like Belgium or The Netherlands, that would be unimaginable. I'm sure it has to do with policy-making and the level of trust people have in their own extensions. Some are more trusted than others.

In the US the authorities are not exactly leading by example either. .us is not the natural choice to them, so it's no wonder the American public does not readily identify with the .us extension since .com .gov .mil or .edu are perceived to be as good if not better.

 

[oldtimer]

While I believe in .us ...

In what way do you believe in .US

You have already said that its not good for domaining, so can we assume that when you say that you believe in .US you mean that as an American, if you weren't a domainer what would be the chances of you knowing about .US , don't you think that the American people deserve to know that they have their own ccTLD and if they did how many of them do you think would also believe in .US

-

 

[mwzd]

I've always been pro .US, just for the record.

It works on many levels:
1. As the ccTLD for USA
2. As the pronoun 'us'
3. As a social brand signifier - the plural us

But, there seems to be an [artificial?] ceiling in the reseller market.
1. Only 'top .US domainers' seem to have the larger sales, if any. [Don't you just love the tld specific demarkation of individuals, as if religion and politics weren't enough? :p]
2. The reseller market for even decent .us names is non - existent at the $xxx or higher levels.
3. There is NO local adoption or significant interest, whatsoever. Thus making any large investment decisions in this extension a no go without instantaneous development plans.

 

[Kate]

I believe in .us being uniquely relevant for US-based end users.
But I don't believe it's good for pure play domaining right now (in Snoop parlance )

The reseller market is a reflection of the poor market.
Look at the LLL.us, they sell for much less than 4-5 years ago. Actually many just don't sell at all. I actually think the market has deteriorated. I remember the enthusiasm when business.us sold for reportedly 100K. We have not seen a repeat of such a feat (other than the video.us fiasco).

.us lacks mindshare because there are not many big, well-known sites, that people visit on a daily basis.
In other countries things are different. The local extension is not seen as a second or third choice.

As for my .us portfolio I am not even expecting to make sales in the near future, instead I will instead give serious consideration to developing them.

A few people like Brad know how to make a good return on it, but after 5 years of holding .us domains my view is that there is little money in .us for domainers, and money can be better spent elsewhere. In the past my opinion was that .us was late and would 'naturally' catch up with other ccTLDs, now I believe that it doesn't have to happen - after all each market is different. The US has a number of peculiarities that you don't find elsewhere.

 

[mhdoc]

- after all each market is different.

I think the market is also very different as you move from cheap to expensive domains (within a tld). A developer who will not pay more than $50-100 for a domain has a different purpose in mind than someone with a larger budget and bigger plans. A reseller targeting one market segment will be dealing with very different concerns than those in other segments.

 

[oldtimer]

I believe in .us being uniquely relevant for US-based end users.

In another words you agree that it could be a useful extension unlike Snoopy that thinks that its already a failure.

Even Samit says that he is pro .US even though he is a .in believer.

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