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Shout-Out To Bob Hawkes

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Please give a shout-out to our very own @Bob Hawkes!:xf.smile:

It was recently uncovered that Bob was feeling a little less motivated, and possibly retiring from Namepros, after some recent bullying. This saddened me as Bob has been a wonderful contributor and a valuable asset to this community. I may not agree with everything he writes, but I respect and admire his contributions. He is passionate and good natured. He is always respectful and the bullying he has recently endured is completely uncalled for.

Please give @Bob Hawkes a shout-out in the comments or Like/Thanks this post to let him know there are those who care!:xf.smile:

(The best defense against bullies is letting those who bully know we stand with those who are bullied)
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
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In this time and age, the charge of bullying is to be taken very seriously. If you make such a charge, please provide proof.
The moderator's also take it seriously and have therefore removed the posts related, or they removed the "proof." For good reason, of course.
 
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The moderator's also take it seriously and have therefore removed the posts related, or they removed the "proof." For good reason, of course.

IMHO, anyone engaging in online bullying should be banned after a number of warnings. The ideal would be to call bullies out and shame them for the bullying. Bullying is dangerous. Not an acceptable form of free speech. @Rob Monster would disagree.

I think a lot of people are confused because they can’t see the bullying.
 
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So I always type in a bunch of domain names every day at a whim when certain words catch my interest. I typed in CyberBully.com just now after reading the last few posts here, and what do you know, there is a picture of Rick Schwartz! LOL
 
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I think a lot of people are confused because they can’t see the bullying.

Well we could debate the definition of "bullying", and we could debate if it applies here, as it can be subjective. Although, someone felt they were bullied. Plain and simple. This thread was not intended to oust, ban, discipline, or call out the bully.

Instead, this thread was intended to support someone who felt victimized. To stand with someone who felt down after being "put-down." This thread is more about love than hate.
 
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Just in general about bullying.

There are people who get bullied in real life. Most can't do anything about it. If they could, they would stop it, that makes sense.

In this forum, if you feel you're getting bullied, you actually have multiple options:
Don't read the post
Put the person on Ignore
Just simply flag the post and if a mod agrees, they'll delete it.

Most of the time, it's more of a thin-skinned issue. People are going to disagree, that's normal.

But in this forum, the word gets abused. Usually I see the word bully, troll etc and a lot of times it's directed at people that might have a differing opinion and a lot of times it's about new gtlds. They're words used to try to stop them giving that opinion. You can have a forum where everybody likes the same thing, like that new gtld forum and what happened? It's now dead. There were a few people who were being honest, but most of the time it was a big reach-around fest. People just telling people what they want to hear. It might make you feel good but it's really not going to help your business. You can try such a forum again, it'll die again.

Back to the Ignore feature that many people have posted about already. Some people have replied they don't want to use it because they might like other posts from that person. That's the way it goes. You're not supposed to agree with people 100% of the time, that would be fake. Is Megan Fox not beautiful because she has thumbs that look like toes? You take the good with the bad, if it bothers you that much, throw some mittens on those things.

hqdefault.jpg
 
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Well we could debate the definition of "bullying", and we could debate if it applies here, as it can be subjective. Although, someone felt they were bullied. Plain and simple. This thread was not intended to oust, ban, discipline, or call out the bully.

Instead, this thread was intended to support someone who felt victimized. To stand with someone who felt down after being "put-down." This thread is more about love than hate.

I have no problem sending love the way of @Bob Hawkes.

However, I would feel terrible if that also meant labeling someone as a bully who doesn't deserve it.
 
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I always enjoy reading your rich and informative comments @Bob Hawkes
 
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I have no problem sending love the way of @Bob Hawkes.

However, I would feel terrible if that also meant labeling someone as a bully who doesn't deserve it.
Again, nobody was named or labelled. This thread never mentioned anyone else besides being a shout-out for Bob.
 
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Again, nobody was named or labelled. This thread never mentioned anyone else besides being a shout-out for Bob.

But obviously that person, aka bully, knows who they are, even if we don't. And perhaps recently started threads offer a clue.

Also those that participated in the "bully thread" (or threads) would know who that person is.
 
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Back to the Ignore feature that many people have posted about already. Some people have replied they don't want to use it because they might like other posts from that person. That's the way it goes.

I use the ignore feature a lot
and really I can only recommend it

life becomes smoother
 
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"Who wouldn't want want to own a dot Ninja domain" That posting brought a smile to my face and showed me why, and perhaps a few others had been on the wrong track and tact.in calling out a certain other Ntld advocate

Just to be clear, I am expressing my interest in .ninja domains as an end user, not as an investor. I enjoy using them for internal server names and personal websites as they're fun. I didn't buy them with an expectation that they would increase in value--and, as I suspected, they have not. Which is partially why they make for great end-user domains for small projects--they're cheap!
 
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Just to be clear, I am expressing my interest in .ninja domains as an end user, not as an investor. I enjoy using them for internal server names and personal websites as they're fun. I didn't buy them with an expectation that they would increase in value--and, as I suspected, they have not. Which is partially why they make for great end-user domains for small projects--they're cheap!

Its always surprising to me how little love there is for end-users over here. I'm not the biggest ngtld fan but for end-users and small projects they're brilliant. Especially these days as the domain extension used basically only matters for establishment of trust and 'lazy' marketing. Also, just like your use for .ninja, not every domain is about web presence.

Bring good content to the mix and any tld will work. The problem is people feel the need to monetise anything. Back in the day it was just cool to own your name in .com, right now all people see is the value. It takes away (some) of the fun. Will ngtlds be valuable in the future? I dunno but as long as it fits your usage right know isn't that awesome?

