The .TEL Discussion Thread

[brendan52190]

Hi

For this, let's assume that .tel will not be a total flop.

What type of keywords will be most valuable for this extension? Will it be geographical keywords, like newyork.tel, losangeles.tel, etc, or what else?

 

[MicroGuy]

Does .TEL have the potential to become a spammer's paradise?

http://justin.tel (plain text, standardized format)

Since all of the email addresses (and other contact data) are stored in a single standardized format, all in plain text, all on a single TLD, what is to prevent someone from using a harvesting bot like the one below to harvest all contact data including email addresses from every .TEL page?

http://www.massmailsoftware.com/extractweb/

--------------------------------------------------
Dear (name here)

As a new user of .TEL, we'd like to offer you a chance to increase your
Google ranking, lose 50 pounds, and make money in your spare time, and
all for the low price of only $99.99.

Sincerely,

(Spammer company)

---------------------------------------------------

 

[tvdotcoms]

I can register 299.00 .tels domains for you guys, I am bulk price member at dynadot, and have 500 dollars there which I am trying to get out.

I can offer you 295.00 usd for each reg, let me know guys, if you help me, I will help you thanks.

 

[saucey]

MicroGuy,

We get it. Thanks for all of your input, and giving us your thoughts on the .tel extension.

I have read other posts of yours on other threads and feel you are a fairly bright individual whom I could learn a few things from in certain areas... But, I will STRONGLY DISAGREE with your opinions of .tel.

Having said that, it doesn't matter how great I think .tel is, or how shi$$y you think it is... In the end, time will .tel. :kickass:

Saucey McLovin'
xxx ooo

 

[phase111]

dont invest so much, that you will have to cry and selling for less than reg fees


Go with your guts everyone


Good Luck


I invested zero in .tel myself

Also...don't invest in so few that you have to cry that you cant sell for more than reg fee because you don't have any!!
:bingo:

 

[plaggypig]

Does .TEL have the potential to become a spammer's paradise?

http://justin.tel (plain text, standardized format)

Since all of the email addresses (and other contact data) are stored in a single standardized format, all in plain text, all on a single TLD, what is to prevent someone from using a harvesting bot like the one below to harvest all contact data including email addresses from every .TEL page?

http://www.massmailsoftware.com/extractweb/

--------------------------------------------------
Dear (name here)

As a new user of .TEL, we'd like to offer you a chance to increase your
Google ranking, lose 50 pounds, and make money in your spare time, and
all for the low price of only $99.99.

Sincerely,

(Spammer company)

---------------------------------------------------

You can opt to keep certain pieces of information private if you wish (information gets encrypted in the DNS records and the friending system disseminates the public key to your delegated friends).

However, I don't see it as a problem, and I'll probably publish most of my contact details to the public. SPAM is a separate problem - my oldest account get hundreds every day, but it doesn't bother me at all because my bayesian filter works great. Some people may prefer to use CAPTCHA whitelists. Whatever - there are solutions to this problem.

You're trying your best to spread FUD aren't you? :ghost:

 

[lexisdomains]

Great Point. However....

Does .TEL have the potential to become a spammer's paradise?

http://justin.tel (plain text, standardized format)

Since all of the email addresses (and other contact data) are stored in a single standardized format, all in plain text, all on a single TLD, what is to prevent someone from using a harvesting bot like the one below to harvest all contact data including email addresses from every .TEL page?

http://www.massmailsoftware.com/extractweb/

--------------------------------------------------
Dear (name here)

As a new user of .TEL, we'd like to offer you a chance to increase your
Google ranking, lose 50 pounds, and make money in your spare time, and
all for the low price of only $99.99.

Sincerely,

(Spammer company)

---------------------------------------------------

Great point MircoGuy. However, YellowBook and YellowPages have been fairly successful in following a similar format, allbeit their listings only show business contact number. (this is the format I will adhere to) I also believe that Telnic offers optional listing of email, fax & SMS numbers.


We may need to check on this......

In fact, their advertiser & revenue base is growing instead of shrinking!!!

Why is that?

Simply put, these type of listings act as a 'point of sale' landing page which offers 'to the point' contact info & location.

What other factors make .Tel desirable?

Because most people are still skeptical of online transactions, especially in relaying private data such as Credit Card & personal info, .Tel offers the telephone as a more traditional, more trusted way of doing business.


Thanks,
LexisDomains.com

 

[justinhayward]

Does .TEL have the potential to become a spammer's paradise?

http://justin.tel (plain text, standardized format)

Since all of the email addresses (and other contact data) are stored in a single standardized format, all in plain text, all on a single TLD, what is to prevent someone from using a harvesting bot like the one below to harvest all contact data including email addresses from every .TEL page?

http://www.massmailsoftware.com/extractweb/

--------------------------------------------------
Dear (name here)

As a new user of .TEL, we'd like to offer you a chance to increase your
Google ranking, lose 50 pounds, and make money in your spare time, and
all for the low price of only $99.99.

Sincerely,

(Spammer company)

---------------------------------------------------

With respect, when you publish any information publicly it can be scraped, either manually or automatically. That is why we have enabled privacy and sharing using 1024 bit encryption and a separate Public Private Key (PPK) authentication system. Please see http://dev.telnic.org/pages/security.html for more information.

The only reason why all of my contact information is public at the moment is because a) the friending system is not live yet and b) in order to show what kinds of contact information can be put in there.

Thanks

Justin Hayward
Telnic Limited
justin.tel

 

[MicroGuy]

The only reason why all of my contact information is public at the moment is because a) the friending system is not live yet and b) in order to show what kinds of contact information can be put in there.

Really what I'm wondering is what if you do want to make your email address public but don't want it to be text readable by bots?

