news Results and Analysis of 2016 Domain Industry Awards at THE Domain Conference

[Addison]

The 2016 domain industry awards were announced today at The Domain Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

These are the 2016 winners:

• Developer of the Year: Michael Cyger
• Blogger of the Year: Elliot Silver
• Registry of the Year: .CLUB
• Registrar of the Year: GoDaddy
• Broker of the Year: Dave Evanson, SEDO
• Domain Investor of the Year: Michael Berkens
• Domain Company of the Year: SEDO
• Goodwill Ambassador, 2016: Ron Jackson
• 2016 Hall of Fame Inductees:
  • Nat Cohen
  • Gary Chernoff

Analysis:

These awards are run by incompetent outsiders who have no grasp on the domain industry, and sorry to say, the voters are just as clueless: they vote for whoever they've heard of, with no grasp on whether they qualify or should be awarded.

Developer of the Year is the most laughable award every year.

• Who won it in previous years? Adam Dicker. The guy who uses out-of-the-box Wordpress templates and articles from other websites to fill in the empty space.
• Who was nominated this year? Elliot Silver, who had to publicly denounce his nomination because he admittedly is not a developer.
• Who wins it this year? Michael Cyger, a guy who doesn't know the first thing about development. Don't get me wrong, Michael Cyger is a brilliant businessman and publisher, but he is not a developer by any means. He will tell you that.
• Who should have won? Michael of NameBio or Paul of NamePros. You know, real *bleeping* developers.

Registrar of the year is GoDaddy? I must be in a bad dream. This award obviously belongs to Uniregistry, Dynadot, or NameSilo. I'll save my breath on this one because it's self explanatory. If you don't know, search GoDaddy and read. They're the worst registrar and always have been. Their low prices are/were the only reason anyone uses/used them.

Broker of the year is Dave Evanson? For those of you who are clueless because you only read the sales charts and voted for him based on that, Dave is a terrible broker. The only reason he closes big sales is because they're handed to him on a silver platter by Sedo. Have you ever actually tried contacting Dave? If you're not a famous industry personality, he will not respond to your calls or emails, despite you having (or your clients having) tens-to-hundreds of thousands to invest in domains. He deserves no award.

Domain Company of the Year? Sedo, the company that hasn't evolved, innovated, or done a single impressive thing in ten years. Do you know what they've done in recent years?

• Become more greedy.
• Increase their commission.
• Refuse to fix the millions of bugs that are reported to them.
• Continue to employ incompetent brokers like Dave Evanson.

I could go on, but out of respect for the other winners, I will stop here.

What a joke.

@Domain Shane, please pursue your idea for how these awards should be run. We must stop this madness.

 

[Domain Shane]

It's coming. Just have to find the right people to be on the panel that is part of the deciders. And I agree. Nothing more than a popularity contest rather than on merit. That being said, all the people that won are good people and while they may or may not deserve an award. They deserve respect for being good at what they do. The only one I don't like is dot club. Pure marketing hype like dot co

The 2016 domain industry awards were announced today at The Domain Conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

These are the 2016 winners:

• Developer of the Year: Michael Cyger
• Blogger of the Year: Elliot Silver
• Registry of the Year: .CLUB
• Registrar of the Year: GoDaddy
• Broker of the Year: Dave Evanson, SEDO
• Domain Investor of the Year: Michael Berkens
• Domain Company of the Year: SEDO
• Goodwill Ambassador, 2016: Ron Jackson
• 2016 Hall of Fame Inductees:
  • Nat Cohen
  • Gary Chernoff

Analysis:

These awards are run by incompetent outsiders who have no grasp on the domain industry, and sorry to say, the voters are just as clueless: they vote for whoever they've heard of, with no grasp on whether they qualify or should be awarded.

Developer of the Year is the most laughable award every year.

• Who won it in previous years? Adam Dicker. The guy who uses out-of-the-box Wordpress templates and articles from other websites to fill in the empty space.
• Who was nominated this year? Elliot Silver, who had to publicly denounce his nomination because he admittedly is not a developer.
• Who wins it this year? Michael Cyger, a guy who doesn't know the first thing about development. Don't get me wrong, Michael Cyger is a brilliant businessman and publisher, but he is not a developer by any means. He will tell you that.
• Who should have won? Michael of NameBio or Paul of NamePros. You know, real *bleeping* developers.

Registrar of the year is GoDaddy? I must be in a bad dream. This award obviously belongs to Uniregistry, Dynadot, or NameSilo. I'll save my breath on this one because it's self explanatory. If you don't know, search GoDaddy and read. They're the worst registrar and always have been. Their low prices are/were the only reason anyone uses/used them.