Anyway, on subject, Bob comes across as a very friendly and intelligent guy, open to discuss about anything and the way he's using data to back up his opinions is refreshing actually. I don't always agree 100% with him but I rather have a strong debate and disagree with someone who supports his views with data than someone throwing around easy oneliners supporting the general consensus. I wasn't under the impression he got bullied but the tone that was set was not very friendly to say at least. I wouldn't call it bullying but it can prevent people from speaking their mind on certain subjects as they don't want to get into a lot of drama. Heck, I'm not offended easily but half of the time I skip posts on NP just because someone is acting all high and mighty and I feel it's pointless to get involved.

What it comes down to people, don't be a d*ck ;).
 
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@Bob Hawkes is a really bright and wise guy. This forum is full of intelligent, talented, driven people.

Took me a bit to fully understand the diversity of the forum and to become a bit humble amongst so many brilliant people.

I recommend the following:

1. Consistent kindness and professionalism is king. Trust me, you can't lose being that way.

2. Be Resilient and keep things light. Leave any attitude at the door and try to *appreciate* different perspectives.

3. Never expect special treatment. Contributions are completely voluntary and the forum is open to everyone that follows the rules.

4. Remember that everything you say here will remain for all to see. It's a responsibility.

5. Keep doing 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Bob, your contributions are a real benefit to this resource.
 
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Sorry to hear about this trouble @Bob Hawkes was receiving.

A great writer and a real asset to the community! There were two really prominent hugely successful domainers who gave so much help to the community, but also felt they were being harrassed coming up against negativity, and called it out.

It's a crazy world and people have crazy situations to deal with, it leads to this crazy negativity imo.
 
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Sorry to hear about this trouble @Bob Hawkes was receiving.

A great writer and a real asset to the community! There were two really prominent hugely successful domainers who gave so much help to the community, but also felt they were being harrassed coming up against negativity, and called it out.

It's a crazy world and people have crazy situations to deal with, it leads to this crazy negativity imo.


I'm feeling the pain as I was also not too long ago harassed and heavily flamed by several NP members even including insulting large BS graphics and falsely posting I was a liar. I did in fact leave NP for a while over it but decided to return again after the Mods kindly offered to help which offer I appreciated but decided to not pursue, which return I am not sure was a right decision.
 
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Saw the post late but will surely take an opportunity to thank @Bob Hawkes for his contribution,positive posts and comments. He was the one i first DM to clarify some of my domaining doubts when entered in the field as a newbie.
Quitting NP is not the right take Bob. People tend to be bully or i would say jerks many times in life but that does not mean we should stop doing the good things that matter to others.
 
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Bob Hawkes is a great friend of mine, the best friend I had in my 20 years of domaining. We have exchanged lots of messages by both NP messaging and cell phone texting. Not too long ago I left NP due to all the hostility, flaming and nasty images posted about me by a few members saying falsely i'm a liar and other BS.

Thanks to Bob saying I should not leave NP, combined with greatly missing reading and participating in Bob's extremely valuable, intelligent and respectful posts I decided to return once again but did not know if it was a good idea to become active again.

I recall saying to Bob why would I want to share my experience and knowledge with all the NP members including the bullying and nasty ones when I get very little in return. You may not know this but I don't try to sell domains on NP and haven't in a long time, so being here does not help me financially in any way.

Over the years most all the old domainers except for a small number departed long ago taking their helpful knowledge and insight with them thus depriving the other and new members the benefit of their experience.

So it now appears my dear friend Bob is MIA. I have no personal knowledge of that but can say Bob hasn't been in touch with me or posted in a long time, possibly (but not sue) over the bullying and crap he endured.

Now there are more nasty members of NP surfacing in addition to the several haters who said I was a LIAR, made up falsifications and posted the bullying giant images (which should not have been allowed by the Mods at the time).

Just yesterday was the straw that broke the camels back when a new hater and believed to be a British female member said "FU" and "bugger-of mate" to me for no valid reason. Her despicable "FU" post was quickly edited (probably by a Mod) but not before being read by myself and others.

As a result of the great hostility and nastiness by several NP members directed to both Bob Hawkes and myself (sometimes also targeting others), sadly I may soon be suspending or stopping my activity here.
 
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Hi everyone, and thank you for all the kind comments.

@namemarket I count you as a great friend, as well as source of long term information about domains. I am sorry that you, and others, have from time to time suffered abuse. I truly hope you will reconsider and stay in NPs. Your long term perspective and open attitude to new ideas is something we can all learn from.

Yes, it's true that I have not been very active on NPs for the last few weeks (or at least not as active as I had been before - but that was probably too active :xf.wink:). This was partly a few other things in my life intervening, partly deciding to try to balance my life a bit more, and partly deliberately taking a break from writing much (I kept reading and liking/thanking during the interim). I had suggested to several others that maybe a short recess from NPs is not a bad idea, providing a new perspective, and I was merely taking my own advice.

I've said this previously, but just to stress I have not felt personally victimized, I totally accept that there can and should be vibrant debate on all issues as long as it does not go beyond community standards of civility and respect for the truth, and I believe that NPs management and moderators do an amazing job with a task that is impossible to please all.

It is always good for each of us to find balance in our lives and to realize that we have many choices within our lives and to cherish those.

I look forward to continuing to interact with the smart, knowledgeable, and mainly kind people who call NPs an online home. Together we are stronger than any of us would be if we were in domaining on our own.

Have a good week everyone.

Bob
 
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@Bob Hawkes you are a fantastic person and lovely human being. You have many friends and fans in this community. I m one of them. Great to see you back on board. Wish you good luck and all the best.
 
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