domain Please Appraise Wikileaks.la

[jagdotme]

I wouldn't normally ask for an appraisal on a .La but the site is getting good traffic and just want to see what you guys think.


See Photos For Traffic stats.

 

[Kate]

IMO the domain is a hot potato not because of TM issues, if you're setting up a mirror you're probably fine, but you might end up on some homeland security watch list.

Resale value: I don't see any. I doubt there are Wikileaks suppporters willing to pay a premium for that domain. It was grabbed because it was still available but there are probably other extensions.

There could be some value in traffic, depending on how it converts.

 

[theSun]

Negative 1 million.

 

[Ms Domainer]

IMO the domain is a hot potato not because of TM issues, if you're setting up a mirror you're probably fine, but you might end up on some homeland security watch list.

Resale value: I don't see any. I doubt there are Wikileaks suppporters willing to pay a premium for that domain. It was grabbed because it was still available but there are probably other extensions.

There could be some value in traffic, depending on how it converts.

*

sdsinc, You bring up a good point here, regarding the hot potato possibility.

JagG, I don't know if you're located in the U.S., but if you are, you might get a middle-of-the-night visit from the Feds, freedom of speech notwithstanding.

Regarding the mirror site: it is likely that Wikileaks does encourage mirror sites to go up, so it's probably true that you're okay here.

All I know is that I would feel very uncomfortable having this domain in my account, and I think potential buyers might feel the same way.

Anyway, I'm not going to rag on you anymore.

*

 

[Domagon]

Due to the nature of the name / limited usefulness to others, I'd say much of its value would be determined by the amount and type of traffic it gets.

Consider putting up ads for services that help people find / clean / delete their on-line reputation - some of these services have affiliate programs, such as ReputationDefender. Testing such ads will give you a better idea as to the kind and quality of the traffic it's getting.

As for legal issues, don't sweat it...

Wikileaks encourages mirroring; don't seem concerned about domain names, since their .org, as of the other day, was still not resolving (it was not seized); from my understanding they chose to stop using it and are using a ccTLD version instead.

As for the U.S. government - in my view, they don't care - heck, they likely help "leak" the documents (none of them are truly "Top Secret"; most contain info that's already publicly available and/or widely known and/or obtainable via FOIA) to begin with; purposely allowing the site to operate - may sound crazy, but consider that the U.S. government was able to seize 80+ domains the other week for content pirating and counterfeiting, and yet doesn't seize Wikileaks - something doesn't jibe - imho, Wikileaks is a diversion / pretext for passing new strict laws governing the internet, but I digress.

Bottom line is the value is mostly going to be the traffic. Relating to that is that its traffic / utility could rapidly decline in the near future - can't say it will or won't, but that's a substantial risk a potential buyer will likely consider.

Good luck with the domain.

Ron

 

[TRM]

Your traffic will die as soon as all the hype from the news dies down...

Right now it could be worth something (xx) to someone that isn't very knowledgeable in the domain business, but the longer you wait to sell it the less valuable it will be.

Traffic will most likely shift to sites like openleak etc.

I suggest getting rid of it (sell or delete) unless you plan on supporting wikileaks by publishing content.