Broker of the year is Dave Evanson? For those of you who are clueless because you only read the sales charts and voted for him based on that, Dave is a terrible broker. The only reason he closes big sales is because they're handed to him on a silver platter by Sedo. Have you ever actually tried contacting Dave? If you're not a famous industry personality, he will not respond to your calls or emails, despite you having (or your clients having) tens-to-hundreds of thousands to invest in domains. He deserves no award.

Domain Company of the Year? Sedo, the company that hasn't evolved, innovated, or done a single impressive thing in ten years. Do you know what they've done in recent years?

• Become more greedy.
• Increase their commission.
• Refuse to fix the millions of bugs that are reported to them.
• Continue to employ incompetent brokers like Dave Evanson.

I could go on, but out of respect for the other winners, I will stop here.

What a joke.

@Domain Shane, please pursue your idea for how these awards should be run. We must stop this madness.

 

[HeyNow]

Kinda makes one wonder what "Goodwill Ambassador" truly means. Goodwill Ambassador to who?

http://www.dnjournal.com/columns/cover030605.htm (This article is after the Satan's Playground shenanigans, but no mention of it.) That's "goodwill" to someone, right?

Here, read this (scroll down to the second piece of crap about Adam Dicker): http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2011/dailyposts/20110725.htm This was from 2011, well after the publicized Dicker shenanigans at Godaddy: https://www.wired.com/2008/06/godaddy-vp-caug/ That sounds like "goodwill" to me!

Here, have a look at this: http://www.dnjournal.com/cover/2014/january.htm "Now, let me introduce you to our experts:" Again, lots of "goodwill."

How about this little diddy: "The day began with talks from Two Leaders of the Domain Industry on the Future & Developing a Business - those being two guys very well qualified to address those topics - DNF owner Adam Dicker (left) and ... " That's from this article: http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2015/dailyposts/20150930.htm Ironically, this article can be found in "The Lowdown" section at dnjournal.com. How appropriate!

Here, this one is from August 2014, heralding Dicker's DNFcollege.com: http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2014/dailyposts/20140815.htm

How about this dnjournal article about Kevin Ham: http://www.dnjournal.com/archive/lowdown/2008/dailyposts/10-16-08-2.htm

Hey, look what other articles I found elsewhere bout Kevin Ham:

http://www.dmueller.com/2009/01/12/domain-names-domains/kevin-ham-amazoncm-and-ebay/

http://www.businessinsider.com/2009...m-our-affiliate-network-in-november-ebay-amzn


Ron Jackson, a true "Goodwill Ambassador," right? Yuck!

 

[JB Lions]

Sure, with that category, the popular vote may suffice.

But ask yourself: Why was GoDaddy leading the vote on namePros? Could it be due to the fact that they've given many of these members domains for 1 dollar in the past? Is that the only leading cause? Or is it their UI? How does their UI compare to Uniregistry, that charges slightly more?.

People went into some of that in the comments. The fact is almost 600 people voted here and GoDaddy won. You're trying to set it up that it's not legit because some members might not be qualified, except it matches the 2016 Domain Industry Awards at THE Domain Conference as well. And again, as far as something like this, the only thing that matters is if you're happy with the registrar you're with.

But back to this question:

Who really decides who's qualified to vote? Old boy's club?

Self annoint? That's the Old Boy's Club or are you going to trust the people who aren't qualified to vote but let them vote who can vote?

 

[JB Lions]

I agree with you on that other stuff, it's why I always said it's just a popularity contest that most people don't care about. And again, most aren't going to go as deep as you want, like examing their financials and such.

But for some stuff like Favorite Registrar or Favorite Blogger, that works with the poll type of thing we did here. It's just opinions.

If we did a Favorite Domain Blogger and had 600 NP members vote, it would give a pretty clear picture to what blogs people like the best. Nothing more, not that serious. Have domains at whatever registrar you like best, read whatever blog you feel gives you the best value, fun, whatever.

Best Broker, I would have no idea, don't even care.

 

[HeyNow]

Haha! Ron Jackson, Goodwill Ambassador, 2016. Haha!

 

[Addison]

Respect?

We can still have respect for their accomplishments and contributions, even if we disagree with some of their actions (or their inaction).

 

[deez007]

Probably a pay for a winning spot.... promotional "awards" Conference. ...lol

 

[JB Lions]

There are by far more than 600 domain name investors. Thousands more. Maybe they'd have a differing opinion, and actually vote, if their vote counted and the nominees were based upon strict criteria (read my "Edit" above).