 

[justinhayward]

Really what I'm wondering is what if you do want to make your email address public but don't want it to be text readable by bots?

You have that choice. Alternatively you could use the TXT record either at the top or the bottom of the page and write jhayward at telnic dot org. But the point of the .tel is to be able to 'click to connect', so the functionality has been designed so you have the choice to make it public or private.

Alternatively there are third party solutions that provide concierge services enabling you to be emailed whilst your email address is hidden. What the .tel can be used for is that single point of contact that will remain the same regardless of whether you move to different, non-spammable contact solutions that exist or that will emerge today. And if you find that you do get spammed, you can change your email address and then hide it, without people losing touch with you.

Regards,

Justin Hayward
Telnic Limited
justin.tel

 

[plaggypig]

Really what I'm wondering is what if you do want to make your email address public but don't want it to be text readable by bots?

There is no good solution for this. If the .tel was just accessed via the web then of course you could generate an obfuscated image containing the address or something, but even then spammers could harvest out work to teams of people. The beauty of .tel is that it is not just about the web, so these hackish solutions make little sense. And as Justin said, you'd also lose the contextual link.

I noticed your email address is available through your www.microguy.net website, 4 Google results, as well as the microguy.net whois record, so what's your beef? Clearly you have a solution in place to eat spam already, right? I don't get it.

 

[MicroGuy]

There is no good solution for this. If the .tel was just accessed via the web then of course you could generate an obfuscated image containing the address or something, but even then spammers could harvest out work to teams of people. The beauty of .tel is that it is not just about the web, so these hackish solutions make little sense. And as Justin said, you'd also lose the contextual link.

I noticed your email address is available through your www.microguy.net website, 4 Google results, as well as the microguy.net whois record, so what's your beef? Clearly you have a solution in place to eat spam already, right? I don't get it.

Thanks for the reply. Best of luck with .TEL and good day.

 

[Sconzo]

Apologies for being a little green here, but does anyone know what the maximum number of records a .tel can handle? Can I list 10 pizza shops, say, per city across 300 cities? And can I buy multiple addresses which all point to the master address, or do I have to populate each one separately? I've really enjoyed seeing all your thoughts, and think this could be fairly amazing!

 

[saucey]

There is no good solution for this.

Justin pointed out a few in his previous post......

Apologies for being a little green here, but does anyone know what the maximum number of records a .tel can handle? Can I list 10 pizza shops, say, per city across 300 cities? And can I buy multiple addresses which all point to the master address, or do I have to populate each one separately? I've really enjoyed seeing all your thoughts, and think this could be fairly amazing!

Apparantly. there is NO limit to the amount of info you can put on one .tel site. Also, you can have subdomains.... eg. Sanfrancisco.pizza.tel, and Losangeles.pizza.tel.... Pretty nifty eh??? :sold:

 

[buyauthority]

After close inspection of this thread and Telnic.org content, I have bought my very first .Tel ... a expensive one but nevertheless a good investment. I'm looking forward to March for general public which price drops drastically.

 

[chader144]

After close inspection of this thread and Telnic.org content, I have bought my very first .Tel ... a expensive one but nevertheless a good investment. I'm looking forward to March for general public which price drops drastically.

Welcome aboard any hints on the domain name??

 

[saucey]

After close inspection of this thread and Telnic.org content, I have bought my very first .Tel ... a expensive one but nevertheless a good investment. I'm looking forward to March for general public which price drops drastically.

Book him Danno!! He may have got a steal of a deal!

Congrats, and nice avatar!

Saucey McLovin...

 

[hullswingerscom]

maybe you could use a dot tel for something else then contacts.....like a database
for music...or shopping memo ...private stuff.?

you can add notes on tel i think....maybe a diary...or sumut

 

[plaggypig]

Justin pointed out a few in his previous post......

I think Justin's suggestion of a "concierge service" is a good one - presumably he's talking proxy services that manage spam filters and/or CAPTCHA-based whitelists on your behalf, before relaying mail onto your real address. Telnic could potentially include a mini-SMTP server in the TelHosting software and offer one click integration.

Spelling out addresses like "foo (at) gmail dot com" is not really going to be very effective, because it's trivial for spam harvesting robots to identify such patterns and reconstruct addresses from them. Likewise other techniques you've probably seen around the web whereby people generate mailto: links dynamically using Javascript are just as futile.

 

[MicroGuy]

I think Justin's suggestion of a "concierge service" is a good one - presumably he's talking proxy services that manage spam filters and/or CAPTCHA-based whitelists on your behalf, before relaying mail onto your real address. Telnic could potentially include a mini-SMTP server in the TelHosting software and offer one click integration.

Spelling out addresses like "foo (at) gmail dot com" is not really going to be very effective, because it's trivial for spam harvesting robots to identify such patterns and reconstruct addresses from them. Likewise other techniques you've probably seen around the web whereby people generate mailto: links dynamically using Javascript are just as futile.

Quote honestly, I feel that the biggest issue you're going to see with .TEL and spam is the fact that the HTML page templates are virtually identical. In addition all personal data is stored in plain text and in one convenient location, so no need to try to attach a name to a number and email. This will make harvesting and utilizing data effective on a vast scale.

 

[plaggypig]

This will make harvesting and utilizing data effective on a vast scale.

This is a longstanding problem. Spammers/scammers have had sets of both mine and your contact details for years - we unwittingly publish them all over the Internet (in your case in 6 different places, probably more in my case), and in most of these instances we can't go back later and remove or change them. Somebody once said that trying to take stuff off the Internet is like trying to take piss out of a swimming pool.

Now that we can publish our .tel addresses, instead of explicit details, we can quickly "fix" privacy controls on them, whenever we need to. You have more control and ownership over your .tel data than with any other platform in the world.

P.S. Henri has blogged about some of these issues today.