Right, but where would you get more votes? How many voted for -
2016 Domain Industry Awards at THE Domain Conference

Then I'll go back to this, does it even matter? Maybe to the winners but if one blogger won the award over some other blogger, this has zero affect on my life. That's with every winner. It's what I said earlier, people put too much into it.

 

[JB Lions]

My problem isn't with the votes, nor specifically, with the registrar that won. They're a good registrar (I would have voted for Uniregistry myself, if I didn't believe this whole thing was a joke). But, I know for a fact that the popular vote (600 you say) was based upon them giving $1 domains, nothing more, nothing less. Had the criteria been set that GoDaddy had to actually do something to be nominated, such as respond to support tickets in a timely manner, resolve issues, etc -- something you'd expect from a registrar, they might night have been nominated (I highly doubt they wouldn't pass the nomination, but, hopefully you get my point -- it also allows for fair competition all around).

You don't know that for a fact, your opinion doesn't trump 600 people who voted. There is nothing more fair than having open nominations and voting, with this category. Some of the negative stuff you posted simply isn't true for me. Support has been great for me, of course I have a VIP account and they've been very professional and fast anytime I needed something. And overall they cheapest for me. And the other reasons mentioned in that thread.

 

[JB Lions]

I'm basing this on a personal opinion shared by many (as you throw out the opinion of 600, can I not here?), as it was brought to light that Adam Dicker had previously won Developer of the Year on multiple occasions, but people still believed in the system that awards weren't a joke, when they always have. And it's because the system comprised of the good old boys' only.

Replacing them, not the system, doesn't fix the problem.

That's my opinion.

The 600 voters wasn't based on some good old boy's only, so I don't even know what you're talking about with that one.

Nominations, then open voting in a poll is the most truthful you'll get.

And the way you want to do it, you've skipped this question:

Who really decides who's qualified to vote? Old boy's club?

 

[equity78]

I would say Sedo company of the year was the most egregious, not that I agreed with most of the picks.

But to be fair no matter who won any award there would be people saying that person should not have won that award.

The Namepros Awards are coming, an idea I pitched to Eric at the end of 2015, hopes to go live in 2017.

 

[N-A]

Have no idea, didn't even pay attention to the conference. It's good for some that won awards to use for marketing purposes, bigger ones like GoDaddy, like you said, probably could care less. Don't think it affects them one bit.

You don't think Ford wouldn't be honored with Motor Trend's Car of the Year?

If these conference jokes weren't such a joke, I'm sure GoDaddy would gladly send their CEO to accept Registrar of the Year, make a press release about it, include it in their annual reports, and more importantly, put it on display.

So I don't think I'm the only crazy one here that thinks these awards are a joke.

 

[JB Lions]

The Namepros Awards are coming, an idea I pitched to Eric at the end of 2015, hopes to go live in 2017.

I've been making that suggestion for years, just one of the times - https://www.namepros.com/threads/suggestions-observations-june-edition.863061/#post-4893527

First time, somewhere back in this 2012 thread, maybe even earlier ones in threads that vanished - https://www.namepros.com/threads/co...-the-new-namepros.743639/page-12#post-4290169

Good it's finally happening.

So I don't think I'm the only crazy one here that thinks these awards are a joke.

No, I think most would agree. It's why I think the ones here, would be more legit. Here, you can possibly have some input on how it's setup so it's not a joke.

 

[equity78]

Of course it does. If you're looking to spend money, if you see a blog that won blog of the year, it's going to help. It's why some companies of all sizes post that kind of thing on their site. It helps sell advertising, prestige etc. marketing. Awards help sell stuff. We've all seen sites put up that stuff, why do you think that is?

Since I spend everyday focused on selling advertising I disagree, most people in this industry are not focused on that they know all the major bloggers. Neither Mike or I won though nominated, and no disrespect to Elliot but I will bet I have sold more advertising on TheDomains.com than DomainInvesting.com has in 2016.

 

[equity78]

Of course it does. If you're looking to spend money, if you see a blog that won blog of the year, it's going to help. It's why some companies of all sizes post that kind of thing on their site. It helps sell advertising, prestige etc. marketing. Awards help sell stuff. We've all seen sites put up that stuff, why do you think that is?

Yes you put it up it's nice to have but advertisers are not spending more, I will bet Andrew will have a successful sell rate even though he didn't win, same for Cyger, Shane, Morgan etc...

It's nice but it does not move the needle.

 

[JB Lions]

Since I spend everyday focused on selling advertising I disagree, most people in this industry are not focused on that they know all the major bloggers. Neither Mike or I won though nominated, and no disrespect to Elliot but I will bet I have sold more advertising on TheDomains.com than DomainInvesting.com has in 2016.

I didn't say anything about who is selling more, I didn't say you couldn't sell without it, I said it HELPS. Basic marketing.

 

[equity78]

I didn't say anything about who is selling more, I said it HELPS. Basic marketing.

I think it's nice JB in a bigger industry I would agree with you it can move the needle, this industry with it's size, everyone knows everyone. I think if a blogger that was not well know won out of the blue, based on criteria like @David Walker mentioned that might help them see a noticeable difference.

 

[JB Lions]

I think it's nice JB in a bigger industry I would agree with you it can move the needle, this industry with it's size, everyone knows everyone. I think if a blogger that was not well know won out of the blue, based on criteria like @David Walker mentioned that might help them see a noticeable difference.

Possibly.

I did find this from early 2013 -
Namepros Best Of 2012
https://www.namepros.com/threads/namepros-best-of-2012.783221/

It'll be fun.

 

[N-A]

I think it's nice JB in a bigger industry I would agree with you it can move the needle, this industry with it's size, everyone knows everyone. I think if a blogger that was not well know won out of the blue, based on criteria like @David Walker mentioned that might help them see a noticeable difference.

Why not set criteria for a good blogger then?

I'm not well versed at that, but it could possibly be:
1) number of email subscribers and/or social media count
2) social engagement on articles (avg shares/likes/comments, to include internal)
3) original content
4) word count, grammar, punctuation (though, not total disqualifiers)
5) number of unique series being blogged about (weekly sales, Chinese trends, etc.)

I think a list like that would ultimately help namePros craft a real awards system.

It can be done in every category as well. Then, no arguing. A committee tallies points, top 5 are selected candidates for poll involvement; or something like that...

 

[equity78]

Possibly.

I did find this from early 2013 -
Namepros Best Of 2012
https://www.namepros.com/threads/namepros-best-of-2012.783221/#post-4445874

It'll be fun.

I think so this is the biggest community in the industry and I plan to have some of what @David Walker was talking about, you can't nominate someone like me as a developer even if I roll out a cool little site that people like. The one thing I have spoken about is you will have to be a member in 2016 to vote in 2017, that way we don't have people signing up just to vote and try to stuff the vote.

It's time for Namepros to do it right and we can have some awards that will be forum specific as well as the bigger, broader awards.

 

[JB Lions]

The one thing I have spoken about is you will have to be a member in 2016 to vote in 2017, that way we don't have people signing up just to vote and try to stuff the vote.

Yep, mentioned that in the thread I linked to:

"You can set it up so companies don't rush all their employees to vote, min. post count or have to have registered in 2012 or prior or whatever."

Sign up date is one way. Post count is another. Then people behind the scenes can check some other (techy) stuff. I know Paul was checking some stuff in the Favorite Registrar thread.

 

[Addison]

David has the right idea, but it's not about setting rules or forcing the vote to go a certain way. It's about properly educating voters on each nominee and then letting them make their own decisions based on reality and facts. They still decide who wins, but they do so sufficiently informed.

Right now, they pick whichever name they recognize without a *bleeping* clue of their accomplishments or how they compare to everyone else in the category. THAT is the problem.

 

[N-A]

It's about properly educating voters on each nominee

In my Joe Blow Broker of the Year post (lost in the banter), I mention a bio as to why they were nominated to be included as well. I agree.

 

[N-A]

The hard thing with Brokers David is a lot of them do not reveal data and will not reveal it. Ryan Colby may sell more than anybody, but he says he does not report his sales as a courtesy to clients. Addison made his thoughts known about Dave Evanson, others love Dave. They have no real knowledge about Dave they just see Sedo's tweets. I think most regard Andrew Rosener as the best, I know I do. There are some other men and women that do a great job under the radar and getting the proper metrics on them might be difficult for specific criteria.

Thanks for informing me about the brokerage category. Maybe, a bio isn't the most feasible way of going about it there. Nevertheless, much like all other categories, it needs tweaking as well. The mention of a bio can be applicable to all other categories though.

Here's an interesting read on how the nomination process of the Oscars runs, pay more attention to "THE FORMULA FOR GETTING NOMINATED" (which links to the real criteria, this is just the tl;dr version): http://mentalfloss.com/article/54560/how-are-oscar-nominees-chosen

I'm sure if there was procedure such as this in place, one not even as stringent, there'd be absolutely no bickering. Of course, unless a deserving person kept getting passed over, year, after year, after year (e.g. Leonardo DiCaprio).

But, it's of my opinion, as it stands, is because one (or more) category is a joke, all of the awards handed out mean nothing. Absolutely nothing to anyone else giving or receiving the award.